How do you clean pots on an amp?

[CyberStrat]

My son's older Peavey bass amp is older (15yrs), and most of the pots have some scratch in them. The local music store sold me some contact cleaner, but I don't know how to use it? The salesman made it sound like you just remove the knobs & spray it on the outside? Does that make sense?

Anything else I can do for a quick fix? I'm not going to replace anything. Just looking to make it a little quieter.

Thanks,

Cyber

[Cygnus X1]

You have to spray it on the inside.
Usually there is an open area where the three terminal lugs are.
Sometimes you will see an access hole on the side towards the back of them.
Tough to reach on surface mounted potentiometers.

Still, use the extension nozzle and try to get the spray into that area then rotate the knob several times full-sweep.
You might want to do it several times for each while it is opened up.

Spraying it on the outside puts the cosmetics in danger and it won't get into the right area of the pots.
If anything, if it gets past the seal it will destroy the lubricant in them.

[rudutch]

http://digital.premierguitar.com/pre.../200812/?pg=51

[CyberStrat]

So, The amp I'm talking about is a combo closed back amp. I'm going to need to remove the chassis to have access to the lugs, correct?

[CyberStrat]

ok, help again...I took the chassis out, and there is several mini pots. To me they look sealed or covered, but have three prongs that stick out and are connected to traces on the board.

Can I clean these? or are they sealed?

[CyberStrat]

ok, I'm done.

Worked like a charm. Only 20 min work, and it's good as new.

Thanks

[Mesotech]

While contact cleaner does work, I'm not a fan of using it except in extreme situations.

To me, the best way to clean a pot is to excercise it back and forth until the scratchy noises go away on its own. This could require several minutes per pot, and lot of turns. By using this method, you reduce the risk of removing the lubricant already inside, and the pots typically stan noise free for a longer period of time.

Obviously though, there are just some pots that refuse to clean up on their own by moving them. I will resort to electrical contact cleaner on those.