Power cord plugs for various countries

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

For some reason, over the last 5 or 6 months I have been selling a lot of amps into Europe, like Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Ireland, the UK and of course on the other end, Australia and a few into New Zealand.
I'd like to be more thorough but I can't quite figure out what actual 220v-240v power cord and plugs are needed.
There are so many drawings and so much artwork out there that it is confusing.
So, with all due respect, can some of you folks outside North America advise me as it seems there is a lot of different outlets and matching plugs...
but also, most of my power cord vendors are pushing some kind of power cord end commonality between for many of the European countries and I can't tell what is real or not.
Now I'm not talking about the chassis end, where common IEC sockets are used all over the world, I mean the actual end you plug into a wall outlet.

[bramley]

It can be tricky as some countries use combinations .
Here is an outline.
Electricity Around the World

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Nice link... thanks!

[Giaime]

As wikipedia says here, in Italy we have CEE 7/16 (good up to 10A), CEI 23-16 (16A) and Schuko, but I can guarantee that almost every guitar amp sold here (and in the nearest european countries) have the Schucko plug.

[Steve Conner]

Hi Bruce

To cover the countries you listed, I think you only need three plugs.

The UK one (BS 1363) for UK and Ireland.

The European "Schuko" type plug (CEE 7/7) for almost anywhere in the EU.

The Australian one (AS 3112) for Aus and NZ.


Ungrounded outlets, like the old American 2-prong kind, are still around in Europe. You can usually mash a Schuko type plug into them but it won't be grounded. Schuko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AC power plugs and sockets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jrfrond]

I have to say that even the variety of NEMA plugs drives me nuts! I wish the entire world could agree on a single electrical standard. Of course, 220V has different requirements than 110V.

Does anyone know the origin of 220V vs. 110V? I have never delved into it. Of course, 220V is easier to wire and the breaker boxes are simpler, because you don't need to split the phases. And of course, there are ALWAYS times when 220V is required, either with home appliances or at work.

When we overhauled our electrical system here in the shop with new 300A service, I had 220V AND 110V run to each bench with every conceivable corresponding outlet combo I could find. Nonetheless, we still have had to make up adaptor cables, especially for larger Crown amps. Now, we can cook an MA5000VZ, both channels driven, at full power right from the wall!