I'm trying to install a new jack in a Yamaha BB414. I thought it was a mono jack so that's what I bought but now that I've pulled the bad jack out I see there are two prongs on the existing jack (left) and only one on the new (right). Can I still use this part and just soder the second wire to the metal sleeve?
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Wiring a mono jack
- Thread starter spenchutch
- Start date
Is your bass active? (Is there a battery inside?) If YES, then you need the 3-prong jack. The third terminal makes the connection from the battery's (-) terminal to signal ground when a cord is plugged in, to act as a switch for the active preamp. If you don't have an active bass - it appears you don't - then there should just be two wires connected to the jack: hot and ground.
Thanks, it is indeed a passive bass so I got it wired up and the P pickup sounds great. However, somehow I lost my J pickup and the P/J mixed position along the way. I checked the connections on the pickup selector and they look good. Could the new jack have anything to do with losing the J pickup?
Not really. The jack really just takes the final wire in the signal chain and a wire that's the ground for everything else in the chain (and the battery ground in a stereo jack for active setups). So if you've got one pup, the jack is wired right.
If you're getting no output in the MIXED position, then that sounds like the J is grounding out. If the J was just not connected, in the mid position you'd still get the P. But if the P goes away when you switch to mid, that suggests it is being connected to ground and you're losing the signal entirely. And if the only change you made was to replace the jack, I'd look for any shorts -- anywhere you might have accidentally put a ground wire close to a signal wire. Also -- you wired the "second" wire to the sleeve -- trace that back and see what it is connected to -- I'm not sure why a passive bass would have anything wired to that second lug...
Got any pics of your wiring?
If you're getting no output in the MIXED position, then that sounds like the J is grounding out. If the J was just not connected, in the mid position you'd still get the P. But if the P goes away when you switch to mid, that suggests it is being connected to ground and you're losing the signal entirely. And if the only change you made was to replace the jack, I'd look for any shorts -- anywhere you might have accidentally put a ground wire close to a signal wire. Also -- you wired the "second" wire to the sleeve -- trace that back and see what it is connected to -- I'm not sure why a passive bass would have anything wired to that second lug...
Got any pics of your wiring?
I'll try to get some pics of the wiring this afternoon. Turns out the P pickup is actually still coming through in the mixed position. It's just so quiet I didn't notice it at first. So the problem has to be with the J pickup wiring. Hopefully the pictures will give a clue.
Quick note: if you accidentally wired the J backwards (switched the wires), in the mixed position you'd get very very low output because the pups would be cancelling each other out.
Here are pics of the pickup selector wiring. Everything looks solid but I may have misplaced a wire. Also I've totally lost my J (it's no longer audible in the mixed position) and my P pickup has started crackling some. I checked the cables and wiggled the jack but nothing made a difference. This was the problem I was originally having that drove me to replace the jack, along with it being loose.
Well, tough to tell from those pics -- we need to know what the wires are coming from. But one thing looks odd in the second pic: it looks like you have both the black and white wire from a single pickup going to a single lug on the switch. My guess is that those two wires are coming from your J. and that would explain why you're not getting any sound out of it. But there's a lot odd there --
I think there's a big white, a big red, a b/w pair and a b/r pair. The b/r pair is connected to two lugs on the switch...I don't get that unless one of those lugs is a ground. The b/w pair going to a single lug -- if that's from a pickup, you won't get any sound from that pickup. The white and red -- one should go to the vol and tone, and maybe the other goes to ground? But without seeing all of the wiring, I just can't tell.
So some basics:
Test the pickups by connecting them straight to the jack -- black to sleeve, white to center. Confirm that they're working fine.
Figure out what the lugs on that switch do -- there should be 2 that are switched, 1 that is "on" always, and maybe that 4th is for the shell/ground? Dunno. But for example, you could remove the black wire of the b/w pair and touch it to the other lug with a black and white wire on it -- if you get your J back then I think that lug is connected to ground, and you'll be all set.
The crackling could be a bad pot, could be a bad solder joint. Get the J back first, and then see if the crackling is the same no matter what position the switch is in. In that case I'd look at my solders on the jack. If it's just the P, I'd check its solder joints (I would also test it directly to the jack to make sure it's ok).
BTW: when I do a lot of this back and forth, I use test leads with alligator clips on either end -- then you don't have to keep soldering/desoldering everything.
Let us know what you try and what you find!
