How to clean and service pots on guitar amplifiers

Noisy scratchy pots? Seized pots? This video covers how to cure these common problems. Plus a bit of theory!

[zandig]

Useful info sir !!!
The only pot video I've seen that physically shows how they work !!!
I use these tubes when oil spraying my car and came up with the same idea the a hose with the same ID as the od on the little hose on the can
Thanks for showing how to spray the pots from the inside of the device !!!!

[MAP]

I love all your videos. Very informative & I appreciate the fact that you are willing to share your experience & wisdom with the world.

[zandig]

I bought this amp for $150 I was worried at first but all the pots n Jack's were dirty, cutting out or fizzing out !!!! I had the amp apart anyways so I contact cleaned all the parts one man's garbage is another man's treasure 🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟

[pb]

Just found your channel and really enjoying the content. I came looking for info on cleaning pots but really enjoyed your introduction on circuits/symbols etc. So clear and easy to understand.

[stuartukguitarampguy]

Does DeOxit D5 'damage' carbon tracks?

There is a myth which is going around the Internet that DeOxit D5 somehow damages the carbon tracks on pots by 'attacking' the carbon in some way. I'm here to bust this myth once and for all. TLDR: DeOxit D5 is safe for use on carbon tracks.
I finally worked out where this myth came from as it didn't make any sense to me. A viewer engaged with me quite forcibly to say that D5 damages pots. I disagreed. He then linked me in to an Internet article which stated that mineral spririts attack carbon. D5 has mineral spirits, therefore it attacks carbon.
This started me thinking. Could I be wrong on this one? So I did some digging. I'd always remembered that pretty much nothing attacks carbon as it is a very stable element. This turns out to be true. If you have a carbon deposit you want to get rid of (say on an engine), the deposit is usually stuck down to the surface with some gunk or other. Soaking in mineral spirits may loosen this gunk and allow some of the carbon particles to be carried away in suspension, note NOT 'dissolved'. So the mineral spirit does NOT attack carbon. You could leave your pot in a bath of MS for a decade and have no effect. I believe this is the origin of the myth. I decided to check in with DeOxit technical department today and here is their response. So... myth busted I reckon.

June 27th 2022

Good morning Stuart,

Your email was re-directed to me. I’m a bit under the weather, so please bear with me.

It is frustrating when so called experts “get it wrong” about fixing or trying to fix electronics with our products, or for that matter, even with our competitors’ products.

Concerning pots and faders, DeOxit D series products have been used on those for countless decades and when used properly work perfectly by service techs and manufactures in production and service kits.
Concerning conductive carbon faders in particular, we developed the DeoxIT® Fader product in concert with RANE Corporation many years ago.

When, so called, damage occurs, it is not the DeoxIT® that causes the damage. If they use one of our sprays with a solvent, if the carbon has been scratched or damaged the solvent will flush it off the surface.

DeoxIT® D-Series products are safe on metals, plastic and carbon. The only caution we state is on semi-cured plastics (some polyethylene may soften), varnishes and any motor windings (which have varnish to protect from other windings).

So, you are correct in your statements. Mineral oil will not damage metals, plastics and carbon. Some solvents will may affect plastics and occasionally carbon if it is an aggressive solvent (we do not use on any of our products).

Hope the above is helpful. If you have any more questions, please let me know.

Some additional information:

Best regards,

(Caig Technical Department)

[CamInglis]

In Canada, Canadian Tire sells Moto Master Electrical Contact Cleaner. Worked like a charm. I followed your advice on how to deal with hard-to-reach amplifier pots. Thanks.

[TheClouds]

Finally someone with excellent information. Nice drawings too. You must be an artist.
Thanks you,
James

[richardcron]

I took the black top off the Deoxit and put the WD40 cap and nozzle on the Deoxit can.

[danilodallastella]

Great video sir, really apreciate the electronic lesson, it helped a lot at understanding and cleaning my amplifier.

[Zerpersande]

Yeah, 15:00 is the mark.
No, the owner of the chair, I think you did a very good job of explaining the things that you wanted to explain. I quickly skimmed over a lot of it but I can tell, as a chem/physics teacher, that you were doing a very good job of explaining how a potentiometer works. It’s just not why a lot of people came here.

[thomascraymer]

Great and informative video, now I finally know how pots work! Both my amps (a Line6 Spider and a Marshall bass amp) were ones I bought on the used market at roughly half the retail price, and both had this problem of crackling pots to some degree. I don't have Deoxit but went with compressed air for now, and it seems to work just as well if the crackling isn't too severe. The Line6 Spider is now fixed, the Marshall is almost done but still has a crackling treble pot (it's not as bad as it was before though) so I'll go over that one again tonight. Thanks, this certainly has saved me time and money taking the amps to be serviced!

[brianhasenkam]

Thank you, Sir. Just what I needed; I wasn’t quilte shure if I would ruin something. My mind is now at ease. Cheers.

[Steve-wzpz]

Thanks for the education on the pot screen capacitors, I should never have thought of that myself!

[juancarlos]

Thank you very much Professor!!!... for sharing this accurate and instructional video on pot maintenance!!! I will try it on a Peavey
KB5 Keyboard amplifier.

[garethbirds]

Hi Stuart, Thanks for this. I now have a clear understanding of what's going on inside my amp and how to address it. There is no need to watch any more videos on this topic!

[ChrisIlett]

Brilliant video, you explain incredibly well.

[garethcollocott]

Excellent tutorial, you definately picked up a new subscriber. Thank you

[timhoran]

These are great tips. I'll keep them in mind when repairing a Fender Sidekick Keyboard amp with scratchy pots. Thank you!

[michaelmcgarrah]

Thank you for your excellent, concise, (calming) video.

[greg]

Anyway good video pretty clear and concise and does hit a lot of problems that we amp techs and guitar techs deal with all the time. however there is a fitting now available from stewmac that will screw on to the Imperial threaded type potentiometer shaft, as long as they're not too long, that we can spray the deox it into ..it will travel down the shaft and get into the pot that way.. it's very controlled and it saves a lot of product ..you can also use it with your air can to blow out the residue once you're finished cleaning the pot