Bugera T50 - Intermitent (mostly no) Sound at the Speaker Out, but signal at the FX Send

[stoneattic]

For a hobbyist today, under $100 can buy you stuff a professional used to have to pay a fortune for.
Here are a couple previous threads that might help your meter search.
https://music-electronics-forum.com/...m-for-under-50
https://music-electronics-forum.com/...-to-multimeter

Fluke makes nice reliable meters. But anybody that tells you that you are "wasting money on anything besides a Fluke" is not very credible.

I read both of those threads doing my initial research. There's always the guys who have been using Flukes forever and then a few brands I've never heard of, which may be great but I don't seem to find a lot of folks touting them.

[stoneattic]

Fluke is a quality brand for sure, but there are many brands of good meters.

What would some of those good brands be? Are there some to avoid? There are so many brands out there. Some sound good when reading their feature list and specs, but the reviews seem to be by home owners who are just looking for something to check the wall outlet or their car battery, not trying to read an AC audio signal on their tube amp PI anode.

[Helmholtz]

It seems like most reviews, particularly from that site I posted the link to, is from an electrician or home owner doing house wiring standpoint, Even the most of the manufacture's buying guides don't address electronics specifically. What features would make a DMM more for electronics (in my case specifically music/guitar gear like tube amps, SS amp and pedals)?

See my post #67. Electricians probably don't need the most important first three features of my list. They hardly have to measure AC on DC, DC mVs, frequencies above 400Hz and many meters have too low input resistance/impedance to correctly measure plate voltages or voltage drop across large resistors.

I wouldn't buy a meter without knowing about meter input impedance with DCV and ACV.

[stoneattic]

See my post #67. Electricians probably don't need the most important first three features of my list. They hardly have to measure AC on DC, DC mVs, frequencies above 400Hz and many meters have too low input resistance/impedance to correctly measure plate voltages or voltage drop across large resistors.

I wouldn't buy a meter without knowing about meter input impedance with DCV and ACV.

Maybe I'm just missing it, but I have not seen specs or features listed on a meter that explicitly says it will read AC on DC. Would it be described in another way?

[Helmholtz]

Maybe I'm just missing it, but I have not seen specs or features listed on a meter that explicitly says it will read AC on DC. Would it be described in another way?

It should state "AC coupled" for ACV ranges. The ACV symbol should look like this ~ without any additional lines (indication DC coupling).
I always thought this would be normal until I found out that many of the cheaper meters don't have this essential feature.
I'm not even sure if the more expensice Fluke 115 is AC coupled (deleted it from my post above).
Without AC coupling you will need the additional cap for measuring AC on DC.

[stoneattic]

It should state "AC coupled" for ACV ranges. The ACV symbol should look like this ~ without any additional lines (indication DC coupling).
I aleays thought this would be normal until I found out that many of the cheaper meters don't have this essential feature.
I'm not even sure if the more expensice Fluke 115 is AC coupled (deleted it from my post above).
Without AC coupling you will need the additional cap for measuring AC on DC.

The fluke 115 has a ~ over the V on the AC voltage setting.

So does that mean it is AC coupled?
Ugh, I still have not been able to figure out which multimeter to get.

[g1]

The 115 there says 'true RMS' right on it. I don't think you will find a true RMS meter that is not AC coupled on the AC range.
I think all but the cheapest meters will have proper AC coupling when on AC range.

[Helmholtz]

The 115 there says 'true RMS' right on it. I don't think you will find a true RMS meter that is not AC coupled on the AC range..

Maybe by convention. But real RMS should include both AC and DC, as RMS is a power equivalent and both AC and DC contribute to power (the RMS value of 1 VDC is not zero but 1 Vrms). I would love to have a true RMS meter that allows measurements with and without DC components.

I read the 115 manual and it wasn't clear about that point. I tend to think that the normal ACV range is AC coupled, while the AC mV range might be DC coupled.

Edit: Read the 115 manual again and found the all important note:

"AC volts is ac-coupled. Auto-V LoZ, AC mV, and AC amps are dc-coupled. "
https://dam-assets.fluke.com/s3fs-pu...bVGUu8WPBGUjJu

So the 115 would be fine.