ilovefuzz.com

Why is it that when I step up to sing a harmony into the microphone while I'm playing guitar I get shocked?
And how can I stop this from happening in a cheap, easy way? Foam covers?
My band has a pa system and it's rather old, (80's? 90's?) and I'm playing through an 80's-ish twin reverb. Idk if there's grounding issues.
It doesn't happen every time I step up to the mic, but occasionally it does happen. I like my lips. I don't like them slightly injured.
Halp.

Same thing happened to me at my practice room - the solution for me was to plug my amp into the same circuit ar the pa is plugged into. I just plugged an extension lead into the 4 way power pack the PA was powered by and it stopped right away!

bennybanana wrote:Same thing happened to me at my practice room - the solution for me was to plug my amp into the same circuit ar the pa is plugged into. I just plugged an extension lead into the 4 way power pack the PA was powered by and it stopped right away!

You mean plug into the same collection of wall/surge strip outlets?
This seems like it would make sense.

Yeah, as long as the PA and the guitar amp are powered by the same wall socket, either through a double adapter or power strip. Common grounding, I believe.

Yes

take a long guitar cable and take one end and plug it into any unused on the monitor desk. Take the other end and plug it into any unused jack on your guitar amp(like an effects send). This will connect the grounds of the P.A. and your amp together and prevent you from being the easiest path for the juice...

Thanks dudes! I'll try your suggestions out on wednesday.

I got shocked the other day, not on the lips though. Had a ton of stuff plugged in one socket, then ran (tried to) stereo to another amp (old 2 prong silvertone) that was plugged in across the room. Got quite a zap when I went to plug in that cable.

I end up singing out of tune, which is a shock because I think I can sing in tune.

The reason for the shock is the differences between the voltage and ground values (sorry, probably using wrong words for these, don't know the jargon in english) of the PA system and your guitar amp.

Considering that the amount of eletrical current inside your amp could kill you, I'd really consider doing something more than just switching the power cord from plug to another. Especially when you're gigging, you won't always get the chance to choose where to plug your PA and amp to. People have actually died on stage because of this.

There's this mod called the lifesaver mod, that does exactly what it promises to do. It basically prevents the electric current from reaching your body through your guitars strings, thus making sure you stay alive. It's not hard to do, I'd really suggest googling it and modding your guitars unless they're already been done.

i dont really sing so...

be careful vdp, we dont want fried poppies...

Everything in my band room shocks me. If I reach over to adjust the knobs on a pedal, aluminum knobs, I get shocked. If I'm not wearing shoes with good soles... bottom line, I get shocked by everything that's metal. One day my friend's cat stepped on my pedals when everything was plugged in and it shocked him, the cat wasn't hurt though. I should look into that live-saver mod and investigate the other grounding issues before there's a tragic waterbottle/supersoaker accident.

Jero wrote:I got shocked the other day, not on the lips though. Had a ton of stuff plugged in one socket, then ran (tried to) stereo to another amp (old 2 prong silvertone) that was plugged in across the room. Got quite a zap when I went to plug in that cable.

That thing could have killed you. Google death cap, then google Les Harvey.

devnulljp wrote:That thing could have killed you. Google death cap, then google Les Harvey.

No doubt. Luckily we were recording!

Yea, I had the guitar cable plugged into the Silvertone (non ground), on one wall already. The main amp and pedals were currently being played through across the room...tele>cs9>sstone>dd3>ec100(tape delay, non ground)>amp. Went to plug the guitar cable from the silvertone into the direct out of the dd3, touched the sstone in the process and ZAP.

Didn't this kill someone on CSI?