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One of my 20-year-old bass cabinets recently started making farting sounds - sort of crackles when I play at medium-high volume. I'm hoping that some DeoxIT applied to the input jack is all that's needed, but I've never used the stuff.

Question: should I just insert the spray tip into the jack and fire away, or is there anything I need to be careful about?


Many thanks,
bluewhale

Spraying right into the jack will likely make a mess of your speaker cones. 1/4" jacks have terrible conductivity for anything over 250 watts or so, and only get worse when the minimal contact area for the tip gets corrosion build up on it. I'd switch to Speakon jacks.

Safest way to apply it here is to spray your speaker lead's plug barrel then insert/withdraw it loads (respray the plug now and again). This will transfer the deoxit to the inside of the socket safely and inserting / withdrawing will help scrape any deposits off too. I'd recommend using the deoxit that doesn't contain a lubricant for this application, you don't want your speaker leads to be too easy to pull out in a gig situation.

It may not fix your problem depending on whether dirty contact is the issue but it's harmless to try using this method.

If your speakers are connected using spade terminals it's also possible the problem is a dirty contact there. Or, if the leads are soldered it may be a dry solder joint giving intermittent contact (hence the crackling at volume as vibrations have a greater effect) so they are also things you can check/resolder at either the speaker or socket ends.

Thanks, gents. And thanks for the suggestion to avoid lubricant, as I was also wondering which variety to use.

bw

I've used q-tips for that.

stevebasshead wrote:...I'd recommend using the deoxit that doesn't contain a lubricant for this application, you don't want your speaker leads to be too easy to pull out in a gig situation...

Which DeoxIT is this? I was unable to find a spray of theirs that doesn't contain lubricant.

For now I am using the 1/4" plug to ream the input. In and out about five times before I power on, and that seems to prevent the crackling.


Thanks,
bluewhale

bluewhale wrote:

stevebasshead wrote:...I'd recommend using the deoxit that doesn't contain a lubricant for this application, you don't want your speaker leads to be too easy to pull out in a gig situation...

Which DeoxIT is this? I was unable to find a spray of theirs that doesn't contain lubricant.

For now I am using the 1/4" plug to ream the input. In and out about five times before I power on, and that seems to prevent the crackling.


Thanks,
bluewhale

Forgive me, I would've sworn they did one without lubricant but I can't find it on their website at all. If your speaker lead and socket is a decently tight fit already I wouldn't worry and just use the regular Deoxit but otherwise, either bend the lug so the socket does hold the plug tighter or use any other decent contact cleaner that doesn't contain a lubricant.

stevebasshead wrote:...but I can't find it on their website at all..

tsalright, and thanks again for the help.
bluewhale

To clean jack, spray cleaner on plug and work in and out of the jack. I would guess your symptoms denote something more than dirty jack. I would check all the wiring and solder connections too.