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Shocked while playing

W

willrocks

Mar 16, 2012
15
0
#1
Hello

I recently moved to a new apartment and have been having trouble with my bass. Whenever I turn the amp up, I get small little electric shocks when I make contact with the frets, bridge, anything metallic on the instrument. This has not happened before. What could the problem be?
 
#2
It's a Ground / Polarity issue. The outlet could be wired backwards, or the ground could be something other than ground.

Get a circuit tester and check it out before something blows up, or you die!
 
#3
I have experienced this with a previous basement jam space. It was awful, and the rest of the band didn't believe me. Long story short there was nothing i could do to stop this, i think it was poor wiring of the house.

You can try to change the polarity of your head, maybe wear gloves and big rubber boots?

I hope you can find a fix for this!
 
#7
A number of musicians have died while playing a guitar that was floating at 120VAC and then touching their lips to a grounded microphone. Contact your apartment manager immediately to have an electrician asses the situation. It is most likely
1. the hot and neutral wires swapped
2. The third-wire chassis ground lifted
Or 3. Both the swap and ground wire wrong.
 
#8
if you happen to have a volt meter or an electrician test lamp, not a mechanic 12V test lamp. take the ground of the meter and ground it to something you know for a fact is grounded. with the amp on and a cable plugged into the input touch the positve of the meter and touch the sleve of the cable plug that goes into your bass. if you find voltage you have a ground problem. there should be no power going from your amp to your bass, unless you have some kind of phantom power turn on on your amp.
 
#9
There was a story going around back in the 70s about a bass player, either a former member, with, or in another band somehow connected to, Uriah Heap that got shocked on stage and his eyeballs blew out of his head and into the audience.

Not good. Electricity is our friend but even our friends can turn on us.
 
#10
Get one of these:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTyltHPMCcCOW7zdU1RxuobLlQvQAlz0vbSXiEis68OwHCm1Oro.jpg
 
#13
Devils Advocate said:
Growing up musically in the 70s meant there was 50% chance of getting knocked on your ass anytime you touched your bass and a mic at the same time. I think that 3rd prong on the plugs made that all a thing of the past.
Click to expand...
This was a hazard of the job back in the day. I was thrown back into the drum riser once and yes I did see stars, just like the cartoons. Check your amp, bass and the house wiring. I suspect the house wiring is to blame.
 

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