I have had a marshall head with one fender cab unit for about a year now and sometimes when i plug the guitar into the amp no noise comes out at all, even if the volume is on full whack. I took my speaker unit into my local music store and they got back a week later and said they couldnt find anything wrong with it, but that i would need a proper speaker lead, as i had lost mine so was using a normal guitar lead. Even before i lost the speaker lead, often no noise would come out. When i got back home i used the speaker lead, but at first again it didnt work, and then i fiddled around at the back where the lead plugs into the head, and its started working, but now again its not. Whats more, i have always had problems with my guitar and its often been soldering coming loose around the jack, which i have fixed time and time again and its been fine, but now even with no soldering being loose or any visible problems, no sound comes out, even with a different amp, as the amp also doesnt seem to be working. Though it all may sound quite vague, if anyone has any ideas or information, please let me know. Thankyou, Tom.

Tom Hall, January 2010

This is your problem I suspect...

"its often been soldering coming loose around the jack, which i have fixed time and time again"

A properly soldered joint does not come "loose" - my guess is that you are continually making bad joints (dry joints) - the most common problem with people who do little soldering is too much solder and not enough heat.

The mearest skim of solder on the iron and heat up the area to be soldered. Feed a small amount of solder onto the joint iso the the joint itself melts the solder rather than the tip of the iron. As soon as the solder flow is all rround the pieces of the joint remove the solder and then the iron.

When cool give it a little test pull if you're not confident.

Blobby soldering is nearly always a dry joint.

Good luck...

Peccavi, January 2010