The Twickerman Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Hi all, I use stereo cables for my guitars without problems - but if I try to use one for my acoustic guitar (which has a piezo pickup) I get no sound. Does anyone know why? How are acoustic guitar preamps typically wired to the socket? I'd have thought it was oblivious to the presence of a ring connection. Thanks, - Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 (edited) The pre-amp in the guitar is switched on by the insertion of the jack plug, The jack socket uses the barrel of the jack plug as a shorting circuit which bridges the sleeve and the ring, allowing the battery to feed power to the pre-amp. Remove the jack plug and this short no longer exists, so the pre-amp no longer receives voltage, and the battery can rest until the next time. If the jack is left too long in the socket, the battery is drained, which is why one has to unplug the jack when putting the guitar away. There is no good reason that I can think of for using stereo (RTS...) jacks for guitar or bass, and for those with a pre-amp (your electro-acoustic...), this switching function is defeated, as there is no short-circuit created between the sleeve and the ring. Use a mono jack, as one should with all guitars and basses, and all will be well. You've just been lucky so far that stereo jacks work at all, as they are far from optimum in mono jack sockets. Hope this helps. Douglas Edited October 27, 2022 by Dad3353 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Twickerman Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 This description. is bang on - thanks Douglas. However, I will continue to use stereo leads for my double-necks. The guitar and bass are routed through separate effects and amp mods. - Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, The Twickerman said: ...However, I will continue to use stereo leads for my double-necks. The guitar and bass are routed through separate effects and amp mods... That's understandable, and perfectly normal, as the double-necks are using stereo (TRS...) jack sockets for this very purpose, enabling signal separation. They are, obviously, passive, with no batteries to switch. Mono jacks would rob you of one half of the instrument, so carry on, with my blessing. Mono jacks for any others though. Edited October 29, 2022 by Dad3353 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
