Members Joeytpg Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 i'm living in Spain (220v electricity) and i wanna take my Mesa Boogie F-50 amp to america with me (110v) what can i do? the amp is European (220V ready) Can i buy a simple converter or would it be better for me to just sell it and buy one in Northamerica? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Prog Posted September 22, 2007 Members Share Posted September 22, 2007 With the cost of shipping from Spain and the voltage convertor, you'd be better off selling it and buying a 110V replacement. There may be a way to convert internally. Contact Mesa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 22, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted September 22, 2007 i'm living in Spain (220v electricity) and i wanna take my Mesa Boogie F-50 amp to america with me (110v) what can i do? the amp is European (220V ready) Can i buy a simple converter or would it be better for me to just sell it and buy one in Northamerica?It depends. If this is a tour, leave it home and rent one while you're over here. If you're relocating, it would probably be better to sell it there and buy another one here. If you really, really love it and think that there will never be another one with quite the same tone, you might look into getting it converted. I don't know what's involved. It could be as simple as changing the wiring of the power transformer, or it could require a new power transformer. The former is probably half an hour of shop time (don't try to do it yourself), the latter will be expensive, both for the part and the labor. There is no cheap converter for something that draws as much current as an instrument amplifier and depends on a reasonably stable input voltage. An external step-up transformer will be considerably cheaper than replacing the power transformer, but it's an extra lump to lug around. A 500 watt transformer, which should be quite adequate, will run you about $50 at the first place that popped up with a Google search http://www.starkelectronic.com/st500.htm That should be safe for both you and your amplifier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted September 23, 2007 Members Share Posted September 23, 2007 Besides voltage, there is frequency - - the US uses 60 Hz, while most of Europe uses 50 Hz. Look for a electrical specs name plate on (or maybe inside) the amp. If it uses a switching power supply, you might be OK. But if it has a power transformer, it'll run hotter and less efficiently unless the transformer was designed for 50 and 60 Hz. (yeah, it's only 10 lousy Hz, which doesn't sound like much, but if it's designed for 60 Hz, to feed it a frequency 18% lower than it was made to handle might be asking for problems.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted September 23, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted September 23, 2007 But if it has a power transformer, it'll run hotter and less efficiently unless the transformer was designed for 50 and 60 Hz. (yeah, it's only 10 lousy Hz, which doesn't sound like much, but if it's designed for 60 Hz, to feed it a frequency 18% lower than it was made to handle might be asking for problems.)Sure, anything might happen but today most power transformers will tolerate either 50 or 60 Hz without damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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