• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Amp recommendations/ box builders

Thats funny. Ive seen Luke run like a little girl repeatedly from forums every time certain known builders showed up because he couldn't take the heat of explaining his latest bs. I watched him scream, cry, stomp his feet and delete profiles. Hes a tough guy when hes in his world by himself in his shop but turns yellow fast when hes out of his comfort zone with peers who know more than him.
Ill admit hes learned a lot from others over the years while giving little credit or just calling their ideas his. He does good work if you want to do business with someone like that, I personally dont. He thinks everyone hates him and he advertises it in his videos then wonders why he gets treated like he does.
Theres too many better amp repairmen with better attitudes out there than to deal with Luke.
All i can speak to is what ive personally winessed over the last 8+ years and mr bbi hasnt made it nice for himself.
Hes not a dishonest man for the most part other than stealing ideas. He wont butcher your amp, steal it or over charge you for work. Hes just not a nice person to talk to or do business with unless you kiss his ass and dont question his word, ever.
Everyone is free to do business with whom they choose, to each their own.
I have noticed on his videos he always whines about his "haters" ect ect. He seems easily offended.
 
I have noticed on his videos he always whines about his "haters" ect ect. He seems easily offended.

Looks like another radio guy who thinks awfully high of himself and can't take any criticism and talk down about others...tap tap tap pay attention.

Hey I think I just described Trump hahaha! And that's from a person who voted for Trump.
 
Looks like another radio guy who thinks awfully high of himself and can't take any criticism and talk down about others...tap tap tap pay attention.

Hey I think I just described Trump hahaha! And that's from a person who voted for Trump.
Oh Mr tap tap tap and "certificate of calibration?" If you're referring to someone Yeah, I cant stand his pompous ass.
 
For every current amp builder out there they are all using someone else's work. Some try and add a spin of their own to the way its laid out and occasionally come up with a new way to make it look. Gone are the original builders who developed their work from Nippon, NRC, Yaesu and Kenwood. Those who first experimented with the Toshiba over the Motorola or Mitsubishi transistors of the time. Many current builders are stuck in the gravity well thats been caused by no more Toshibas. Some are going to fight to the bitter end with the HG's. Theres a few out there who are looking past and to the future with mosfets but until the graphene mosfet is readily produced heat will always be a factor with fets. Yes fets can and do work well but building monster fet amps currently is still in its early stages. No one has quite dialed in how to make them as durable as a Toshiba, Motorola or Mitsubishi bi-polar. Yet. Graphene is the answer but thats still only being used in military and commercial applications at this time but its slowly making its way to the consumer market. Those in the know about fets already have a leg up on the old pill builders and once graphene based erf9530's and even bigger ones become more widely available the days of the pill amps will be gone. And end to an era perhaps even. Theres fet builders out there now and they are chomping at the bit for more reliable fets and they are coming. Imagine building a 32 fet amp that can produce the same or even more watts than a 32 pill thats inherently biased by transistor structure instead of a special circuit. No more trashy C class amps. Big big watts with clean amps and $5.00 parts. Its coming soon and its already here in small doses. I think theres one party in Canada already making mid sized boxes that work decent but are still working out bugs. Those cheap little Italy amps are another. Once they get their hands on graphene fets they will go from cheapo's to kings and it will happen almost overnight. The pill kings will become past legends and the new hero's of the RF wars will be nerds.
 

It appears YouTube Amp builders all have haters according to the wizard, as he says in his video " here's another video for my haters". BBI does have haters there is a Facebook page designed just for people that hate BBI. Over the years I found that there are a lot of people who simply hate you because you're better than they are in their minds your a danger to their existence I can't say much about BBI I went and listened to and watched 4 or five of his videos I am sorry guys but I guess I'm back to the " judge not lest ye be judged " The little bit I watched it appears to me he takes a great deal of time and effort to make sure his work is solid and done correctly and in at least 2 of the videos he gave nothing but thumbs up to all that he claims taught him what he knows and gave many kudos to them so he may have a boisterous personality but I'm not sure I'm in the trash him club yet. Maybe if I watch more of his videos I will find something that will cause me to come back here and trash him but right now I have much too much to do.
 
I read somewhere that Wizard didn't use a choke on the low Z side of the tank but have saw pics of Wizard amps with them. I don't know what the truth is, but If I bought one I would make damn sure it was there before using it.

