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Hey all!
I hope to get a few enlightened answers on this, because I've gotten very conflicting messages about it from other places:
1. My Marshall 8100 has crackling pots, and I am planning on fixing this.
2. Some people suggested I use a spray called "contact cleaner" and spray it into the pots. I've gotten this advice on several occations, from different people.
3. Other people have screamed: "STOP!!! No spray in the pots! You'll only make it worse!"
The people in paragraph "3" made the following arguments:
"Crackle in a pot is caused by wear. The graphite track is getting worn, and the slider (which is connected to the knob), doesn't get proper contact with the graphite.
If you spray contact cleaner into the pot (God forbid!), the spray will eat away at the graphite track, worsening the damage to it. The spray also dissolves fat residues, which in turn binds loose graphite particles. The result is a graphite sludge which may end up in the entirely wrong place and produce "micro shorts" that cause erratic operation of the component.
This "contact cleaner" spray is only for switches or sockets where the contact points have gotten oxidized or burnt.
What you CAN do as a temporary fix, is to turn the amp off, and then rapidly turn each knob between min and max a number of times. This may clear the problem for a while.
The only permanent fix is to replace the pot."
I must say that the "paragraph 3" arguments sound pretty convincing. What are your experiences with contact cleaner in amps and/or guitars? Help!
I hope to get a few enlightened answers on this, because I've gotten very conflicting messages about it from other places:
1. My Marshall 8100 has crackling pots, and I am planning on fixing this.
2. Some people suggested I use a spray called "contact cleaner" and spray it into the pots. I've gotten this advice on several occations, from different people.
3. Other people have screamed: "STOP!!! No spray in the pots! You'll only make it worse!"
The people in paragraph "3" made the following arguments:
"Crackle in a pot is caused by wear. The graphite track is getting worn, and the slider (which is connected to the knob), doesn't get proper contact with the graphite.
If you spray contact cleaner into the pot (God forbid!), the spray will eat away at the graphite track, worsening the damage to it. The spray also dissolves fat residues, which in turn binds loose graphite particles. The result is a graphite sludge which may end up in the entirely wrong place and produce "micro shorts" that cause erratic operation of the component.
This "contact cleaner" spray is only for switches or sockets where the contact points have gotten oxidized or burnt.
What you CAN do as a temporary fix, is to turn the amp off, and then rapidly turn each knob between min and max a number of times. This may clear the problem for a while.
The only permanent fix is to replace the pot."
I must say that the "paragraph 3" arguments sound pretty convincing. What are your experiences with contact cleaner in amps and/or guitars? Help!
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