8950 Tubed Palomar Skipper 300 born again

Hello and welcome!

The Skipper 300 was one of the better 'sweep tube' amps.

The 8950s will plug right into it but there are many things that should be done before you light it up, especially if you don't know your way around tube gear.

First and foremost - USE EXTREME CAUTION AROUND TUBE GEAR!!!- As I recall there are something north of 360 volts floating around inside that amp and it WILL kill you if you are not careful! Don't be poking around in there with power on and cover off unless you know what you are doing and even then BE CAREFUL!!

Since these amps are over 40 years old there is a good chance that some components, particularly the HV filter caps will need to be replaced.

I wouldn't just plug the tubes in and light it up. That's what makes things go 'boom'. Bring it up s-l-o-w-l-y on a Variac and watch for things like caps expanding.

If you have a nearby tech, I would strongly suggest you take it that person for initial evaluation.

As for the 8950s: Those tubes in good condition are extremely rare these days and are priced accordingly but you already know that!!

Here is a link on the proper way to tune a tube amp: http://www.worldwidedx.com/threads/how-to-tune-a-tube-amp.26225/

Once you have it tuned and running, don't overdrive the thing and don't try to squeeze every last watt out of it. If you do it won't sound good, will splatter and you will go through those tubes a LOT faster.

Good luck!!