Customer feedback on the Velvet Vortex Ultrasonic Cleaner

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
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I bought this week a second hand copy of Chris Rea’s Auberge through Discogs. Despite being advertised as near mint there were enough crackles and pops on it for me to start a Rice Crispy factory. I was about to send it back but thought I would run it through my Velvet Vortex first.

The result is quite astonishing. Virtually all the surface noise has gone and the record has gone from unacceptable to, yes, near mint.

This is a quite brilliant device and fantastic value for money. If you are thinking of taking the plunge, jump in. Heartily recommended.

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Mine arrived a week or two back (thank you ) and it’s an amazing tool, my vinyl has never sounded so good. 10/10.

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Pound for pound the Velvet Vortex is the best upgrade to my system that I have ever had. My whole system has come alive since my vinyl has been properly cleaned.
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I’ve been using my Velvet Vortex for over a week now.
Simple to use, I prefer to clean one LP at a time rather than load up with 2 or 3.
Results have been excellent with distilled/deionised water and a little wetting agent.
I now plan try some different cleaning fluid as there are a number of suggestions in numerous forums on the Internet.
Further updates will follow once I have some results with different cleaning fluids.

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First post on here, but felt compelled to do so after buying a machine off Tim. If you’re thinking about getting one I would definitely recommend it.

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a vinyl cleaner now for a while. I’d got a bit bored of cleaning by hand with distilled water; very messy, time consuming and with mixed results. The high price of many vinyl cleaners means I’d just put buying one off to another day. Then I saw this forum and got in touch with Tim. I’m pretty sure I could have had a go at doing something DIY, but the accuracy and neatness that Tim has achieved is exactly what is required here. Within a few days of contacting Tim I had everything shipped to me complete with instructions; very well packaged and with everything to get going straight away.

The main reasons for buying, as above, were to save time and the mess. I did not expect the results I have achieved. Records previously consigned to the “wish I hadn’t bought” section because they sounded poor instead of the VG or VG+ as advertised have been completely brought back to life as either VG+ or NM-. Having assumed a record was poor because of needle wear would appear to have been premature; some records once cleaned up are sounding as good as new…. literally unbelievable.

Overall I am very impressed and pleased. It’s a lot less mess (no water everywhere), and I think you can probably clean between 30-50 records depending on how dirty they are. The good thing is if you get bored you can use the tap to pour the water back into a container (through a filter if you’re inclined) and then use again.

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Ive had a few sessions with my more recalcitrant LPs and I can fully endorse this product I am particularly pleased with the improvement in general surface noise brought to my copy of Ummagumma. A friend was present for the for and after session on this Floyd double album and he was also impressed. My Nimbus pressing of Riki Lee Jones debut album has been languishing unplayed after being accidentally left open to the elements for over 6 months and that has been revitalised by this excellent machine.

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Nearly bought a new copy of ‘The Wall’ on Saturday as Sainsbury’s are doing a bunch of LP’s on 2 for £25 including some double albums (The Wall being 1 of them) as my original copy is almost unlistenable due to crackles pops and just generally sounds ‘done’. Thought I’d give it a go in the Vortex to see what would happen but I wasn’t hopeful. It doesn’t play like new but what a difference, it’s actually now very listenable and this had been cleaned on an Okki several times in the past few years. Very impressed.

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I have been using this for six months or so. Utterly brilliant for the price. I can now listen to records my wife abused as a student.

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Not many things in Hi-Fi are magical and just great, but the Velvet Vortex record cleaner is one. Of all the things I have owned, this machine just does the job so damn well. It’s great price too, not many things I buy new, but this machine is a steal. Well done Velvet Vortex.

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Another happy Velvet Vortex customer here. It turned up really quickly, and I’ve cleaned just over a hundred records so far. Once you’ve used it a couple of times, it really is easy to put 3 records on at a time, set it going for a few minutes, and go off and do something else while you wait for the cycle to finish. Really happy, especially considering the price of the other ultrasonic record cleaners that are out there it is a bargain.

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The first thing in for a wash in my Velvet Vortex was LTJ Bukem’s Mystical Realms, as it as at the front of the first box out of storage. They’ve come out looking better than new, not a mark on them, totally astonishing.

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On my first evening with the Velvet Vortex I cleaned about ten or so… its quite easy to get your flow going. I had a some really incredible results with some of my wife’s late 80’s shoe gaze indie, which despite having mould and finger prints everywhere now play and look like new! I was able to clean some of my early 90’s electronica and get some night and day results!

