My RP255 died the other day. I plugged it in, and nothing lit up. I tried a different power supply. Same thing.

This is the RP255 that I famously plugged into a 220 volt socket in London, at which point the power supply got hot and failed. The RP255 worked the next time I plugged it into a 120 volt socket in the USA, so I thought all was well. Alas, though it was not dead, the thing’s encounter with London electricity must have left it mortally wounded.

So now I have to get the thing serviced or buy a replacement, at least if I intend to keep developing sounds for it. Alas. I was kind of hoping to keep using that one.

Anyway, life is a cycle, innit? My Peavey KBA100 keyboard amp has been dead for a while now, ever since I took it apart while trying to clean the VERY scratchy pots on its front panel, and never put it back together again. I never succeeded in cleaning the pots well enough to make it worth bothering, or so I thought.

So a couple of days ago I was trying to figure out what to do with it. A fifty-pound paperweight has few uses in my house. I finally decided to just put it back together and take it down to the local Guitar Center to see what they’d give me for it in its non-functional shape. (Hey, the cab and the speaker are still fine.) So I connected the speaker leads back to the amp circuit board, fitted the amp back into the cabinet, plugged the power in, and turned it on. And it worked.

Yes, it lit up and got loud through all three of the front panel inputs. And when I turned the rotary pots, they barely made a sound. I sprayed them all with contact cleaner anyway. Three times. They’re definitely not scratchy now.

Gear dies and is reborn. You can fix something by taking it apart and putting it back together again, even if that’s all you do. Amazing.

I may even try it with the RP255.