If you're going to play barefoot, just make sure your amp is plugged into a GCFI outlet or extension- and stay away from the mic. More players have probably been zapped by hot microphones than instruments.
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D
When I was a kid in early 70's, I took my Tiesco del Ray and my 6 watt checkmate amp onto our back porch (concrete slab) to serenade the neighborhood with some Grand Funk covers. I was barefooted. I got shocked to the point it almost knocked me off my feet. That was the last time I ever picked up an electric instrument barefooted.
I've also had my eyelids feel as if they were vibrating at 60Hz when my lips touched the windscreen of a mic due to ground issues. I'm careful of unknown PA setups, I always touch the mic with my right hand in a glancing blow before touching it with my lips. All you badasses that are not concerned with electrical shock, go ahead with your foolish selves if your life means so little that you will risk it it such a cavalier manner. As for me, I'm allergic to electrocution.
I've also had my eyelids feel as if they were vibrating at 60Hz when my lips touched the windscreen of a mic due to ground issues. I'm careful of unknown PA setups, I always touch the mic with my right hand in a glancing blow before touching it with my lips. All you badasses that are not concerned with electrical shock, go ahead with your foolish selves if your life means so little that you will risk it it such a cavalier manner. As for me, I'm allergic to electrocution.
The equipment was the life line. And apparently the deathline.
Her death blamed on faulty equipment. The lady had a duty to inspect the equipment and not to perform if the equipment was faulty.
Does any one know CPR?
Unless it's an acoustic bass in your living room and you are playing along to youtube vines....
Yeah let's break this down real quick for these death prone hippies.
1. You shouldn't be on any amplified stage barefoot.
2. You shouldn't be playing any instrument amplified with high voltage barefoot.
3. You look like an ass trying to get weirdo attention.
So tell your low-end soy buddies to put on socks, then Crocs, before he/she rocks. Seriously though, you might get killed by electricity doing this. Electricution is by far the lamest type of overdose a musician can die from.
Yeah let's break this down real quick for these death prone hippies.
1. You shouldn't be on any amplified stage barefoot.
2. You shouldn't be playing any instrument amplified with high voltage barefoot.
3. You look like an ass trying to get weirdo attention.
So tell your low-end soy buddies to put on socks, then Crocs, before he/she rocks. Seriously though, you might get killed by electricity doing this. Electricution is by far the lamest type of overdose a musician can die from.
I'm talking worldwide.
I'd bet over 50% of the population of Earth are on coal power.
add - but I'd have lost, seems we are making progress:
View attachment 2806047
In 2013 coal was reported as 41% & I know at one time it was over 50%.
Come to think of it, I should have known natural gas as a source would grow, since Chevron & other oil companies started investing their efforts more on gas at least a decade ago.
but hey, coal is still the largest source of power
From "scares me seeing people playing barefoot" to Hans Rosling-ish statistics...talk about hijacking thread...
I think there were three posts about power sources prior to yours, and with mine now 5, not bad out of 13 pages (5 posts out of 246 = 2%)
You're into a catch 22 like a choice between plauge or cholera...
Don't wear these:
Conductive shoes, in order so you don't build up static electricity while walking, indoors or outdoors, no matter how dry or wet it is. These shoes are like barefoot.
So then you have to wear these:
Which means you can't handle any computer things, or parts, and your rub up a fair amount of static electricity yourself. And get unpleasant small jolts all of the time.
No matter in which way you turn, you have your behind at rear...
Don't wear these:
Conductive shoes, in order so you don't build up static electricity while walking, indoors or outdoors, no matter how dry or wet it is. These shoes are like barefoot.
So then you have to wear these:
Which means you can't handle any computer things, or parts, and your rub up a fair amount of static electricity yourself. And get unpleasant small jolts all of the time.
No matter in which way you turn, you have your behind at rear...
Yeah, I used to wearing anti-static shoes in a clean room & I don't think they were really that conductive, but then again I never took an Ohm meter to them:
They were big hit on the dance floor at the local clubs, because they glowed in the black lights.
They were big hit on the dance floor at the local clubs, because they glowed in the black lights.
When we did a major remodel at my last church, the grounding between the stage and sound room caused a LOT of ground loop hum. (Electricians are pretty ignorant of sound grounding issues.) We did have to lift the grounds of some equipment. The Fire inspector was not happy. We ended up putting in all GFCI outlets on stage. Even with the ground lifted, if there was a ground fault, even in milivolts, the AC would trip off. We only had one trip and it turned out to be a ceramic cap in a tube preamp that was wired to snub AM RFI. It leaked very slightly, and the GFCI caught it.
I wired a couple extension cords with GFCI outlets for my band...one for my bass rig and one for the guitar player's 65 Ampeg Reverb Rocket, which can get a little cranky at times.
No bare feet for me. I always hated walking barefoot.
I wired a couple extension cords with GFCI outlets for my band...one for my bass rig and one for the guitar player's 65 Ampeg Reverb Rocket, which can get a little cranky at times.
No bare feet for me. I always hated walking barefoot.
I set my drink on my amp and as I walked back to the mic stand, my cord knock it over onto the ac outlet where my amp was plugged in. I reached down to get the glass, holding the neck of my Fender jazz Bass with the other hand and got a large shock the literally knock me out cold! Shoes or no shoes you can get zapped when playing. But to be barefoot is just inviting trouble
Ever see those gfi's on hair dryers. I recommend that old amp cords be replace with hair dryer cords. Test the cords first. Source Goodwill.
Yea because Fender Jazz basses are neck heavy, when I leaned down to picking my glass I held the neck to keep it from hittin the floor and of course the string are grounded thru the bridge to the control cavity so when i touched the wet glass that was laying next to the wet ac box, I completed the circuit and ZAPPYour fender bass needs a shock label on it.
