Dielectric grease on connection ends

....he had also screwed around with the bias as well...

slaw
FWIW:
I tried the Sil-Clear in the past. Like others reported, it’s messy at the very least.

I bought a very nice amplifier used on-line years ago. When I listened to it, it was unimpressive. I took the cover off and went in to clean connections. The upgraded fuses had a slight coating of this crap. I cleaned everything and the sound opened up. I called the previous owner to remark about it, he said, "I liked the sound that way".

My guess is the fuses were in the WRONG direction when you received the amplifier. After you cleaned the fuses you inadvertently reinserted them in the CORRECT direction. The previous owner was probably not into the whole fuse directionality thing.

"He had also screwed around with the bias as well."

bingo!

jetter,

I clean my receptacles contacts as well as all other connections at least once a year. Always have.

My story regarding automotive,, I have a Ford F-150 that I purchased new in 1990, I've always tried to perform as much mechanical work as possible by myself.

I had changed the alternator. I was driving down the road one day and noticed smoke coming from under the hood. After I found a local gas station and after the electrical fire was put out, I realized that I did not change the pigtail that comes with a dielectric grease installed to keep this sort of thing from happening.

This moved me up the ladder from a shade-tree-mechanic to a road-side-mechanic.

BTW, if you put that Silver coating goop on you tube pins, it will sound much better fora little while. Then it hardens, is hell to get off, bakes into the tube sockets and may require socket replacements. Bill