[marcos]

Played a outside gig on the weekend at a campground and got zapped 3 times when my lips touched the microphone while playing. ( poorly grounded outlet) My question is, would a ground fault that i can put in line help out in this situation. Not sure if would help. Thanks.

 

[greco]

This might be a more portable choice that would indicate issues with ground, etc.

 

[mhammer]

As a teen, playing in my friend's garage, I saw "the blue lights" many times, upon touching my lips to the mic, or naively playing a wah without any shoes or socks on. I had both my 59 tweed Fender amps converted to 3-prong plus. To hell with "vintage authenticity". Can't enjoy OR show off the amps if you'rr dead.

 

[knight_yyz]

You could run a ground cable from the Mic stand to another large chunk of metal to ground the stand

 

[butterknucket]

As a teen, playing in my friend's garage, I saw "the blue lights" many times, upon touching my lips to the mic, or naively playing a wah without any shoes or socks on. I had both my 59 tweed Fender amps converted to 3-prong plus. To hell with "vintage authenticity". Can't enjoy OR show off the amps if you'rr dead.

I still have the two prong on mine and I haven't been shocked after all these years, but it's probably just a matter of time.

 

[greco]

...would a ground fault that I can put in line help out in this situation. Not sure if would help.

Maybe I misunderstood. Did you want the ground fault to overcome the issue or just indicate that a grounding issue exists? It won't correct the fault, it will just "trip" , indicating that a fault exists.

You could run a ground cable from the Mic stand to another large chunk of metal to ground the stand

Have you tried this?

Wouldn't you have to run it to the electrical ground of the circuit?

 

[marcos]

Just went to Home hardware and picked up a in line ground fault, trip switch.
The electrician told me this will do the job. I figure my life is worth the 48.00 i paid for it.lol

 

[marcos]

Maybe I misunderstood. Did you want the ground fault to overcome the issue or just indicate that a grounding issue exists? It won't correct the fault, it will just "trip" , indicating that a fault exists.

Its mostly to trip the circuit when i get zapped.

Have you tried this?

Wouldn't you have to run it to the electrical ground of the circuit?

 

[DaddyDog]

Last month I grabbed half dozen of those foam balls to put on mics, just in case of this problem. Was playing locations we'd never been to. I read somewhere the foam provides a bit of barrier. Found them on Amazon.

 

[bw66]

You could run a ground cable from the Mic stand to another large chunk of metal to ground the stand

Chances are the mic is insulated from the stand with a plastic mic clip anyways. Also, running a ground wire to a large chunk of metal is only helpful if that metal is itself connected to ground. If you need to ground something properly, best bet is to connect it to copper plumbing or a four foot rod driven into the ground.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician, so any advice provided is purely for entertainment purposes.

 

[Guitar101]

Just went to Home hardware and picked up a in line ground fault, trip switch.
The electrician told me this will do the job. I figure my life is worth the 48.00 i paid for it.lol

Won't that cut the power and turn off your mic? Stevie Ray got a major shock one time and he had the roadies completely cover all the metal parts on his mic stands with black tape. You can see this in some of his old videos.

 

[TheYanChamp]

So whats the cause then? I get shocked all the time just touching the guitar at a new jam space. Obviously its a bit worse touching the mic. I haven't had that problem since I was a kid using old traynor 2 prong PA's and such. Should we just run everything off one outlet that doesn't shock?

 

[Wardo]

Back in the dim and distant we used to hear every now and again about guitar players getting killed that way.

 

[cheezyridr]

yeah, when you jam in the basement w/ shoes on and step off of the rug, it's not as much fun as you'd think.

 

[dtsaudio]

Every player who sets up his own equipment should have one of those testers Greco mentioned. They can be quite useful if multiple receptacles are used at a gig or rehearsal.

You could run a ground cable from the Mic stand to another large chunk of metal to ground the stand

Won't work. The mic is probably insulated from the stand from the clip.
A little trick that may work if you have a two prong plug on your amp. Just reverse it in the receptacle. 75% of the time this works.
One thing we used to do back in the day when almost everything had two prong plugs was to plug in and listen to the hum. Usually the lowest amount of hum is the correct way to plug something in. That's also what the amp owners manuals used to say when you had an amp with a ground switch.
The ground fault interrupter is a good safety measure, but will cut your power.

 

[Wardo]

.. it's not as much fun as you'd think.

But it’s a good character building experience.

 

[Bubb]

This might be a more portable choice that would indicate issues with ground, etc.

View attachment 218214

IMO every gigging player should have and use ,one of these,especially if you play different venues all the time.

Last month I grabbed half dozen of those foam balls to put on mics, just in case of this problem. Was playing locations we'd never been to. I read somewhere the foam provides a bit of barrier. Found them on Amazon.

The wind screens can help,but they can also get wet enough to conduct if you or any singer are slobber pusses.

Plugging the backline into the same circuit as the PA will greatly reduce the chances of this occurring, but the only 100% solution is proper wiring all round .

 

[Bubb]

So whats the cause then? I get shocked all the time just touching the guitar at a new jam space. Obviously its a bit worse touching the mic. I haven't had that problem since I was a kid using old traynor 2 prong PA's and such. Should we just run everything off one outlet that doesn't shock?

See above^

 

[marcos]

So whats the cause then? I get shocked all the time just touching the guitar at a new jam space. Obviously its a bit worse touching the mic. I haven't had that problem since I was a kid using old traynor 2 prong PA's and such. Should we just run everything off one outlet that doesn't shock?

I gather that the only ac outlet at this campsite was not properly grounded.

 

[marcos]

IMO every gigging player should have and use ,one of these,especially if you play different venues all the time.


The wind screens can help,but they can also get wet enough to conduct if you or any singer are slobber pusses.

Plugging the backline into the same circuit as the PA will greatly reduce the chances of this occurring, but the only 100% solution is proper wiring all round .

And the fact that touching the mic stand itself with guitar in hand will shock you too. I will be using this ground fault switch all the time from now on. Dont care if it cuts power to amps etc..My life is worth more.