effect(s) of plugging an amp on a wrong AC voltage

[euronymous0001]

scenario:
my friend accidentally plugged his SS combo amp directly on the 220v wall AC socket and his amp is rated for 110v 

questions:
1) wouldn't the fuse before the power transformer blow before the trafo gets broken;

2) if in case the fuse dies so slow that the trafo becomes wasted, would it be possible that merly changing
    the fuse (without changing the trafo) would just blow every fuse that is put on it; and lastly

3) would there be other parts in the amp that would be affected or be busted by plugging it on a 220v wall socket?

thank you in advance.

[iccaros]

impossible.. you can not plug a 110v into a 220.. The socket is way different..  but if you were to switch the cable, or use and adapter.. in either case its no accident.
but if he did, he could have fried any of the power supply caps.. or even the transformer, also depends on how long it was plugged in and did he turn it on...

[R.G.]

my friend accidentally plugged his SS combo amp directly on the 220v wall AC socket and his amp is rated for 110v 

Please convey my sincere condolences to your friend.  This has the possibility of being an expensive lesson in AC voltage levels.

1) wouldn't the fuse before the power transformer blow before the trafo gets broken;

Not necessarily. It is possible that the power transformer is destroyed.

It is a common misconception to think that the AC mains fuse is there to protect the transformer. That is NOT why it's there. It is there to protect the owner and building from electrocution and fires when the power transformer or any other part of the AC wiring is shorted and causes hazards. Sometimes it will protect a transformer, but that is a happy accident if it happens.

2) if in case the fuse dies so slow that the trafo becomes wasted, would it be possible that merly changing the fuse (without changing the trafo) would just blow every fuse that is put on it;

Let me put it another way. If the power transformer was damaged before the fuse blew, it is not only possible but likely that every new fuse put in will also then blow. A damaged transformer is one of the things which could have been so damaged by the first overvoltage that all new fuses will blow until all the damage is repaired. It is also possible that the power transformer is OK, but something on its secondary is shorted, and that would also blow all new fuses. There is no way to tell without careful examination by a tech.

3) would there be other parts in the amp that would be affected or be busted by plugging it on a 220v wall socket?

Yes. All of the really expensive ones. Sorry, but that's accurate.

Forcing too much AC power voltage into the power inlet puts a massive overvoltage on all the power parts, and the more powerful the part, the closer it is (electrically speaking) to the AC power line. The power transformer is the single most expensive part in a guitar amp. From what you hint at, it's probably dead. Next thing that may be damaged is the main filter caps. These are given a massive overvoltage, and may well fail. When they fail, they probably short, and that short will then kill the rectifier diodes. If your friend was very, very lucky, the filter caps may have failed before the power transformer burned out, and that *might* have caused the AC power fuse to blow before the transformer died. Maybe. If the filter caps failed slowly, then it's possible that the output transformer in a tube amp and the power stage in a solid state amp were fried by the overvoltage. Or these may have shorted and blown the AC power fuse, saving the filter caps and power transformer. Or all of them may have been killed in a chain of destruction.

The first issue to worry about is safety. Your friend should not keep messing with putting in new fuses. He should take it to a competent tech and have the tech completely check it out, but be prepared to pay the tech for the time to figure out what is dead and have the tech *stop* and call your friend with an estimated repair bill before proceeding. It is possible that replacement parts for a power transformer, new rectifiers new filter caps, new output devices, and new output transformer and choke (if it's fitted with those) would cost more than buying a used amp like the one that is now dead. But he could be risking his life if the damage to the amp allows AC power to get to the chassis.

Again, I'm sorry for your friend's misfortune. He cannot trust it until it's thoroughly checked out by a competent tech. Literally anything in there MAY be damaged. If he's lucky, it's only one or two things and those may be less expensive than another amp. But the internet is not how to get this fixed. Unless both your friend and you have more technical knowledge than is shown in your question, do NOT try to fix it cheaply yourselves. Take it to a tech. If you have to get another job, or work longer to pay for it's, that's still much cheaper than a funeral.

