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Audio Jack Too Small For Amp's Input

#21
wistfulhum said:
So the best thing I can do in this case is buy a new amp? It's not like it doesn't work, I bought it off of eBay and when I went to the guy's house he had it set up in his garage and let me test it out. It played without a problem so that's mainly why this has been so confusing.
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What cable did you plug into at buddy's place, and did you use your bass to test the amp there? If you did, in theory just buy the same cable as buddy has, and you should be good to go
 
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#23
sloppy_phil said:
What cable did you plug into at buddy's place, and did you use your bass to test the amp there? If you did, in theory just buy the same cable as buddy has, and you should be good to go
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He didn't say what kind of cable it was and he handed me a bass that his friend had given him since carrying my bass and the amp would have been harder than it already was (I had done a lot of research for that amp but never thought to look for its weight so to say that I had a rude awakening when I found it it was 1/4 of my weight at that time and I had to carry it while walking more than two miles is an understatement). Anyways, I still have his email address so I'm pretty sure I could just send him an email asking about his cable.
 
#25
OogieWaWa said:
Just a data point: I have no idea where I bought it, but I have a nice looking 15' tweed instrument cable . . . that fits loosely in about half the jacks I plug it into and doesn't make good contact in them. In fact I just looked, it's labelled Fender. Beautiful golden tweed with brown covered, well-made ends. It's worthless, and they do exist.
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About 7 years ago I took my daughter to do the Fender factory tour in Corona. In the museum/gift shop part of the place they had a demo room full of amps and guitars, and a Tom Petty concert video on TV screens all over the place. So I was all, hell yeah I’m gonna plug in and play along. Went through 3 or 4 rigs before I found one that worked, super frustrating, is the amp broken? Is the guitar broken? Bad cable? All just broken Fender branded tweed cables. Super helpful in a Never Going To Buy One Of Those sort of way.
 
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#26
arbiterusa said:
Fits in bass, doesn’t fit in amp…amp jack is broken. Sorry. You can’t fix that.

The plug size is standard; you can’t find one that is a “little bit bigger”. If it fits your bass it will fit a non-broken amp.
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Yeah you can. Buy a replacement jack, solder it in. Done. Simple.
 
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#27
wistfulhum said:
I bought a Gorilla GB-30 bass amp and an instrument cable separate of each other and came to find out that the plugs on either end of the cable are too small for the amp's input. They're really loose and can go in effortlessly but fit in my bass just fine. It's a standard 1/4" thickness and it's too late to return either of the items. I've tried to scour the internet for possible solutions to this but I keep on drawing blanks so I really don't know what to do. I also read that I could solder on a bigger plug but the source didn't specify the thickness so that didn't actually amount to anything. Is there any way I could get it to fit?
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Buy a replacement input jack. You'll have to search for it specifically. An amp's input jack is not a standardized piece of equipment. Remove the board, remove old solder joints with a solder wick. Solder new jack on the board. Re assemble, and enjoy.
 
#29
JeezyMcNuggles said:
Buy a replacement input jack. You'll have to search for it specifically. An amp's input jack is not a standardized piece of equipment. Remove the board, remove old solder joints with a solder wick. Solder new jack on the board. Re assemble, and enjoy.
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Thank you for your advice but there are two problems here. One, I don't know how to solder and two, I tried to unscrew the screws on my amp but there's no way to get to the wires. I opened the back and all that had inside was the speaker so I left it alone but when I undid the screws on top it led to nothing. I couldn't find a way to get to the wiring. I only have my laptop to take photos but I'll try to take some clear ones and put them here so that you can see for yourself.
 
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#31
wistfulhum said:
Okay, I was wrong. Yesterday when I unscrewed a few of the screws on top I didn't do all of them because nothing was happening but when I unscrewed ALL of them just now I found out that it comes down and out. There was a PC board there so I just put it back and screwed the screws back in.
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Yup :) there's a way into every amp. It wasn't made in one piece. You see the jack? It's four solder joints. You need to get the right replacement though. The deminsions aren't universal. Only the 1/4" hole is. Touch the feet on the board with a soldering iron, and dab on solder. It flows in very nicely.

Soldering is only scary the first time. You can always practice on something that doesn't matter first.
 
#32
JeezyMcNuggles said:
Soldering is only scary the first time. You can always practice on something that doesn't matter first.
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I've seen a good number of examples that suggested the perpetrator should have remained scared long after their first time. It's a skill like any other, and like any other some master it faster than others, and some never get competent at all. But replacing components on a pcb scores out of beginner level for most folk. Easier to start with soldering plugs on cables.

I think in the short term it's time for friends and their uses. Have a lead swapping party with friends and see if you can find a couple that work well. If so grab them and buy the friends new leads...
 
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#33
JimChjones said:
I've seen a good number of examples that suggested the perpetrator should have remained scared long after their first time. It's a skill like any other, and like any other some master it faster than others, and some never get competent at all. But replacing components on a pcb scores out of beginner level for most folk. Easier to start with soldering plugs on cables.

I think in the short term it's time for friends and their uses. Have a lead swapping party with friends and see if you can find a couple that work well. If so grab them and buy the friends new leads...
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I don't have any friends that are familiar with this kind of stuff :/ I'm pretty sure YouTube has my back though so I'll be fine.
 
#34
JeezyMcNuggles said:
Yup :) there's a way into every amp. It wasn't made in one piece. You see the jack? It's four solder joints. You need to get the right replacement though. The deminsions aren't universal. Only the 1/4" hole is. Touch the feet on the board with a soldering iron, and dab on solder. It flows in very nicely.

Soldering is only scary the first time. You can always practice on something that doesn't matter first.
Click to expand...
How do I find out the dimensions?
 
#36
JeezyMcNuggles said:
You just do a search for "model #" replacement input jack.

Or, search the manufacturer's website for a part number.

Or, contact them directly.
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The Gorilla Amp company hasn’t existed in decades, so there’s no contact info or website.
Open the amp up and post a photo of the socket here. It’s much easier to provide more guidance once we see what we’re dealing with.
 
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