In the event of a plate blocking cap short it might save your life. I saw some pics of a guys hand at the local CB shop that got zapped touching his watt meter. It turned a black man's hand red. If your antenna doesn't provide a dc short from center conductor to shield that choke is the only safety you have.

As most CB amps they lack proper metering. All have a plate V meter and usually a plate current meter that actually reads cathode current. With the cheap Chinese meters everyone uses it's super cheap to add a grid current meter. Install a cheap meter or drive an expensive tube without knowing WTF is going on? Seems like an easy decision.

Be sure you don't get screwed on the power supply. A big tube and weak power supply is a heartbreak waiting to happen.
 
543, I believe you are referring to a safety choke. Yes every amp should have one.

As to meters. Yes a grid meter is nice. Problem is I’ve seen a lot of guys with boxes don’t understand meters. They understand volt meter. Some understand plate current meter ( cathode current if using CT of filament transformer to get reading). Add that grid meter and they are lost. Cathode current - grid current gives you plate current. Most just wanna key and go. I won’t even mention about the guys that tell me, “ you have to retune when you change channel”? Or the guys that operate a amplifier, they have never used one with vacuum variables before and just spin the knob thinking it’s a air variable. They don’t realize some of those vacuum variable capacitors require 23 turns or so to get through range. Guess that’s where the turns counters come in handy.

1 guy here in Kentucky uses a 6’ run of RG213 from output of amp to meter and then 7/8” hardline after meter. ( it’s on a 3000). Another guy bought a YC 156 ( bad idea since grid 25W, same as a 8877) and wants to drive it hard. Never had bird meters. Has LMR400 up to Quad. They are jumping in without knowing how to swim. Just going by whatever so and so said instead of understanding their equipment. Ok I’m done
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tokin
543, I believe you are referring to a safety choke. Yes every amp should have one.

As to meters. Yes a grid meter is nice. Problem is I’ve seen a lot of guys with boxes don’t understand meters. They understand volt meter. Some understand plate current meter ( cathode current if using CT of filament transformer to get reading). Add that grid meter and they are lost. Cathode current - grid current gives you plate current. Most just wanna key and go. I won’t even mention about the guys that tell me, “ you have to retune when you change channel”? Or the guys that operate a amplifier, they have never used one with vacuum variables before and just spin the knob thinking it’s a air variable. They don’t realize some of those vacuum variable capacitors require 23 turns or so to get through range. Guess that’s where the turns counters come in handy.

1 guy here in Kentucky uses a 6’ run of RG213 from output of amp to meter and then 7/8” hardline after meter. ( it’s on a 3000). Another guy bought a YC 156 ( bad idea since grid 25W, same as a 8877) and wants to drive it hard. Never had bird meters. Has LMR400 up to Quad. They are jumping in without knowing how to swim. Just going by whatever so and so said instead of understanding their equipment. Ok I’m done

Yes, safety choke.

I guess most are going to tune on AM with a whistle or voice and never see accurate readings anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crusher
I read somewhere that Wizard didn't use a choke on the low Z side of the tank but have saw pics of Wizard amps with them. I don't know what the truth is, but If I bought one I would make damn sure it was there before using it.

In the event of a plate blocking cap short it might save your life. I saw some pics of a guys hand at the local CB shop that got zapped touching his watt meter. It turned a black man's hand red. If your antenna doesn't provide a dc short from center conductor to shield that choke is the only safety you have.

As most CB amps they lack proper metering. All have a plate V meter and usually a plate current meter that actually reads cathode current. With the cheap Chinese meters everyone uses it's super cheap to add a grid current meter. Install a cheap meter or drive an expensive tube without knowing WTF is going on? Seems like an easy decision.

Be sure you don't get screwed on the power supply. A big tube and weak power supply is a heartbreak waiting to happen.
He's probably gotten enough flack about the lack of the DC blocking choke to add one long ago. I've seen early work without it and open frame relays that fused together closed and held the plate transformer on with the amp turned off!
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • dxBot:
    Tucker442 has left the room.
  • @ BJ radionut:
    LIVE 10:00 AM EST :cool:
  • @ Charles Edwards:
    I'm looking for factory settings 1 through 59 for a AT 5555 n2 or AT500 M2 I only wrote down half the values feel like a idiot I need help will be appreciated