How dangerous are tube amps?

[3bolt79]

Like playing flute for a cobra in a basket?

I got smacked by electricity during a Code in the ER. The person administering the Jules did not say “clear” and I got zapped.

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I want to tinker with tube amps but I am aware it can be fatal. How dangerous are they? Is it only the capacitors you need to avoid or can other parts be dangerous too?

Read a book about it. It’s no more or less dangerous than replacing a light switch or electric outlet in your house.

 

[El Gobernador]

It bothers me that when someone asks questions about working on an amp, all the parrots start squawking about "killer" voltages, but can cite no proof! please, you that believe that the low MA HV found in our amps can kill, post some proof! No one has been able to prove this myth to my knowledge, and I am curious how this rumor started.
rolandson, I've guess I've just been lucky in my 70+ years, but I've never seen any amp techs who work one handed either!

Amperage kills you.

Leslie Harvey died on stage in 72 grabbing a mic stand and the neck of his guitar.

With voltage present, probe with one hand. After disconnecting from AC and discharging caps, with a bleeder in place, it should fine. That's how I do it and I've worked on and built hundredsof amps.

Better safe than dead. Or be a goober. The choice is yours.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

It bothers me that when someone asks questions about working on an amp, all the parrots start squawking about "killer" voltages, but can cite no proof! please, you that believe that the low MA HV found in our amps can kill, post some proof! No one has been able to prove this myth to my knowledge, and I am curious how this rumor started.
rolandson, I've guess I've just been lucky in my 70+ years, but I've never seen any amp techs who work one handed either!

You believe the 450v in many tube amps is a myth?
You believe that the high voltage is low MA?
So you do not believe any tube amp power section 450v is a full 1-2 amps?

If you feel you are debunking a myth, it is up to YOU to provide proof!

Sure I worked on tube amps before internet and hobby books came out, without getting dead.
But I need some proof of your claim that my old 100w Marshalls 480v power sections were only drawing a few MA.

Maybe while you are debunking myths, post how many MA @450v is requied to stop a human heart.
Seems fair, right?
Want to go against history and say everybody has been wrong all theae years?
Post YOUR proof!

 

[rolandson]

@Swamp_Thang

The dismissal and ridicule of the "I'm too tough to care" crowd and potential Darwin Award recipients notwithstanding ...

The voltage stored in the capacitors is sufficient to...
Knock a 145 pound person 10 feet across a room

And...

Stop a heart

If there is no one available to restart it, it will remain in that state...

Forever.

 

[Mansonienne]

It bothers me that when someone asks questions about working on an amp, all the parrots start squawking about "killer" voltages, but can cite no proof! please, you that believe that the low MA HV found in our amps can kill, post some proof! No one has been able to prove this myth to my knowledge, and I am curious how this rumor started.

It's not a "bugaboo" or a rumor or a myth - the amp repair books warn of potential lethal voltages in unplugged tube amps.


(Warning on page 7 of The Guitar Amp Handbook by Dave Hunter)