Yeah, Dylan, this whole thing sounds suspiciously like a blown fuse.

You can test to make sure the wires are live with one of those 12-volt lightbulb testers, you don't need to scrounge a multimeter. They sell 'em at auto parts stores for a couple of bucks.

Have you checked to make sure the Empeg is also dead when on AC power? The fact that neither head unit lights up makes it sound like there's a fuse blown or some other wiring problem in the lines- unrelated to the radios.

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Tony Fabris