General Music Chat

LMAO!!

Capt...you crack me up!

No, sorry...no more stuff for sale. Matter of fact, I got the last of the mics he was selling, and he held that one for me.

I can help you with the water tho! How much whiskey do you want dumped in it?

LOL.. well the last 2 posts appeared suddenly and changed everything.. well I'll post my story anyways since I already typed it!!!

.. I used to work in a music store (repairing amps and effects) and got tied across a 700VDC bus line in a tube amp. When I woke up, the amp was thrown across the bench, all the glass tubes were broken and I was rocking back and forth on my stool. It was a memorable experience.

Wow, that last one is baaad.

I have heard you can get a bad case of dead working on tube amps, even ones unplugged as they retain some current?

I never heard of anyone waking up rocking slightly with the amp 50ft away.

Did everything smell like burning hair? lol

Yep, capt, tube amps do carry high voltage and are very dangerous. ZXYZ got lucky. Very lucky. It's the filter capacitors you heard about, they hold a charge for several months after the amp is turned off, and tube amps can kill if those caps are not properly discharged. Tube amps also carry both AC and DC voltage, various voltages from 6.3 v to the heaters (DC I think) to 400 V and up to the various parts of the circuit. I remeber testing my Champ and Super Reverb and finding 6.3v, 200-250v, 300v and some change and 450v or close in a few places.

I've either been careful enough or really lucky...

As far as onstage goes, I started using a foam windscreen on my mic for two reasons over 20 years ago.

1. Go tired of the metal mic screen ripping out moustache hairs. OUCH!!
2. Got really tired of getting shocked by the mic constantly.

Had one rig that did it no matter what we did, I finally gave up and bought a foam windscreen. Never play without one any more.

Yeah, ruff-stuff..
I've worked in electronics all my life (it's my profession) and yes, I've been bitten a few times. My last job I was working with 230/ 480VAC 3 phase. You have to respect electricity. DC high voltage is a lot harder to let go of due to muscle contractions vs AC. And it was more like 700+ volts, not 450, and the filament is 6.3V IIRC, non- harmful. But the plate voltage is what gets ya' because it carries several amps, vs. say, a Tesla coil which has several KV (1000's of volts) but very little current. Yeah I've been lucky a few times. I must have a guardian angel or something, I figure from all the stuff that's happened thru the years (including non- electrical things). lol.
-oh and Palo, yes the filter caps will hold a voltage but most have bleeder resistors across them to discharge them shortly after turn-off.