Weird issue with cable

Godheads_Lament · #1 02-01-2011, 10:39 PM

So today i went to play my bass picked it up and the amp just gave of that buzzing sound as if the the jacks were not in properly.

After a lot of screwing around couldn't find any problems.

What i did notice was anytime i touched the jacks on either end even if just barely making contact the signal would clear up and work fine. So i could play with say me knee just touching against it but as soon as i lost contact, signal gone.

As an little experiment i tried using other things to see what would happen. It seemed that anything that would be a good conductor of such as anything metallic would convey the touch effect as well.

Anyone have any ideas on what is causing this. Am i some sort of super charged mutant?

D-Nut · #2 02-01-2011, 10:49 PM

Step 1) Try another cable. If the other cable works fine, then you simply have a worn out, or defective instrument cable.
Step 2) Check the ground on your output jack of the guitar.
Step 3) Make sure the cable you are using IS an instrument cable, and not a speaker cable. Speaker cables aren't shielded, and thus create more noise.

Godheads_Lament · #3 02-01-2011, 11:00 PM

Can rule out 3#

Dont have a spare cable around right now, but will have a look at the ground and see if there is anything going on.

Otherwise i'll just get a new cable.

Pilgrim · #4 02-02-2011, 09:58 AM

Bad cable or bent jack that's not making contact.

ChiefFrancis · #5 02-02-2011, 06:00 PM

How do you "ground" your output jack? I ran into this same exact problem today and I could see the screws from my guitar become magnetized to my screwdriver.

It can't be a defective cable/speaker cable because I used the cable for my practice amp for both my bass and acoustic/electric guitar and the both worked fine. The only problem was this one guitar.

Godheads_Lament · #6 02-02-2011, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiefFrancis

How do you "ground" your output jack? I ran into this same exact problem today and I could see the screws from my guitar become magnetized to my screwdriver.

It can't be a defective cable/speaker cable because I used the cable for my practice amp for both my bass and acoustic/electric guitar and the both worked fine. The only problem was this one guitar.

If you open the control cavity, you should see the wires connected to the jack. On mine there is two contact points. One is the signal and the other is the ground. I think some guitars have 3 contacts though.

Godheads_Lament · #7 02-02-2011, 07:38 PM

Also that was the problem, my ground wire was not connected. Will have to borrow Dad's soldering iron and fix it up.

Thanks for the help.