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Post subject: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:59 pm
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The Rumble Studio 40 bass amp features a metal headphone socket, but the GT series amps have cheap plastic ones for some reason.

I am strictly a bedroom player and because I live in a condo building, I have to play through headphones. Unfortunately, I've now broken the headphone sockets on two GT-40's. While Fender grudgingly accepted the first one as a warranty repair, I didn't want to go back to the well on that one again. Unfortunately, the local authorized Fender repair shop's hours don't mesh well with my work schedule so I was looking at a two-month wait or more between being able to drop off the amp and pick it back up. I needed something much sooner than that.

I like the functionality of the GT and I love the Rumble Studio 40 so I wanted to stay with the GT line, but I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of a third try at the GT-40. I really thought about upgrading to the GT-100, but it is more amp than I need and since it has the same fragile plastic headphone socket I wasn't going to get it without spending even more money for a protection plan. Ultimately, I went with the Boss Katana 50 which has a metal headphone socket.

At this point I expect I'll get the GT-40 fixed as time allows and either sell it or keep it as a back-up because I really do like it. But the bottom line is that Fender just lost business to a competitor because it wanted to save a few cents on a part too fragile to stand up to ordinary wear and tear.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:58 am
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
It is a 1/8 jack right , not 1/4


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:32 am
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Same thing happened to my GT 40. I’ve decided against repairing it and I bought a Roland Micro Cube GX instead. I’ll hang on to the Mustang in case I get around to soundproofing a room in my apartment to keep my guitar collection. I absolutely love the little Roland and I highly recommend it. The Mustang GT 40 has many more features than the Roland Micro Cube GX,but actually I prefer the simplicity of the Roland and it does sound absolutely wonderful through the speaker as well as headphones.

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If guitars were cocaine I’d be John Belushi.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:00 am
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My aux jack broke when i was pumping music thru it to break in my speaker when i first got it. Really cheap stuff, agreed. Pretty much the one and only thing about the GT series thats good is the modeling. All the hardware is total bottom of the line.
I'd like to see a pro version with a better louder output section, no bluetooth streaming crap to compromise guitar tone, better quality hardware, a little beefier slightly bigger cab, and a REAL guitar speaker. Leave the cheap stuff to the GT40 which is not supposed to be a gigging amp. Granted, i'd make it work as is but I hate to see such great modeling burned onto a chip that sits in such a cheaply made carcass with a speaker thats designed to sound good with bluetooth streaming. I believe by building a new version like that which is optimized for guitar tone it would compete with the katana, assuming the damage to the mustang's rep isn't already too far gone.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:49 pm
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The repair place told me that Fender doesn't authorize repairs on the GTs. If the unit is under warranty, it gets junked and replaced, (which is what happened with my first one). They also said that they weren't designed to be opened up and that any repair outside of warranty would be cost-prohibitive even if it were possible to do.

With nothing to lose, I've emailed Fender about another warranty replacement. We'll see what happens.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:55 pm
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It's what fender calls "non field repairable". And you are correct, but what they told u about repair is BS. I have repaired uncountable "non field repairable" fenders in my last job of 16 years. Yes, they ARE built in a way that doesn't lend itself to easy repairs in all cases. but i never found one i couldn't unless the board was horribly cooked or there was a part i could no sub. But most of what will go wrong with them are power supply issues of the data wheel or pots and jacks. Ribbon connectors also, but they just usually need to be re seated and shot with a little deoxit contact cleaner. I already have to do the latter to mine, and most anything else that goes wrong i can almost guarantee you i will be able to fix. But yeah, fender just replaces them if they go bad within the warranty period and if not u r out of luck. They had a 5 year warranty on the old mustangs but the GT are only a year i think, maybe 2. Speaks volumes about the build quality of the old vs new line.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:13 am
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Fair play to Fender for agreeing to a second warranty replacement. I'm not sure I'll every try using the headphones again, though.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 9:21 am
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To save a little pain in the future, use velcro to strap that cable down to the amp's handle. That was if it gets a yank from the headphone side, it pulls on the handle instead of the jack.

Same goes for the guitar cable. There is only one input on your amp. If it gets broken at a gig, it's gonna be a rough night.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 5:40 am
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One way around the problem is to use extension cables. Just get a headphone extension cable and a USB extension cable. Plud them into the sockets on the amp, and do your frequent plug in/out on the other end of the extension cables. That way the stress is on the ends of the extension cable and not the speaker sockets.

Points to note:
1. Get an extension cable length that works for you. 3 to 5 feet is enough. For gigging you may want to tape/velcro the speaker end of the cable to the cabinet and leave the other end loose when you play and tuck it into the back of the cabinet when transporting.
2. Get decent/quality extension cables to make sure they are not sloppy in the speaker sockets and to minimise signal loss through the cable and/or the joining connectors.

This way the extension cables get the stresses (and not the speaker sockets) and when cables get worn, simply replace them. It works!


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket
Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 10:49 am
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romk wrote:
Just get a headphone extension cable and a USB extension cable.

+1 good call.


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Post subject: Re: Plastic Headphone Socket on GT-100's etc.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:31 pm
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My first Mustang GT_100's headphone jack's plastic collar broke rendering it almost useless and not covered by the warranty. I bought a 2nd one to use at another location and the headphone jack has been updated...where once there was plastic there is now metal. : > (


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