SOUND ON SOUND

[Jathon Delsy]

Yes folks, the XLR lead is stuck in the back of my Avantone Mixcube. I depress the level and wiggle it and curse and gripe but it's stuck fast. I tried taking it apart but the inside of the connector is fully covered with some sort of black tape/gum stuff and is inaccessible without a radical dismantle that's beyond me.
The odd thing is that I've hardly used this connector, just a few times as I set it up, then it's been left for many years in the same position.
Surely there's a magic way of releasing the broken catch without having to pay for a professional repair?

[blinddrew]

So the obvious thing to check first is that you have tried pushing it back IN properly first to see if that releases the catch?
Next up I would get a fine, flat-head screwdriver and try and use that to release the catch by sliding it carefully between the catch and socket.

[ef37a]

If it has been stuck there for some years some corrosion might have taken place?

Try heating the barrel up with a hair dryer and then squirt in some WD-40. Or, go the other way and freeze the plug with electronic tech's freezer spray.

Dave.

[Murray B]

I've had a similar problem and managed to get the catch to release with an extra hard squeeze on the button provided by a pair of plumbers grips. Can't promise it will work in your case though.

[Dan LB]

Ugh. Been there too many times. And it's never a female flying XLR stuck in a male connector - it's always a male stuck in a female.

The only successful way I've found so far is to expose the back of the chassis XLR housing and depressing the latching mechanism from within.

I fear in your case (seeing as the XLR connector is encased in resin) that snipping the wiring to the chassis XLR and soldering in a new one might be the only option. You'll probably have to extend the existing wiring after trimming it back too (although it will likely be neater to just replace the wiring directly from the PCB - or maybe is it a PCB mounted XLR?) If it is then that potentially makes things slightly easier.