Safety

Here’s the deal with tube amp safety …

These are the three primary ways you can be hurt, maimed or killed when fooling with a tube amp.

1. Shock yourself to death.  I don’t mean the kind of shock you get looking in the mirror the morning after a four-day French cigarette, Irish whisky and lard sandwich binge.  I mean electrical shock of the kind that stops your heart beating.
2. Burn yourself.  Touching hot surfaces was something you learned not to do soon after you learned to walk.  If you’ve forgotten it, next time you make a grilled cheese sandwich revisit that lesson.
3. Start a fire.  Drenching your amp with a pitcher of beer that causes a short circuit somewhere in its guts that causes your set list that’s draped over the amp to burst into flames that burns down the club and all the buildings within a 3-½ mile radius is not something you want to do.  (Although the likelihood of this scenario occurring is zero, you don’t ever want anything in your amp to short or burn.)

Common sense and a healthy survival instinct are all that is required to avoid harm and, worse, mortal embarrassment. 

Here’s what not to do:

NEVER stick your fingers or other appendages in the chassis.

Unless you are an electronic repairperson formally trained to deal with high voltage circuits and CERTAIN you know what you are doing don’t try to fix, tweak, prod, or touch anything on or in the amp chassis.  To produce the blistering tone we love, tube amps operate at high voltages and contain power supplies capable of producing more than enough current to kill you.  Please, don’t open the amp up and don’t try to fix anything yourself.  You really can be struck dead in an instant.

NEVER stick your fingers or other appendages in the cabinet.

Some electrical components get hot when they operate.  Lots of stuff in a tube amp gets hot.  Please don’t stick your fingers in the cabinet while your Amp is operating or after it has been operating.  You really can burn yourself.

NEVER allow liquid to come in close proximity to your amp.

Just like you don’t blow-dry your hair while taking a bath, don’t put your drink on your amp.  Generally, liquid conducts electricity.  If liquid contacts your Amp, you may shock yourself and/or you may cause a component or components within the amp to burn.  This could also happen if you are playing outdoors, unprotected, in the rain.  While this type of fire should be contained and short lived, you don’t want it to happen... ever.

Here’s what to do:

Turn Off Your Amp

If your amp sounds ‘off’, makes funny sounds, produces smoke, stops working, or otherwise does something that appears abnormal or that worries you, immediately turn off your amp.  Trying to ‘play through it’ can lead to significant (costly) damage and a potentially unsafe situation.

Call Mack Music Systems for Help

If you have had to turn off your amp per the above recommendation, call us – 416.705.9620.  We can arrange for warranty repairs or give you enough information about what the problem might be to steer your local, qualified amp technician in the right direction (and help her avoid spending a bunch of billable time performing basic troubleshooting).

DON’T attempt to fix the problem yourself!

(Sorry for the don’t in the do section, but it’s too important to avoid.)

Treat Your Amp with Respect

You’ve spent good money to buy your Amp.  I hope that you consider it a key component of your tone and guitar playing enjoyment.  You should treat your new musical friend with respect so that it will remain healthy and keep you safe.

• Plug the power cord into a three prong, earth grounded power receptacle.  Never attempt to plug the power cord into a two-prong receptacle.  Never cut off the power cord’s third prong or otherwise try to defeat it.
• Give your Amp room to breath.  Don’t place your amp in an enclosed space that might restrict cooling air from circulating through the cabinet.  Maintain at least 6” of clear air space around the sides and top of the amp.  Failing to do so can cause premature component wear, component failure and possibly a hazardous situation.
• Place your Amp on a stable surface.  Trying to balance your amp on a stack of your girlfriend’s textbooks is not a good idea.  A fall is a disaster for a tube amp.  Tubes can break and if the amp is on at the time of the fall short circuits can occur causing an unsafe situation.
• Give your Amp time to warm up to room temperature after bringing it indoors from the cold.  Don’t bring it inside and immediately turn it on.  The tubes and other electrical components will thank you.