I have been using the Eventide H90 FX pedal for about 6 months (I bought it new) and today I noticed that the metal parts of the device started to rust. Humidity in my room is about 55-60% — I have a dehumidifier that maintains humidity. Also near my hardware setup there is a humidity monitor that shows me that the humidity level near the device is about 55-58%.
As I can see there is no such rust thing on my other devices from Chase Bliss and Elektron. So tell me, please, is it a normal situation for the device, how do you think? Maybe you have something like this with another FX pedals brands?
Yikes - that shouldn’t be happening! This is what you tend to see in ultra-cheap nickel or chromium-plated steel parts where the coating is cheap and porous. Acid residues/moisture from sweat from your fingers where you touch the parts will pass through the porous plating and set up corrosion cells in the steel. I think your photo of the MIDI ports even shows the rust-mark of a finger-print on the left of the MIDI IN surround.
Stick an old MIDI cable into it, get a cloth with a little bit of wd40 on it and rub the metal. If it doesn’t take the rust off, it’ll at least slow it down.
If you’re feeling abrasive you could use an old toothbrush, but care would be needed.
It sounds like, regardless of the community’s answer here, you are bothered by this state of affairs. I think the only people in a position to address your concern are Eventide. Have you reached out? Their support can be a little slow sometimes (the company is smaller than you think) but have always been extremely helpful when I’ve needed them.
Well you kinda want it to stay on the metal bits. Most of it will evaporate away, but some will remain and this can end up leaving a slight film behind, so a bit of masking tape round the casing might be a good idea.
I wrote the message to them, mate. I’m waiting the answer. Their community forum not so popular that’s why I asked here too. Maybe some users have some problems with other pedals or so…
I have the same issue with my Eventide Space. I’ve had the pedal for many years and the rust has been there for a long time. Doesn’t impact the function of the pedal (yet) though.
I own an H90 and other pedals, most of which are several years old. None of them have anything like this, so my guess is this looks like a unit that was produced with a bad batch of parts. Hopefully Eventide will take care of you, if I were in your place I would expect some help.
If not, masking tape, some high grit sandpaper, a polishing cloth, and WD-40 would clean this up and prevent the return for a good while.
