Stingray output jack gone very crackly/loose???

[boglej2]

Whenever my stingray is plugged in and i move the end of the lead it gets very cracky and the jack housing underneath the plate seemed very loose. It still works just when the lead gets a slight knock it'll crackle.

I took off the plate to get into the chamber where the volume and tone pots would be and couldn't make head nor tail of what it could be!!

My stingrays output jack is the one(2 band eq) with the lead sitting perpendicular to the bass when its plugged in, i.e. its on the frront of the body not on the side at the bottom.

Any help appreciated!

 

[GradyBass]

Sounds like it just needs to be replaced.

 

[kjpollo]

Sounds like it just needs to be replaced.

+1 to that.
If you're not confident about poking around inside the bass-just bring it to a good local tech. I dont think the job would be very costly.

 

[walterw]

the only issue is that modern stingrays use a plastic switching jack that (rather than connecting the 9V negative to ground via a ring terminal on a normal stereo jack like everyone else ) actually connects the 9V positive to the circuitcard via an internal switch contact.

i've converted several of these to regular switchcraft stereo jacks, which works just fine, except that sometimes you get a weird power-up noise upon plugging in to an already-on amp. (since you shouldn't be plugging into an "already hot" amp, i don't think it's that big a deal.)

it takes a little cypherin' to figure out which of the bundle of black ground wires is actually the battery negative, but once done, (and once the red +9V wire is connected straight to the circuitcard), a normal metal stereo jack can be used.

 

[jackduran]

I'm having a very similar problem with my 96 Stingray. It's the 3EQ so the lead comes in through the side of the body rather than on the top. Whenever I knock the lead, it crackles and/or drops out of the bass completely, as though the jack isn't holding it properly.

I've had this issue looked at, and the bass returned to me. But there is still some electrical interference when I take my fingers off the strings...the lead still crackles...and I'm stuck with what to do next.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

This happened to mine too recently - 3 band here btw.

 

[jackduran]

This happened to mine too recently - 3 band here btw.

With mine, its as though a magnet is pushing the lead out of the jack socket- it just drops out, and for a recent gig I had to tape the lead into the jack. But every time I'd knock the end of the lead, there'd be huge bangs and crackles coming through the PA in front of everyone.

Is this the case with yours?

 

[jmattbassplaya]

With mine, its as though a magnet is pushing the lead out of the jack socket- it just drops out, and for a recent gig I had to tape the lead into the jack. But every time I'd knock the end of the lead, there'd be huge bangs and crackles coming through the PA in front of everyone.

Is this the case with yours?

It's not falling out as you describe as much as it has simply just become insanely sensity. If even the cable or lead is tapped it makes HUGE crackles and pops - loud enough to make me worry if it could blow a speaker if I was turned up enough or moved the jack too much. I'm curious if given more time whether or not it'd start acting like yours. In any case, I'm not happy.

I should also mention that I hadn't touched my Ray for at least three months before this started happening. Really bizarre.

 

[jackduran]

It's not falling out as you describe as much as it has simply just become insanely sensity. If even the cable or lead is tapped it makes HUGE crackles and pops - loud enough to make me worry if it could blow a speaker if I was turned up enough or moved the jack too much. I'm curious if given more time whether or not it'd start acting like yours. In any case, I'm not happy.

I should also mention that I hadn't touched my Ray for at least three months before this started happening. Really bizarre.

I should stress that it doesn't fall out the jack all the time, but what sets it off is if I'm sitting playing and the lead knocks against a bed or something. That's all it takes for the lead to come flying out the socket.

I'm worried about blowing speakers too. The annoying thing is, I've only recently had the bass examined by Trev Wilkinson (of Wilkinson electronics/hardwire, who do the pickups etc) and he fixed my dodgy active circuit. But there's still problems there that shouldn't be on a ~£1000 instrument.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I should stress that it doesn't fall out the jack all the time, but what sets it off is if I'm sitting playing and the lead knocks against a bed or something. That's all it takes for the lead to come flying out the socket.

I'm worried about blowing speakers too. The annoying thing is, I've only recently had the bass examined by Trev Wilkinson (of Wilkinson electronics/hardwire, who do the pickups etc) and he fixed my dodgy active circuit. But there's still problems there that shouldn't be on a ~£1000 instrument.

I completely agree. I don't understand how my bass got this way when it's been sitting in a case for months with not a single soul touching it.

 

[jackduran]

I completely agree. I don't understand how my bass got this way when it's been sitting in a case for months with not a single soul touching it.

Its worrying about yours being stuck in the case too- electronics and jacks shouldn't erode when a bass is in a supposedly protective case! That's bizarre. Have you tried contacting Ernie Ball? That might be my next step.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Its worrying about yours being stuck in the case too- electronics and jacks shouldn't erode when a bass is in a supposedly protective case! That's bizarre. Have you tried contacting Ernie Ball? That might be my next step.

