You might have a dodgy lead, a noisy pot, or just want to stay on top of studio maintenance, here’s what’s in our toolbox.

1. Soldering Iron & Clamp
   Get one and learn how to use it, it will save you money on cables and might get you out of a scrape when the stores are closed. The clamp will make sure you can keep you cables in one place whilst you are soldering wthout you burning your fingers.
2. A set of jewellers screwdrivers
   Don’t expect to get into most electronics using the tools you fix your car with - a jewellers screwdriver set is perfect for opening most gear with. Much better than a crowbar.
3. A 1” paintbrush
   Not for painting but perfect for cleaning your mixer, controllers, in fact anything you can’t clean easily, us it in conjunction with a vacuum cleaner and you can have all your gear looking pristine and less likely to start getting dust in the pots and faders. One word of caution, some vacuum cleaners are powerful enough to suck up lose knobs, so take care.
4. Decent wire cutters
   Everything from cables to guitar strings need cutting and trimming, make sure you have a set of cutters to hand.
5. A multi meter
   If you can’t get a signal then you can use a multi meter to check cables, the more qualified can use it for more complex tasks too.

You might also want to keep a hammer, for some clients, it’s the only tool you’ll need. Joking apart, all of the above should cost you less than $100 and are well worth having around. Have we missed anything?