Any tips on a dodgy phones/line out socket on my Micro BR?

[Tangled Wires]

My Micro BR phones/line out socket has been playing up for a little while, and I am having to wedge something underneath the line out cable or headphones to make it work. If I just plug in the headphones I will generally get no sound coming out and if I wiggle it about a bit the sound will come and go.

I am assuming it is a loose connection so have taken it apart in the hope that it might be something simple, but to be honest I haven't got a clue what I am doing and there was nothing obvious on first inspection that I could do that was within my capabilities.

I actually own two MBR's and experienced the same problem with that one, so don't know if this is a common issue that others may of experienced, and whether or not anybody has any ideas as how to fix it?

Cheers!

[Geir]

You are sure it's not the headphones ? ... Yes I guess you are ... well you could try some electronics cleaning spray, and make sure there's nothing inside the socket ....

[Greeny]

Haven't had this (scary) problem myself with an MBR jack socket. I've had plenty of issues with bad headphone and line-in leads though. Good call from Geir on making sure the socket is clean though? My MBR is always in it's slip-case inside another hard case when not in use, so that's helped keep it relatively undamaged.

No idea how much it would be to replace a jack socket or even if it's a job you could do yourself.

Feeling your pain though. I'd be lost if my MBR packed up :-(

[64Guitars]

You could have a bad solder connection. See the following topic:

https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=4676.0

If that doesn't solve it, it shouldn't be hard to find a replacement jack and solder it in place yourself. Here's one from RS:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/jack-trs-connectors/7051490/

Just make sure the solder pins are in the same position so they line up with the circuit board. You might want to un-solder your old connector from the BR first so you can take it to the electronics parts store and make sure you get a replacement that has the same pin placement.

When applying a soldering iron to a circuit board, try to be quick about it. Prolonged heat can damage other components on the board. And use a low-wattage iron, if possible.

[Tangled Wires]

Cheers for the advice guys, will go down the cleaning spray route first as it is not the headphones as I have tried various ones to test this.

The replacement jack could be the answer as my Dad has a soldering iron and is a dab hand with it 

If all else fails it might give me an excuse to upgrade to a BR800

[henwrench]

Just in case, try and pick up some 'Servisol'....

                                                henwrench

      https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=13469.0

[Gnasty]

Sorry just noticed this. I had problems with my br-80 headphone input too which seems to be a common problem.

It was really getting annoying and thought i had to take it apart which i didn`t want to do at all.
My headphone cable is pretty heavy  so weighing it down seemed to work but when i moved it still would
move off its connection. So i thought to myself. Why i can`t i make a shim to put it there at the top of the
input so it wouldn`t move.
So i took toothpicks. I stuck each end of a toothpick and broke it all the way around the top of the input so it
wouldn`t move. Voila! Never had a problem since.

If you look at the picture. The whitish area are the shims and it`s also totally smooth to the touch.

High tech people may advise against this but there is no way it can harm anything.

[jp68]

Has anyone removed the 4 phillips screws on the sides of the BR-80 and pulled the front and rear covers to get at the board and plug?

[Geir]

Has anyone removed the 4 Allen screws on the sides of the BR-80 and pulled the front and rear covers to get at the board and plug?

Not on the BR80, but I (and a few others too) have opened the MicroBR with success. There's pictures to be found here on this site.
Mine's here:
https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=7394.0

and here's Launched's:
https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=4676.0

[jp68]

Took the four screws on each end out and the aluminum front and back plates come off. Then there are 6 screws that hold the two body halves together. I could then see the earphone jack and the solder joints. I couldn't see any indication that the joints were broken. So I put the unit back together and couldn't get the last two side screws to engage. So now I have two loose screws... Some probably think I have a few more than that... I guess I will have to take it apart again and try and do a better job of matching the pieces together..  I still don't know what the problem is with my earphone jack... Before I did any of this I went to the only surviving Roland/Boss authorized repair shop in the Denver area and they said it would be a minimum $60 charge and it would take 6 to 8 weeks before they could even get to my machine. If,,, If I wanted to jump to the front of the line I could pay another $40 or a total of $100.  Replacement value is $250... Sitting on this for now...