アアアッ
I am sorry to hear about the noise when turning the GAIN switch in the
original PEQ1 and PAFOUR. Usually when this pops up I get an email and
always reply with the successful fix (see below).
The PEQ1 and PAFOUR used to have Swiss made gold switches from ELMA. Having done the research, these seemed to be the best you can buy.
Since 2007, the newer models PEQ2R and PAFOUR Plus, have been released with a totally new custom made switch by Grayhill which we are very pleased with!
These Grayhills have half the amount (12 instead of 24) of round gold plated contact pads that are located around the circumference of the switch. These are the pads that the gold switch wiper travels over. Having 12 pads instead of 24, they are twice as wide having over 3 x as much contact surface. Also, the gold plating on the new Grayhill switches is the thickest available at the factory. So far in using these for 5 years, these switches ROCK!
But the older Elma switch even with 24 smaller gold pads should work great non the less. We were told by ELMA that if the switches ever get noisy to use De-oxit. We have found that this works excellent but the De-oxit needs to be applied like the procedure below.
1 Remove the top cover.
2 Hold the Unit so that the red knob is towards the floor.
3 Find the access hole at the rear of the large gain switch.
4 Place the clear straw applicator from the Caig De-Oxit into the end of the access hole (the straw is a little too big to fit in the access hole).
5 Press the De-Oxit spray button very slowly so that you trickle about 20 drops of De-oxit into the switch, the switch enclosure is clear plastic and make sure that the switch is visually wet inside.
6 Rotate the Knob back and forth, full travel, about 20-30 times quickly.
The switch should now be noise free. if not repeat steps 2-6.
When I speak to the owners of the older PEQ1, I ask about the switches and they say that they do not have this problem, but every once in a while they do admit that they get pops when changing gain settings.
We thought perhaps the RoHS environmental laws in Europe made plating with gold more difficult. So in the later PEQ1 (about 2006 - 2007) we had Emla make a custom silver plated switch with 10 x the plating thickness and all these units seem to work great. If you older PEQ1's with the gold switch ever wares out, the thick silver replacement switch is a great mod.
The PEQ1 and PAFOUR used to have Swiss made gold switches from ELMA. Having done the research, these seemed to be the best you can buy.
Since 2007, the newer models PEQ2R and PAFOUR Plus, have been released with a totally new custom made switch by Grayhill which we are very pleased with!
These Grayhills have half the amount (12 instead of 24) of round gold plated contact pads that are located around the circumference of the switch. These are the pads that the gold switch wiper travels over. Having 12 pads instead of 24, they are twice as wide having over 3 x as much contact surface. Also, the gold plating on the new Grayhill switches is the thickest available at the factory. So far in using these for 5 years, these switches ROCK!
But the older Elma switch even with 24 smaller gold pads should work great non the less. We were told by ELMA that if the switches ever get noisy to use De-oxit. We have found that this works excellent but the De-oxit needs to be applied like the procedure below.
1 Remove the top cover.
2 Hold the Unit so that the red knob is towards the floor.
3 Find the access hole at the rear of the large gain switch.
4 Place the clear straw applicator from the Caig De-Oxit into the end of the access hole (the straw is a little too big to fit in the access hole).
5 Press the De-Oxit spray button very slowly so that you trickle about 20 drops of De-oxit into the switch, the switch enclosure is clear plastic and make sure that the switch is visually wet inside.
6 Rotate the Knob back and forth, full travel, about 20-30 times quickly.
The switch should now be noise free. if not repeat steps 2-6.
When I speak to the owners of the older PEQ1, I ask about the switches and they say that they do not have this problem, but every once in a while they do admit that they get pops when changing gain settings.
We thought perhaps the RoHS environmental laws in Europe made plating with gold more difficult. So in the later PEQ1 (about 2006 - 2007) we had Emla make a custom silver plated switch with 10 x the plating thickness and all these units seem to work great. If you older PEQ1's with the gold switch ever wares out, the thick silver replacement switch is a great mod.