Safety Precautions

Basic safety tips to know before working in guitar amps

• Never short out a high-voltage capacitor with pliers in order to discharge it. It may explode in your face. Use a 1K ohm resistor across the capacitor's terminals in order to discharge it at a safe rate.

• Always wear safety glasses when unsoldering components to keep the solder from splashing into your eyes.

• Unplug the amp from the wall and discharge the power supply using a 1k resistor before soldering any components.

• When measuring voltages on a live amp keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back