Blacet pot upgrade? (2100, Miniwave, Super VCA)

[aethyr]

Good day everyone,

I started receiving my first Blacet modules in the mail (2100, Miniwave, Super VCA) and am wondering if the pots can be upgraded to something like alphas? It will be tight regardless and also understand that the PCBs would need to be mounted differently. I plan to convert these modules into bananas so might as well replace the pots at the same time.

Let me know and thank you in advance!

[e-grad]

am wondering if the pots can be upgraded to something like alphas?

I never had any problems with the panasonic (?) pots Blacet had choosen thus I am not sure whether going for Alpha's would be an actual upgrade.

[soup]

I built a couple blacet modules from partial kits and 9mm pcb mount alphas will fit on the board and will work to mount the faceplate but I don't think it'll be an upgrade, the alphas will definitely be less robust.

[aethyr]

Thank you for the info.

Would any of you recommend any better pots or am i trying to make these something they are not?

[e-grad]

Would any of you recommend any better pots or am i trying to make these something they are not?

I had never any issues with the original ones. IIRC I bought my first Blacet kit in 2001.

[thee ghost ov n_phay]

I bought my first 2 Blacet kits in 1999 (maybe even 1998) and built up the set of modules I have piecemeal since then. A few years ago I relubricated all of the pots in my Blacet modules with WD-40 following the instructions on Blacet's website. Every one of the pots still works 100% after a lot of years and a lot of use. OTOH,. I've had to replace a few alpha pots in recent years. I would not change them, it would be a downgrade ime.

[emmaker]

The Panasonic's are good enough. I don't know if they still are but at one point in time that is what was used in Mackie mixers.

Jay S.

[aethyr]

I guess I am not used to pots like these and seem flimsy compared to my serge/fenix system, hence my wanting to convert them to bananas.

Perhaps I will get used to them and thanks

[werock]

I guess I am not used to pots like these and seem flimsy compared to my serge/fenix system, hence my wanting to convert them to bananas.

Perhaps I will get used to them and thanks

Are you talking about pots or jacks?

Alpha make pots, not banana sockets.

[aethyr]

Good day!!

See the first post in this thread.

I guess I am not used to pots like these and seem flimsy compared to my serge/fenix system, hence my wanting to convert them to bananas.

Perhaps I will get used to them and thanks

Are you talking about pots or jacks?

Alpha make pots, not banana sockets.

[werock]

Yeah, I was just just confused by how you were saying you wanted to convert flimsy pots to bananas.

[aethyr]

Please forgive the typo dude

[eef]

I was playing with my Blacet system last night and noticed some pots getting really “scratchy”. There was mention above about instructions on the Blacet site for how to lubricate the pots with WD-40? That sounds odd to me, and I could find nothing about that on the site. Perhaps there is generic potentiometer maintenance info somewhere? I’d like something geared toward Blacet equipment if possible.

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, if that is a thing that bothers you, but it looked the best place to ask.

[werock]

If they are scratchy you may need to use contact cleaner rather than a lubricant like WD-40. You should find plenty of info online about cleaning scratchy pots.

Having said that, look at this page on the Blacet site, where the lubrication info is listed.

http://blacet.com/tech.html

[thee ghost ov n_phay]

I had quite a few scratchy pots a few years ago, and spent an afternoon lubricating all of them, following the instructions on Blacet's website. It worked, completely. I would recommend trying it out!