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Kicker K 500

bigal46563

Member
Jul 1, 2010
64
1
16
I got this about a year or so. Took a chance on it as i could not test it at the time i got it. It looks just like you have just taken it out of the box brand new. The person i got it from was asking 100.00 for it and he said it worked. I offered him 80.00 for it and he took it. Like i said i took a big chance on it. Got it home and did the test on it. It worked as good as it looks. Everything works on it, all the lights and the Hi-Low switch. Just wondering if anyone else has ever had one. I ordered me two extra tubes for it in case one gets week or goes out. Now i do not know how true this is, but i live about 12 miles from a little town from me. The person i was talking to said my radio sounded real good, and i was hitting him with about 8 pounds. I kicked the K 500 on and he said i was hitting him with 20 DB. So i guess i did get a good deal. I hardly ever use it and i do not know if it is bad to let one set. If i do turn it on, i will keep it on stand by all the time unless i am using it. I was told it is hard on the tubes to turn it on and off. That i should just leave it on 24-7. Anyone got any info. on this? Thanks
 

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Inside The Kicker K 500

Here is pictures of the inside of my K 500. Also i have the schematic for it, that i would be glad to share it with you. Please email me at bigal46563@yahoo.com and i will send you a copy of it. Thanks
 

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I had two of those.

Same as a Firebird 500.

Sweep tube amp, good for 300W or better. One driving three.

Yes, you got a good deal.

The last one I had, I paid 125$ for it and sold it for 250$.

The switch on the far left was added. What does it do?

The down side of that amp is the fact that TV sweep tubes are hard to find and expensive.

When it was built (probably the 70"s), that were plentiful and cheap.
 
Leaving the amplifier on 24/7 to extend the life of the tubes is false. It may work on an Edison light bulb filament powered by DC but does little for the filament in a sweep tube. The filament burning open is almost never the cause of failure on these tubes. It's almost always the depletion of the oxide coatings on the cathode or in some cases the cathode connection will open from excessive current. If you are not going to use the amplifier again within about a half hour, I would turn it off. If you're going to use it again within a half hour, I would leave it on. Leaving it on continuously just stresses out the high voltage components like the old filter caps.
 
let alone the fact that leaving it on all the time may also result in cleaning it out or blowing it out a few times a year because the fan is constantly pulling and pushing air through and bringing dust ETC in more frequently.

People have to remember that dust is in most cases the main cause of overheating and things burning up I clean mine out 2 times a year so I know its free of any build up. At times its a pain pulling things out of line unhooking and then pulling all the screws out but as I do it I think of the hour used to do this being nothing compared to repair / shipping bills parts ETC so watching the dust fly gives me a sense of security and my wallet has a better chance of not drastically thinning anytime soon.

With these older caps / parts there most likely not going to holdout under this type of stress as a fresh part or parts so keep this in mind when looking at these units and seing that dust around them.
 
Almost all amplifiers other then tetrodes can be tuned for maximum output on the watt meter. For best results this should be done under full modulation conditions otherwise you will lack PEP swing. In the case of the tetrode amp the tuning is similar except that you have to monitor the screen current and adjust the load so as not to exceed max current and redip the plate tune. The safest way to reduce output on the amplifier in question would be to reduce the drive power. Do not decrease power with the load and tune controls otherwise you will lose efficiency and tube life.
 
I keep mine at 50 watts and it will swing to 200. If i am shooting skip i will turn it up for more power. But most of the time it stays at 50 and if i do need a little more power i just flip the switch to hi.
 
I have one of these as well although it is not as clean as the one pictured. Feeding it with a Swinger 205 set to work as a modulator gets me plenty of clean audio and power... at least on AM. SSB is another story. People say they have a hard time clarifying me in then. As a rule I don't use the modulator on SSB and keep the mic gain down to a minimum.

Not a bad amp overall really. Not sure what I would replace it with if I had to.
 
K-500

What is the proper procedure to tune this thing, and can it be set lower than max output?
.
Eric
.
I set mine to 50 watts and she will swing up to 200 watts. This is with 3 watts in. If for some reason i need a little more power i will just flip the switch to high. I have talked all over the USA with just the 50 watts. I do not like to over drive it. But if i do need a lot more, She will do it.
 
These are grounded-grid amps, correct? Which class do these old sweep tubers operate on?

I discovered that the transmitter was seriously out of alignment and that is why I was having problems on SSB.
 
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