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JamesOrange93

Joined: 02/02/12
Posts: 14

Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal!
#999249 - 22/07/12 06:46 PM

I was playing my guitar about ten minutes ago and all of a sudden the signal cut and I couldn't work out what it was.

I unplugged everything and tried to work out what was wrong but nothing came from it. I even tried all of my guitar pedals separately and they all worked fine. Connected them back together and I had sound again.

After a few more minutes of playing I could smell something burning. It was that electrical burning smell.

Turns out that the spare power link for my effects pedal was touching the side of my boss NS-2 and was creating a whole load of sparks that almost set my G-bone (gator pedalboard) on fire.....

I have stopped playing now and I have everything switched off and unplugged.

Anyone got any idea what the hell was causing that to happen?

Any help will be much appreciated!

Thanks

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JamesOrange93

Joined: 02/02/12
Posts: 14

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: JamesOrange93]
#999250 - 22/07/12 06:50 PM

Also, I got a strange kind of throbbing pain in my neck and left hand when i started up playing again...

Might be dying or something....

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shufflebeat

Joined: 09/12/07
Posts: 2343
Loc: Manchester, UK

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: JamesOrange93]
#999258 - 22/07/12 07:32 PM

A little electrical insulating tape on power tips you're not using can avoid short circuits.

Yes, you're dying.

--------------------
Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

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Madman_Greg

Joined: 07/12/06
Posts: 709
Loc: The back of beyond

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: shufflebeat]
#999324 - 23/07/12 09:23 AM

Start a Jimi Hendrix tribute band - opening song - Fire

Sorry its Monday morning

--------------------
Madman_Greg

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zenguitar
active member

Joined: 05/12/02
Posts: 7671
Loc: Devon

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: Madman_Greg]
#999356 - 23/07/12 12:32 PM

Quote Madman_Greg:

Sorry its Monday morning

Yep, I'm sorry it's Monday morning too. Feeling rough as rats

Andy

--------------------
When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

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Alfie Noakes
Bluesman

Joined: 14/11/03
Posts: 219

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: JamesOrange93]
#999394 - 23/07/12 02:55 PM

Quote JamesOrange93:

...Turns out that the spare power link for my effects pedal was touching the side of my boss NS-2 and was creating a whole load of sparks...

Anyone got any idea what the hell was causing that to happen?

Call it a hunch, but I reckon the spare power link for your effects pedal was touching the side of your boss NS-2

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fletcher

Joined: 01/05/05
Posts: 1166
Loc: london

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: Alfie Noakes]
#999414 - 23/07/12 05:21 PM

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JamesOrange93

Joined: 02/02/12
Posts: 14

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: Alfie Noakes]
#999669 - 25/07/12 03:27 AM

But surely that means that there is current or something passing through the shell of the pedal?

I understand that having the spare link touch the outside is what caused the sparks, what I meant by that comment was 'is there something wrong internally that would cause it to do that?'

The reason being is that none of my other pedals have done that when the spare link was touching the case.

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Gary_W

Joined: 18/10/06
Posts: 377

Re: Help! Burning/Sparking Guitar Pedal! new

[Re: JamesOrange93]
#999672 - 25/07/12 05:06 AM

The shell of your metal pedal is at earth potential.

The outside of a 9v adapter plug is at 9v.

Touch the two together and you have a circuit. As there is very little (if any) electrical resistance here then current flows to the greatest extent the regulator can supply. That explains the sparks and the burning. As others have said, tape is your friend here though (depending on your PSU) you might have other issues now in terms of something having got a bit melty....

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