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I 'm planning on buying an amp on ebay but the seller is located in the US... now a friend of mine said that I should look out that it uses the same voltage as where I live. he said that in the US, you have 140volts.... here is Belgium we have 220volts.... so here is the question: is this correct?

bump.... plz anyone?

Yeah, U.S. amplifiers use 110-125 Volts, and most European electronics require 210-230 Volts. You can overcome this with a transformer. Depending on when the amp was made and by who, it may accept both voltages, but that is unlikely. Berhringer amps are the only ones I've ever seen that did both voltages. You can buy a transformer at most serious electronics shops, but for gigging with or anything like that, it's not worth the hassle. I'd withdraw your bid.

Tony's close...

In the U.S., our power is 110-120 VAC, 60 Hz. Europe is 220-240 VAC, but I believe it's 50 Hz. I think the frequency is usually close enough to be a non-issue, but it does sometimes make a difference.

There are several ways you could handle the voltage difference. Some amps have a voltage switch on them. If it has a computer-style power connector on the back, you just plug in the power cord that's appropriate for your wall socket, set the switch to your voltage, and play. Marshalls and Hiwatts come to mind.

Other amps have an quot;export transformerquot;, meaning the voltage taps are included on the transformer inside the chassis, but you have to open it up to change it. Sometimes it's just moving a wire, sometimes it involves soldering.

Finally, you could use an external transformer. Those little travel converters might handle a small solid-state amp, but if you're bidding on a Dual Showman Reverb or SVT, you need a quot;realquot; transformer. Get one that's plenty big (ampere rating 25-50% more than what the amplifier needs) or it will add quot;sagquot; to the amp's tone. Provided the amp is of fairly recent design, you could get by with an quot;autotransformerquot;, which provides the voltage boost, but no isolation (isolation is already provided by the PT in the amp).

Transformers like this are not terribly expensive, but you ought to find out how you will power this amp before you bid, and adjust your price accordingly.

thx for the info.... I think I 'm going to follow RichS 's advice and find out how I will power it first, before I buy it

What sort of amp is it? We might be a able to tell you about it here, or a call/email to the manufacturer could answer your questions.

a peavey triple xxx 120W head....
(for the cabinet it doesn't matter how much volts it has, right?)

Yeah, I'm military, so I've got an American amp in Europe as well. I just have a big ass (external) transformer and it works fine. I never even thought about it, but if you're really determined to get that amp, you could get in touch with peavy and have them sell you a transformed for 220V. The transformed in the amp should be the only thing that needs to be changed out, but you could contact Peavy directly.