Ah, ok, I think I see it in this photo. So it would slip over the silver part to the base of the silver part were it's sitting in the black screw area: Oh, and found another photo:
Used it quite a bit last night. Very pleased. It spent two weeks traveling the world on it's way to me and arrived in perfect condition. I cleaned about 10 records already.
Mine arrived on Wednesday! You've gotten farther than me though, I've only had time to open the box and look at it. I need to go pick up some distilled water, and I hope to start cleaning records this weekend.
I also joined the Degritter club about a week and a half ago. This thing is awesome. I've only been cleaning new or recently purchased vinyl at the moment, still devising my protocol for used/soiled records. On new records it is so much easier than anything I've used before and the results are also the best I've experienced. Very happy with the purchase
I haven't even had time to flip through the instructions. Is it as easy as pouring in the water, and pushing the right settings? Did you update the software first?
Yes, I would update the firmware if you know its not running the latest version. You will also want to add the Degritter solution (or solution of your choice) to the water and run a Degas. Then you select the wash program needed (Quick, Medium, Heavy) and away you go. They truly have made LP cleaning nice and easy and the beauty, is you can then walk away and come back to a clean LP ready to be played... Enjoy! Vin.
Welcome to the Degritter club! I suspect that, like most of us most of the time, the Degritter will bring joy to your ears. I'm constantly amazed at how much this machine can improve the sound of LPs. As has been said numerous times, it won't always resolve surface noise and damaged grooves are, well, damaged. But if there are simple contaminates mucking up playback, this puppy will definitely get the vinyl sounding better. Combined with a recently acquired Sugarcube, I am in vinyl nirvana!
I'd keep it simple to start and go from there for used vinyl. Listen a bit first. Just add 1.5 - 2mL of the Degritter solution when you first set it up, insert record and give it a spin on the heavy cycle and then give another listen. For used but not abused LPs pressed on good vinyl, sometimes a second cleaning will help reduce surface noise even more. I've found this to be the case with Japanese pressings. I've had some really noisy LPs that appear clean, playback NM after several heavy cleans. But for some US pressings from the early mid 70s that were pressed on junk vinyl, sometimes those can't really be saved completely. They can be improved but only so much. Have fun!!
Yeah, it is pretty much that easy. I haven’t checked the software yet (I should). I just have been using Deionized water from Whole Foods, and a healthy squirt of 91% isopropyl alcohol. Easy prays. Used LPs I will probably devise a plan of a manually scrubbed fluid and vacuum clean (I have a Record Doctor V on hand), followed by a Degritter with a surfactant, followed by a Degritter rinse with the DI water and alcohol. My Degritter came with an extra tank for rinsing. Thanks for the reply! I am relatively familiar with US cleaning (I had a Kirmuss prior), I am just researching the best pre-clean method/solution to used with my old Record Doctor vacuum, and which surfactant to used in the initial Degritter clean. I will follow with a rinse. Or perhaps revers the surfactant Degritter run and vacuum clean.
I would still just start out with just the Degritter and solution and see how it performs. Then move on to multistep if you find the need. I've occasionally used my old Music Hall vacuum cleaner in conjunction with the Degritter but didn't really notice it yielded better results than what the Degritter did alone. But of course, YMMV. . .
I found with the Kirmuss that the combo of manual scrubbing and US cleaning can work wonders. But maybe the Degritter will be efficient enough to not require it. It’s certainly a possibility. No hurry though, I’ve been putting it to good work with new/lightly used records - cleaning almost 50 in the first week
I do utilize a manual scrub with a nitty gritty RCM but only for somewhat rough used records, as a precursor to the degritter. I would say good used and all my new/reissues are done purely through the degritter. my manual process follows the one outlined by @pacvr - excellent results. Degritter is Whole Foods deionized water with the stock degritter solution for me.
My experience with Degritter for more than a year now is that a manual scrubbing step before ultrasonic is required for really dirty records and it offers superior results to just the Degritter. Of course, it depends on how dirty the records originally are. In my case, 50% or more of the records that I buy come in a condition that I wouldn’t really want to put them in the Degritter without scrubbing them first. For this prewash step I use the MOFI enzyme cleaner or just distilled water with a drop or two of a mild dish detergent, usually Dawn. This takes care of the major dirt, mold, fingerprints, etc. I use distilled water to rinse away and I dry the record with an electric air duster. Then it goes into the Degritter. The Degritter is great for penetrating deep into the grooves but it does not do much about fingerprints and other types of grime that are on the surface. The Degritter fluid is great but recently I substituted it with two drops of Tergitol 15 and I found that it cleans even better than the Degritter fluid.
Do most people here use the Degritter as a one-stop-shop or in conjunction with a vacuum RCM? I have a Pro-Ject VC-S mk II RCM which produces brillant results on both used and new vinyl but am considering a Degritter for vinyl where stuff is stuck in the grooves which requires a toothpick to shift.
a toothpick is too thick to get between the grooves but sometimes you get stubborn dirt on a record that flick right off with a toothpick, no damage done to the vinyl.
One thing seems certain: at this point the Degritter isn't for "power users" - that is for people who want to get a lot of record cleaning done in one go. The heating protection sure kicks in pretty fast. I get just a few records cleaned and then the system slows down plenty. So I just clean a record generally when I want to listen to it. (I don't remember the Degritter doing this sort of shut down after a few record washes thing with my original model, so presumably this is due to newer software).
Depending on ambient temp in my room, I can do 3-4 before the cooling cycle kicks in. It’s been that way since I’ve owned it (1+ years) on original or newest firmware
I used to VPI all records prior to Degritter since I have the VPI. Now I just use the Degritter on new. On used, depends on condition.
most degritter users in the greater world are one stop shop cleaners. Degritter users here have multiple RCMS, a library shelf’s worth of various surfactants and isopropyl alcohols, different types of water purity based on soil level, and multiple degritter tanks. (sarcasm)
