My Amp Tried To Kill Me!!

[Rusty Shackleford]

Okay, last night I went down to the basement to jam for a while through my carvin sx200. Now this amp is 100 solid state watts through 2 channles and 2x12 speakers. I might also add this is the second amp carvin has sent me in the last three weeks. The first one hada faulty input jack after a played it less than 20 times. This one seemd okay, the sound was pretty bad I've heard worse.

Anyway, I was jamming along, minding my own business when I decided to play my brass slide. I have always enjoyed the jangle of the brass over glass or ceramic slides. Well I touched the slide to the strings and ZZZZZZTTTTTT!!!!! I was shocked so bad my left arm went numb for over half an hour. Now I checked all my outlets, it's plugged in to a surge protector, everything is the way it should be. I even plugged my twenty year old crate gfx212 up and played my slide, no deadly shock.

So does this mean that the amp is not grounded somewhere onboard the amp itself? Any help ya'll can offer would be great. If it is another bad amp, then I will not give carvin a third chance to impress me and will ask for a full refund. Then follow some advice from a friend on this website and purchase an old peavey deuce. Thanks a ton.

 

[Beerdog80]

Uhh..yeah, don't play it again. Either the amp is having some grounding issues (does your plug have three prongs?) or the wall socket is not properly grounded.

If it's the amp, return ASAP or take it to a reputable amp repair shop and have it fixed.

 

[randelli]

That is some serious stuff there! Was your other hand holding a beer? Shouldn't make much of a difference but there would be a big mess to clean up if it was.

I would send it straight back to Carvin and get a full refund!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Yes everything on the wall/outlet end is fine none of my other amps have ever done that. And to answer randeli's question my mouth was actually full of beer, but not my other hand. I almost wasted it all on the floor, but managed to gag it down. But I don't believe I will be playing that amp anymore.

 

[Mike I]

This one seemd okay, the sound was pretty bad I've heard worse.

Is your life worth playing, or trying to play, a bad sounding amp that tries to kill you? And it may.

Send it back, and don't look back.

Life's too short to play bad amps.

 

[randelli]

I knew beer was involved somewhere...........

Sorry you had bad luck with that Carvin.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Is your life worth playing, or trying to play, a bad sounding amp that tries to kill you? And it may.

Send it back, and don't look back.

Life's too short to play bad amps.

I tried calling Carvin today but I forgot it's labor day (oddly enough I'm at work right now) so as soon as it's 9:00 in california they will be hearing from me. I forgave them for the amp with the faulty input jack. The prongs stretched out and wouldn't hold the jack in. Yeah that's crappy for a brand new amp, but it can happen to any amp. But this shit is unbelievable. I don't know how Carvin as a good reputation at all. What if this happened to their poster boys Steve Vai or Joe Walsh? I just want my money back and Iwill never deal with Carvin again. If any of you out there have had two bad amps in less than a month, I'm sure you know how I feel.

 

[Mike I]

Sux that it had to happen, but a bad ground circuit is NOTHING to fool with.

Don't let them try to have you get it fixed, as you have no way of knowing the depth of the problem.

Many of us here build, or work on amps. and know what they can do for you, and TO you!

New amps are not supposed to shock the user. Period.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Thanks Mike, knowing me I would have let them talk me into having fixed. I have spent the last few years learning all about guitars that I now absolutely shit about amps. But Carvin has decent customer support so it shouldn't be a hassle tp get my cash back. Soon to be a dedicated peavey user!

 

[Diocletian]

I'd send it back and buy something from a different company. To be fair to Carvin, this must be VERY rare, or no one would be using their stuff, but I would have lost any confidence in them by now.

 

[rdsmith3]

It might be worth going to your local hardware store to get one of these ground fault testers, just to make sure it is not your house wiring. For $11 it is worth it.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Gardner-GFI-501A-Receptacle-Circuit-Analyzer/dp/B00004WLJM]Amazon.com: Gardner Bender GFI-501A Ground Fault Receptacle Tester and Circuit Analyzer: Home Improvement[/ame]

 

[danzego]

Life's too short to play bad amps.

Especially when said bad amp is trying to make it even shorter. I concur.

 

[Lampens]

This is weird. Did youy play before without the slide and nothing happened? But when you put on the brass slide you got zapped. You would have gotten zapped without the slide too. Am I missing something here?

 

[SonicBoom]

I'd send it back and buy something from a different company. To be fair to Carvin, this must be VERY rare, or no one would be using their stuff, but I would have lost any confidence in them by now.

Go to Home Depot and get a power plug tester as was posted earlier. It's a good tool to have around regardless. Older homes or clubs may have a wiring problem. This will test for them.

Most likely it is the amp though.

 

[Dolebludger]

This is a bit OT, OK? Now, as said above, I'd first get a little device and test my ground on the outlet you were using. If you have no ground, ANY amp might shock you. I remember playing "back in the day" when all amps were ungrounded at the plug, and constantly getting shocks from my mic.

If your electrical outlet is properly grounded, I'd return the amp. And to address the bad tone problem, I'd exchange it for one of Carvin's all-tube amps. Why? because they sound much better. I've never gotten a tone I like out of a Carvin SS amp.

 

[DoctorSkullington]

Don't just send it back. Complain.

 

[IndianScout]

you didn't happen to have bare feet did you, ??

my amp in the basement shocked me with bare feet on the cement..

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Come to think of it I don't think I was wearing shoes. I guess that might have been the problem. But I did plug in several other amps into the same surge protector in the same wall socket and nothing happened. Two of them were crate solid state amps, and one of them a tube preamped bass amp. I even took it upstairs and plugged it in wearing shoes and got a little zap. So it's going back tomorrow. 120watts up my left arm just didn't feel good. I was thinking about an old school peavey with the ss preamp and tube power section, but these little Marsahll class 5's are just so damn tempting.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

By the way sorry it's taken me a while to answer questions, I work night shift and sleep all day.

 

[singlecut]

thats sux,
this just in
"my guitar wants to kill your mama"