The degritter is pretty straight forward. I use an extra tank that has no added cleaning solution (i.e. just distilled), and only use less than half of the suggested amount of cleaning solution in the one that does include it. Even with two cycles, it’s very fast compared to my old vacuum based system that was one side at a time.
edit: Thanks to our own Al Angen for pointing me in this direction.
That’s a nice idea, …do you then always switch tanks during each ultrasonic cleaning or do you have 2 separate ultrasonics for the process?
I never thought about how expensive a second tank could be and how easy the procedure switching them when filled.
I just have the one Degritter machine and two tanks that are easily switched out. If the record doesn’t need much of a cleaning, I’ll just use the distilled tank. I’d think that having two machines would still get some of A into B when you plop the vinyl into B. I don’t give this much thought.
If it’s a horribly dirty disc, but a diamond in the rough worth working hard on, a different vacuum RCM gets used prior to the above process (https://squeakycleanvinyl.com/)… three fine paint brushes to really try to get in the grooves, and three solutions to deploy. Much more manual.
Anyway…it’s not professional but it’s good enough for me. HTH
Depending on how dirty a record is, I will first clean them on my VPI 16.5 with a combo of cleaners from Audio Intelligent before they go into the Audio Desk for a bubble bath.
I really think the other way around would make more sense.
I would prefer to get as much off the surface as possible before the ultrasonic cleaning. I have tried ultrasonic first and vacuum second and heard no difference. To me, the VPI is another place to pickup microscopic bits, especially from the lips of the vacuum pickup and the platter itself. I also like how dry lp’s are when they come out of the Audio Desk. I have taken LP’s straight to the turntable.
I would like to look into the grooves with a microscope before/after each step. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone who owns one.
I also rinse the LP with this before ultrasonic cleaning:
Type I ASTM Deionized Water - 1 Gallon Amazon.com
Came back from dealer, they have the black degritter and looks better than photos. Turned out Miles Davis record I bought from next door Double Decker is less likely ultrasonically cleaned, I was just got lucky on that one. The cost of doing ultrasonic cleaning is $7 each. The dealer sold more degritters than vacuum cleaning machines. The track record of quality is very good, which is the feedback I was looking for. It is also interesting to know many of customers who bought degritter also own ProJect vacuum cleaner. Placed order of black finish degritter and will ship by end of this month from factory.
Talked to folks who use degritter at store, people do both ways, most of them prefer vacuum (especially for dirty records) and then digritter, others will do the opposite. The extreme will do vacuum, ultrasonic, and then vacuum. Once the record is cleaned, a medium cycle in degritter will be a sufficient to keep the record in good shape after each play. They also shared that it is kind of important to place the degritter on a level ground to prevent any rubbing / fluid spillage.
I know someone that has one of these. Works pretty good for our needs.
If one hears notable difference when doing even a normal vacuum clean before the ultrasonic (at least for non factory new LP’s), then this just proves that the ultrasonic also doesn’t catch it all alone. I wouldn’t have expected this to this extent. But most probably just use ultrasonic clean as a fast and uncomplicated option for mostly new LP’s and there wouldn’t notice differences.
When doing a vacuum clean after the ultrasonic I wouldn’t expect too many microscopic differences, as the pure fluid of the residue dried into the grooves probably isn’t visible.
Same here.
I do understand this sequence from the standpoint of avoiding a frequent change of the water bath due to more dirty records, but not really from the standpoint of cleaning result.
It could be the choices of cleaning agents I use. I have been using the Enzymatic and Archivist method on used records and Premium One Step on new. I will admit I only tried vacuum to ultra and ultra to vacuum on four albums, two per method before I chose vacuum to ultra.