Input Jack Buzz

[TheApostlePaul]

I picked up a new (to me) bass yesterday. If the plug is moved around in the jack at all you get a terrible sounding buzz from the amp. When you get the patch cable in the right position this stops. I though it might be a lose wire but when I pulled it apart everything is connected.

Any ideas?

[bocasfx]

There might be two things going on here:

1. Make sure that the cable you're using is not causing the noise.

2. Even though everything seems connected properly maybe the metal plate that makes contact with the tip of the cable's plug is not making proper contact. If you can, just bend it a little bit inwards. If not, then replacing the part would be a good idea. I don't think the problem could be somewhere else IMO.

[Magneto]

Many times it's a simple case of the jack and/or plug being dirty. I use some alcohol on a q-tip to clean the jacks and plugs when they start doing this. You don't want to twist the q-tip around and leave the cotton fibers hung up on everything in there, but it usually works for me if there isn't any major corrosion or some sort of wiring problem.

Mag...

[daveze]

Wiggle the lead but keep the jack and socket still, if it changes then, its the lead.

If its the jack/socket connection, you've got corrosion on either the jack or the socket or both. Jack is easy to spot and easy to clean (shirt or jeans).

The socket is a tad harder, its either the tip or the sleeve. Look at the tip of the socket, if you see a small bit of discolouration in the middle, get a piece of paper and rub that against it till until its all clean (or close enough to clean). If that doesn't solve it, its the sleeve, in which case I wrap paper around a screwdriver and use that to polish it up. However, I find these are temporary fixes at best and you're better off replacing the socket (doubly so for the barrel-type ones).

If the talk about tip and sleeve is confusing, this might help.