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Noisy Knobs



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>From: lwordsman@pirnie.com
>Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 16:31:31 -0500
>To: Loopers-delight@annihilist.com
>Subject: Noisy Knobs
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>Resent-To: hideo@concentric.net
>Resent-Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 13:40:07 -0800
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Hey Wordsman (my passion as well :)

Don't know if anyone got back to you privately or not,  but contact cleaner
helps dissolve the accumulations of goo that develop in old volume control
pots(variable resistor) and TV tuners--any electronic supply place has it

It's generally freon or solvent based--you usually need to get at the guts
of the pot--sometimes  with older pots with exposed gutty-wuts, you can 
just
pull the knob off, sometimes you need to pull the panel off--

Sometimes, you can work the noise out with JUST vigorous knob twiddling
(AAAAOOOOOOHHHHHHH . . . KNOB TWIDDLING . . .)  and no cleaner. . . No 
luck?

DON'T get carried away with the contact cleaner--the stuff is bad for the
environment and you and too much may create otherr problems. Spray a 
little,
twiddle the knobs (AAAAOOOOOOHHHHHHH . . . KNOB TWIDDLING . . .) see if the
noise works out

If this technical stuff stuns you, might I suggest you take it to Radio
Shack, which along with Auto ZOne,is the last bastion of charity service in
the sordid world of chain store retail ( I regularly see Auto Zone 
employees
in St. Louis, a city not known for kind deeds, installing windshield wiper
blades GRATIS on peoples cars!) It's a crap shoot, but:

Enter the store wearing kind of a helpless expression--try and find the
fresh, young employee (not burned out yet)--if he is wearing a pocket
protector or has tape on his glasses, even better--and patiently wait in 
the que

wait a second, are you FEMALE . . . strategy is slightly different, but for
right now, let's assume you are a guy

Ask the clerk if they have this "switch cleaner stuff that you squirt in 
the
amp to clean it"--wait for the horrified look and then after he or she 
comes
up with the can, politely ask  "so do you squirt it in these holes in the
back or is there a lube fitting somewhere?"

Unless he's a totally heartless bastard, help is on the way.

Good luck and drone on~~~~~~Tom


>Travis Hartnett Wrote:
>
>" I wanted to see if I could squirt some contact cleaner into the feedback
pot (it makes a horrible loud burst of white noise if it's rotated in the
lower 25% of its range. "
>
>My amp makes terrible noise when I turn the knobs and I was unaware of any
product that could help reduce that noise.  Please tell me more.
>
>
>
>
Tom Lambrecht  hideo@concentric.net