continued from "At last my 200s! Now what?" getting SHOCKED!!!

[Smoothwound]

Hi Again fellow Sunn lovers,

So its been quite awhile since I aquired my 200s rig, and I have to say I LOVE IT!!!

It really is the muse I have been looking for to inspire writing and playing.

So for over a year I have been rehearsing in different spaces, no problems. I did replace the old tubes with eurotubes, which are great!

Recently I got a Mu Tron Phasor without a grounded plug, and at my first gig out with it, ZAP!! I was shocked by the mic several times before I put a plastic bag over it. Man does that SUK! It was an out door gig and I thought it might have something to do eith the outlet in the trailer which was my power supply, however...

monday in the studio, I plugged in my EKO acoustic/electric retrofitted with toasters, and ZAP! again got shocked.

So I'm asking for help here. In the above thread is a detailed list of the mods that were made to the amp, including installation of a 3 pronged grounded plug. I assume he removed the "death cap" polarity switch, it doesn't seem to do anything when I try it.

So is it the Mu Tron, The EKO, or the SUNN? I'll attach pics as well, thanks for any help.

I have been trying to contact Hal at Guitronics but he's not returning my call. any other amp techs in the SF bay area?

[Watson]

Buy one of these and always check the power you are plugging into before you end up dead.

http://www.amazon.com/GE-3-Wire-Receptacle-Tester-50542/dp/B002LZTKIA/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425501423&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=ac+polarity+chrecker

Throw it in your equipment bag...for $5 it may save your life.

[loudthud]

This is a serious issue that needs to be resolved. DO NOT operate the amp or even plug it into an outlet untl it is!!! Serious injury or death could result !!!

Although the actual fault could be in another piece of equipment, an outlet strip or the building wiring, the only thing that has changed recently is the Sunn amp. Those little gizmos with the three lights won't detect all problems, but they will detect a missing ground.

[Watson]

My suggestion was that you check the AC you were plugging into and I stand by that; regardless of whether the amp is faulty or not if you are plugging into unknown power as you described, outdoors and driven by generators or in various clubs, etc, you should first validate the source you are plugging it into. They will also detect reverse hot/neutral and reversed hot/ground.

The most likely case IF it is the external wiring is the hot and neutral are reversed or a grounding issue.  I've used the unit I included a URL to for years in building and home wiring and caught many a bad electrician's work using that $4.95 device...specifically the one I took the time to post a link to.  I still use it and always will before I plug anything into an ac source I've not visited before.

Don't stop there...but do start there.  I respect everyone's opinions and can just say from having used one over the years that it does catch reversed polarity and the other issues it has indicator light combinations for.  I've seen them all.  I suppose some may not be as good as others, I can see where that could be true.  The one in the link I provided has caught many a bad wiring for me and as I mentioned, I do continue to rely on it. 

DO had the amp checked as suggested by loudthud, but I do suggest the unit I pointed to as a good piece of standard equipment that only takes a moment to use.

[Smoothwound]

Thank you guys!

I will get one of those, and have put another call in to guitronics. I'll let you know what it is when I find out.

thanks again

[Smoothwound]

Well,
So I plugged all pedals, amp, and mixing board into the same strip, checked each outlet and extension cord to make sure they are grounded, and placed a wind cover over the mic, and so far no sparks!

Still I would like to know for sure how to avoid this ever again. I bout an ac/dc/ voltage tester, but not sure how its supposed to detect if the mic-strings-body connection is hot?

Anyway, happy to be zap-free for now!!