Death Cap.

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The Death Cap and Ground Switch

The original purpose of the "death cap" was to create
an AC ground for the chassis to provide radio
frequency shielding. In the days of non-polarized two
prong power cords that could plug into the wall socket
upside down or right-side up and with no chassis safety
ground, the death cap connected the power cord neutral
(ground) wire to the chassis to reduce hum picked up
from outside the amplifier.

But if you plug the amp in "backwards", mains or

wall AC voltage (125v in the USA) will pass through
the death cap and on to the amp chassis and guitar
strings. The current is limited to about 2.3 milliamps
but at 125 volts it's still enough to give you a good
shock if you touch a grounded object such as a
microphone while touching your guitar strings. The
cap will behave this way even when working properly
but if the death cap fails as a short it can pass full
wall voltage and current--15 amps at 125 volts--to the
guitar strings which can kill. That's why it's called a
"death cap" although no electrocution has been
traced back to a failed death cap but the bottom line
is if a death cap fails as a short it can kill. That's why
Class Y safety capacitors were invented.

Maybe we should rename it the "f*%k that hurt

cap".
In the USA a power cord's black hot wire has 125 volts
AC on it, and the neutral white wire is connected to
ground at the service entrance so "neutral" = ground for a
two prong cord. Assume a two prong power cord in the
following discussion.

Some amps like the Fender 5F1 Champ had a death cap
but no ground switch. The death cap was hardwired
between one of the power cord wires and the chassis.
With this setup the amp user would try the two prong
power cord plugged in both ways in the wall socket
and use the way with less hum. One way would
connect the death cap to the neutral wire, the other way
would connect the death cap to the hot wire. Normally
the least hum resulted from having the death cap
connected to the neutral (ground) wire.

Death Cap With No Ground Switch

Death Cap in the Fender 5F1 Champ connects power

cord wire to the chassis.

Even with a perfectly functioning amp when the

death cap is connected to the hot wire the chassis
will be electrified at 125v AC because the death cap
will allow a small AC current to pass through it. With 125v
60Hz mains the typical .05uF 600v death cap will pass
only 2.4 milliamps of AC current so any shock received
by touching the chassis or guitar will be mild, but it can
be enough to startle you and cause injury. With 220v
50Hz mains the .05uF cap will pass 3.5ma which is still a
safe level. Of course in modern times no shock is
acceptable.

A .05uF death cap has 53k ohms of reactance at 60Hz.

With the death cap connected to the hot wire a max of
2.4 milliamps of AC current will flow through the cap,
onto the chassis and through you if you ground the amp
or guitar.

Reactance of a capacitor = 1/(2πFC) with F=frequency

and C=capacitance

1 / (2*3.1415*60 Hertz * .00000005 Farads) = 53,000

ohms

125 volts / 53,000 ohms = .0024 amps (2.4 milliamps)

Back in the 1960's we had a washing machine in the

basement that would shock you when in bare feet. I didn't
know that all I needed to do was turn the wall plug
around to keep that from happening.

The "death cap" got its name because if it fails as a

short it can electrify the chassis with full mains
power, which is 15 amps at 125 volts in the USA and
plenty of power to kill you. With a shorted death cap
and a two prong power cord there are two possible
outcomes: the amp will be normal with the amp plugged
in so the neutral wire is connected to the death cap, but
flip the power plug around in the socket and the
chassis will have 15 amps of 125 volts on it because
the shorted death cap will connect the hot wire to the
chassis. This represents an extreme shock hazard. A
guitar connected to this amp will also have it's bridge
and strings electrified at 125 volts.

With a two prong power cord and no death cap the

chassis voltage will float since the power transformer
primary is not connected to the chassis. A normally
functioning amp's floating chassis will not be electrified
by 125v no matter the orientation of the power plug in the
wall socket. Floating chassis are not used in tube amps
for two main reasons: A floating chassis will provide no
RFI noise protection and there is no protection from a hot
AC power transformer primary wire coming loose and
electrifying the chassis to create an extreme shock
hazard. The now mandatory third power cord wire, the
safety ground to chassis, mitigates this risk by shunting
any stray voltage and current on the chassis straight to
ground. The safety ground also provides RFI noise
protection.

The death cap serves no safety purpose. The death

cap provides only AC RFI ground, not a safety
ground. With the ground switch in its usual quietist
position with the chassis and death cap connected to
neutral (ground), if a loose wire electrifies the chassis the
death cap will limit AC flowing through it to 2.4ma, the
rest of the current will flow through anyone that touches
the chassis. Of course no DC can flow through the death
cap to ground so again, it will flow through anyone that
touches the chassis.

I strongly recommend replacing all two wire power

cords with three wire cords with a chassis ground. I
also recommend disconnecting or removing all death
caps because they can be an extreme shock hazard
if a three prong power cord is plugged into an
improperly grounded power receptacle.