I think I'll send them an email in the next day or two to see what they think. I'm sure they'll be interested to know quite a few of their jacks are simply crapping out for no reason. I wonder how well my new Ray 34 will stand up to it's American Ray brother.

 

[bassbenj]

It's not falling out as you describe as much as it has simply just become insanely sensity. If even the cable or lead is tapped it makes HUGE crackles and pops - loud enough to make me worry if it could blow a speaker if I was turned up enough or moved the jack too much. I'm curious if given more time whether or not it'd start acting like yours. In any case, I'm not happy.

I should also mention that I hadn't touched my Ray for at least three months before this started happening. Really bizarre.

Hey, guys. Welcome to the modern world! Just why would you suppose that anyone is actually making jacks that actually work anymore? Hey, it's not a $1,600 bass its a $1.35 jack we are talking about. And all "modern" jacks seem to take that viewpoint that if you just use really soft unspringy metal for the contacts, why, you can save maybe twenty five cents and that will give you the "edge" over other jack makers and you can end up with your totally crappy jacks in all basses out there!

The only real solution is to replace the jack with the soft contacts with a "real" jack. According to my conversations with the people at Alembic, it seems that Switchcraft is the only company still making "real" jacks. Unfortunately, they only have the standard ones which as someone noted here, means you have to rewire the power circuit to be like everyone else.

Let me also note that the combo of cheap soft Chinese jacks with cheap crappy guitar cords can cause lots of trouble. Some of these cords have plugs that are non-standard dimensions. This causes on the one hand the contacts to be bent too far away and they then don't spring back and on the other hand once the plug snaps in the diameter is too small so the already bent and unspringy contact barely makes contact so all you have is static city.

Why in the world doesn't SOMEONE (and I don't care if they are Chinese of not) make a guitar jack with REAL spring metal in it that NEVER loses it springyness and with enough range of spring that it always makes contact EVEN on cheapo non-standard sized plugs. Are human beings REALLY this stooopid?

 

[jackduran]

The only real solution is to replace the jack with the soft contacts with a "real" jack. According to my conversations with the people at Alembic, it seems that Switchcraft is the only company still making "real" jacks.

I'm looking at the Switchcraft website now. I'll have to take my bass in to see another tech and get a second opinion. I love my Stingray but I hate playing it when I know there's faults there- I'm sure that goes for any bassist. I find it completely takes the fun out of playing.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Hey, guys. Welcome to the modern world! Just why would you suppose that anyone is actually making jacks that actually work anymore? Hey, it's not a $1,600 bass its a $1.35 jack we are talking about. And all "modern" jacks seem to take that viewpoint that if you just use really soft unspringy metal for the contacts, why, you can save maybe twenty five cents and that will give you the "edge" over other jack makers and you can end up with your totally crappy jacks in all basses out there!

The only real solution is to replace the jack with the soft contacts with a "real" jack. According to my conversations with the people at Alembic, it seems that Switchcraft is the only company still making "real" jacks. Unfortunately, they only have the standard ones which as someone noted here, means you have to rewire the power circuit to be like everyone else.

Let me also note that the combo of cheap soft Chinese jacks with cheap crappy guitar cords can cause lots of trouble. Some of these cords have plugs that are non-standard dimensions. This causes on the one hand the contacts to be bent too far away and they then don't spring back and on the other hand once the plug snaps in the diameter is too small so the already bent and unspringy contact barely makes contact so all you have is static city.

Why in the world doesn't SOMEONE (and I don't care if they are Chinese of not) make a guitar jack with REAL spring metal in it that NEVER loses it springyness and with enough range of spring that it always makes contact EVEN on cheapo non-standard sized plugs. Are human beings REALLY this stooopid?

That $1.35 jack also costs $35 bucks to fix according to GC

 

[Craig_S]

That $1.35 jack also costs $35 bucks to fix according to GC

It's not difficult to replace the jack. Just order one from GC and solder it in place of the old one.

 

[jackduran]

Still having issues with mine here. It's getting very distorted, especially when I run through my board. When I go direct to my amp (bass > Planet Waves circuit breaker cable > amp) the crackling/buzzing is audible, but not half as audible as when I go through my signal chain. My MXR M80 seems to amplify it, especially with the color switch depressed.

When I touch the pole pieces with my fingers, there is an audible click that is extremely annoying when I'm playing.

Back to the subject of the lead dropping out of the output jack, it seems that the jack simply doesn't 'clench' the lead- I'll be playing, then suddenly my sound will cut and the lead will be on the floor.