Ukulele not working with amp

T84728342

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Hi,

I have a Kala Ebony Tenor w/ EQ (KA-EBY-TE) and for some reason when I connect it to my amp, it makes no sound.

The amp definitely works because it works with other instruments so there must be something wrong with the ukulele. If I touch the end of the chord from the amp it makes the sound that it should but then when I connect it to the ukulele, there is just no sound.

I tried removing the plate holding the jack socket on the ukulele to check if there was anything disconnected but it all looks fine.

Also the battery is fine because the inbuilt tuner and stuff works.

Anyone know what could be wrong?

Thanks,
Tim
 
I had this problem...until I turned up the volume on my on-board EQ. I had the volume slide pushed all the way to the right because, in my experience, left was no volume and the right was loud. But on my ukulele it was the opposite. So is volume turned up?
 
Thanks for your reply,

Yeah i tried pushing the volume slides all the way to the right and all the way to the left, still no sound out from the amp :/
 
Hi,

I have a Kala Ebony Tenor w/ EQ (KA-EBY-TE) and for some reason when I connect it to my amp, it makes no sound.


Also the battery is fine because the inbuilt tuner and stuff works.

Anyone know what could be wrong?

Thanks,
Tim
Did you press the little button below the volume control, need to do that each time you plug in as it thinks you always want to tune up first. :)
 
Did you press the little button below the volume control, need to do that each time you plug in as it thinks you always want to tune up first. :)

Yep, aware of that. Still doesn't work after I press the button to stop it from tuning. Thanks anyway :)
 
Some good suggestions above so far. I have an additional item you can verify:

If you shake the uke, do you hear any wires rattling around inside?

(even if not)

It could be that either the wire from the pickup element, and/or the wire from the jack plug has become disconnected from the preamp (thing with tuner and volume controls)...

If so, and maybe worth to do this any way, with a small screwdriver, you can unscrew the preamp module and gently remove it enough to see if there is a wire going in, and another wire going out...

if not, just re-insert the loose wire, also it cant hurt to remove and re-plug the wires while the preamp is out of the instrument and wiggle them and see if there is a loose/intermittent connection...

Just dont pull out the preamp module too quickly or TOO FAR, otherwise you could damage the connections at the OTHER ends of the wires, and cause them to disconnect....

Make sure to test the above while plugging into the amp as well to verify if sound is coming out (but keep the volume at a low-to-mid level).


Also, if you 'guitar cable' has more than 1 black stripe on the actual plug end, that is a stereo-signal cable, and as such could be 'shorting out' the jack in the uke (which can block the signal).

Most active preamps (which your uke has) usually contain a switching function to power on the preamp (and not the tuner) ONLY when plugged in, and if your guitar cable has 2 black stripes on the plug end(s) it is the wrong cable to use. Do you have another cable to test with?

Please report back after checking the above, and if the above does not help, I am happy to provide further troubleshooting ideas...
 
Just piggybacking on Booli's post...
The piezos in a Kala plug into a small Jack on the preamp unit. If that plug isn't inserted all the way the tuner will work but the pickup won't. You can probably reach in there with your fingers to make sure the piezo cable is firmly seated in the preamp Jack.
 
Just piggybacking on Booli's post...
The piezos in a Kala plug into a small Jack on the preamp unit. If that plug isn't inserted all the way the tuner will work but the pickup won't. You can probably reach in there with your fingers to make sure the piezo cable is firmly seated in the preamp Jack.

Aye brother, +1 on this^, and no screwdriver needed. I had not thought of this^ because the fingers on my gorilla hands cant get inside the soundhole far enough most times, so I need to use TOOLS :) LOL.
 
Some good suggestions above so far. I have an additional item you can verify:

If you shake the uke, do you hear any wires rattling around inside?

(even if not)

It could be that either the wire from the pickup element, and/or the wire from the jack plug has become disconnected from the preamp (thing with tuner and volume controls)...

If so, and maybe worth to do this any way, with a small screwdriver, you can unscrew the preamp module and gently remove it enough to see if there is a wire going in, and another wire going out...

if not, just re-insert the loose wire, also it cant hurt to remove and re-plug the wires while the preamp is out of the instrument and wiggle them and see if there is a loose/intermittent connection...

Just dont pull out the preamp module too quickly or TOO FAR, otherwise you could damage the connections at the OTHER ends of the wires, and cause them to disconnect....

Make sure to test the above while plugging into the amp as well to verify if sound is coming out (but keep the volume at a low-to-mid level).


Also, if you 'guitar cable' has more than 1 black stripe on the actual plug end, that is a stereo-signal cable, and as such could be 'shorting out' the jack in the uke (which can block the signal).

Most active preamps (which your uke has) usually contain a switching function to power on the preamp (and not the tuner) ONLY when plugged in, and if your guitar cable has 2 black stripes on the plug end(s) it is the wrong cable to use. Do you have another cable to test with?

Please report back after checking the above, and if the above does not help, I am happy to provide further troubleshooting ideas...

Just piggybacking on Booli's post...
The piezos in a Kala plug into a small Jack on the preamp unit. If that plug isn't inserted all the way the tuner will work but the pickup won't. You can probably reach in there with your fingers to make sure the piezo cable is firmly seated in the preamp Jack.

Thanks so much both of you! You were spot on. It works now :)

I knew it couldn't have been the cable because when I first got the uke a couple of weeks ago I quickly tested it with the same equipment and it worked.

So I tried to push the plug in on the preamp further like you suggested. I remember previously trying to do that when I first had this problem but it wouldn't go any further. However, I realised it must be the problem because as photoshooter mentions its one of the only reasons the tuner can work but the pickup can't.

I then unscrewed the preamp unit and just simply unplugged the plug to the preamp and plugged it back in. It still didn't go all the way in (don't think it's meant to) but it was worth a try. So I connected it to the amp and all of a sudden it worked! :)

Thanks again guys, really appreciate the help :)
 
Thanks so much both of you! You were spot on. It works now :)
...[snip]...
Thanks again guys, really appreciate the help :)

YAY!

That's great! Glad the info above helped and you were able to make it work!

Happy Uking! :music:
 
I wish I read this thread earlier because that has happened to me with the preamps I've installed and it took a bit of trouble shooting to discover the same thing. Yes, the plug does not go in all the way as one might expect.
 
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