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Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

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  • Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

    Good day all & hope all is well. I'm getting smart & installing grounded 3 conductor cords into some old 50's P.A. amps. I've watched all the YouTube videos, and all of them deal with guitar amps w/polarity switches & 'death caps', & don't see any clear, confident or consistent info. Okay, Green is GROUND,, some videos show the White Neutral going directly to one of the trannies, and the Hot Black wire going to the power switch then on to the fuse, & then to the tranny. Then others show the white neutral going to the fuse & the black hot
    to the On/Off,,, AND vice versa, w/white to the power switch, & black to fuse. These are old mono tube amps, & as I mentioned, no polarity switch or cap. I don't want to be another toasted statistic, or fry anything.
    Thanks in advance for your assistance!
    BE WELL!!
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    Last edited by zozoe; 07-06-2020, 02:29 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

    As easy as it is to do this...just take it to a pro. Put the liability on them to do it right.
    Originally posted by LesStrat
    Yogi Berra was correct.
    Originally posted by JOLLY
    I do a few chord things, some crappy lead stuff, and then some rhythm stuff.

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    • #3
      Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

      yeah you only have to do it wrong one time
      and its tragic

      professional
      at least the first one
      EHD
      Just here surfing Guitar Pron
      RG2EX1 w/ SD hot-rodded pickups / RG4EXFM1 w/ Carvin S22j/b + FVN middle
      SR500 / Martin 000CE-1/Epiphone Hummingbird
      Epiphone Florentine with OEM Probuckers
      Ehdwuld branded Blue semi hollow custom with JB/Jazz
      Reptile Green Gibson Custom Studio / Aqua Dean Shire semi hollow with piezo
      Carvin Belair / Laney GC80A Acoustic Amp (a gift from Guitar Player Mag)
      GNX3000 (yea I'm a modeler)

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      • #4
        Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

        If you want a youtube vid find Uncle Doug. He 'splains things like that the best that I've seen.

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        • #5
          Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

          Don't burn your house down or get zapped.
          Take it to a pro

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          • #6
            Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

            Haven't heard or seen the OP reply to this, but definitely drain the filter caps and ground the chassis before you do anything. Any vintage equipment is likely to carry a charge long after being unplugged and etc. Having restored multiple vintage Gibson and Fender amps, there's always the temptation to do things myself, but I know and stick to my lane.

            *A ground 3 prong cable shouldn't cost more than $25. Which is why doing it myself has never been worth. Let someone do it right.

            Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
            Last edited by YeRedHouseOverYonder; 07-09-2020, 01:43 AM.

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            • #7
              Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

              Thanks all for the cautionary but supportive advice... I finally got it together & pooled my resources, & looking back, it is so easy. Caps are all drained, but I think they've been idle for many years. Now the fun part, modifications, definitely not being done by me, though I'd love to try it, but even with being able to read a schematic, there's just too much stuff & too many variables.
              Thanks again all, & stay well~~

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              • #8
                Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

                Honestly, I know all the ways to do this, and all the ways to shunt the caps for safety -But I'm not sure this is something people should be giving too much detail on here -ofter than safety essentials.

                At some point, you don't want to get someone hurt -might be best to let them learn the nuance elsewhere.
                “For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.” Yvonne Chouinard

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                • #9
                  Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

                  You don't want to be able to be considered liable for someone hurting themselves.

                  Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

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                  • #10
                    Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

                    I would think that whoever is doing the mods would have done this task as well
                    Just throw the cord on top and say
                    "Here ya go"
                    EHD
                    Just here surfing Guitar Pron
                    RG2EX1 w/ SD hot-rodded pickups / RG4EXFM1 w/ Carvin S22j/b + FVN middle
                    SR500 / Martin 000CE-1/Epiphone Hummingbird
                    Epiphone Florentine with OEM Probuckers
                    Ehdwuld branded Blue semi hollow custom with JB/Jazz
                    Reptile Green Gibson Custom Studio / Aqua Dean Shire semi hollow with piezo
                    Carvin Belair / Laney GC80A Acoustic Amp (a gift from Guitar Player Mag)
                    GNX3000 (yea I'm a modeler)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

                      I did it on a 60s Traynor YGM-2 (3-prong plug grounded, cut out death cap, replaced filter caps) with no experience or difficulties using some YouTube videos several years ago. It's wasn't that hard, but I have a bit of a background with the basics of electrical devices and circuit design in my university courses. If you have no idea what you're doing, it might be worth paying someone to do it.
                      Join me in the fight against muscular atrophy!

                      Originally posted by Douglas Adams
                      This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Installing 3 Prong AC Cord to 50's Amp

                        One of the easier videos on the topic

                        -Chris

                        Originally posted by John Suhr
                        “Practice cures most tone issues”

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