Comments on You Complete Me (and the Circuit)

My friend's Fender Bassman is notorious for this. It has a 2-pronged plug and and no polarity switch. Getting shocked is usually mild and annoying, but this thing can knock you on your ass.

How hard would it be to replace the power chord in something like this? Can it be wired for a 3-pronged plug?

I have the same problem with my 1961 Fender Super that play through everyday. I leave it plugged in at our practice space, so the plug never gets reversed there. But when we play shows, it's always a crap shoot, and I usually get hit.

You can replace the entire cord, but there are two small issues: 1) Finding something metal inside the amp to land the ground on, and 2) Losing the vintage aspect, because of modification.

But I'm starting to think that it might be worth it.

Oh I love getting shocked. Its best if the club is real dark and you can see the arc from the mic to your lips. Yummy!!!

Don't modify - electrify.

I saw a couple of people get the crapped shocked out of their lips at sxsw. Not pretty.

Radio towers...

For all the times I've been shocked by improperly grounded equipment, it was climbing one of the the WMAL radio towers in Potomanc, MD that I learned a lucky lesson in grounding.

Radio towers carry a pretty heavey charge, and are coated in a thick, latex paint. One night, some friends and I were climbing the WMAL tower in MD after a show. I was about 75 feet up the ladder, my friends just ahead of me, when I felt what I thought was a bad bee sting. Drunk as I was, I remember clenching the ladder and drawing my hand away. Finally manuevering to look at my hand, there was a white circular burn mark where I'd touched an exposed peice of metal where the paint had chipped off the back of the ladder. When I looked up, I reallized my friends were far ahead of me. I'm pretty sure I lost 15 - 30 seconds of memory just kinda stunned, hanging onto this ladder like an idiot, staring into space like a deer.

I love telling this story, and I appreciated Jim sharing his tecnique for checking with the cord/back of the hand. Very cool.

Thanks Trently

This article may save somebody's life one day... especially my own ::)

Fuck the vintage value--you have to be alive to collect that money. Adding a three-prong is so minor that the pricing impact is inconsequential compared to all the other things that have probably been done to a 40 year old amp over the years--new speakers, recones, various internal components, wear and tear, etc. And it affects the sound not at all.

wet full cocktail? um...never mind. I hate that feeling of shock. It's been ages since it last happened but I really hate it. Jim Anderson is damn smart. I'm having a hard time visualizing how to test the ground with my hands.

Blue Nordie's radio tower story freaks me out. I used to know this guy who used to plug stuff in and pretend he was getting electricuted. He'd plug something in and then shake his leg real fast. He was so convincing.

wet full cocktail? um...never mind. I hate that feeling of shock. It's been ages since it last happened but I really hate it. Jim Anderson is damn smart. I'm having a hard time visualizing how to test the ground with my hands.

Blue Nordie's radio tower story freaks me out. I used to know this guy who used to plug stuff in and pretend he was getting electricuted. He'd plug something in and then shake his leg real fast. He was so convincing.