If you are dead set on keeping a death cap then

replace it with a Class Y safety capacitor that is
designed to fail open. This $1 Kemet 900 Series .01uF
400VDC 250VAC Class Y safety capacitor is what you
want for mains voltage up to 250 volts AC.

Class X safety caps are designed to connect across the

mains from hot to neutral and are not safe to connect line
to ground like a death cap. Class X caps are unsafe as
death caps and should not be used. Class Y is the
correct type cap for a death cap replacement.

I highly recommend everyone keep one of these $7

outlet testers in their guitar case, especially if you play
shady venues. It can keep you and your band from
getting shocked from miswired electrical outlets.

I'm a fan of Uncle Doug but his video on the Death Cap
comes to incorrect and unsafe conclusions. Near the end
of the video he measures voltage from chassis to ground
but fails to try the cord plug in both orientations. Had he
spun the plug around he would have measured full wall
voltage on the chassis!

Infamous Uncle Doug Death Cap Video

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Near the end of the video if Uncle Doug would have

reversed the plug in the socket he would have measured
125 volts on the chassis. Because he failed to reverse
the plug he came to the conclusion that it might be ok to
leave a death cap in place. This conclusion is wrong.
Ground Switch
Some amps have a ground switch to select which
power cord wire the death cap and chassis are
connected to. With this switch you don't need to flip the
power plug at the outlet, you just try all positions of the
ground switch and use the quietest. Some ground
switches have a third position that completely
disconnects the death cap.

Ground Switch With Death Cap

Ground Switch in the Fender 5E3 Deluxe. The death cap

can be connected to either power cord wire.

Normally the quietest setting of the ground switch will

have the death cap and chassis connected to the neutral
wire so the chassis becomes a shield from radio
frequency interference (RFI).

Three Wire Power Cord and the Death Cap

There was a short transition period between 2 and 3
prong power cord electrical code in the United States
where amp makers began using 3 prong cords but
continued to use ground switches and death caps. The
Fender Bassman 100 shown below is an example.

If you put a three prong power cord on an amp with a

death cap there's no risk of shock as long as the cord's
safety ground wire is secured to the chassis and the amp
is plugged into a properly wired power receptacle.

If the ground switch is connected to the hot wire the

2.4ma of AC current will be shunted to ground through
the ground safety wire. Typical GFCI (ground fault
current interrupt) receptacles typically won't trip until 4 or
5 milliamps flow through them so a death cap will usually
not set them off.

If the death cap shorts out the current will flow through
the ground safety wire and an amp fuse will blow or a
circuit breaker will pop.

As anyone that carries a power receptacle tester to

gigs can tell you many venues have improperly wired
power receptacles so I still recommend removing,
disconnecting or upgrading the death cap to a Class
Y safety capacitor.
 3-Way Ground Switch

Note the 1970 era Bassman 100's grounded 3-prong

power cord and 3-way ground switch. With the chassis
always grounded by the power cord's green safety
ground wire the quietest ground switch position is usually
with the black hot lead connected to the death cap to act
as a power line filter.

The Bassman 100 3-way ground switch shown above

is useful if you plug into a wall socket that is not
grounded--which is surprisingly common. With no
ground the amp will usually have more hum and noise
because the chassis will not act as an RFI shield. If you
move the ground switch so that the neutral wire is
connected to the death cap and chassis the chassis will
be RFI shielded and reduce hum and noise.

A ground switch in an amp with a three prong power cord

can also be used as a noise filter switch. Selecting the
hot wire with the ground switch will sink AC line noise to
the grounded chassis so the ground switch can be useful
but I still recommend removing the death cap or
replacing it with a Class Y safety cap because it is a
shock hazard if the amp is plugged into an improperly
wired power receptacle.

If you are dead set on keeping the death cap then

replace it with a Class Y safety capacitor. This $1
Kemet 900 Series .01uF 400VDC 250VAC Class Y
safety capacitor is what you want for wall voltage up
to 250 volts AC.

See the Widowmaker Amp page for similar information.

By Rob Robinette

References
RCA Corporation, RCA Receiving Tube Manual, RC30.
Merlin Blencowe, Designing Tube Preamps for Guitar
and Bass, 2nd Edition.

Merlin Blencowe, Designing High-Fidelity Tube Preamps

Morgan Jones, Valve Amplifiers, 4th Edition.

Richard Kuehnel, Circuit Analysis of a Legendary Tube
Amplifier: The Fender Bassman 5F6-A, 3rd Edition.

Richard Kuehnel, Vacuum Tube Circuit Design: Guitar

Amplifier Preamps, 2nd Edition.
Richard Kuehnel, Vacuum Tube Circuit Design: Guitar
Amplifier Power Amps

Robert C. Megantz, Design and Construction of Tube

Guitar Amplifiers
Neumann & Irving, Guitar Amplifier Overdrive, A Visual
Tour It's fairly technical but it's the only book written
specifically about guitar amplifier overdrive. It includes
many graphs to help make the material easier to
understand.

T.E. Rutt, Vacuum Tube Triode Nonlinearity as Part of

The Electric Guitar Sound

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