Static shocks from guitar

[maltasg]

Hi,

i use an epiphone sg with a roland cube 20x for years and ive never had problems.
recently i've been buying pedals and i use a daisy chain to connect 2 pedals (so far i've only connected 2 pedals at once) to the same AC adaptor. i've been using a very shifty looking guitar cable from the pedal to the amp.

so the thing is i've been getting some slight static shocks every now and then when i touch the metal parts of my guitar. from online forums most of them suggest grounding issues, but i dont really know what it means.

for me i thought i would isolate the problem to the bad shifty guitar cable, because when i connect guitar straight to amp i get no issues. the other thing might be the daisy chain. I read online, that using a daisy chain might cause "ground delay" problems - again I have no idea what this might be.

would really appreciate the help.

 

[CaboWabo]

Just check if any of the wires on your guitar has broke off from it's soldered position

 

[maltasg]

hi,

i don't really know to check that. don't wanna mess around with it that much. think i will get that checked out. though the cable input on my guitar is slight loose, and i have to tighten it a bit sometimes.

could it also be that i have no grounded my amp yet?

 

[doggieshaman]

is it ok when you play straight to amp?

this happened to me before and i pinpointed it to the 9v adapter i was using for my pedal - not just 'static' but also handling noise. you can try to solve it by a) playing straight to amp (it's a roland cube, should be fine for its purposes) b) using 9v batteries instead of ur power supply or c) get another power supply. My problems were solved when i switched to those guitar power brick things.

I think changing your shifty cable might help, but if the same cable works when you go straight to amp then the problem has to be somewhere with the pedals. Hope one of those work for you.

 

[maltasg]

yup its okay. i've only bought my first pedal this year, and for years before that i've never had this problem. i might be guessing it's the power adaptor because it only became an issue when i got a second pedal, thus after i got the power adaptor.

i haven't tried using the shifty cable straight to amp. will try that.

personally dont think its a specific pedal, but probably either the daisy chain or power adaptor.

anyway, those power brick things - something like the voodoo lab pedal power?

 

[VidaK]

I have a roland cube street, and it shocks me all the time too, until I grounded it.

Is your power adaptor for the cube using a 2-pin plug? if yes, please take a clear photo of the back panel of your amp and post it here, see if I can help in any way

 

[doggieshaman]

my bad, refer to this stickied thread

http://soft.com.sg/forum/showthread.php/7982-Changing-of-2-pin-plug-to-3-pin-plug(Grounding)

that helped me quieten down my old marshall mg15 last time and no longer had any static/shocks. of course i found that those power cords from CPU power supplies also worked

 

[maltasg]

yup i saw that thread.

some things im gonna do to eradicate this problem..

1) already having my amp grounded (changing to 3 pin).

2) getting better cables

3) getting my guitar checked out cos it's pretty old though not much gigging on it.

4) not using daisy chains to connect multiple pedals onto 1 ac adaptor. switching to a power brick when i get my pedaltrain.

i'll see how these work out. thanks guys for the help!

 

[OnYn]

From the technical aspect ： there is high leakage current normally from a high powered device like an amp. This happens when components insulation breakdown and some even becomes harden and brittle and they can not longer insulates well, therefore the device experience some leakage current
Seldom is from the diasy chain or adpater as they are low powered (300-1000mA) and the 9v adpater voltage is already "coil tap" or step down to 9v into another cct board.
Also sometimes a failing electroytic capacator leaks the gummy stuff on to the circuit board causing high leakage current.
So when you"re buying or using vintage set, then u have to take note of these component charactertics and device leakage current can be measured too!
New sets from the factory undergo a "high Pot" test (high potential test method) to ensure device and components are safe for consumers when they shipped out of the factory to a certain years of usage.
It"s an indication you should get your amp check by a qualified source lah.........
PS: with the injection of these leakage "dirty current" may also kill some chips in your pedals or a guitarist with a weak heart in the long run - hahaaaa