Question about elect. cord

scott anderson · Post by **scott anderson** » 5 Apr 2001 2:23 pm

Well Let me ask a dumb Question. Is it bad to use a amp that has the ground plug broke off? I just gota Fender Deluxe Verb Silver face It has a the Black cord with the
red plug in, and the ground peg that goes in the wall is broke or cut off will this hurt the amp. The amp is in great shape I can cut off the red plug and put on a new one. or anybody know where I could find a origonal power cord for this? are the hard to change?

Scott
Hawaii

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 5 Apr 2001 5:49 pm

if it was me I would not use the amp for long without replacing the plug or cord...

least expensive:
go to the hardware store and get a replacement plug with three prongs. only a few bux if that. cut the existing altered plug off the cable- there will be three wires inside- hopefully black , white , and Green (ground)- replace the plug.takes a screwdriver and 5 minutes.

It may not be as purty as the original molded plug, but you will (generally) be safer with the ground wire goin' where it spoze to

a little more expensive and you gotta know how to solder and NOT TOUCH THE WRONG THING INSIDE YOUR AMP:
buy a 9 foot extension cord (3 prong heavy duty, not necessarily safety orange, several dollars) cut off the FEMALE plug, strip the wires back a bit.
remove the rear tolex covered panel, remove the tubes, making sure you know which came out of what position,unscrew the strap bolts on top of your Fender, and remove the amp from it's slot. trace where the power cable black white and green wires go once inside the amp. write it down draw a diagram. unsolder the old cord. replace it with the new one exactly as the old one came out. reassemble amp.

about 25 minutes, a soldering iron, solder, pliers and the possibility of shocking the hell out of yourself (possibly even dying)

or have it replaced by a professional technician

take your pick

Jack Stoner may have more to add...
or go here:

http://www.fenderforum.com/fdp.html the Fender Discussion Forum... scroll down til you see "Vintage Amps (Before 1985)"
post the same question there... perhaps someone can explain more lucidly than I
[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 05 April 2001 at 06:53 PM.][This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 05 April 2001 at 06:58 PM.]

John Hanusch · Post by **John Hanusch** » 6 Apr 2001 7:42 am

Scott, Dave is right on about a shocking experience. I just had it a couple days ago working on '66 Deluxe Reverb. It had even been unplugged for a few days, but those caps still had enough charge to light up the end of my screwdriver, so I didn't get the full effect myself. Best let a pro tech do it.

scott anderson · Post by **scott anderson** » 6 Apr 2001 10:15 am

Thanks for the info, I think I'll just go to the hardware and get a new male plug and cut the cord. Thanks agian
Scott

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 6 Apr 2001 8:25 pm

weenie....

Everybody need an electricfing event at least once !!!

Seriously tho,the guys are right !!
Do the right thing and replace it with a 3-pronge plug !! If your were here close to me, I would fix it for you,free of charge.

[This message was edited by Bill Crook on 12 April 2001 at 02:46 AM.]

Chuck Martin · Post by **Chuck Martin** » 10 Apr 2001 3:30 pm

I just had to replace a plug on an Evans that I recently bought that was missing the ground pin. What I ended up doing was buying a $3 replacement plug at a hardware store that had screws for the 3 wires. When you cut the old plug off use a continuity tester so that you can determine which wire goes where when you attach them to your replacement plug. The other thing I did was to throw away the little screws on the brass blades on the replacement plug, fed each wire through its proper hole and then soldered it. After it cooled I then cut any extra wire that was sticking out from the solder joints. It took a little more time to do it this way but my cord is as good as new and an annoying hum I was hearing is now gone![This message was edited by Chuck Martin on 10 April 2001 at 04:32 PM.]

John Paul Jones · Post by **John Paul Jones** » 11 Apr 2001 7:08 pm

Scott,

Make sure you unplug the cord before you cut it.

JPJ