never tried nail polish, ill have to try that out. Well, as always, i somehow made things worse. I got everything together last night, and took it home and plugged it in. What do you know, i can tap and the crackle is gone. So i am thinking great, fixed. About 5 min later as i am getting my guitar out of the case the amp just starts humming. I plug the guitar in and no sound can be heard, just a loud hum. NO matter what channel i use or anything. I really dont know what could have happened. I was very careful removing the board and i know i did not have any solder drip. I did notice some discoloration around 2 diodes near the speaker output, but i never smelled any burning. Guess ill check them first, but I wonder what caused this..... Keep you posted