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petruccirocks02

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Oct 22, 2006
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Levittown, PA
To all the Mark IV users: I have a question for you. What is the ground switch supposed to be set on? I have mine set on 'A' but it seems that when I play I'm getting a little bit of a shock going through my fingertips. I have my Mark IV plugged into a surge protector/power strip. Is there any way to remedy this? Also, is it possible that it could be caused by a bad instrument cable, because I've tried 2 brand new ones and the same thing keeps happening. Thank you in advance.

-Phil
 

marduke

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Sep 10, 2007
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Brisbane, Australia
couldnt tell you at the moment sorry.. ive just sent mine in for repair... wont have it back for another week or so.. does it have anything in the user manual on it?
 

petruccirocks02

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Oct 22, 2006
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Location
Levittown, PA
couldnt tell you at the moment sorry.. ive just sent mine in for repair... wont have it back for another week or so.. does it have anything in the user manual on it?

Nope, there's not a damn thing about it in the manual, which I thought was pretty stupid. I guess I could always call Mesa and find out...

-Phil
 

emkey

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Oct 1, 2007
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424
Location
Poland
I'm not quite sure, but when I had my Mark IIc there was a special weird input at the back and there was a cable to ground the chassis. At home great ground is for example radiator...but it's only an idea, because like I said, it was in Mark IIc...or just check your electric installation, it's important to get everything in the same order when it comes to ground. So that means you have to set the ground on your amp in the same way as in your effects, etc etc etc...But still I'm not sure is it good advice for US kind of plugs and so on...
 

glockaxis

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Dec 21, 2003
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SoCal
I'd just call Mesa like you suggested. They are great people to deal with. Also, check out Grailtone---Mesa forum----those guys over there are very helpful as well.
 

rlarino

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Sep 20, 2007
Messages
69
hrm... there's no ground switch on my mark iv...

it seems like it could possibly be a ground lift switch, in which case, you might have it engaged... this would explain why your amp is not properly grounded and why you're getting shocked...

i would definitely call mesa or check out the mesa forums but my guess is that any "ground" switch is probably a ground lift... it just seems odd that they wouldn't have labeled it better... and maybe you don't have the user manual that matches your hardware revision (hence why it's not mentioned)?
 

petruccirocks02

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Oct 22, 2006
Messages
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Location
Levittown, PA
hrm... there's no ground switch on my mark iv...

it seems like it could possibly be a ground lift switch, in which case, you might have it engaged... this would explain why your amp is not properly grounded and why you're getting shocked...

i would definitely call mesa or check out the mesa forums but my guess is that any "ground" switch is probably a ground lift... it just seems odd that they wouldn't have labeled it better... and maybe you don't have the user manual that matches your hardware revision (hence why it's not mentioned)?

Gotcha. I think in fact, that it is a ground lift switch. It has an A position, B position, and off. I'm assuming the off means that its grounded, so I'll try it in that position and see if the shock goes away. Thanks.

-Phil
 
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