How do you clean tube pins?

Hi Louis1,

Most of the time just by taking a tube out and putting it back in the socket 6 or so times in a row should clean the pins well enough. If not, as mentioned above steel wool or a brush can be used. Make sure to wipe away any lose particles before re-inserting the tube in the tube socket.

Word of caution ..... I highly recommend checking with the manufacture of your amp/pre before using ANY chemical cleaner or contact enhancer as this may void your warranty and and using such products may cause a costly repair bill.

Best,
Tom

Take a normal pencil. Drill a small hole in the end centered. Fit tube pin into drilled hole and rotate. If you need to get SST off use an emory board.

I've been using contact cleaners of varying discriptions on tube pins for 30 some years. All it takes is reading the instructions and a modicum of common sense to use them successfully, and without any sort of damage.

I've had good luck cleaning steel tube pins on small signal tubes by cutting small strips of 1000-1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper and wrapping that around the pins and oscillating the paper over the pins. Really gets into all the hard to reach areas that are harder for me to reach with the steel wool method.

Bend a pipe cleaner 180* dip it in Kontak cleaner and you will be able to clean all sides of a tube pin.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=13180

good listening....