2. analog
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Does the MAPLESHADE STATIC DRAINING BRUSH work?

After hearing the DRAMATIC improvement in dynamics, clarity, and the blackest background ever from vinyl LPs while listening to my buddy's modest analog system I had to try the MAPLESHADE STATIC DRAINING BRUSH for myself. Yep. This plug in device really works. EVERY LP that I have played after brushing it with this device sounds dramatically better. Where I thought I was hearing ticks or surface noise in the vinyl (like between tracks and quiet passages in the music) I was mistaken. The noise was due to static OR magnetism because in EVERY instance where I had heard noise or ticks -- there was dead and I mean dead quiet silence.

Michael Fremer commented on an LP demagnetizer a couple of years ago saying that there are properties inherent to vinyl that can become magnetized. Problems in sound quality could vary but some issues are noisy vinyl, smearing, loss in dynamics, etc.

Well, Michael is right! After using the Mapleshade Static Draining brush every record has sounded much more alive, dynamic, and the noise floor is much blacker.

(We) spend hundreds or thousands of dollars buying cables and AC conditioners and cable elevators, etc. to avoid static but aside from using a Zerostat gun or antistatic brush (which actually adds static) it seems like a no-brainer to at at least give this device a try. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard the black and white difference for myself.

Has anyone else experienced similar results?
128x128dramapsycho
lewm
12,453 posts
 
Doug, Although my dad WAS a surgeon, I am not now, nor have I ever been a surgeon (or a member of the Communist Party). However, I am guilty of being an MD who used his degree and post-graduate training as an Infectious Disease specialist to work as a scientist. Ergo, not rich.

The "beauty" of the Furutech is that you can just put your LP into it and shut off your brain; it does the job for you. If you use a free hand demagnetizer, you do have to be careful that you are actually achieving your desired goal. Do you have something you use as a "control", so you know for sure that DE-magnetization has occurred?
taters
1,149 posts
 
Stringreen, after what you wrote about the bristles attaching to the cartridge I am going to pass. Thanks for the warning.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
There seems to be some slight confusion between a static electrical charge (Volts) and a magnetic field (Gauss). Generally speaking one should use BOTH a demagnetizer and an ionizer or negative ion generator whatever on cables, CDs, LPs and the like.
taters
1,149 posts
 
Stringreen, after reading what you wrote I am going to pass on the Mapleshade. Thanks for the heads up.
mcbuddah
93 posts
 
I have been using a Mapleshade brush for about a year. It has some good points and some bad. It is currently on my workbench while I try to get access to the remains of the ground wire still embedded in the handle. As many times as I have stepped on & broken the little wire, I really wish it had been implemented with some kind of pin and jack that disengages pulled too hard.

On the other hand, though, it does a really good job of cleaning up grundge when used immediately before wet-cleaning on my Nitty Gritty. This one-two punch has made many of my older recs give up their pops and tics even after multiple cleanings with just the NG had failed.

Also, it is useful for cleaning dust from surfaces that are really delicate. For users of the Boston mats, which are built of soft graphite material sealed with a thin, hard coating to prevent wear, it can be a big help. I also get a cleaner sound from CD/SACD playing when lightly brushing them and the open tray before playing.
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