[sdiy] Tube amp cap discharge tool?

[Bob Weigel]

First of all...turn off WITHOUT turning off the standby first.  This 
allows the STILL HOT power tubes to draing the caps mostly usually.  
Either turn off just the power switch first or unplug it from the wall.  
If you turn standby off it isolates in a Fender for instance the big 
front end capacitance.  On these amps also however they put bleed 
resistors which are 220K as I recall so calculate the time to drain on 
that with 100uF for instance which isn't uncommon, at a minute or so to 
'safe' voltage levels.  But don't count on it of course.  SO...with sby 
on, I usually find a place like the center tap of the output xformer and 
short it to ground with a screwdriver.  -Bob

WeAreAs1 at aol.com wrote:

>Hello DIY dudes,
>
>Can anyone give me a quick recipe for a safe tube amp capacitor discharging 
>tool?  That is, something I can use to discharge the voltages found on filter 
>caps in tube amps after you turn the amp off, so it will be safe to stick my 
>hands and tools in there to work on them.  I'm guessing that I need something 
>like a fairly large value, high wattage resistor connected on one end to a test 
>clip that I hook onto chassis ground, using the other end of the resistor to 
>touch the hot side of the charged-up capacitors to shunt the charge to ground, 
>but I'd like to know for sure if this is the right way to do it, and if so, 
>what value should I use for the resistor (both resistance and wattage).  Any 
>other tips about precautions, procedure, or techniques would be much appreciated. 
> Sorry to be such a pussy about this, but for some odd reason, I am not so 
>much in the mood for electrocuting myself today.
>
>Michael B.
>
>
>  
>