Lethe
Well, not quite in my mouth ? , but my mic gets a lot of static and keeps zapping me when I to use it. This makes me cry like a little girl. Can anyone tell me what the problem is or how to fix it?
makepeace
It is most likely a grounding issue. This could be quite intensive to get right, especially if your equipment is old (the problem could be anywhere).
1st off, do you play the geeetar and sing at the same time? If so, then its likely that there is a potential difference (a voltage) across the mic and the guitar (the two pieces of electrical equipment that you are in close contact with, quite obviously), which means that one of them has their ground elevated above the other (however slightly). There are a number of things that can be checked, arranged by relative ease: the wiring of your mains plug, the grounding of your guitar (is it even grounded?), the wiring of your amp (are the input jacks grounded?), the wiring of your PA and the list goes on and on depending on what kind of setup you use.
Most likely if you're using a tube amp for your guitar, it will be a problem with that. So get checking those grounds. Essentially, your Mic amp and your guitar amp have to have the same ground reference. A quick fix might be to run your guitar through your PA (or a DI box connected to it) and then to your amp.
You can plug your guitar into your PA along with your mic and check if you still get shocks, that might help to isolate the problem.
On the chance that its not to do with grounding, you will at least have taken a step in the right direction re the safety of your rig (people have died from problems like this), but the problem is going to be harder to fix.
Lethe
Ah, thanks for that! I am using a tube amp and I am playing guitar at the same time. So I guess I'll check the grounding first. ?
Safety first!
Thanks for that detailed description! ? I don't like getting zapped in and around my mouth. hahahaha.
Nitebob
:roflmao: Just got a vision of one oke I backed for, the mic tended to zap him...This tall oke with no hair, used to extend his bottom lip, bringing his soul patch ever so closer until he can make contact with the mic, it was hilarious!
AlanRatcliffe
Good post Makepeace. It is probably grounding and it can be a huge problem if something goes wrong.
Just two things to add:
- Always plug all your gear into one power point. Different sockets in a venue can have different ground reference points which can cause hum or pose a safety threat in extreme cases.
- Buy a mains tester and always check wherever you play. Make it a permanent resident in your gig bag. If the power at a venue is faulty try another socket.
Lethe
Thanks Alan. It's definately gonig to be worth having a mains tester. One never knows when things are going to go awry.
