[Dixielandjazz] You'; ve probably have the answeres already but just in case....

[GWW174 at aol.com]

ma are milliamps or 1/1000 of an ampere which is a quantity of electricity.  
If something requires 35 ma's and you have a source which provides 1,000 ma's 
you have more than what it needs.  You also have to make sure the voltage, 
which is a measurement of how hard you blow into your horn or the force of the 
electricity, is the same.  Whereas ma milliamps is a measure of how much wind 
you have, volts is how hard you are blowing.  If you blow too hard, you can 
damage whatever it is you are blowing into.  If you don't have enough wind 
(milliamps) it ain't gonna work no matter how hard you blow.

You are not out of the woods yet.... You can either blow or suck - otherwise 
known as polarity which is the direction the electricity flows.  Most power 
supplies or equipment (if it is DC powered) will show the PLUS as being either 
the center conductor or outside conductor on the little power plug.  It is 
important that whatever power supply you use, that you make sure the polarity is 
correct.  Radio Shack makes a number of universal power supplies which allow 
you to change the voltage as well as the polarity of the connection so that you 
can either blow or suck - depending on what is required by the equipment.  

In review,.... the voltage (force of the blowing into your horn) must the be 
same.... you must have an ample source of wind - a power supply that can 
supply more ma's than you need.... and the direction of the blowing must be the 
same as needed to make music.  You either blow into your horn or suck air from 
your horn.

Hope this helps....

Gordon of Northridge
Gordon