Anyone replace pots with presets ?

Groupie is a group of enthusiastic fans of any type, in the US.

They referred to them as bands, and their electronics as "Band Amps", "Musical equipment" or "Guitar amps" when I was doing that work in the '70s & '80s. Most repairs were done by part time techs at music stores, but there was usually a shop that specialized in amp repair in bigger cities. I even saw a few british amps, back in the '70s when some clueless wanabes were trying to copy one band or another, right down to the brand of wire and connectors for their cables. The only thing they forgot was to learn how to play music, sing, and perform in front of people who want good music. ;-)

As far as I am concerned, panel mounted controls are the only way to go for any application that involves rugged service. PC mounted are ok for internal adjustment, but nothing beats a mil spec made to last for

What difference does it make? Cheap pots are cheap pots. I was originally using ones from Radio Shack, but those were not holding up even to home use.

That expla>"Michael A. Terrell" wrote:

That explains the problem. What he needs to do is follow the group out to the "Gig". He doesn't need to be there from the start, rather at the end when the group finishes up by smashing their guitars and mike stands into his rental amplifiers!

the

elipse

wiper

nib.

both

Its not a wear problem , in my opinion. There is absolutely no wear on the track , the problem is due to too flimsy a wiper, half an ounce of pressure is enough to start lifting the wiper, ie only age-thickened lubricant grease inside is enough to do that.

But surely that's the age-old problem of any pot ? Isn't that why we all squib decent quality switch cleaner into pot bodies ? The volatile component of this dissolves and washes out the hardened grease, whilst the lubricant component recoats the track. Thinking about your statements regarding wiper pressure. The wiper has to have reasonably light contact with the track in a user-intended control, otherwise constant adjustment, would wear the track. It seems to me that a half ounce of contact pressure, is quite a lot ? For sure, the big old clunky pots that were fitted to gear 40 years ago, probably had a wiper the size of your hand that pressed on a track as thick as your finger with a pressure of half a pound, but times and manufacturing techniques move on. Just exactly what problems do you seem to get with all these pots, that won't fix with a shot of Electrolube ? With the shaft encoders that many hifi's use now for volume control, I've found that the grease which appears on the encoder disc, and stops then from working, is the treacle-stir-feel grease that they put in the shaft bearing, which has migrated down into the main body. The wipers in these devices are like feathers, and very delicate, but once they are cleaned out, and relubed with a proper contact lubricant, they don't give any more trouble - in fact I can't recall ever having one thus treated, bounce back on me.

Arfa

It`s the age old problem of cheap nasty low cost components being used, even in some equipment perceived as being of high status. You CAN buy decent pots if you shop around, or use normal replacement pots and add a drop of electrolube to the track before you solder it in.

I wouldn`t advise changing too many components in some muso`s vintage gear, some of these valve amp afficionados get shirty if you replace faulty resistors with modern types that 'don't look right' I hate to think what they`d say if you added a bodged up pot

Ron(UK)

I'm coming round to thinking that as these pots are easily openable and there is no wear at all on the tracks, then clean out all the lubricant with meths or something, coat the wiper with something to stiffen it up a bit and re-assemble, with no lubricant at all, maybe just "dry lubricant" of fine graphite powder laid in the track area instead.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

board

come

it

resistance

other

component

wiper

track.

thick

manufacturing

with

I'm not sure that aerosol lubricant would reliably get into these pots , there certainly isn't any slots and I would say the injection mouleded 2 components of the housing are tight fitting. There is still the sludgy lubricant grease inside.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

Ah ! Same post appeared ( accidentally I guess ) in your "speaker power" thread, so I say the same here -

There ya go then !

I also agree with Ron in respect of subbing parts in musos' gear. Looking for trouble with some of them ...

Arfa

fine

Rushing around to go to a pyrotechnics lecture. Interesting demonstratiion of a developemental stage pyrotechnic strobe light, for chemistry , amazingly sharp cut-off, re-ignition, of about 4 flashes per second, intense flare strobe action