[iccaros]

R.G.
you do an outstanding job of explaining things.. 
my hat off to you...
My first knee jerk reaction when these things come into work is,, how.. the hell did you do that....

[euronymous0001]

thanks, especially to RG.

i think that he searched for replacement and found somewhere on the net. around 95USD AFAIK.

the amp was not brandnew and i think that the power cables were not the original (as iccaros mentioned).

BTW the amp is a SWR

[vendettav]

I actually thought of 220v plugged in 110v or something like a voltage sag thing lol...
still yeah I've had the same thing happening to me once.. my mate plugged in my mixer into a 220v thing (the standard here is 220v, but i buy my stuff from USA, im a USA dude  ) i was like Noooo.. but ti was late. all teh lights burnt on  on the mixer, he was like what? lugged it out and plugged it again, another christmas tree. the third time he did before he got a slap in his head the chrismas tree was was dead already.. happily i ot away by just changing the adapter...

as for the 220/110v... i've been always wondering how would an amp rated for 220v act on 110v... or just a sagged voltage...

[Fender3D]

... i've been always wondering how would an amp rated for 220v act on 110v... or just a sagged voltage...

Well, us old tube amp repairmen use to play with Variacs for this...

[vendettav]

and what was the result?

[wavley]

impossible.. you can not plug a 110v into a 220.. The socket is way different..  but if you were to switch the cable, or use and adapter.. in either case its no accident.
but if he did, he could have fried any of the power supply caps.. or even the transformer, also depends on how long it was plugged in and did he turn it on...

Not if the amp has an IEC socket, then it's just a matter of the cable you plug into it.

... i've been always wondering how would an amp rated for 220v act on 110v... or just a sagged voltage...

Well, us old tube amp repairmen use to play with Variacs for this...

You never want to run tube filaments more than 10% under spec, even then you're seriously shortening tube life.

The first issue to worry about is safety. Your friend should not keep messing with putting in new fuses. He should take it to a competent tech and have the tech completely check it out, but be prepared to pay the tech for the time to figure out what is dead and have the tech *stop* and call your friend with an estimated repair bill before proceeding. It is possible that replacement parts for a power transformer, new rectifiers new filter caps, new output devices, and new output transformer and choke (if it's fitted with those) would cost more than buying a used amp like the one that is now dead. But he could be risking his life if the damage to the amp allows AC power to get to the chassis.

Again, I'm sorry for your friend's misfortune. He cannot trust it until it's thoroughly checked out by a competent tech. Literally anything in there MAY be damaged. If he's lucky, it's only one or two things and those may be less expensive than another amp. But the internet is not how to get this fixed. Unless both your friend and you have more technical knowledge than is shown in your question, do NOT try to fix it cheaply yourselves. Take it to a tech. If you have to get another job, or work longer to pay for it's, that's still much cheaper than a funeral.

I agree with R.G. on this, there are some things I think that you can use as a learning experience, but the possibility of AC on the chassis is not one of them.  As a former amp tech, I can tell you that I've seen some crazy stuff done to amps by people that had just enough knowledge to be deadly

edit: I screwed up the quote function, so I fixed it to make my response not show as a quote

[R.G.]

as for the 220/110v... i've been always wondering how would an amp rated for 220v act on 110v... or just a sagged voltage...

A solid state amp may be fine. They're in general quite tolerant of going down in voltage, and may even work fine at half voltage. Doubling the line voltage *will* kill them dead, perhaps within milliseconds.

A tube amp may simply refuse to make any noise at all, because the heaters on the tubes must get to a certain temperature to start producing free electrons to make the tubes amplify. Getting the heaters below about 80% of rated voltage cuts the electron emission dramatically and at some point there simply are none to amplify with.

[ayayay!]

and what was the result?

Van Halen.