Quote:
Originally Posted by Skywave
However, in the light of what we have discovered about this amplifier to date, if this item was mine, I'd be tempted to strip all components and wiring from the chassis and re-wire it in total along conventional lines and making a much neater job of the under-chassis wiring.
Al.
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I am inclined to agree with Al here, but that is entailing a lot of work for what appears to be a pretty simple amp.
Looking at the input circuitry, I was clearly wrong in assuming that this is a guitar amplifier (originally). A phono input is decidedly not likely for a guitar input. There are also some oddities there (apart from the twisted-pair connection), including what looks like an indication of a tape input and a weird tapped volume potentiometer. I wonder what this amplifier was originally designed for?
Incidentally, the "death cap" designation really only applies to guitar amplifiers. Originally, it was switched between either of the mains wires; the choice was made for minimum noise and hum. The trouble came when that meant that one side of the guitar cable was at a different voltage to the metalwork of any microphones being used at the same time with different amplifiers. If a guitarist, holding the "earthed" strings of his guitar in one hand, happened to grab the metal parts of the microphone, s/he would then experience the possibility of having full mains voltage between his/her hands and therefore across their heart. Possibly lethal - and it did happen that some guitarists doing this expired.
Colin.