My amp suddenly going silent when volume knob touchedi have a ordered


I have a pre owned Rotel RA1070 that’s been working fine. Tonight, twice, I’m listening to jazz, wife sleeping, so I go to turn down volume a touch. The minute I touch the knob the sound goes dead. Amp, CD okay running, cables fine, speakers brand new MA Silver 2 .
I turned off the amp, waited 10 seconds, turned back on, everything running, sounding normal. Later on, I get up to turn down volume, same thing, sound goes dead. What’s happening? Seems to happen when I touch the control, before I even turn it down... Almost like a mini shock
sifter
I was in the high-end audio business for many years.  This has happened many times in my experience.  Especially this time of year when the furnaces come on.  They tend to produce more static electricity in the air then at other times.

Also, if you are wearing socks, they will pick up the static from the carpet and pass it through you.  I have solved this by wearing rubber soled slippers or spraying the carpet with an anti-shock spray or grounding myself, (touching a metal post on my rack) before I touch the unit.  Any unit that uses some type of a logic chip can get zapped whether it's for volume or switching or DSP functions.

We had a thread on here several years ago about this same thing, but I can't find it at the moment.

I've also never heard of using tuner/contact cleaner to solve this?  If you had a scratchy or noisy control, yes, but not this particular problem. 
mofimadness4 and xti16,

     You guys are right, deposit buildup just causes a scratchy static like sound but does not cause the unit to shut down.  
     Sorry, it was my fault.  I think I must have misunderstood the symptoms on the original post.
Thanks,
  Tim
@noble100
Wish I had a dollar for every post I initially misunderstood LOL!!
Sold my 1070, have had a few different  brand amps in here with no issues. Just picked up a nice sounding  vintage Rotel RA 1060.... same issue. Zap, no sound, LOL. Must be Rotel, other brands not exhibit, same living room, same conditions.