vinyl care

i have seen a few record cleaners on tinternet. namely the moth and the vpi. both circa £350-£450. i understand the value of a quality cleaner and am prepared to pay out for one. any views out there as to which i should be hunting down?
ta

 

Look for the Okki Nokki, about £200, or the Kab Evo-1 about £120, the Kab connects to your vacuum cleaner, the Okki Nokki looks like a baby VPI for half the price. There's a bloke on Ebay who sells them from Holland

 

thanks for that. just checked and they seem ok. have you used one? would i have to tinker with it to get it working here etc. i suppose i could always ask the guy, the dutch are often very good english speakers.

 

I thought the Okki Nokki needed a vacuum cleaner too? The one I saw at the Heathrow show had a vacuum cleaner under the table.

I use a VPI 16.5, which is excellent, haven't tried any of the others.

-- Ian

 

Another (much cheaper) option is to DIY one:

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner.html

You don't have to build it into a box - I use an old Pioneer PL12 t/t as the base on which to clean, and a seperate Dyson vacuum cleaner with a longer crevice tool (bought from Norwich market) covered in velvet for the vacuuming bit. VPI record brush can be replaced with a cut to size paint pad to save even more money, if you so wish.

May not be pretty or as compact but it definitely works.

Have fun,

Chris.

 

I did like Goomer using an old Lenco 75 motor cos of its high torque and 16 rpm speed, Paint pads for scrubbing and velcro on the crevice tool with a slot cut in it. Make my own fluid using distilled water and isopropyl alcohol. Ugly as sin, hard to store but it does the business big time.

Bob

 

I use the Moth, which is good.

 

I use a Nitty Gritty Pro (about £800 RRP), which is superb. I am currently using the cleaning fluid from the Moth people and bought 100 high quality protective inner-sleeves from Nitty Gritty a couple of years back.

Here's the link to the new mini-pro which is not quite the same as my unit, my whole cabinet is solid oak:

http://www.nittygrittyinc.com/mini-pro.htm

I got my unit in the USA from a friend who donated it to me because I loved vinyl so much and the unit needed servicing. As we knew we were relocating back to the UK I had Nitty Gritty convert it for use on UK ac mains (they do have units for the UK market).

If anyone wants any vinyl cleaned I would be willing to do it for you but at a cost. Obviously need to pay for the cleaning fluid and protective inner-sleeves.

 

I have a KAB EV-1, really works a treat!

 

I dont understand with these things... how come the water doesnt go right up the vacuum tube and rust up the motor of the vacuum?

 

They have a U bend - sort of.

 

Bottleneck
I made a fluid trap for mine.

Bob

 

thanks for all the replies fella's.

the most important thing i have learnt here is that they actually work!!
i will keep you posted on the choice i make though i am impressed by the lo-cost of the KAB ev-1.

is it easy to use?

 

I think so. Once you get the routine down, it becomes second-nature. And the best part is, the KAB cleans every bit as well as the far more pricey Nitty Gritty machines on which it is based.

 

My KAB-EV1 came last week and even though I have yet to have a real heavy go I'm well chuffed with it. Cleaned a couple of records to try it out - old cheapo 2nd hand ones - and they look immaculate after the clean and sounded pretty good when played as well.

The unit is very well built and the packaging was very good. I paid £102 including postage to the uk- took about 8 days in total - but don't appear to have paid any duty/vat on it so a bill may arrive at some point.

 

Hey Griffo,
I am looking to buy a Kab but a few of the reviews i have read have stated that the Nitty Gritty machines in general miss the outside edge of the record when cleaning, something to do with the suction lips not being long enough. Have you noticed this at all? Also does the label protector/turner thingy actually do it's job and keep the label dry? I have a Knosti at the mo, and this is one of it's bugbears.
Any other users here that can comment?

Cheers.

 

Only cleaned a couple of records so far not too experienced with the machine.

However I have cleaned all the way to the edge and after suction it looked clean and dry - certainly when playing the record there was no excess noise.

I have a knosti and this KAB machine really is a lot better. Essentially the record is held in place horizontally and you place a couple of drops of fluid on the record and use the brush to smear it around the record. Therefore any fluid on the label would be down to the user and not the machine itself.

Since the knosti uses a 'bath' the label gets wet on the edges if you fill it too much plus I noticed, especially with red labels for some reason, the fluid stains through it when it drys and small particles of the label dries on the actual vinyl. If you put a knosti cleaned record up to the light you see the smears as it drys whereas the records I've cleaned with the KAB look spotless - and no gunk on the stylus after playing - another annoyance of the knosti.

Hope to have a longer go at the weekend and try some of the dirtier, cheaper ebay buys I haven't played yet due to their condition.

 

I want one !!!! :S

 

Just ordered mine as an upgrade to my Knosti (I completely agree about the needle gunk after cleaning that has swayed me). Can someone clarify something though.

On the Knosti you have two brushes that seem to really scrub the record on this Kab you seem to apply a few drops of the fluid and then distribute round the record with a brush. Does the brush offer any kind of scrubbing or is it just spreading the liquid which you then rely on to do all the work?

 

The brush is sort of like felt/velvet and nothing like the bristles on the inside of the knosti. I applied a bit of pressure to ensure the fluid got into the grooves but not too much as to bend the record - very thin albums from the eighties. I assume the fluid simply loosens the dirt in order for the suction to subsequently remove.

However the instructions state use a drop near the inner and outer groove and also on the brush itself but I found slighty better results using a couple of more drops as this made it easier to spread the fluid around.

Once you turn the vac on the record gets sucked down quite tightly so I wouldn't overly apply too much presssure when scrubbing as there must be quite a force applied by the suction.

review on tnt audio which explains the details better than me : http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/kabev1_e.html