Last night a beer got spilled on my AER Compact 60 and the foam grill took a pretty good hit. Anyone every dealt with this before? I emailed AER, haveen’t heard back yet, though it’s probably night over there.
I never heard back from AER ☹️ but I learned some things about the amp because I took it totally apart to clean it. The section that houses the electronics is completely separate from the speaker cabinet, and unless I missed something the speaker is put in before the cabinet is glued together, which means that if you blow a speaker (or soak the cone) your’re screwed. I imagine AER has a high pass filter around 120hz built into the amp (along with some limiting) to protect the speaker. I used this amp with a uke bass once, it was totally lacking in low end. As a comparison, my Loudbox mini is a great amp for the uke bass.
Luckily I think that the speaker itself did not take any beer, and I was able to clean the amp thoroughly. The foam seems to be glued on, no way to remove it but I got towels on it immediately after the spill, and now 99% of the smell is gone. With my nose actually touching the grill I can still detect a trace in one spot but I think this will face over time, and it’s NOTHING compared to how all my gear used to smell back in the days of smoking in bars.
StringswingerSanta Cruz and San Francisco, CA✭✭✭✭1993 Dupont MD-20, Shelley Park Encore
Posts: 465
I spilled a glass of wine on a gig and some hit the front of my AER Compact 60. I did have to remove the foam to wash it (which solved my issue, as luck would have it, no wine hit the speaker). The foam is glued to a metal grill and had to be reglued to the metal grill after washing. It was not a big deal, but these amps have little support in the USA and may present repair difficulties.
"When the chord changes, you should change" Joe Pass
I would just leave the beer on - it contributes to the patina of well-used equipment. You might even add some beer bottle rings and cigarette burns along the edge of the top for extra effect.
Comments
How is the cleaning effort going? Does your amp still smell like beer?
Will
Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."
Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
I never heard back from AER ☹️ but I learned some things about the amp because I took it totally apart to clean it. The section that houses the electronics is completely separate from the speaker cabinet, and unless I missed something the speaker is put in before the cabinet is glued together, which means that if you blow a speaker (or soak the cone) your’re screwed. I imagine AER has a high pass filter around 120hz built into the amp (along with some limiting) to protect the speaker. I used this amp with a uke bass once, it was totally lacking in low end. As a comparison, my Loudbox mini is a great amp for the uke bass.
Luckily I think that the speaker itself did not take any beer, and I was able to clean the amp thoroughly. The foam seems to be glued on, no way to remove it but I got towels on it immediately after the spill, and now 99% of the smell is gone. With my nose actually touching the grill I can still detect a trace in one spot but I think this will face over time, and it’s NOTHING compared to how all my gear used to smell back in the days of smoking in bars.
I spilled a glass of wine on a gig and some hit the front of my AER Compact 60. I did have to remove the foam to wash it (which solved my issue, as luck would have it, no wine hit the speaker). The foam is glued to a metal grill and had to be reglued to the metal grill after washing. It was not a big deal, but these amps have little support in the USA and may present repair difficulties.
Stringswinger, so removing the foam didn’t damage it? Whaat glue did you use to reattach it?
Crazy glue
I would just leave the beer on - it contributes to the patina of well-used equipment. You might even add some beer bottle rings and cigarette burns along the edge of the top for extra effect.