IIC+ problem, DC leak?

[Ednolb]

Last week I went to an amp tech with my IIC+. The volume 1 pot was making a crackling noise when turned. The tech and I thought the same thing: a broken pot.
He replaced it but then he heard that the problem still wasn't solved. After a long search he found the problem: a DC leakage (hope this is a correct translation).
I'm really curious to know what this exactly is, and even more: is this bad?

 

[Boogiebabies]

Did he tell you that you had a bad cathode capacitor on one of the preamp tubes ?

 

[Shep]

it's when a Capacitor ( it filters out DC current and only lets AC thought) goes bad and "leaks" DC thought into the circuit.This is why people replace filter cap's to stop this from happening..

 

[Blueracer]

What is happening is one of your coupling capacitors is "leaky". As has been pointed out a capacitor that is leaky will pass direct current (dc). Normally capacitors block dc and pass ac. Capacitors will sometimes get leaky though and start to pass dc. When there is a dc voltage on the pot it will make noise when you try to adjust it. Is this "bad". Well yes it is in that it makes bad noise under these conditions. Is it going to compromise anything. It depends on how leaky it is but probably not. All you really need to do is find the offending capacitor and replace it. If the pot is otherwise ok it should fix the problem. How about any of your tone controls. Were they also scratchy. Hope this helps.

 

[Ednolb]

Thanks, this helps alot. I thought it was something like that.
The tone controls weren't making any scratching noise so I think it wasn't so bad (it was just the volume 1 that made the noise).
I can pick my amp up tomorrow and I just wanted to know how bad my amp was "damaged". Seems it's OK.