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Eddie Van Halen Recalls Electrocuted Himself Hacking Amp

06/01/2015
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(Classic Rock) Eddie Van Halen has recalled how his passion for tinkering with equipment nearly got him killed when he was young. He once electrocuted himself while exploring the interior of a guitar amp, and the resulting shock threw him several feet.

But he's never stopped customizing his gear - a trait he inherited from his dad. Van Halen tells Popular Mechanics: "If it was movable, or turnable, or anything that resembled something that could go up or down, I would mess with it to make the amp run hotter.

"I opened the amp up and saw this thing. I found out later it was a bias control, which controls the power to the output tubes. I'm poking around, and all of a sudden I touch this huge blue thing.

"My God - it was like being punched in the chest by Mike Tyson. My whole body flexed stiff, and it must have thrown me five feet. I'd touched a capacitor. I didn't know they held voltage."

The accident took place after Van Halen's father, who played clarinet and sax, lost a finger and had to customize his own instrument. Read more here.

Classic Rock Magazine is an official news provider for antiMusic.com.
Copyright Classic Rock Magazine- Excerpted here with permission.

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