Mono/Stereo Sensing Guitar Jack

[Heft]

Is it possible for a stereo jack to detect whether a stereo or mono cable is plugged in? I've seen some switching jack diagrams that make me think this might be possible. I've also heard that the red hot chili peppers' bassist had this done to his bass.
I would like to have one jack that outputs stereo and mono.

 

[Rick]

You mean like having your e and a strings go to one amp and the d and g strings going to another?  Or the north pup going to one amp and the south going to another?  Seen this on ovation electrics from the 70s and 80s.  Never tried it on a build.  If you get a wiring diagram please post.

So yes ... it is possible.

http://www.ovationtribute.com/Schematics.html

http://www.ovationfanclub.com/photos/BruDeV_67009_preacher%20wiring.jpg

 

[stratamania]

Can you provide an example or link to a diagram that you have seen related to your question?

 

[Sadie-f]

The Ghost piezo pickup preamp can be wired to send the piezo and mag outputs to tip and ring of a stereo jack, and it detects TS/trs jacks accordingly. However the passive electrics of a normal guitar have no means to detect this.

 

[Heft]

I think what I was looking for was a Make/Break Switch. And I think what I wanted can't be done with a guitar output jack. Thanks for the feedback.

Can you provide an example or link to a diagram that you have seen related to your question?

Here is an amp diagram that works though.

 

[mayfly]

I was about to add that Rickenbacker found a way to do this...

.... but it uses two jacks.  Plug into one to get mono, plug into the other to get TRS stereo.

 

[TBurst Std]

And how they (Ric) do that is actually mechanical.  Just get one of the jacks sightly unaligned with the other and find out how quickly you lose sound from a pickup.  Don’t ask me how I know (cough cough 360 12 string)

 

[DuckBaloo]

Nope. Not with one jack. You can wire certain jacks to switch whenever a plug is inserted, but not to switch depending on if a TS or TRS plug is inserted.

You need two jacks...

• 1. Main Jack - traditional TS mono jack - both pickups combined when used by itself
• 2. Ext Jack - mono switching jack; wired so when you plug into the Ext jack, it disconnects the neck PU from the Main Jack and redirects it to tip of the Ext Jack
• You also have to have separate Vol and Tone controls for each PU to keep the signal separate.

The above will allow using two normal mono guitar cables which are easy to find.

The Ric "Rick-o-Sound" guitars and the '60s Gibson "stereo-wired" guitars all had two jacks as well...one mono jack (both PUs) and one stereo jack that required more expensive, harder-to-find, easier-to-break Y cables or breakout boxes (when I owned my 360, the Rick-o-Sound breakout box was sold for the low, low price of $150). I've heard Ric have switched to a switching setup like mine above, but the current manuals still say they require a Y-cable.

 

[amigarobbo]

Shergold Basses did that, but it had a switch to split the E&A and D&G outputs or to keep them combined.