American???

EJ22

hey a m8 of mine bought a line 3 spider amp over in america and got it brought over here. now ofc it can only take 120v. is there anyway of gettin a step down transformer for this amp of does he need to return it? or any other sudgestions ofc

thanks everyone for my friends stupid mistake lol

-=al=-

Yeah u need one of those transformers, friend has one downstairs for tha same thing

Quattroste

I use one for my Mesa. Get yourself down to a Maplins store.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=13358&doy=18m4

Seziertisch

A consideration with this might be that even though the power has been stepped down, American voltage is at 60hz while European is at 50hz. Obviously the amp will work fine, but whether it will sound exactly as it should is another question.

I know that when Neil Young tours Europe the power supply to his amps is regulated to have 60hz. He says he can hear a difference.

Personally, I have no experience when it comes to comparing the performance of the same amp under the two conditions so I can't say.

Voodu Child

Seziertisch wrote: »

A consideration with this might be that even though the power has been stepped down, American voltage is at 60hz while European is at 50hz. Obviously the amp will work fine, but whether it will sound exactly as it should is another question.

Firstly, its irrelevant and unavoidable. If you buy a Spider here in Ireland, its getting 50hz. If you buy one in America and run it here with a step-down transformer.... its getting 50hz. No difference :pac:. They make no circuit changes to account for 50 or 60hz, only voltage differences.

Secondly, 50Hz or 60Hz refer to alternating currents. One of the first things amplifiers do is rectify the AC into DC so the difference between running an amp on 50 or 60 is very little.

Eoin Madsen

Seconded. AC frequency is not worth considering at all, especially for a solidstate amp of all things. Just make sure the transformer can handle the power consumption of the amp.

Seziertisch

My bad, I thought the Spider III series were the ones they did in collaboration with Bogner, with the tubes.

darrenw5094

Needs one of the above to be on the safe side.

A friend of mine from another band plugged a brand new Dynacord power amp.....€2500 worth.....into the socket on first night for a gig.......bang.

€2500 turned into €0000.

Although Maplins are a rip off.....€50 for the yoke....i bought mine in a local store for €20.

-=al=-

well just make sure ti 100% the right thing even if its a few extra $$$ to be on the safe side... u dont want what happened to that dude in the last post

Voodu Child

darrenw5094 wrote: »

Needs one of the above to be on the safe side.

There's no 'safe side', it either needs one or it doesnt.

If its a US amp, it does.

We were talking about frequency differences as an aside, whether it affects tone or not. But absolutely, a US amp does need a step-down, there's no 'safe side' in that respect :pac:

NoQuarter

yeah happened my Pod XTL when i got it from the states, plugged it in and the adaptor melted! XTL wasnt on *praises jebus*, searched the whole of town including maplin for a new adaptor to no joy, then on my way home stopped into the music shop behind georges arcade and voila!

andyl222

voodoo_child wrote: »

There's no 'safe side', it either needs one or it doesnt.

If its a US amp, it does.

We were talking about frequency differences as an aside, whether it affects tone or not. But absolutely, a US amp does need a step-down, there's no 'safe side' in that respect :pac:

think what al meant when he said 'safe side' in his post was that the OP should shell the extra few euro out to Maplin n make sure he gets the right transformer,as opposed to chancing his arm with a cheaper more dubious fix, like a randomly bought step down transformer.

darrenw5094

They are reduced to €24.99 from €49.99......fricken rip off Maplins and they are selling dirt in their stores.

I even thought about buying their speakers and an amp to use as a set of monitors with our PA. Glad i didn't......rubbish gear.

Their currency conversion from £ to € is a bloody disgrace.

Eoin Madsen

Seziertisch wrote: »

My bad, I thought the Spider III series were the ones they did in collaboration with Bogner, with the tubes.

It's still completely negligable. If you could hear the difference between the behaviour of the plates with a DC filtered supply with a slight ripple at 50hz as opposed to 60hz... there wouldn't be a chance on this earth that you'd be playing a Line 6 Spider.

darrenw5094 wrote: »

A friend of mine from another band plugged a brand new Dynacord power amp.....€2500 worth.....into the socket on first night for a gig.......bang.

€2500 turned into €0000.

Replacing a burned out PT would probably cost €300 tops, so it's not all that bad. :pac: