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amp question- can someone tell me what this stuff is?

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  • amp question- can someone tell me what this stuff is?

    Hey guys, finally got around to getting some deoxit to try to totally resurrect that old Valvestate I got a few months ago for $10. It's running, if anyone recalls, but the pots are filthy. So I cracked her open & this is what I see... is it SUPPOSED to be there? Grease for the pots? I see some of it on the board.....is it a problem?


  • #2
    Looks like a lythium grease of some sort. Maybe they sprayed to much on the pots when they assempled the pots. and it oozed out. I dont think Lythium grease is electroconducive. So i wouldnt worry about it. Maybe spraying some of the deoxit loosened some of it and made it come out too. Maybe somebody more in the know will pop in soon.
    Gil

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    • #3
      It looks like the previous owner spunked some lube in there and it washed through to the board. Lubricating pots is like starting to shave - once you do it, there's no going back, you have to keep on doing it forever, even if it is a total pain in the arse. Maybe they just jizzed any old lube, gun oil, WD40 whatever into the pots, and that will be the residue.

      Get some Trichloroethylene and clean the PCB off, simply to tidy it up and stop it caking over any resistors etc nearby.
      So I woke up,rolled over and who was lying next to me? Only Bonnie Langford!

      I nearly broke her back

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      • #4
        Good luck finding any kind of trichoroethyene in the US. I believe it has been illegal for quite some time!
        Non lubricating tuner cleaner ought to help.
        I use Zep electronics cleaner spray.

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        • #5
          UPDATE- Thanks guys. Some of it was so dried up that it was actually like a chunky dust. I blew alot of it off the board using a can of air.

          Got in there with the DeOxit, which I bought from Radio Shack- came with DeOxit Gold for $14. 14 GRAMS of the stuff, lol. Enough to do each pot once. I'm going to get a bigger can and get in there.

          BUT! Major improvement. The pots are now just scratchy, not cutting out the signal. Can't believe it. Someone abandoned the amp, it seems, over dirty pots.

          I did notice, in the short time I got to play with it last night, that the reverb isn't working.....Seem to remember getting it going a few months ago when I had time to play with it. I'll see if I can figure out what's up.

          Guitar oriented projects are almost as much fun as playing sometimes

          Thanks again fellas,

          Vass

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