Changing the flavor of gear

I was inspired to write this after reading the "Memory or Soul in Equipment" thread down the page. What I had do say didn't really fit, so posting it here.

This all started when I purchased a used receiver many years ago to use in my garage system & it smelled of smoke. I did a lot of research on how to get rid of the smell & read where some fellow took the cover off & washed the innards off with soap & water. This happened to take place in the summertime & he let it sit outside until completely dry. After using some lube or cleaner (I think) on the controls, he put it all back together & it worked just fine.

This seemed like an easy fix but this receiver smelled really bad, so I took it a step further. Instead of merely washing it off, I soaked it in the tub overnight. I checked it briefly but it still had a slight smell to it, so I decided to experiment further. With the next soaking, I added some scented bath oil to the water & wouldn't you know it, the music had a certain bloom to it. Hmmm, I think I'm onto something here.

I decided the unit had enough soaking, so went directly to the power supply. I started by coating it with molasses and got a very sweet presentation. I was hooked. I could change the house sound of any gear with simply kitchen supplies! I expanded my experimentation by trying this on individual caps, transistors and so on. Sometimes it adds but sometimes it detracts. I found the best places were the power supply & caps, so left it at that.

An even easier and less time consuming way I've found to change the sonics are with tubes. No more tube rolling. Simply bake whatever flavor you prefer at 350 for about 90 minutes on the middle shelf of your oven. Just coat about 1/2 to 2/3 of the tube. DO NOT MICROWAVE!!! Cookie mixes are really easy to use. Chocolate chip peanut butter is my favorite, although I'm really beginning to like macadamia nut.

As alway, YMMV