My Alembic is killing my Neutrik Silent Cables!

[Twocan]

Since acquiring my most recent Alembic (1990's 5 string Elan with Sig Electronics), it has rendered three Neutrik silent cables dead. One of the cables was brand new, the other two about a year old. They have all worked fine with my other Alembics. The brutality occurs during the process of plugging the cable into the bass - there is a "pop" and the silent cable end is dead.

Neutrik was contacted and were nice enough to send me three new silent plugs, and I installed them over this past weekend. The cables are fine now, but obviously I need to address whatever issue there is with the bass before I use them with it again.

The bass seems fine with all other cables. Perhaps there's a little (emphasis added) more of a "pop" noise when I plug into this bass than others. Does it sound like the Switch Craft jack is faulty? Is it a wiring issue? something else?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. 

[Twocan]

In case you're unfamiliar, this is the victim:

http://www.neutrik.com/en/audio/plugs-and-jacks/silentplug/np2x-au-silent

[edwin]

I've never had good luck with those connectors over the long run. I've got 3 or 4 of them and have pretty much given up on relying on their functioning to avoid pops.

[adriaan]

Note where the Neutrik page says, "Please note that the signal isn't muted with some types of active electric guitars which are equipped with tip-ring-sleeve jacks that tap to activate the guitar power supply."

[Twocan]

@adriaan  Noted, but the cables DO mute, and have worked for years with my other Alembics. I'm just wondering why this particular Alembic is damaging the cables.

[mica]

Does your Elan have a side-mounted barrel jack or a face-mounted jack?

[Twocan]

@Mica:

Face mounted. Jack is a Switch Craft 795.954/68

Photos here: http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=8593.0

Thanks.

[jazzyvee]

I tried of those jack cables years back and had problems. Firstly the jack wouldn't stay in the socket and kept pushing itself out slightly and going dead. So i took it back and the store replaced if with another and that one had a very slight bend in it and so the little sleeve on the outside of the jack kept getting stuck. I took it back again under warranty and now I just keep things simple and use regular right angled jack plugs and unplug at the amp first.

[mica]

That is not the original jack, so it would be a good idea for me to see a picture of how the jack is wired up and confirm that it was rewired correctly.

[Twocan]

Bingo! I thought that might be it. Pics coming your way Mica, and thanks.

[Twocan]

Pics:

[mica]

So that jack number isn't the model number, it's the mold number and they make many different models of connector in that same housing. I think you have the regular jack, so that's not a variable now (I received your email last night too). It looks like there isn't anything obviously wrong with your jack.

When you say the cable is dead, do you mean that no signal passes through it or that the silent functionality ceases to work?

As Adriaan states, their website talks about problems with how TRS function, and I noticed something else that in the technical specifications. While the marketing at the top of the page states "lifetime beyond 10'000" the Technical Information table only claims "> 1000 mating cycles" 

If you still have a dead cable you can send it to me.

Until the problem is resolved, you can turn the volume down on your bass then plug in the cable. This should eliminate the pop and save your current cable.

[Twocan]

Thanks for the attention that you're giving this!

What happened was that the "pop" from plugging the cable (There's not supposed to be a "pop" with these cables) into the bass destroyed the Neutrik end to the cable (not the cable or the other end). Once this happened, no signal was passing through the Neutrik connector. The solder connections were fine upon inspection - it appears that the internal magnet might have been damaged. This happened to three Neutrik ends. I can send one of them to you if you wish.

To be clear, I used these same cables on my other two Alembics for a year+ with no consequence.

Neutrik sent me replacement cable ends. They are installed and the cables work fine now (I'm just not using them on this bass until I figure the issue out).

[mica]

Do send one to me, thanks.

If you would like you can send us the electronics from your bass for testing. There's no charge to test except the return shipping and insurance.