Mixer Cleaning

[M0ses]

So I've got a chance to buy this puppy on CL. The description says that only problem is crackly sliders. Can this be fixed with contact cleaner like a volume pot? Would it be hard to do?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

EV is a quality brand, for me anyway, so there's a possibility that cleaning will work.

There's also a good possibility that it won't.

The four channel modules will make the cleaning less PITA than if it was a single PCB design, but it's still much, much harder than in a channel strip design.

You've never done this type of thing before, have You?
Getting that board cleaned up and serviced will take about 20 hours give or take.

In return You'll get an old abused board that's clean .

Not to mention rather heavy one I'd imagine.

Regards
Sam

[kalle74]

Sure, you can clean the faders, but the lubrication will be gone, so their action could go a bit funny. Not to mention their wear will increase dramatically... And if they´re really worn out, the cleaning won´t do much...

Someone wise once said it´s best to swap the entire faders... Which could be costly...

[bigdaddy1965]

Are your eq's, crossovers, and other processors as old as that board as well.A lot of times "merging" old with new might not work out as well.

[GregShadoan]

Scratchy faders, pots are pretty common on older equipment. Often time "exercising" them ie. running them through there min/max over and over will dislodge dust and make them a bit more usable. Most people dont know, or do this simple procedure.
Obvioulsy changing out all the pots and faders on a peice like this will be very expensive.
For 100 bucks, it looks like a decent peice, and living with the occational scratch sound wont be a huge deal.
If a fader simply fails, then a replacment part or channel lockout would be appropriate.
I have an old PM3000 that I use alot, and it has some really old parts on it. Done some of my BEST mixes on that old POS. Lots of scrathy pots/fader on that one. First thing I do is run the faders up and down , and excersie the gain pots for a few minutes.
Once a year, I pull it apart, and spray Deoxit contact cleaner (the GOLD version) and brush the connectors with a tooth brush. let them all dry, reassemble it and test it. I expect to get a few more years use out of it. I must say that it has gotten better since they outlawed smoking in the venue though.