So, last year I bought a Muse M20 "EX 2" on ebay. It sounded great at first, and I was satisfied enough I didn't swap out any components or anything. (Point being, it's bone stock.)
However, after returning from summer vacation (during which I had the AC running minimally, and therefore humidity was likely higher than average) I noticed that the amp would make all kinds of nasty sounds when the volume knob was turned (scratchy, hissy, garbled sounds).
No big deal, I thought, probably a bit of oxidation in the trim pot. Soon, however, it got worse, to the point where it would introduce severe distortion into one or both channels even when the volume WASN'T being adjusted.
Obviously, this demanded remedial action, so I bought some Deoxit D5 and cleaned the crap out of it (or so I choose to believe).
However, it didn't help one bit! I'm at a loss at this point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the amp is entirely solid-state except for the power switch and trim pot, and only the trim pot is actually in the signal path. And wouldn't the solid-state components tend to be fairly immune from degradation absent use, and over the course of only a couple months?
So, really, what else could it be but the trim pot? I suppose when I have some time I can bust out my oscilloscope and verify where the distortion is being introduced, but I thought I'd see if anybody has any input before I spend a whole afternoon engrossed in a $30 amp.
ETA: I noticed there are a couple of smaller trimpots on the board. I presume these are are to adjust DC offset. Do y'all think it's worth cleaning these?
However, after returning from summer vacation (during which I had the AC running minimally, and therefore humidity was likely higher than average) I noticed that the amp would make all kinds of nasty sounds when the volume knob was turned (scratchy, hissy, garbled sounds).
No big deal, I thought, probably a bit of oxidation in the trim pot. Soon, however, it got worse, to the point where it would introduce severe distortion into one or both channels even when the volume WASN'T being adjusted.
Obviously, this demanded remedial action, so I bought some Deoxit D5 and cleaned the crap out of it (or so I choose to believe).
However, it didn't help one bit! I'm at a loss at this point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the amp is entirely solid-state except for the power switch and trim pot, and only the trim pot is actually in the signal path. And wouldn't the solid-state components tend to be fairly immune from degradation absent use, and over the course of only a couple months?
So, really, what else could it be but the trim pot? I suppose when I have some time I can bust out my oscilloscope and verify where the distortion is being introduced, but I thought I'd see if anybody has any input before I spend a whole afternoon engrossed in a $30 amp.
ETA: I noticed there are a couple of smaller trimpots on the board. I presume these are are to adjust DC offset. Do y'all think it's worth cleaning these?
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possibly (likely imo 🙂 the cheap Fake Ta chip has crapped out.
A year life span is actually quite decent,. Some are DOA others live a ~week. (I've a couple of those 😉
Or perhaps one of the other Fine quality components has gone south ??
Apply your silly scope and trace down exactly what.. If you must.
A year life span is actually quite decent,. Some are DOA others live a ~week. (I've a couple of those 😉
Or perhaps one of the other Fine quality components has gone south ??
Apply your silly scope and trace down exactly what.. If you must.
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