beta lead's noise and feedback

[deathfaces]

i was hoping someone could help me diagnose some problems.  i have two beta leads.  one is fairly noisy when the gain is turned up on the channels, its playable, but has always been troublesome (i've always figured this to be normal of beta leads, but wanted to throw it out there because the amp is slightly quite compared to my other lead).  is this relatively normal, or should i have it serviced? it doesnt seem as loud as it should be, and is quieter than my second beta lead.  my second beta lead starts to feedback whenever the guitar is not being strummed, even at low volumes, on with the drive on and off and it is becoming borderline unplayable.  i turned off the amp and when i turned it back on the feedback was gone, but i played with the pots and found that if i turned the 1st channel treble or either drive pot to 10 it would start to feedback.  would cleaning the pots do the trick? i found that answer while searching older pots, but have never cleaned pots before. 

anyone have any advice/suggestions?  thanks very much in advance, i appreciate it.

[mckinnon audio]

   Hi there,the noise/lack of gain could be bad ic's or fet's,maybe some bad solder joints. The feedback could be an oscillation or maybe a fault in the neg.feedback loop.
 You could try cleaning all the pots,sw.'s,etc. might help. With the lid off the amp,get it to feedback and see if you can get it to stop by pressing on the pc board with something like an old tooth brush,plastic so you won't short anything out.If you get it to stop,shut the amp down and check that area on the board,maybe a bad component or solder conn. Hope this is of some help,good luck,Mel.

[deathfaces]

the feedback does seem to be oscillating at times.  whats the best way to clean pots? i've never had the pleasure.  thanks.