Shocks are not good!

Some old amps had a feature that became known as the "Death Cap". It was a small capacitor that could be switched to connect one side of the AC line (or the other) to Ground. This was a way to help reduce some of the noise inherent in the old 2-wire systems. If that cap was a bit leaky, it meant that the amp chassis could become 'hot'. Which meant that any instrument that was plugged in coul kill the player if they touched something grounded!

Get one of those little AC circuit testers that looks like a 3-prong plug with lights in it. This can tell you if the outlet is wired properly. I never plug an amp in unless I've checked the line first.

If the outlet is OK, you should get the amp checked out by someone who is competent to deal with it.



P.S: I sleep, but unless my dreams are particularly good, I figure I may be missing out on something! ;)