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Line 6 DL4 beer incident

Started by ultralinear, July 04, 2012, 05:50:28 PM

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ultralinear

My cousin Doug, being very keen upon Rock n' Roll, decided to spill beer all over his Line 6 DL4.

The DL4 took great umbrage to this act and has refused to produce any sound since. Any ideas what might be the problem and how easily I might repair it? I doubt that Doug would have opened her up/cleaned her out etc. The beer will no doubt have had a corrosion party unhindered.

I have eyes that work and a soldering iron. Beyond that, I am pretty much clueless currently.

What is the likelihood of my success?

Many thanks

Robin
I'm completely new to audio electronics. If any experienced builder is willing to take the time to explain things to me and answer my obscure questions, I'm happy to pay for the privilege! Please do PM me.

aron

I think you should do similar things to the pedal that people do to items that get water damage. You need to get it dried out if there's beer inside the pedal. After that, look for obvious signs of damage (burnt components etc). Then finally plug it back in and see if it at least lights up.

Jdansti



You might want to call or email the manufacturer. If they can't recommend anything, here's what I would do:

Pull the knobs off and open it up. Since the pots are on top, there could be beer residue inside of them. Use an electronic contact cleaner to flush out the pots. It's possible that the foot switches also have residue in them. I'm not sure if they can be flushed out. If they don't work, you might have to replace them.

If the circuit boards have beer residue on them, you could clean them with rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) and then let the alcohol dry.  The old chemistry rule is "like dissolves like". Since beer is a mixture of various substances dissolved in water and ethyl alcohol, the isopropyl alcohol should dissolve these substances and flush them off.  Gently use a clean toothbrush along with the alcohol if necessary.  The isopropyl alcohol will evaporate without leaving any residue.  70% should work fine, but 91% would be better.  Don't use that green alcohol or the dollar store 50% variety.  Cheers!   ;)
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