USA amp to europe, power question

[Deformed^]

I picked up an amp from ebay for dirt cheap, and it's on its way to Norway. In Norway, we use a 240v power grid, instead of the 110v which is standard in the U.S. I looked in the online manual, and it says that for 125VAC operation the amp needs a 5A slo-blo fuse, and a 2,5A slo-blo for 250VAC operation.
When I bought the amp I figured I needed either an external transformer or change the internal one, but is it possible that all I need to do is change the power fuse?

Thanks

[ClinchFX]

is it possible that all I need to do is change the power fuse?
Thanks

No, the fuse cannot change the supply voltage. What is the amp? There may be a voltage selector switch that will allow you to change the supply voltage.

Peter.

[John Phillips]

On a very few amps, the fuseholder does in fact select the voltage - both on some vintage ones like Vox AC4s with a pull-out selector that also contains the fuse, and some modern ones with a special type of IEC socket with a fuse tray which goes in either way up.

:)

But yes, normally Peter is right, there needs to be a voltage selector on the amp as well. The information about the fuse is so that you select the correct one for your voltage, not to change it by itself.

Some amps have the selector on the outside (some even hand-adjustable, which is against safety regulations now and should ideally be disabled), and some either have it on the inside or require wires unsoldering and moving to different connections. Don't buy an external transformer until you know which (if any - but if the amp is listed as having two different fuse values it's likely that it does) of these things you may need to do. If it's an internally-adjustable one and you don't want to do that, you can still run it with an external transformer.

It's important to mention that if you're using an external transformer, you must use the correct fuse for 110V operation in the amp, since that's what the amp is still actually running on, not 240V.

[StompBoxBlues]

Maybe it is best you check with the manufacturer, or at very least mention the amp here, make and model?

I sent you a PM, but at the time I had thought you were from the US, (nå ser jeg at det var ingen grunn til å gå ut fra det :-) rereading I realized that probably isn't the case. Thought I found a fellow american here :-)

Anyway, when I moved here, I had to buy (from ELFA I think it was) a huge, heavy trasnformer to be able to run my amp and stereo and other 100v stuff. As John mentions, you need the higher rated fuse if you are running 100v because of using a trafo, but many amps now have ways of being run (strangely...last time I was in the US, the Marshall amps I looked at possible buying in the US stores, NONE of them had voltage select or detect!! and that is a company from the UK...go figure?) on either.

Trust me, you do not want to have to lug around that trafo. It is bulky, heavy (15 kilo I bet or more) top heavy, has long cables, and one power strip coming off of it. It gets hot, hot enough I had to put a metal plate down for fire safety.

Hopefully it is selectable.

[mr coffee]

and how handy you are! You can find a Current (hehehehe he said current) replacement with the correct taps.. the fact you bought it cheap means it's not a vintage fender so swapping the power transformer would be moral issue :rolleyes:

[Deformed^]

Thanks for the input guys! I've got a friend who is an engineer in electronics, he'll help me out with a transformer swap. The amp is a blue voodoo 120h, probably frowned upon here, but I needed something cheap as my ENGL and Randall are in situated in practice locals ;)
I'll throw Crate an e-mail asking about the situation. Hopefully they're more helpful than mesa boogie. If anyone in here just so happens to know how to adjust the voltage on this particular amp (it's a couple of years old, blue with gold logo), let me know! :)

[ClinchFX]

On a very few amps, the fuseholder does in fact select the voltage - both on some vintage ones like Vox AC4s with a pull-out selector that also contains the fuse, and some modern ones with a special type of IEC socket with a fuse tray which goes in either way up.

:)


OOps:o. Thanks John, I think I've been away from work for too long. I'd completely forgotten about the fuseholders that I normally see at least a few times per week.

It looks like I'll be fit to start work again in a week or two.

Peter.