Hey, I bought a new Deliverance 120 II + about a month ago. All other knobs on the amp are completely silent when used, but there is a slight noise when turning the Depth knob. Is this normal?
Hey @nikita_p
Do you have a scratchy noise happening when you turn the Depth pot? No this is not by design. They should all be silent.
Sometimes fully rotating the pot from left to right many times can help to clean it. You might want to try that. If that does not work, there are cleaning fluids that can be used. Sometimes these cause more problems than they solve, so we need to check with the shop to ask for a recommendation.
If non of that works I’d get in touch with the dealer and ask them to fix the issue.
Sorry to hear you ran into this issue so soon after getting a brand new amps!
Regards
Dan
I made a video of my problem. Every other knob is silent. I’ve rotated it many times and the problem is still there. Maybe you have an idea what’s causing it?
Hi Nikita,
It’s great when people post videos—it really helps!
Thanks for checking if rotating would help. When you rotate the pot, a wiper makes physical contact with a conductive carbon track. If this physical contact is intermittent, it appears as scratches and noises in the audio signal. This usually occurs because contact age over time increases the resistance. This problem can sometimes be fixed by fully rotating the pot to clean things. This did not work this time.
A next step would be to use a liquid cleaner; failing that, the pot can be replaced. This is all easy for a local tech to do. I suggest you get in contact with the dealer, and they will be able to arrange a repair. It should still be under warranty, so this should be free .
Again, I’m sorry that you ran into this issue with a new amp. We do a lot of quality control before products ship. Did this occur after you had the amp for a while, or was it always this way?
Regards,
Dan
Hi Nikita, do you consider clips?
Best
I live pretty far from a dealer, so it’s easier for me to go to a local tech. Is there a particular liquid cleaner manufacturer you can recommend? Can the cleaner be applied to the outside (front panel) of the potentiometer, or do I have to disassemble the whole amp to get to the back side?
Hey, I’m not exactly sure what do you mean by clips 
Firing up the D2plus on Youtube and recording it… 
Ah, got it. I’ll try to record it in the future once I get familiar with it 
For now, I’m still figuring out all the settings
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Yeah! Thanks! And have fun! Best!
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Sora_Land is a regular and has a great YouTube channel with awesome German Metal
I need to get a recommendation from @DavidPhelge or @Gil about what pot cleaner is best. But yes, it would be a case of opening the amp to see if you can access the back for the pot. You probably do not need to do too much disassembly:
- unplugging everything
- leaving the amp cool down for 20 mins
- opening it up and squirting some fluid in the problem pot
- rotate it left to right about 20 times to clean it.
Or find a local tech? We can always send you out a new pot for free. If you want to arrange with a local person to swap it out in one go that might be easy for you.
Regards,
Dan
Dan, The type of cleaner is a non-residue electronic contact cleaner.
The customer can try this but a scratchy pot can also be indicative of a faulty cap in the circuit. Do we have a video clip of the amp exhibiting this issue?
Gil
Yes, I’ve already posted it:
honestly I think the amount of noise you’re hearing is negligible. unless you plan on twisting the knob a lot WHILE you’re recording or in the middle of the set I personally don’t see the point of going through the effort of cleaning it. yes, the video indicates there is a little bit of contamination on the pot. but it causes no harm to the sound unless you turn it, and also is relatively slight in volume. I’ve dealt with some amps with scratchy pots which sounded horrendous and made me fear for the well being of my speakers. but this is not that.
cleaning pots, when necessitated, is tricky business. so called “contact cleaners” are meant for metal on metal contacts, which a potentiometer is not. it’s possible using a contact cleaner will flush the debris and not damage the carbon resistive. in the event that does work, however, what is likely is that you will end up removing much of the lubricating grease which the pot was provided with, which will make the pot feel weird, and will make it more prone to getting dirty easier. in my experience, the only sure-fire way to remedy a dirty pot is to replace it with a new one, which is why I only recommending doing it when necessary for the application. e.g., a very dirty guitar volume pot needs to be remedied, since it will be manipulated during recording or live. but a slightly dirty depth knob on the amp, I probably wouldn’t sweat it. you’re going to set it and forget it the majority of the time.
I learnt something today ! Thanks @choalla I knew this was typically never a good idea but I didn’t know why!