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added firebird f500 to the shack

Nice little find and yes, the Firebird (and it's derivative, the Kicker) are one of the better sweep tube CB amps out there. I have one on the shelf as a backup in case my Phantom ever craps out.

800 watts? Not on a bet. If you hit it hard enough you can get 500 out of it but you will burn through those tubes a LOT faster and it won't sound good. However it will cruise along nicely at around 350 all day long, sound good doing it and no one will ever know the difference.

I run all 6LQ6 tubes in mine and it works just fine. Couldn't hurt to place a small muffin fan on the top or side of the case, just to keeps things cool.
 
thats what im looking for,something just like what ya mentioned,to cruse around and last a while not driving it hard..
i forgot to mention,i think the fan inside has been replaced,could be wrong,but its like 2 inches thick and 3-4 inches wide and hauls ars and sounds like a tuner cars turbo lol..
not really into the sound it makes but it def moves some air so thats a good thing..
its mounted right beside the drive tube,so close it actually touches the bottom of the tube ever so slightly..
the abc amp i recently got is smooth and quite but dont move near the air this thing does..
this may sound strange,but i actually thought the abc 250 amp was better qaulity as it looks built better,is a lil heavyer and the outside cage is nicer qaulity than the bird500 .
the bird has 2 smaller power supplys,and the abc amps power supply is frickin just plain huge..

alasta,on a side note alan will be getting my tramd201 after first of the yr,and
when he is done with that my fathers is gonna send his 201a to him..this will prob create a chain reaction and maybe dad will send all his trams to him.
i need to remember to let alan no that you sent me to him also;)
 
No problem J9. I don't receive any compensation from Alan, just wanted to let you know about him. He does do good work although it may take him a while - it took 6 months to rebuild my Phantom, but I basically sent him a basket case. No worries though, he will get it done and it will be done properly.

Perhaps someone added that fan to the Firebird - mine doesn't have one. The two transformers are normal for this unit. Might want to take a look at the power cord and see if it needs replacement. As always, use extreme caution when poking around inside these amps.
 
power cord seems in perfect cond thankfully..
and the fan is prob a great thing then..im prob gonna put some gloves on and pull the tubes to clean them tonight since its been sittting 30 or more hrs now,and i will be carefull like always..the tubes and fan are thick with dust and need cleaned real bad..

maybe if allen is reading he can give me some pointers in removing the lil clamps on the tube tops,and how to discharge the amps before i clean them.

as im sure i will be collecting more amps in the future,and pro go a lil bigger everytime i get one;)

not sure how good they are but theres a 1kw golden falcon "w/6 knobs near me for 300 bucks obo and looks in 95 percent on the outside..im trying to leave well enough alone a while tho:whistle:
 
ok,i tested every wire 2 times in the top of the amp with my multimeter in every pos it has,and also done it with reversed connections and never got anything on the meter to ever come off the zero mark..
i checked the list and checked it twice,fixin to find out if im loved or disliked:D

clamps off the top of the tubes and fixing to clean them..with gloves,so it takes no prisoners;)

im assuming it has bleeders and there working..been a few days since power was applied also..diver down<More audio>
 
everything went well.i figued it would be better to keep the tubes in place to blow it out tomorrow..i loosened all the rusty dust with a small paint brush so it will come out easy..should have done this before cleaning the tubes tho.

plugged it in and got a lil burn in time "45 min"just incase even the the po said he had used it a few weeks prior.will get a hr or so more tomorrow..i read 10 hrs burn it but it dint say i had to do it all at once..time will tell.

these tubes never have a chance to get warm,as the fan is seriously a wind tunnel..id think the tubes would need to get warmer than they do,but maybe they will when in use.

the plate looks like it had a cheap chrome plating on it originally and id like to paint it but going to leave it as is a while..heres a few pics of the fan and internalls..
 

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nothing illegal here..i just use the fan inside it to keep cooled off(y)

just learned last night i could "finally" have a conversation with others..(y)the d104 mic just needed the battery in it and i am in busness..getting a new cord and tune up on the mic tomorrow.
hope this f-500 fan dont run up the light bill:)
 
I've got that Amps brother sitting under my desk!
pph4.jpg


Exact same box, just different name on the face...Although I did notice on mine I have a HI-LOW switch that yours don't, so maybe that's the one difference, unless maybe someone took yours off at some point...No biggie, there's only maybe a 50w difference between Hi and Low anyway.

By the way, it will hit 800w's on SSB!...If your radio swings to 20w's on SSB....
...down side is, no one will be able to understand what your saying, you'll be all chopped-up and over modulated.

When I first hooked mine up to my Cobra 2000, on AM everyone said it sounded great. (DK the radio at 2w's swinging to 12w) I see 400 to 500w out.

But on SSB the Cobra 2000 was swinging 20w's, and with the Amp on was hitting close to the 800w mark, but sounded terrible...

Lowered the SSB ALC to just swing to 6w's, and that cleared up the signal and with the box ON it swings about 400w's.
 
i have a hole just above your hi/low switch so im guessing there was one there at some point.
im only getting just over 100 watts with this no swing midland 898b.
when the tram gets fixed and hooked to it it should be very similar to what your getting id think..the tram def has some swing and i will prob tune it down a lil for the firebird..
i did put a battery in the ole d104 last night and was the first time making a few contacts,,not real far but they said i was sounding real good and clean..i think the d104 has issues so gonna have it checked out tomorrow.

after stickin the battery in, it tryed to have a lil modulation but was just making the needle flicker,instead of a good swing like the tram..

anyone no if these small hand mics like the d104-mb6 power mic will sound as good as the lollipop d104.

ps.dont forget to put that thing in the gun safe,there illegal:D
 
ps.dont forget to put that thing in the gun safe,there illegal
I do it the other way around, and keep the gun next to the set-up!
poum.jpg


If your D 104 has a new battery, it could be the mic element is shot if it's a very old D 104...or the mic gain on bottom of the stand is not cranked-up

When I rebuilt my D 104, I replaced the element with one of these, and it sounds much better than the stock element.
W2ENY HiFi Replacement Mic Element Modernizes Your Astatic D 104 T UG8 T UG9 Kit | eBay
 

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