HumminGuru & Degritter Ultrasonic RCMs

Thanks @restock
Very helpful. Lots of online reviews are praising the after sales care that comes with buying the Degritter.

Do you use Degritter’s own supplied surfactant or have you experimented and found something else that is more effective?

I have both a HumminGuru and a Degritter.
Started with the Humminguru, I was an early backer of the Kickstarter. Have been very happy with it. No problem really. But one thing lead to another and I had the possibility/opportunity to buy a Degritter.
I can hear the difference between a record cleaned in Dg and HG.
I use G-Sonic surfactant in Heavy Mode and then I rinse in only distilled water. On new records I rinse in Medium and second-hand records in Heavy mode.
I will re-clean all records I cleaned on HG in Degritter. But first I will clean all my uncleaned records. Only have a third of them left…
Another advantage with Degritter is that is is much easier to use.
Is it worth the money?
The Degritter is awfully expensive. If you have the money I think it is worth it but still… I could have bought an awful lot of records with that money…

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Thanks so much @klacke - that’s a hugely helpful post. What can I say - I’d love a Degritter!!

Several people I’ve seen/read have said how they have had other RCMs which they have ended up selling because they found all the manual work needed too onerous. It’s why I am only seriously looking at something that’s fully automated.

I’ve been surprised by 2 things since getting back into vinyl.

  1. The state of new records! Opening a new album to find it covered in detritus is common.
  2. Static. What a pain in the arse.

My old records all need a damn good clean.
I have a cunning plan. A friend is due to buy a turntable and he may be persuaded to go 50/50 and share a Degritter between the two of us. It’s a thought…

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I think the idea of sharing it with a friend is a great plan. I tried to persuade two friends to do the same thing but I did not succeed. But it’s a perfect machine to share with some people I imagine.

If you buy a Degritter and you plan to use a surfactant in first clean and then rinse in distilled water in 2nd clean I would recommend you to get 2 water tanks. It helps a lot.

One thing I forgot to mentioned is that Degritter measure the temperature so that the record don’t get warped if it gets to warm. This means that it will stop cleaning and cool down the machine if you clean several, in my case 4-5, records in a row on Heavy mode. It will restart automatically. This cooling down will add to the time it will take to clean a record. Not really a problem but something you should be aware of.

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@klacke - brilliant. Thank you.

If your lps need a hard clean, you will have first to clean them manually with a good fluid, like Art du Son. The HGuru is not made for hard cleaning, in my opinion. Maybe more Degritter then.
Or buy a spin clean, for the first step of cleaning, then HG to finish.
My opinion only.

I agree, this is true for both HGuru and Degritter. Degritter are better than HGuru but you will still need to pre-clean a very dirty record to get the best result.

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Finally received the Degritter fluid. With no hesitation I can say it does a better job than only distilled water or distilled water with isopropyl.
And the cherry on the cake: it dries perfectly now.
Very satisfied. I can’t detect residues. Tried 3 lps today. No one click or pops.

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Is that Degritter’s own cleaning fluid or something else you’ve found?

And if I was doing a pre-clean by hand to get the worst of the much off, is this what I should use?

It’s the Degritter own fluid. I was doing also a pre clean, then 2 cycles cleaning in the HG. The Degritter fluid seems to help a lot the process.
But you can use other surfacant. At least that one is recommended by Degritter himself.

Is the degritter fluid used on its own, or with distilled/deionised water?
Could it be the degritter fluid is a surfactant plus other stuff ?

I drop one half of a coffee spoon of Degritter into distilled water. 1-2 cl of Degritter fluid as recommended.

I’m 24 hours into Degritter ownership.

My early opinion = It definitely does what it promises (and so it should for what it costs).

My first 2 albums to “Degrit” were Dire Straits debut album and Blue Nile/Hats and I can honestly say I am impressed.

Both were put through a medium program with 3 minutes drying time and only 1.5ml of fluid mixed in the distilled water tank.

Manual, operation and layout of the controls and UI are all impressive.

Any hints and tips from existing owners gratefully received.

