Guitar Amp Power Cord Question

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

All-

I have a Blackstar HT-20 tube amp. It, along with my TV, is one of my last valued possessions, and I do love the thing.

Yesterday, I had the amp and my guitar in my apartment living room and I tripped over the amp cord and fell into the amp. It was plugged in and somehow I managed to break off the ground prong on the cord, which was left sticking out of the outlet.

I did some online looking around and it seems the general consensus is to NOT play the amp without this prong as I could get electrocuted. Fair enough.

Originally I thought that the power cord terminated into the back of the amp case but it turns out it unplugs easily enough from the back of the amp. Upon inspection, it looks exactly like a power cord for a PC tower. It’s male three pronged on the plug end, and female on the other with that familiar “triangle” shape of the arranged receptacles.

My question: can I just get a power cord from my PC and use it in it’s place if the connectors all align? I don’t have a bunch of money laying around and I’d like to play as it keeps my mind busy. The amp’s cord itself is not thicker gage than my PC tower’s cord. Would that work? Is there some specific power requirement I would be violating?

Thanks in advance.

[Marvin_the_Martian]

You can safely use that cord.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

@Marvin_the_Martian

You can safely use that cord.

With my bare feet in two buckets of water, outside during a thunderstorm while holding a copper pole? That’s my favorite way to play when I summon the Devil.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

My question: can I just get a power cord from my PC and use it in it’s place if the connectors all align? I don’t have a bunch of money laying around and I’d like to play as it keeps my mind busy. The amp’s cord itself is not thicker gage than my PC tower’s cord. Would that work? Is there some specific power requirement I would be violating?

Thanks in advance.

That kind of cable/connector is known as an IEC cable. Yes, they are interchangable. The gauge of the cable is likely fine for your amp, unless you have some incredibly massive amp that uses 208V power or draws 16 amps or something.

[Marvin_the_Martian]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

With my bare feet in two buckets of water, outside during a thunderstorm while holding a copper pole? That’s my favorite way to play when I summon the Devil.

Sounds more like the Devil is summoning you. Don’t sell your soul at the crossroads for an IEC cord.

[Chefguy]

You need to send the amp to me for testing.

Seriously, it the cord fits, it’s fine.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

Did you get the broken ground plug out of the wall outlet?

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

Did you get the broken ground plug out of the wall outlet?

Yes. Pulled it out with my bare fingers, with reluctance. I cringed the whole time expecting to be thrown across the room but nothing happened. I tried my rig out tonight without the ground prong…it works, but I’m not comfortable playing it this way. It sounds like any old ECT cable will work, but I wasn’t sure.

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

Yes. Pulled it out with my bare fingers, with reluctance. I cringed the whole time expecting to be thrown across the room but nothing happened. I tried my rig out tonight without the ground prong…it works, but I’m not comfortable playing it this way. It sounds like any old ECT cable will work, but I wasn’t sure.

You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Yes, IF your house is wired correctly (a BIG “if”), what you did should be no problemo. For the future, assume nothing! Your mother and I will breathe easier.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

Yes. Pulled it out with my bare fingers, with reluctance. I cringed the whole time expecting to be thrown across the room but nothing happened. I tried my rig out tonight without the ground prong…it works, but I’m not comfortable playing it this way. It sounds like any old ECT cable will work, but I wasn’t sure.

You are fine without the ground prong. In fact, stores sell (and you’ve prolly seen) ground lifts specifically to eliminate the ground prong. Audio and video rigs use them with some regularity to prevent ground loops.

It’s no different than breaking off the ground prong tho.

[Enter_the_Flagon]

Sorry guys, but in the interest of possibly effecting some non-zero increase in public safety, I’m gonna have to advise against the use of broken grounds and cheater plugs. I’ll let Wikipedia spell it out:

Cheater plug

The use of such an adapter avoids the need to replace receptacles, but is potentially hazardous if the grounding tab is not connected to electrical ground.[2][3] A safer and more reliable alternative identified in the US and Canadian electrical codes is to replace the outlet with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breaker outlet.[3] These adapters are illegal in some jurisdictions, in particular throughout Canada.[4]
Cheater plugs are also used to break ground loops in audio systems.[5] This practice has been condemned as disregarding electrical safety.[5][6] A safer and more reliable alternative is to use an isolation transformer made specifically for this purpose…

In the professional audio and video fields, the cheater plug has been identified as a serious safety problem. Its casual use as a method for avoiding ground loops in analog audio and video signals (to eliminate hums and buzzes) is dangerous.[5] Bill Whitlock, president of Jensen Transformers, writes, “never, ever use devices such as 3 to 2-prong AC plug adapters, a.k.a. ‘ground lifters’, to solve a noise problem!”[5] Whitlock relates how an electrical fault in one device that is connected to its electricity source through an ungrounded cheater plug will result in dangerous, high current flowing through audio or video cables. Whitlock notes that in 1997, consumer audio and video equipment electrocuted nine people.[5]