I think there's a big white, a big red, a b/w pair and a b/r pair. The b/r pair is connected to two lugs on the switch...I don't get that unless one of those lugs is a ground. The b/w pair going to a single lug -- if that's from a pickup, you won't get any sound from that pickup. The white and red -- one should go to the vol and tone, and maybe the other goes to ground? But without seeing all of the wiring, I just can't tell.
So some basics:
Test the pickups by connecting them straight to the jack -- black to sleeve, white to center. Confirm that they're working fine.
Figure out what the lugs on that switch do -- there should be 2 that are switched, 1 that is "on" always, and maybe that 4th is for the shell/ground? Dunno. But for example, you could remove the black wire of the b/w pair and touch it to the other lug with a black and white wire on it -- if you get your J back then I think that lug is connected to ground, and you'll be all set.
The crackling could be a bad pot, could be a bad solder joint. Get the J back first, and then see if the crackling is the same no matter what position the switch is in. In that case I'd look at my solders on the jack. If it's just the P, I'd check its solder joints (I would also test it directly to the jack to make sure it's ok).
BTW: when I do a lot of this back and forth, I use test leads with alligator clips on either end -- then you don't have to keep soldering/desoldering everything.
Let us know what you try and what you find!
Thanks for all the help so far! I wanted to have a record of how things are wired up now before I go in and start moving stuff around so here's my rough attempt at a wiring diagram. It may provide some more clues as to what's going on.
Awesome -- that tells us what we need to know.
Notice from the P, you have one wire going to the back of the tone pot (it's actually the volume pot) -- any time you see a wire soldered to the back of a pot, think "ground." Also from the P you have a pair of wires going to the switch. The black wire in that pair goes to a lug that also has a white wire on it -- and that white wire is connected to the back of the "tone" pot, so, again, grounded. So the black wire from the red/black pair from the P is going to ground. The red is going to another lug (for switch selection). As I thought, that big white wire is a ground wire. The big red goes from the switch to the volume pot -- so that's the signal wire. That means the last lug is the selector switch lug for the J...they don't look arranged right to me (or maybe the wires got moved around) -- I'd expect both of the selection lugs to be aligned (same side, or same end). So you have both the black and white wires from the b/w pair from the J going to the same lug -- those should probably be split like the b/r pair from the P. So move the black wire to the same lug on the switch as currently has a black and white wire on it (the one that goes to ground).
If all of the wires on that switch have been moved around, you might have to do some experimenting to get the right wires on the right lugs. But try moving that black wire and see if that clears things up.
Also, your note "bridge?" is correct. Do either of the pots have a capacitor soldered to them? Whichever one does is the tone pot.
Post back what you get!
Notice from the P, you have one wire going to the back of the tone pot (it's actually the volume pot) -- any time you see a wire soldered to the back of a pot, think "ground." Also from the P you have a pair of wires going to the switch. The black wire in that pair goes to a lug that also has a white wire on it -- and that white wire is connected to the back of the "tone" pot, so, again, grounded. So the black wire from the red/black pair from the P is going to ground. The red is going to another lug (for switch selection). As I thought, that big white wire is a ground wire. The big red goes from the switch to the volume pot -- so that's the signal wire. That means the last lug is the selector switch lug for the J...they don't look arranged right to me (or maybe the wires got moved around) -- I'd expect both of the selection lugs to be aligned (same side, or same end). So you have both the black and white wires from the b/w pair from the J going to the same lug -- those should probably be split like the b/r pair from the P. So move the black wire to the same lug on the switch as currently has a black and white wire on it (the one that goes to ground).
If all of the wires on that switch have been moved around, you might have to do some experimenting to get the right wires on the right lugs. But try moving that black wire and see if that clears things up.
Also, your note "bridge?" is correct. Do either of the pots have a capacitor soldered to them? Whichever one does is the tone pot.
Post back what you get!
Sorry about the mislabeling, I did indeed reverse the tone and volume pots. The capacitor is on pot that was incorrectly labeled volume.
Switching the black wire over to the lug with the other ground wires worked beautifully. I've got the J and mixed positions back and they sound great. I shored up a few solder joints that I thought may have been causing the crackling and that seems to have been taken care of as well. Sure is nice to have everything up and running again. Thanks again for the crash course in wiring, I would have never figured that out on my own.
Switching the black wire over to the lug with the other ground wires worked beautifully. I've got the J and mixed positions back and they sound great. I shored up a few solder joints that I thought may have been causing the crackling and that seems to have been taken care of as well. Sure is nice to have everything up and running again. Thanks again for the crash course in wiring, I would have never figured that out on my own.
