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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
A Cautionary Tale (and offer) - Line Voltage Amp
A Cautionary Tale (and offer) - Line Voltage Amp
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joek18
20 posts
Mar 16, 2012
7:10 PM
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Hi Gang, please indulge me in my tale of weirdness.
I was recently swapped into a vintage Meteor model 1430 (Sears, Roebuck & Co - mid 1950s). I know a bit about amps but this one forced an important and new lesson. I confess the guy who sold it to me did not disclose some very important issues.
While this amp has superior tone along with five watt crunch, I grmily discovered it is a "line voltage amp" - it DOES NOT have a power transformer, rather it takes its power directly from the AC line voltage. The chassis is NOT GROUNDED which means a player can be shocked if using this amp with other electrical equipment.
I found this out after touching a mike stand while holding my connected Green Bullet. Like most players, I've been zapped before but this one was more than usual.
In any case, I've got this vintage amp but can't use it for my professional work. I don't want to keep it as a practice amp because I'm concerned my kids or another unknowing player might turn it on and get buzzed.
I'd like to offer the amp to a tech expert, rehabber or accomplished project person - NOTING THE WARNING THAT I'VE PROVIDED. I DO NOT intend to sell this amp for general use nor do I want anyone else re-selling it to an unknowing player.
As I've been told by an expert, the speaker and cabinet are fine - a techie could swap in a new chassis with proper grounding and have a fine amp. So...
If you're an amp rehabber or project expert, please email me and I'd be glad to ship the amp to you for parting out or complete grounding rehab. I'd be glad to receive any small token of equipment for swap but that's not even necessary. I'd just like the amp to find a good home with a respectable rehabber rather than turning it into an ashtray.
Please email me with ideas or offers to provide a home for the amp: joekeefe18@gmail.com. I'd be glad to send pics - I've tried to embed some on the forum but haven't unlocked that mystery as yet.
Thanks again for your indulgence.
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billy_shines
230 posts
Mar 16, 2012
7:16 PM
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how many watts is it? you may be able to convert it to dc power.
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nacoran
5389 posts
Mar 16, 2012
7:41 PM
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joek18, I can't help with the amp, but putting pictures on the forum isn't that hard. The only hard part is you have to host them somewhere else first, but there are lots of free options. I've used Flikr.com and Dropbox.com. Photobucket works too.
It's easiest if you use tabbed browsing, (or you can cheat and use your word processor. You just make an account and they walk you through uploading. Once you've done that, you either right click on the picture and copy the URL (not the page URL, you have to right click on the picture to get it (Flikr) or on the file name (the option 'Copy Public Link' under a little tab that says Dropbox in Dropbox).
The next step is only complicated if you aren't using tabbed browsing, and even then it's not that complicated. You just cut and paste this piece of code into your post:
<img src="http://www.abc.com/anyPicture.jpg">
Then you replace what is between the quotation marks with the url you got from your picture, and post. (If you aren't using browser tabs you can use your word processor to cut and paste the code to first, since you'll basically need to paste two things into one place.)
As for the amp, I'm not sure, but some of the shocking issues on older amps are really easy fixes, the sort of stuff that a good shop will do as part of basic tune-up, putting in a ground and whatnot, but my electrical skills never progressed beyond those little Radio Shack kits with the springs to hold the wire in place. :)
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Nate
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Jim Rumbaugh
693 posts
Mar 16, 2012
7:55 PM
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I'm familiar with those circuits.
No input power transfer.
I just went to Ebay and saw some isolation transformers that would do the trick, 120v in/120v out. from $15 to $30. You can pay more for exotic transformers in a fancy box, but the results are the same. A case can be made for the mechanical safety of the wiring of some of these transformers, as in making sure no one can touch where the wires are soldered onto the transformer. But it's a relatively easy modification electrically
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HarmoniCollege March 24, 2012
theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2012 7:56 PM
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bloozefish
13 posts
Mar 19, 2012
2:29 PM
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thumbs up for the isolation transformer. I have an old Harmony H400 with that type circuit (some refer to it as an AC/DC circuit.) great tone, but w/o the iso tranny it's a scary beast, as you've discovered.
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