phaeton

Hey Myles, I've used crew socks for many many years, but lately I've been looking into picking up a set of tube socks. Since it is wintertime, i'm obviously looking for warmth and gain, but i don't want to sacrifice too much head room. I'd like to be able to see where i'm walking. Plus, i would like stuff that i can keep clean easily, and doesn't create a lot of fuzz. Do you have any suggestions as to what's a good "starter set" for tube socks? What's a good place to find them in matched sets? Also, are these something i can bias myself or should I take them to a professional? Thanks a million. This is 2 steak dinners i owe you now. -phaeton.

Myles, I don't think i ever thanked you for your recommendations and advice for cleaning scratchy potentiometers on my amp (last uhhh.. summer?). I did as you advised and it worked like a charm! If you're ever in the SE Wisconsin area, dinner and suds are on me -jared

Ahh.. thanks... the AES site must have been temporarily down, but it's back up now. I take it i will find the cleaner and lubricant in the same can, such as the Jif-Action (S-C19-636) at AES. It appears to be cleaner with silicon lubricant. While i'm at it i could probably hit the 5-way selector switch on my Strat and get those "out-of-phase" positions to work again too.

Thanks Myles, you rule And i don't think that *all* solid state amps are bad, just some are less good than others. And it's a good thing you pointed out the clean+lube part, because i was about to just go out and buy the standard off-the-shelf spray and (probably) ruin ALL my pots. Although tubesandmore.com seems to be no longer there... in any event, i can do some intelligent hunting for the right product. Thanks again. And fwiw, i totally side with you on the "should we ban posterX" issue.

I'm feeling kinda free right now, so i figured i should ask myles.... Myles, I have a small practice amp: A 1975 Peavey Pacer SS-100 I know it's solid state, and it's nowhere near the caliber of units you normally service, but the principles will still apply. It's got some pots on the front (primarily the pre-volume and master-volume) that seem to have some `angry spots' in them. I.e. if you gradually turn up the "master" volume, the sound will get gradually louder (as it should), until you get to a few positions where it will drop off to a whisper, and a few others where it will be as if you've got it cranked. Yet other volume positions it will just sit and make this really strange squeaky hum. (not sure how else to describe the noise). I know dirt in the pots can cause the dropouts in volume (gets between the contacts and increases the electrical resistance) but in the case where a few volume positions are much louder than what they should be (an internal short in the pot?) could this also be caused by dirt and/or some form of conductive contamination? Maybe rust? (the amp sat in storage for about 2.5 years) I've had the amp apart once before (fixed a broken wire in the reverb circuit) and it looks like all the pots are soldered directly to a (suprisingly small) circuit boad. Desoldering/Resoldering new pots in may be a bit beyond my abilities, and my guess is the amp is probably not worth taking to someone. A Classic Series yes, a Pacer, no. Should i try to `clean' the pots with some of that aerosol spray stuff, or will this be difficult/pointless? Are they already shot? Even though it's all i have at the moment, you won't hurt my feelings if you have to tell me it's beyond reasonable repair and it should be thrown away. I greatly appreciate your time, Myles.