{"id":11399,"date":"2017-07-11T15:04:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T20:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=11399"},"modified":"2021-01-24T06:37:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T11:37:18","slug":"how-to-fix-an-input-jack-crackling-sound-on-a-bass-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/gear\/electronics\/how-to-fix-an-input-jack-crackling-sound-on-a-bass-guitar.html","title":{"rendered":"How to fix an input jack crackling sound on an electric bass"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s note: This is a contributed article.<\/strong> You can also contribute an article! See details at bottom.)<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no such thing as an input jack on a bass. It’s an output jack. I purposely made the title have “input jack” just so you know it is WRONG. The proper name is output jack.<\/p>\n

This is how to fix a crackling sound in an output jack.<\/p>\n

Plug in your bass and move the cable around to find where the crackle sound is. If you hear nothing pull the cable out slightly and listen for sound. If you still hear nothing plug the cable in all the way then push more and listen for sound. If you still hear nothing the jack can still be fixed.<\/p>\n

Unplug the bass.<\/p>\n

Unscrew the jack plate to see the insides of the output jack. If your jack is installed in a pick guard, take off the pick guard to see the output jack insides. Before touching anything take a close-up photo of the output jack using your phone so you remember where all the wires go.<\/p>\n

Look at the wires and see if there are any loose or broken connections. If you see dust, blow it all out using compressed air. Clean smaller areas you can’t spray using rubbing alcohol and a q-tip.<\/p>\n

If you see loose wires or if solder breaks while cleaning, that is ok because you can reconnect them.<\/p>\n

** List of proper basic soldering tools<\/p>\n

1. 40-watt soldering iron.<\/p>\n

2. 60\/40 rosin-core solder .032″ diameter. This is the best stuff to use for soldering guitar electronics.<\/p>\n

3. Desoldering wire 2mm. Use this to help remove old solder.<\/p>\n

4. Solder sucker. If you have an output jack in a weird location you may need this to help remove old solder.<\/p>\n

Remove the old solder and wires from your output jack. Clean up as best you can. Clean the wires too.<\/p>\n

Make new good connections using new solder and let cool and set.<\/p>\n

Check the contacts of the output jack to make sure it holds a cable tip properly. If it doesn’t you can bend the contacts a little so it holds the cable tip better.<\/p>\n

Plug in a cable to the output jack and test. If the crackling and scratchy noises are gone, you are done. Put your bass back together.<\/p>\n

If the noises are still there, check your solder connections and try a different cable.<\/p>\n

If you hear nothing, the output jack may need to be replaced. Or there is another part of your bass causing the problem, such as bad wires or a bad pickup.<\/p>\n

*** Help out the bass community (and promote your business at the same time if you have one) by contributing your own how-to article. Use our easy web form<\/a> to contribute an article about bass building, bass repair, bass electronics, and so on. Yes, you can include pictures and video if you like!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s note: This is a contributed article. You can also contribute an article! See details at bottom.) There is no such thing as an input jack on a bass. It’s an output jack. I purposely made the title have “input jack” just so you know it is WRONG. The proper name is output jack. This … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11399"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13509,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399\/revisions\/13509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}