Had to learn some basic safety rules when I started...
1) Bring an outlet tester wherever you play (about $10, Home Depot), and if the offered outlet isn't grounded, or is wired backwards, or is dangerously loose-fitting, don't use it. (I carry an extra 50' cord so I can power myself from a good outlet if I find one further away. Otherwise, gig's off.)
2) NEVER play barefoot, or even in socks. You don't want to make yourself a path to ground. Remember: "Sh*t happens".
3) If you sing, put a boom on your mic stand, so your strings can't incidentally contact the stand. It happens...
4) If you're practicing in a cellar, stay away from any pipes. They are ground. Don't touch them.
5) There is never a good reason to defeat the ground on a plug. Though a good DI box may be set up to lift a ground safely, in a pinch. But still, if you have noise issues, don't just treat the symptom! Find the cause and fix that, between shows.
6) Even just to protect your equipment...a good pricey surge protector should come between it and someone else's dubious house-wiring. Ultimately, try to get get one that offers GFCI protection (explained below). But even without that, a $30-range surge protector will protect your equipment from spikes, and filter out noise too. It's just a given. Don't use a $3 "power strip"!
7) Playing outdoors? Rain is coming? Show's over. ...You wouldn't use a hair dryer in a bath tub would you? Then don't use an electric instrument, standing on a wet surface.
8) Ever see anyone climb an electric pole? I did. He fried like bacon.
8) Also saw a kid try to chop one down with a hatchet.
9) Yea, I've been around dumb people.
10) Anyway..If fear of death doesn't dissuade you from carelessness about electricity, then consider an even worse outcome: you live, but your equipment got wrecked....because you broke a prong off a plug and said "whatever".
===================================================
About GFCI outlets:
"When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. The left slot is slightly larger than the right. The left slot is called "neutral," the right slot is called "hot" and the hole below them is called "ground." If an appliance is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.
So let's say you are outside with your power drill and it is raining. You are standing on the ground, and since the drill is wet there is a path from the hot wire inside the drill through you to ground. If electricity flows from hot to ground through you, it could be fatal. The GFCI can sense the current flowing through you because not all of the current is flowing from hot to neutral as it expects -- some of it is flowing through you to ground. As soon as the GFCI senses that, it trips the circuit and cuts off the electricity."
===================================================
SO I'M SAYING, USE ONE OF THESE:
Surge Protector with noise filter
AND GET ONE OF THESE TO PLUG IT INTO:
Portable GFCI Adaptor
AND THIS (PLUS THE ABOVE SAFETY TIPS) WILL KEEP YOU AND YOUR EQUIPMENT SAFE
THAT YOU MAY LIVE TO DIE OF SOME OTHER LESS EMBARRASSING TYPE OF STUPIDITY LATER
1) Bring an outlet tester wherever you play (about $10, Home Depot), and if the offered outlet isn't grounded, or is wired backwards, or is dangerously loose-fitting, don't use it. (I carry an extra 50' cord so I can power myself from a good outlet if I find one further away. Otherwise, gig's off.)
2) NEVER play barefoot, or even in socks. You don't want to make yourself a path to ground. Remember: "Sh*t happens".
3) If you sing, put a boom on your mic stand, so your strings can't incidentally contact the stand. It happens...
4) If you're practicing in a cellar, stay away from any pipes. They are ground. Don't touch them.
5) There is never a good reason to defeat the ground on a plug. Though a good DI box may be set up to lift a ground safely, in a pinch. But still, if you have noise issues, don't just treat the symptom! Find the cause and fix that, between shows.
6) Even just to protect your equipment...a good pricey surge protector should come between it and someone else's dubious house-wiring. Ultimately, try to get get one that offers GFCI protection (explained below). But even without that, a $30-range surge protector will protect your equipment from spikes, and filter out noise too. It's just a given. Don't use a $3 "power strip"!
7) Playing outdoors? Rain is coming? Show's over. ...You wouldn't use a hair dryer in a bath tub would you? Then don't use an electric instrument, standing on a wet surface.
8) Ever see anyone climb an electric pole? I did. He fried like bacon.
8) Also saw a kid try to chop one down with a hatchet.
9) Yea, I've been around dumb people.
10) Anyway..If fear of death doesn't dissuade you from carelessness about electricity, then consider an even worse outcome: you live, but your equipment got wrecked....because you broke a prong off a plug and said "whatever".
===================================================
About GFCI outlets:
"When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. The left slot is slightly larger than the right. The left slot is called "neutral," the right slot is called "hot" and the hole below them is called "ground." If an appliance is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.
So let's say you are outside with your power drill and it is raining. You are standing on the ground, and since the drill is wet there is a path from the hot wire inside the drill through you to ground. If electricity flows from hot to ground through you, it could be fatal. The GFCI can sense the current flowing through you because not all of the current is flowing from hot to neutral as it expects -- some of it is flowing through you to ground. As soon as the GFCI senses that, it trips the circuit and cuts off the electricity."
===================================================
SO I'M SAYING, USE ONE OF THESE:
Surge Protector with noise filter
AND GET ONE OF THESE TO PLUG IT INTO:
Portable GFCI Adaptor
AND THIS (PLUS THE ABOVE SAFETY TIPS) WILL KEEP YOU AND YOUR EQUIPMENT SAFE
THAT YOU MAY LIVE TO DIE OF SOME OTHER LESS EMBARRASSING TYPE OF STUPIDITY LATER
Last edited:
Of course we used to play all kinds of rooms that were designed in the post-war era when two prong outlets were the norm, which means the third prong of my Sunn Concert Bass got clipped off and the show went on. There are adapters that should be used, but at the time "the show must go on".
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