I've been wondering why my amps aren't loud enough.

[skyboltone]

I have discussed the idea of sinking a copper rod outside the studio, putting in 1/4" jacks in he walls, along with alligator clips, and then having a direct ground on the equipment.

Any takers? Anyone have any idea if there would be benefit in this?

Only if you use Oxygen Free Copper !!

Well you'll violate the national electrical code unless you tie the ground rods into your home's grounding electrode system. If you have positively identified noise on your ground system your idea might help as long as after you have tied in your chassis racks and what not you carry the #6 wire to a metal water pipe or back to the main panel. Also put the ferrite doughnuts on every power cord, mic line, interconnect etc. Every little bit helps.

BTW the noisiest devices in the house are dimmers and those touch on touch off lamps. Eliminating noise at that source is a PIA. You might try ferrite dougnuts available at Amidon or in worst case Rat Shack.

[Zippy]

Oxygen free copper (OFC) is real and easily obtained. There are measurable gains to be had regarding resistivity - but it won't enhance your bass or your sexual prowess.

[Zippy]

If you have positively identified noise on your ground system your idea might help as long as after you have tied in your chassis racks and what not you carry the #6 wire to a metal water pipe or back to the main panel. Also put the ferrite doughnuts on every power cord, mic line, interconnect etc. Every little bit helps.

BTW the noisiest devices in the house are dimmers and those touch on touch off lamps. Eliminating noise at that source is a PIA. You might try ferrite dougnuts available at Amidon or in worst case Rat Shack.

Gads, dimmers. I recall playing a house band gig in El Paso 20+ years ago (whoops, make that 1976) where the club light panel was right next to me on the apron of the stage - and I was playing a Strat! Arggggggggggggggghhhhhh...

Donuts at the interconnects? How and where do you mean?

[butwhatif]

For cryogen out loud, put in a service replete with 4/0 and camlocks so u can be sure you've made use of every last electron you bought and paid a round trip for. But u may have to turn up the heat one notch to make up for the electric heater you've defeated, aaand buy a compressor to duplicate the supply compression. One good ground rod will suffice, get rid of all scr dimmers and the neighbors'

[Rich M]

I like the product reviews:
"When the movie was over my TV exploded and Chuck Norris stood in the carnage. Then he picked up my wife and gave her the best rogering she has ever had (the doctors say she might be able to walk again after intensive physical theropy). Two thumbs way up!!"

WTF???


I think you need the cryo-treated Romex to really hear the difference.

[JD0x0]

i have a set of volume and tone knobs, cost me $6.50 but if you act now and use paypal they can be yours for 2 installments of $150!!

But seriously i do have rosewood volume and tone knobs on my tele im 100% sure that they dont affect tone but they do look, and feel very nice.

But those buffalo horn knobs! whoa do they make my guitar sing!

[CaseyJones]

O.k., I clicked on the helpful link. Looks like a $150 outlet to me. Hey, we simply used twsit lock Hubbel connectors on each rack in the studio. Anything with a twist lock connected to a big ol' humbucker (your guitar would have to the the length of a city block to use this humbucker) and the power conditioner.

There's a ass for every seat, as they say...

From a review attached to the page:

"harmonics in the third and fifth from this flux where causing the current and voltage wave to be asinusoidal."

I think he meant, "anus-oidal"

[srubelva59]

I just read all the customer reviews on this product, some very creative and hilarious, worth the time it takes!

[Structo]

Yeah, I'm not even sure what brand of receptacle is any good anymore.

The stuff at Home Depot and Lowes seem pretty low quality.

I would suggest taking a three prong plug along or find one similar in size to the one on your amp and try it in the various receptacles at the store to check for tightness.
The outlet in my amp room that the amps are plugged into is pretty loose and I keep threatening to replace it.

Old homes can be a real pain in the ass. Especially if the house is wood lathe and plaster and they used the old bobbin wiring.
Not much hope for those homes unless you demolish the walls and install new Romex.

On the homes that have the more modern two wire AC cable receptacles, I have found (on a house I owned) that the screw terminals on the outlet itself can sometimes be loose, and or oxidized.
Best thing you can do is go around and first loosen the screw then torque it down hard, to re-make the connection to the wire.

Also inspect the wire junctions that are commonly in the overhead light boxes.
Many times there isn't even wire nuts there, just twisted connections with friction tape around them.
Get rid of the tape and re-twist the wires and put new metal insert wire nuts on them.

On that same house, it had been converted to a breaker box but was still only a two wire system.
I did run a 8 gauge wire through the wall in my amp room out to a ground rod.
I drilled a hole in the back of the receptacle box and ran the wire through that out to the rod and then installed a three wire outlet and connected the ground to that.
Really helped clean up the power in that room.

I knew going in that it wasn't code but I wanted a ground on my equipment.

And by the way, if you have a two wire house and have a surge protector on your computer or other electronic devices, the surge protector won't work unless there is a ground connected to it.

[M Fowler]

Go to the city desk at a local wholesale electrical distributor and buy a box of recepticles you'll need some later anyway. They are of high quality and worth the expense.

Or get ahold of someone that knows someone that knows an electrician and get the recepicles from them.

Mark

[briane]

On the homes that have the more modern two wire AC cable receptacles, I have found (on a house I owned) that the screw terminals on the outlet itself can sometimes be loose, and or oxidized.
Best thing you can do is go around and first loosen the screw then torque it down hard, to re-make the connection to the wire.

Also inspect the wire junctions that are commonly in the overhead light boxes.
Many times there isn't even wire nuts there, just twisted connections with friction tape around them.
Get rid of the tape and re-twist the wires and put new metal insert wire nuts on them.

Wow, looks like you used to live in my house. There is no ground wire in the walls (2 wires), thats why I thought it would really help out to add a ground rod. I know I would have to disconnect it before selling, but it might fix a lot of equipment issues that I am always fidgeting with.

Funny thing is theres a ground rod outside. I wonder what its connected to, surely cant be the romex ground, cause there aint one. Probably ends at the box.

[JD0x0]

Funny thing is theres a ground rod outside. I wonder what its connected to, surely cant be the romex ground, cause there aint one. Probably ends at the box.

that ground rod is probably for lightening strikes so your house doesnt explode