opening up an amp

[John Matrix]

excuse this n00b question.

I've heard that amps store a lot of electricity in them even after they are unplugged, which would pose a shock danger for anyone opening one up to work on it. I want to open up my beta lead so I can have easier access to the pots, but I don't want to die. Is there anything I need to do before I do this? It's a solid state amp. Thanks!

[Walt-Dogg]

Turn it off. Unplug it, you should be safe. It's tube amps you have to worry about, my Ampeg V4 almost killed me, and those amps have killed people.

[HRobert]

Turn it off. Unplug it, you should be safe. It's tube amps you have to worry about, my Ampeg V4 almost killed me, and those amps have killed people.

I believe that solid state amps may have some capacitors in their circuitry.  You still have to make sure that you don't touch any of the capacitors as they store a charge...

[Walt-Dogg]

Uhh, what?

[loudthud]

Servicing amps should be left to qualified personel. Take your amp to a service technician for repair. Do not open the amp if you are not qualified to do so. There are no user-servicable parts inside.

[biltmore]

I agree with loudthud on this one. If you don't have any idea what you're doing, it's best not to open it up.

[John Matrix]

Well, i'm not going to take it to a tech just to clean the pots. I've done it before and nothing has happened but I just wanted to double check.

[Bim1959]

d.towel

If you've opened it up and cleaned them before then why are you asking us if you can screw anything up? Go for it and see what the heck happens. Then when you accidentally touch something when you're looking inside with both hands dont blame us because you thought you were smarter than we are.

Yes there are power supply capacitors inside that store electricity. They're the big round things with both black and red wires hooked up to them. DONT TOUCH THEM!!! Caps in a tube amp can hold as much as 600-700 volts while a solid state amp will hold as much as 100 volts. But, as a tech will tell you: it's not the voltage that kills, it's the current. Even a 9 volt battery can kill you.

The reason techs charge what they do is because of the years of training and the knowledge we possess. Read some electronics books and you'll get a clue as to what we learned.

And please. When you go screwing around in your amp and you short something out or you break a wire loose, dont complain to us because we warned you about it.

[John Matrix]

Hey dudes, I didn't wanna disrespect any techs on the board, but the bottom line is I can't afford to take it in, so if it's something I can do myself, I want to do it. I was just hoping to get some advice that's all.

[Bim1959]

No problem. It was just your tone of voice and arrogance that got to me.

I havent opened up a beta lead before, but if it's set up anything like the beta bass (which I HAVE been inside), there's little space to operate in and everything's on short wiring.

Just be careful and explore with one hand while the other is in your pocket. The minute you get both hands inside and you dont know for sure what you're looking at or what you're doing is when you can get shocked on your ass if not worse.

[Oli]

Hi,

it`s a good idea to bring it to a tech. It should be much faster and he`ll have all parts in stock (I`m working on the 350B for ages now and got stuck so many times...). If you want to clean just the pots, try out this:

DeoxIT CAIG Cleaningspray

Works great!

[tacklebox455]

theres a way to do this without killing yourself or hurting your self it takes time thou just like everyone here has said please becareful i understand where your coming from sometimes you just dont have the cash or like me you like to fix your stuff yourself luckly for me i have a buddy that does this stuff for a living who is very helpful now if you wanna do this yourself unplug the amp open it up carefully use a pair of plastic pliers (you can get these at most electrical shops there non conductive) or wrap a pair of needle nose with electrical tape about 5 wraps on each side now main thing here is be sure to leave amp unplugged for at least 1 and 1 1/2 weeks 2 would be better this allows the cap to drain off this doesnt mean it still wont have a charge so be carefull some caps can hold voltage way longer, and this way you can clean your pots.

now if your willing to spend a little money you can buy a discharge tool to drain the voltage thats what i use and i use a volt meter and check the caps twice each just to make sure there drained.

now the safer and best way is like everyone has said take it to a tech they shouldnt charge more than $50 to do this .


i hope this helps and happy playing if you need anymore help feel free to pm me and if i can help i will.