Soundcraft Ghost - headphone jack

[permanent hearing damage]

ok, i'm sure i'm not the only one with this problem. i will spare you all the stupid and annoying details, but the right channel on my monitors cuts out occasionally now and i'm 1000% certain it is due to the headphone jack. all outputs are like this except the mix - which is unaffected. i have switched speaker cables, switched the monitors, switched outputs, etc. nothing stops the problem. and this never did this to me once until i used the headphone jack again a few weeks ago in a session.

is there a quick way to fix this or just defeat the headphone jack altogether? i would not miss it.

any ideas?

also, any contact for a tech who can overhaul one of these in the philadelphia area would be appreciated. my tech doesn't wanna touch it.

thanks in advance

[cgarges]

I've never heard of that problem, but one studio where I work a lot has a Ghost and the owners moved the headphone jack to the top of the console, since it sits in an Argosy table that defeats access to the jack in its stock location.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[asylumdigital]

HA,
I have this problem on my Soundcraft board as well... Anytime a headphone plug is inserted, when it is removed, my left channel cuts out. The way to "pop" it back on seems to be simply turning the master & control rm volume all the way up for a second & it pops back in w/ no problem whatsoever. This is hardly a workaround, so I do not use the headphone jack anymore.

[The Scum]

If it's anything like it's older siblings (200/500/600/6000), the headphone jack is a switching jack that disconnects the monitor outputs when the phones are plugged in.

If the contacts in the jack are dirty or worn out, then they might not make a good contact when the phones are unplugged. The jack might need cleaning or replacement...with is a $5 repair, with an hour of labor on either side to get the board out and back in.

[farview]

What I did was i soldered across the jack, so it doesn't defeat the monitors. I don't use the thing, so I don't care.

[ashcat_lt]

I've never noticed that it has anything to do with the headphone jack. I'd be happy if that's all it is. Please tell me that's all it is.

I might be tripping, but it seems that mine drops the left channel (on all stereo busses, I can see it on the meters) for sources plugged in on the left hand side of the board (1-16). Drops the right channel for things on the right hand side(17-32). Any real strong blast of volume will make it behave for a little while, but if things get quiet it farts out again. My random readings have led me to believe this might be a symptom of a mis-biased opamp somewhere. Part of me says, though, that everything would be fine if I just cleaned all the hair and pot smoke out of it.

[Jim Williams]

Common problem, easy fix. No, I don't mean soldering across the normals so it won't switch. I treat the contacts of mine with a tiny amount of Stabilant 22A, this eliminates the cut out you sometimes get. It's held up for 12 years for me, no problems since. If you do replace the jack, it's mounted on a double sided pcb, use good tools or you will wreck it. This also applies to the insert jacks, the same problem can happen there.

[TorbinH]

Hello Jim Williams, I am having control room out level drop in right channel with an otherwise very good SoundCraft Spirit Studio LC. Would you be so kind as to further describe how you “treat the contacts” with a tiny amount of Stabilant 22a. Do you apply the Stabilant with the jack still in the board?
Forgive my ignorance.
Sincerely,
Torbin Harding

[joninc]

my ghost is doing this a lot right now - SUPER ANNOYING

[losthighway]

I've got an old 400 board from them. There have been a few intermittent things in the monitor section. I don't actually fault the engineering, I think it's just the reality of a board that's decades old. People with old Neve's expect to have periodic maintenance so why wouldn't a Soundcraft. Unfortunately I limit my soldering to connectors and cables so if I ever want to put my monitors back on the Control Room out (instead of the output from the master fader, where I put them as a short-term work around) I'm gonna have to learn, or pay someone who knows how to navigate the cramped world of mixing desk circuits.

[joninc]

Common problem, easy fix I treat the contacts of mine with a tiny amount of Stabilant 22A, this eliminates the cut out you sometimes get.

How do you "treat the contacts"? can you just spray this into the jack or does it require disassembly?

Stabilant 22A looks like some sort of thing you kind of paint on and is super expensive so I'd love a little guiding if anyone knows.... haven't seen @jimwilliams around here in a while...