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I got my VV for Christmas. What a terrific investment it is proving to be! Everything from 99p charity shop finds, record fair rarities, and even new vinyl that out-of-the-pack sounds like it was recorded in a chip shop next to the deep fat fryer (Nick Cave, Idiot Prayer) sounds fantastic after 6 – 10 mins in the machine.

Another happy customer, thanks
 

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
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Chesterfield
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Latest customer feedback:

Benefits of US cleaning.
When I started out down this road and bought a Velvet Vortex six weeks ago, my expectation was mainly with respect to a reduction in surface noise, clicks and pops.

However, it has proven to be much more than that. We tend to speak in HiFi about the removal of ‘veils’ with this or that upgrade. The Ultrasonic cleaning has removed a pretty thick one.

In particular the bottom end and lower midrange has added clarity and definition. The top end has lost edginess and grittiness. Overall the sound is so much more cohesive.

If one had said that for under £400 one could get a quantum improvement in vinyl replay by buying a particular bit of gear, then one would clearly take it.

The turning point for me was getting the fluid mix right. My first efforts had the chemical mix too strong. I’ve now settled on 4.7 ltrs of distilled water to 300ml of 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and 10ml of ilford ilfotol.
Needless to say I am very very pleased with the results I am getting.
 

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
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Chesterfield
HiFi Trade?
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Latest customer feedback after a customer sent me a question on Xmas eve:
Hey wow, wasn’t expecting a reply on Christmas Eve!
:smile:
You, sir, are a star.
:slightly_smiling_face:
And the Velvet Vortex has been an amazing bit of kit since I got it - a truly impressive and powerful beast all round. I’ve had some frankly astounding results with it, including with no-hope records that my knosti couldn’t touch. So all that remains is to say… I really hope you and yours have a fantastic Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you so much
 

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
2,086
689
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Chesterfield
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
More Xmas feedback:

Not sure I ever gave feedback after purchasing mine. It is brilliant, far more effective than the bath (spin clean) and vacuum (project) ones I had before. I wouldn’t contemplate using anything else now. I’ve got a mate who keeps bringing batches of records every time he comes round because he can’t believe how much of a difference it makes when I run them through my VV for him while he sits downstairs drinking my beer.
 

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
2,086
689
148
Chesterfield
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Latest feedback for one I supplied last week.

many thanks for the cleaner. working perfectly. can’t believe the shite it’s lifting off my old vinyl
 
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Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
2,086
689
148
Chesterfield
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Not sure I ever gave feedback after purchasing mine. It is brilliant, far more effective than the bath (spin clean) and vacuum (project) ones I had before. I wouldn’t contemplate using anything else now. I’ve got a mate who keeps bringing batches of records every time he comes round because he can’t believe how much of a difference it makes when I run them through my VV for him while he sits downstairs drinking my beer.
 
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westerwick

westerwick
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Aug 6, 2019
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AKA
Tom Gray
HiFi Trade?
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I probably left feedback shortly after I bought my VV cleaner. I have cleaned a few hundred albums and singles since then. The results are always worth the effort in my view. The singles really benefit from a bath in the VV. I also bought a filter unit at the same time as the VV. I used it a few times initially then thought it was hardly worth it, 5l of de-ionised water isn't expensive. I decided to run some cleaning fluid through the filter recently just to check the little motor was still ok. I checked the filter before the test run, I was surprised how well it had been working. If nothing else, it illustrates how much crap is being extracted from the record grooves.
 

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Spider

Wammer
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Mar 30, 2015
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Chesterfield
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Hi Guys
for all of you people spending a small fortune on some of the expensive ultra sonic cleaner see this latest feedback Which mentions one of those systems.

Hello
I bought a VV from you a couple of years ago and its great, to the point of which I returned my recently bought DeGritter, as it wasn't anywhere near as good...and a hell of a lot more expensive.
 

Spider

Wammer
HiFi Trade
Mar 30, 2015
2,086
689
148
Chesterfield
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
Latest feedback on the Velvet Vortex from a new customer:

Dear Tim, the machine arrived today. I have IPA, distilled water and wetting agent in the house (mostly for my darkroom), so mixed it up. Amazing results. My audiophile Kind of Blue that had a nasty sticky blob and some crackles on it from god knows where is now as good as new....
 
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