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@Toon - Well you’ve only just gone and picked my favourite album with which to Christen your Degritter!! Congratulations on your purchase.

Are you in the north east by any chance?

If the primary objective of our hobby is to find a way to extract as much information from the record grooves as possible then this astonishing machine -The Degritter ultrasonic record cleaner - is the best at doing that job I’ve come across so far. I was sceptical about it at first after hearing and reading all the hype but, OMG, every word of it is true. Some say the upgrade in SQ is the equivalent of another black box in your rig and, quite frankly, I agree.

I’ve only had it a couple of days so still in the honeymoon period but am so impressed with what it does, how it does it and - of course- the results it delivers.

I’ve washed approximately 30 LPs on light, medium and heavy programs targeting 50/20/10/5 year old vinyl as well as brand new and it does exactly what it promises: deep cleaning to the base of the record groove to release more and more music. It’s the ultimate “source first” technique. And the best bit about it is……a totally hands off automatic operation and only distilled water needed in the tank with 1-2ml of supplied surfactant.

Main improvements are clarity of vocals, bass depth and instrument separation. As is common in these sorts of revelations……I’m hearing new musical passages on records I’ve had and played FOR DECADES!!!

Yes it’s expensive but if you have a multi thousand £/$ front end (and let’s face it - we all have!) then it deserves to offer up its best if the information in the grooves is collected in the first place.

Highly recommended and I won’t be going back. My Okki Nokki was fabulous and served me well for 5 years but this is on another level.

The diagram below offers up the best graphical representation of its engineering excellence.

Highly recommended.

Finally, contrary to the name of the band whose album is pictured in the machine below,…….it is most definitely GOOD company🤣


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This hits the nail on the head. The best tips I have picked up with the degritter over last two yrs can be summarised as follows:

  1. Use an old vacuum rcm to pre-clean old and dirty records. Optional preclean using an enzyme cleaner (eg mofi). Then clean with surfactant (I use Dehypon diluted as per Neil Antin’s guidance). Use Distilled water and vacuum before and after each clean to avoid inadvertent chemical mixing. Should be no need for this step with new records unless very dirty or still has noise.
  2. Buy a desktop hepa filter and place it next to the degritter. Makes a huge difference during drying in the dust remaining on the record.
  3. Get a small UV light torch (CSI style) to confirm no dirt or dust is on the record at the end.
  4. Always finish with a distilled water rinse in the degritter. So either two degritter tanks and two cycles (one with surfactant and one with out) or just use distilled water in the degritter.

Multiple cleanings help troublesome records, even 2 or 3 degritter cycles. But groove damage and poor pressings can never be fixed, which has been a small but irritating proportion of my records. The only answer there I have found is discogs :-).

Enjoy the results and the music.

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“Get a small UV light torch (CSI style) to confirm no dirt or dust is on the record at the end.”

Even one of the little purse size LED torches can be a boon, not just checking after cleaning, but when buying used records the beam will show up dust, scratches and grooves that might have been assaulted by one of those suitcase record players.

They are also useful when checking a camera lens, shows up internal dust or fungal growth.

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A friend of mine has just bought a Degritter. I took 3 of my favourite records for him to clean for me.
I have a VPI machine for last 30 odd years. These records had previously been cleaned on my VPI.
I was pretty shocked by the results. On playback each record sounded much better in terms of clarity of following individual instruments. Also the soundstage appeared to be larger.
It’s not really what I wanted to hear as I don’t have the money for a Degritter at present.
However I am now seriously interested in getting one so I just need to raise funds.
I also have around 4000 LPs so in terms of value it would be worth it.

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How are you getting on with your machine? I was pretty gobsmacked at the improvement in the sound of the 3 records my friend cleaned for me on his Degritter.

Things are going well. I’ve done about 200 albums now and the improvements are astonishing. The hype is true. This is an amazing piece of kit. Yes it’s expensive but for vinyl fans it’s equivalent to a hardware upgrade imho. Deeper clean of the grooves = more information retrieved by the stylus = new sounds to enjoy.

I am delighted with it and rate it as one of the biggest sq improvements I’ve ever made!

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