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Posted by Acid John on Jul-17-2008 10:01:

FIRST CLUB GIG/ mixer cleaning

two in one post.

first and foremost - on friday night i have my first club gig. been at this since i was in 7th grade (currently 19 years old now)... aside from playing for house and apartment parties this is my first major gig and im beyond excited about it. so tomorrow night i go from playing for a handful of people to probably around 200.

i'll be playing electro/electro remixes of indie/mainstream stuff... not exactly trance, but still music that i enjoy mixing and will certainly get asses moving.

aside from all that....

the second part: i searched around but didn't find too much.

regarding the gig, the other dj is bringing the gear. tech 1200s and serato... what im used to. however, he has a new numark something or other mixer (i asked him and he didnt know the exact model off hand, just that it was on sale for like $70 at guitar center)

i have an old numark dmx3001 which might be a little more functional however it's certainly showing its age. the line/phono switches bleed through a tiny bit, so with serato hooked up i wouldnt want any bleedthrough of the timecode record... also the crossfader is static-y and will sometimes leave a little bit of the left or right channel when a song is supposed to be cut out.

aside from shooting some compressed air into the sliders/switches and hoping for the best, is there any way to actually clean these parts?

and i guess if not and we're stuck with the new one... does anyone have experience with the eqs on the new numark mixers? i know the old ones suck, particularly the bass.... little response until the knob is all the way left, then it cuts out real quickly.

thanks for reading and let me know about any fixes i can rig up by tomorrow night.

oh, and if you're in or around boston, you should probably check out the middle east downstairs tomorrow night from 9-130. Texas Mike and I (Kid Kronos) will be switching off and possibly tag-teaming the whole night.

Posted by Allied Nations on Jul-17-2008 16:39:

if you can unscrew the faceplate you should be able to get in there and remove the dust the airgun doesn't help with

but other than that, compressed air and love

good luck with the gig

Posted by Freak on Jul-17-2008 20:04:

and remember if you do open it up- NEVER use Wd-40. Dust will stick to it....and eventually make it worse.

Isopropyl alcohol

Posted by DJ RANN on Jul-17-2008 20:33:

quote:
Originally posted by Freak
and remember if you do open it up- NEVER use Wd-40. Dust will stick to it....and eventually make it worse.

Isopropyl alcohol

+1. WD-40 only belongs on lawnmowers.

The following advice is not specific to your exact Numark mixer but my experience is that most models are similar so the same service 2, techniques apply. This is a very easy procedure, only requiring a small screwdriver (to get the face plate off), a precision flathead screwdriver (to prize open the tabs) and small needlenose pliers (to help to the tabs back/clsoe the housing). Having said that YOU DO THIS REPAIR AT YOUR OWN RISK SO DON'T BLAME ME IF YOUR BANANA LIKE HANDS COCK IT UP. I have done this to various models from vestax, pioneer, numark, gemini and others with great results.

1, You can usually open up the faders themselves to clean the contact surfaces. Take off all the knobs, take off the face plate and you will have the circuit boards with the pots and faders. usually the fader housings are boxes made out of folded metal, like this:

2, You can usually take the outer housing off by prizing open the little tab that holds it to the fader PCB (it's tucked underneath). Like these tabs tucked underneath....

3, Then you can remove the sliding contact, spray isopropyl alcohol on the contact surface and wipe clean with a cloth.

4, Re-assemble the fader by bending the tabs back underneath and make sure it is exact so as not to allow any play between the housing and PCB.

In terms of the pots, there is little you can apart from flush them out good and proper with the isopropyl straw/tube attachment, while turning the pot.