I have reacently been presented with an interesting theory...but first, let me tell you how I arrived at that theory. I had an Ibanez bass, which when playing the cable would occasionally become ungrounded, and all you could hear was that loud hum. THen it would return to normal. Tried different cables, but same thing happened. After making sure that it definatily was the bass, I took it back to the store, where of course it worked fine. Finally, I switched the input jack....same problem. I got tired of the bass and got a new one (another Ibanez, but different model). Although not nearly as often, still run into the same problem occasionally. Also, a friend who also just bought aan Ibanez is having the same problem. It's definatily not anything like the amp, cables, electrical interference... The guy at the music store I was at the other day told me of his personal theory that the tips of cables are slightly different sizes, and that maybe that certain brands would work with Ibanez's , cause whatever they use at the store works fine. Anyone ever heard of this, or have any comments on this???
different sized cables
- Thread starter tmcbrinn
- Start date
regebro
Insane Genious!
Usually you have a steel tongue that both privides the connection and makes the "click" when you insert the plug. This should also press the plug so that the sleeve touches the outer ring of the hole. So, no, the length shouldn't make a difference. But maybe that tongue doesn't apply enough pressure? In that case, if you wiggle the plug, you could in some plug-positions wiggle the plug so that the tongue looses it's touch to the tip.
Different brands have different diameters on the waist of teh tip, and also different shapes, so this is a likely thing. I have had it happen myself.
If it's an open jack, then you can just press the tongue inwards a bit when there is no plug in it, so it ends up being bent inwards a millimeter or so. That should do it.
Different brands have different diameters on the waist of teh tip, and also different shapes, so this is a likely thing. I have had it happen myself.
If it's an open jack, then you can just press the tongue inwards a bit when there is no plug in it, so it ends up being bent inwards a millimeter or so. That should do it.
effedupstrat
New member
tmcbrinn,
If the tips ARE different, its probably on the order of thousandths of an inch, certainly not enough to be an incompatibility problem. The inside of a quarter inch jack has a "spring loaded" connector for the tip contact which holds tension against the notch in the tip of the plug. Now it just occurred to me as I was typing this that your bass probably has a slightly different type of output jack than what I was about to describe. It probably has an enclosed jack. These jacks, in my experience, tend to loosen up over time and use and there isn't really a way to fix it short of replacing the whole jack. That having been said, you COULD have a problem which doesn't involve the output connection at all. A bad (cold) solder connection from your pickups to your volume and tone controls or a bad connection to the output jack itself could easily cause an intermittent problem such as you describe. If you end up with a new jack, remember to loop the cord back through the strap to minimize the possibility of accidentally yanking the plug from the jack, which seems to wear these out kinda fast. So it basically ought to be checked out by a tech, and any "personal theory" from the music store should be taken with a grain of Guitar Shack Salt.
peace.
If the tips ARE different, its probably on the order of thousandths of an inch, certainly not enough to be an incompatibility problem. The inside of a quarter inch jack has a "spring loaded" connector for the tip contact which holds tension against the notch in the tip of the plug. Now it just occurred to me as I was typing this that your bass probably has a slightly different type of output jack than what I was about to describe. It probably has an enclosed jack. These jacks, in my experience, tend to loosen up over time and use and there isn't really a way to fix it short of replacing the whole jack. That having been said, you COULD have a problem which doesn't involve the output connection at all. A bad (cold) solder connection from your pickups to your volume and tone controls or a bad connection to the output jack itself could easily cause an intermittent problem such as you describe. If you end up with a new jack, remember to loop the cord back through the strap to minimize the possibility of accidentally yanking the plug from the jack, which seems to wear these out kinda fast. So it basically ought to be checked out by a tech, and any "personal theory" from the music store should be taken with a grain of Guitar Shack Salt.
peace.
It''s not a hit or miss thing, its just that I think the diameter of some tips fit better into my basses than others, cause the same exact chords work flawlessly with my two gibson guitards. Also, I;ve had the same problem on 2 different basses, and on one of the basses I put in a set of EMG pickups with a new jack on it (done by a tech...not me), and the problem still occured.