I have an old Peavey Companion 15 guitar amp I bought off a friend of mine many moons ago. I’ve never had the power cord, but it runs on batteries also, so that’s ok. Now I’d like to replace the power cord so I can stop shoving 8 D-cells into the thing.
I called Peavey to find out about getting a replacement power cord (Part Number 70900601), but they told me it’d be $49.80. :smack: That’s a bit much to spend on a power cord.
On the back of the amp, it says:
12V/17V, 2 AMP DC
Negative Ground
I’ve looked around at Radio Shack and some online places, and can’t find anything rated this way.
Anyone have any suggestions on where else I could get a cord for this thing?
Cords are generally rated by AC amps since that’s what you’re plugging into in the wall. Almost any reasonably heavy duty cord will work for a small guitar amp. Is it modular? That is, does it plug into the back of the amp like the power cord that plugs into a computer? Or is it hardwired in? (If the latter I have a hard time figuring out what happened to the cord. . . .) If there is nothing special about how the cord connects to the amp you could probably get an appliance cord or extension cord from Home Depot, cut the female end off, and wire it into your amp. If you know what you’re doing.
Oh, one other thought–if it is rated as DC, maybe the cord from Peavey includes an adapter? I would think the adapter would be on-board the amp but maybe that’s why the cord is expensive, 'cuz it’s not just a cord.
This is a power adaptor not just a lead. But Don’t Panic! The amp looks like it will accept anything between 12 and 17 volts, and I’d say the 2 Amp rating is quite generous for a 15 Watt (practice) amp – you could probably get away with 1.5 Amps if you’re not planning to gig with it.
Providing you can match up the connector and polarity any power supply that will supply these not very demanding spec’s will do. I have one for an answerphone that would do it. See what you can find.
If I had to choose I’d go for a 17 Volt/1.5 Amp supply over 12 Volt/2 Amp. But if you can source a cheap 17 Volt/2 Amp unit you’re sorted.
What about the negative ground part? Will that figure in at all?
I used to have an adaptor (sorry, I was using adaptor and power cord interchangably; blame it on being a layman), but the amp would make a popping or clicking sound anytime I’d touch anything metal on the guitar. I assume this is a grounding problem?
Also, FYI, the plug where it goes into the amp is about a quarter inch hole with a metal post in the middle of it.
Please excuse me is this is a bit short I want to get home for a run v. soon.
The socket you describe is a standard DC power socket. The metal post part is almost certainly the +ve terminal (is there a diagram or graphic beside the socket that could confirm this?) This is where the 12 to 17 Volts gets applied. The -ve side of the supply (the outer edge/ring) is at zero volts, and also ought to be connected to ground/earth. At 12 volts it’s not going to be dangerous if it’s left ‘floating’ but it may explain the noises you describe.
BTW “negative ground” is a term usually used with car electrics, I can’t think of any domestic appliances (from hi-fi’s to blenders) that would ever have a positive ground!
A browse through Radio Shack’s website turns up a 13.8 volt DC supply that puts out 3 amps for $42, so $50 for the name-brand, guaranteed to have the right plug and be otherwise “just right” isn’t all that bad.
Of course, if you can scrounge up a used “wall wart” that puts out enough juice, that should be OK, as long as it’s got the right sort of plug. Another possibility is a laptop power supply - I’ve got one here that puts out 16 volts at 4 amps - more than enough to power that amp. My concern with it would be that it’s made for charging laptops, rather than powering audio gear, so it may not be terribly clean power - symptom of dirty power would be humming or buzzing.
Diagram showing a positive ground adapter label (lower right corner); look for this diagram on an adapter or appliance. Most, like this one, are negative ground, but now and then you’ll see a positive ground.
I agree that 1.5A will probably be sufficient.
Radio Shack is like the Kinkos of the electronics world. If you can wait a little bit, you can nearly always find a better price.
