Equilizer to reduce surface noise on bad records?

I am kind of surprised that no one gave the obvious advice that you should get yourself a good vacuum Record Cleaning Machine (RCM).

Given your analog equipment, it is pretty obvious that a Loricraft (the best RCM I know of), is not in your budget (@ $2,500), but a used Nitty Gritty/Record Doctor will do a very good job of cleaning records for around $100 (plus maybe another $50 in fluids and brushes).

Obviously it will not repair damaged records, so your equalizer or other methods suggested by the others would be utilized for those. (Although, wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy new or used NM records so the clicks and pops are not an issue?)

My two cents worth anyway.

PS I will also point out that certain cartridges are better at smoothing out clicks and pops than others. I was amazed when I went from the Benz Micro Glider II to the Koetsu Black, just how much quieter the background noise was.

Cal 208

I would take the time and effort to replace the records that you feel are importent to you. Just for fun take a look for some of the titles.here and elsewhere. Bargins can still be found and it will make your collection much more significant to you personally. Just for fun name a few and lets see what the analog crowd can dig up for you. Sometimes its the journey not the destination.

Regards

Groovey Records

Listening to

Magical Mystery Tour Mono Capitol 2835
$5 from Saint Vincent De Paul Society

From all the responses so far it seems that an equilizer is not a good idea so I think I will forget that. The records that I have that have surface noise are mostly from smaller and private labels so I doubt that there are any CD's for them, and I would rather not have to chase down replacements.
I didn't realize that there are equipment out there designed to take out the surface noise like the SAE and Burwin noise reduction units. I like the idea but wonder if they sacrifice sound quality? The ELP looks real good but costs too much for me. I am leaning towards transfering the records to CD and using a computer program to clean them up. I do clean my records with a VPI machine and this works great for the dirty records, but doesn't help the scratched ones.
I guess I was just looking for an easy inexpensive way to enjoy some of these records. Most of my collection is in decent enough shape, and I do listen to CD's too. I'll have to try that VTA adjuster for the Rega tonearm too. Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Cal208, I would also recommend that you look into the cartridge loading. If the cartridge loading impedance is too high (47K for example- no cartridge I know of actually loads at that impedance although many say that in the specs) the cartridge will ring- causing accentuation of ticks and pops.

You might also look into a phono section that operates with zero feedback (and passive EQ) for the same reason.