Seems like most people simply don't understand how and when electricity can actually kill you or not. I put warnings on my pedals to let people know there is high voltage inside, but rest assured, it can't actually kill you. High amperage alternating current is what kills. That simply does not exist in my pedals or anything I build. My tube gear runs on low current DC. Sure the voltage is high, but the voltage is not what kills. For instance, the Thunder Knob runs at about 200 volts DC internally, but there's only 100mA of that hanging out. I've been shocked by it and I'm still alive and well. In fact, I had the misfortune of getting shocked by 400 volts at 250 mA. That was a bad day. Once again, still alive. There's a lot of misconceptions about high voltage tube gear on the internet. I've probably been shocked by high voltage DC a couple dozen times in my life and even AC from the wall outlet a few times. Still alive. I have to put the warnings on things because I don't want anyone to go poking around with the power on. A shock is not pleasant. Very high voltage, high amperage DC could potentially cause burns or worse, but that's just not possible with the stuff I build. The warnings you see at power substations and on high voltage power lines is very real. That's high voltage, high current AC... a very different beast altogether. Remember those stories of Edison trying to discredit Tesla's AC electricity by publicly electrocuting animals? Edison was touting his DC as a safe form of electricity, which it is for the most part.
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About the AuthorMike Congilosi II, Owner/Designer/Electronics Engineer at Lightning Boy Audio and Owner/Audio Engineer/Music Producer at LBA Studios. Archives
November 2024
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