cleaning equipment
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Posted on Nov 19, 2003 12:49 pm
wrmach
I'm Roscoooo P. Coltrane
Member Since: Apr 12, 2003
I was wondering if anyone knew a safe way to clean my equipment...my mixer, preamp...etc? Like what cleaning products should I use?
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Nov 19, 2003 01:22 pm one of the best things to clean any mixer with is those are things that they use to clean the computer keyboards with, if you have a vacume one, those are the best, there are some olis that you can get to put in, but i dont dare touch those unless i reallllllly need to. tempature means a lot to, if your room is to cold, to hot or to cold at sometimes and too hot at others in the same day, not so good with the equipment...just something to bare in mind...
Nov 19, 2003 01:26 pm DON'T smoke in your studio and periodically clean the jacks with contact cleaner...and pots too if they start getting noisy...unless their plastic components like some of that crappy older Alesis stuff.
TheTincanbugsloppy dice, drinks twiceMember
Since: Aug 05, 2003
Nov 19, 2003 01:52 pm first you need a bucket of soapy water and a garden hose...
:)
wrmach I'm Roscoooo P. ColtraneMember
Since: Apr 12, 2003
Nov 19, 2003 01:57 pm My problem is: recently I found out we had a mouse,and for some one like me...a neat freak and sorta-germafobe...it's horror! The horrid creature was in my studio/bedroom area. I slept in my living room for 2 weeks. The other night we caught the devil...last night was my first night back in my room. We cleaned and shampooed the carpet, sanitized everything within an inch of it's life...the only things I haven't seriously cleaned yet were my mixer, pre, mics, ect...Sorry to sound like a big baby but I'm adverse to vermon. So, I was wondering what would be a safe cleaning product to use on my equipment?
My apologies to mouse lovers everywhere...
haha
Nov 19, 2003 03:24 pm Quote : "DON'T smoke in your studio."
Jeez, I've never heard of that one before! I've been doing that for YEARS now! It seems like the more creative I get, the faster the coffin nails burn. How bad is this for my equipment?
As for the vermin...I got a good laugh out of that. The last apartment I lived in was seemingly overRUN with mice. Those nasty creatures were everywhere! I thought I was the only mouse-o-phobe! I've got a cat now for the express purpose of mouse removal. And I dont LIKE cats!
Nov 19, 2003 03:29 pm Oh man, that smoke cakes itself all over circuit boards and jacks, ash falls into faders, jacks and pots...that crap gets everywhere...it's one of the worst things you can to your gear (or one of the worst totally preventable things, anyway).
Naughty! Stop! :-D
Nov 19, 2003 03:43 pm :-( Now to find a way to be creative without my crucial crutch. I feel like a rock celebrity now.
TheTincanbugsloppy dice, drinks twiceMember
Since: Aug 05, 2003
Nov 19, 2003 03:49 pm or get a REALLY good air ionizer
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Nov 21, 2003 09:47 pm Yup, nicotine leaves behind an oily residue that is hell on all electrical contacts to include faders and pots. It coats the contacts just like it does a windshield. Nasty stuff! Now I smoke as well so I suffer the consequences.
Vacuming is the best! Non intrusive. For estetic cleaning I use a citrus based or sometimes an enzime based cleaner. Equipment surfaces. Wet the rag only and avoid allowing the liquid to enter faders etc.
Functional cleaning is the hardest. Most contact cleaners (which are the most effective once noise is noticed) have an oil componant to them. This will attract and retain debris, so you will find you will have to do it often. If the contacts can be reached a pencil eraser works well. Isopropal alchol is not bad.
As for Mr. Mousie, I would just vacume. Any bacteria or viral resudue will die very quickly outside of the host, so there is little worry there.
I empathize with your problem with Mr. Mousie. I had one (Fred) at work. He was little problem until he decided to use my printer for a toilet. Now I am handing out invoices with poop stains on them. He was after the paper in the paper tray. Needless to say our good friend Fred is now in the great beyond.
Last point. Great thing to do (which I should take my own advice here daaaaa) make or get covers for your equipment. Especially componants like the board where there are large flat surfaces with open holes to contacts e.g. faders.
