Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

[Rupe]

Yesterday I received an '87 Soloist with stock pickups (HSS) and the JE-1200 mid boost circuit. After changing the battery to a new 9-volt Duracel I plugged it in and it sounded fantastic.
Tonight, when I go to play it again, there is a loud buzz/hum when using the bridge pickup alone (only noticable when not playing with the volume turned up). When I add in a single coil, the noise almost goes away, and either single coil alone or both together is dead silent and sounds great.
I opened it up and couldn't find any loose connections or errant wires. After wiggling the cord in the input jack, the noise went away but the output dropped as well, further wiggling brought back the noise and the output...odd since all solder connections seem to be solid. I tried numerous cords and amps, all with the same results. Anyone have an idea what the problem could be?

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

Those jacks have 3 wires hooked up to them. Sounds like (i think the black wire) might have a bad connection at the jack. Have you tried to unscrew the jack at the body to make sure those connections are good? The black wire powers the midboost.

joe...

[dg]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

The stereo jack on my Model 6 went bad and gave me similar symptoms. It was the enclosed plastic design, and a small tab of plastic had broken off and it was allowing one of the contacts to slide out of place. Sometimes it sounded OK, sometimes I got a bad hum or reduced output. Like yours, the simgles didn't show the problem as bad as the bridge hum. I fixed it with epoxy, which worked for a few months before I put a new jack in. You may have the same type of jack since your Soloist is from the same timeframe.

[Rupe]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

All the wires seemed to be well connected. Should I unsolder and then resolder them all to be sure?

Where are these plastic tabs that you mention? I will look take a look at that.

[jcm800x]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

Is there any play in the input jack?

[Rupe]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

None

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

A new stero jack is about $5.

joe...

[dg]

Re: Soloist w/JE-1200 Issue

[ QUOTE ]
All the wires seemed to be well connected. Should I unsolder and then resolder them all to be sure?

Where are these plastic tabs that you mention? I will look take a look at that.

[/ QUOTE ]

On mine, there was just a thin bit of plastic, maybe a little wider than 1mm, that had chipped out near the end of the plastic housing and was allowing the tip contact to slide inward when I plugged in. There was noticeably more play when it it happened, so we may be barking up the wrong tree since you don't notice more play in the jack. Your other symptoms are exactly what I had, though.