While playing this morning, there was a drop in signal from the amp then it went dead for a while, before coming back to life. The immediate reaction was: Darn! Tubes are dying. However, a quick peek revealed glowing, healthy tubes.
A few moments later, it happened again & I messed with the Master volume control & the amp crackled rather fiercely. However, after switching to the clean channel, everything was working well; no issues with any of the controls. So the quick conclusion was the problematic Master volume control & we all know dead amp pots are a little challenging to swap out. I grabbed the contact cleaner which was nearby & gave the volume control a good spray. For a more effective result, the amp head was laid on its back to allow the cleaning fluid to flow down. That, folks, was the cure to this mess - dirty contacts. I'm wondering why this was the case considering I play almost every day so the Master volume control was always rotated.
This Waxco Tech brand is, to my knowledge, the cheapest contact cleaner out there (less than $5 if prices remain true at Mustafa Center) but it's the least pleasant in terms of odour. If this bothers you, consider the Servisol, 3M & WD-40 brand instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment