any no this amp body?

[johnny9]

ok fellas,i have a local with this amp,,he says it puts out right at 1kw.
says its all homemade he was told and he had it for 30 yrs and not used it since 94..
he if so confident he said i was welcome to bring someone with meters and tools to check it out before i payed for it also..that tells me he seems honest about it..so now im intrested for the dirt cheap price.
not tha i need that many watts but a couple bucks seems cheap for 1kw,even if it is a few hundred less.
he said when he last used it he got very good reports from everywhere he talked on ssb,but didnt mention am..said he was a ham operator till 10 yrs ago and only used it on 10 meter..
even asked me if i had a ham ticket..
i said as of yet ive not had any tickets,the neighbors have sattelite,hahahah

if its homemade it must be from a diffrent amp cause the outside looks great to me..he is geting me pics "close ups"of the inside front and rear..im kinda hoping it has a imac in it ,,or2 "since there 2 cooling holes in top" but im not that lucky..if the inside dont look like spaghetti i may take a chance for a couple bills..
any idea what the outside is from,or is?
im sittin the grandkids tonight and cant make it bigger,,or have my glasses to see what it says on front.
im bored till 3 am so any help reading it would be appreciated..thanks,john

 

[9C1Driver]

I would find out what tubes are inside, how much life they have left, and what replacements cost. Then you can go from there.

 

[johnny9]

im no tech so all i can do is plug it in and see that it works,and if the inside dont look like a hack job lol..
i will post pics if i get them tomorrow..
this box just looks familiar but cant place where i seen it online before.
if looks good inside and powers up i will prob buy it.
even if it has 2 not so great 3-500z tubes and looks good inside id think its worth 2 bills..i dont mind throwing some cash at it if it looks fairly profesional inside,and seem to all light up..im in suspense waiting on the pics tho lol

 

[TonyV225]

Im guessing its going to have 8877 tubes or of the alike. Find out what tubes are in it before you jump on it is the best advice I can give you.

 

[johnny9]

all advice very appreciated for sure,,thanks..
def will find out what tubes,but when im there at that moment is there a certain tube that would make me say no?
it seems to look small compared to other watts rated that big or is it just me.
and the 2 vent holes lead me to think it has 2 tubes,,or 1 driving 2 so that would have to be a big,un id think..
id love a old set of tubes that glowed more than my tram does so i will try to keep my cool lol..
any tubes that would make you guys pass on it? if it really has close to the power a few 100 bucks tubes may be worth it id think if the inside looks clean and well done? goodnignt fellas..
soa is gettin intense tonight..jax is going down it seems,,hope this changes in the next half hr

 

[johnny9]

holy cow!! the 8877 tubes are 700 buckaroos there prob worth it tho..

on the bright side the russian replacment 8877 is 120 bucks if i can find them so im looking now to see if there available.
i assume other have used this replacment as well?

 

[9C1Driver]

LOL that's why there are SOOOO many old school tube amps for sale. If it was that simple all these old tube amps would be sold in a minute.

 

[johnny9]

my hard drive "brain" is gonna explode lol..ive read more the past week on tube amps than i did in all my 11 school yrs..guess if id had done all the right yrs w/out alcohol and partying i may be smarter lol
then again i think 10 yrs of college wouldnt even prepare me for all the tube knowledge some folks on here have.
i just finished searching..i see theres a cheaper china tube that has no complaints but like others i hate the thought of china stuff.
even tho w/out them we wouldnt have much electronics in our homes,,what a sad cruel world we live in nowadays..

well im zipped up on coffee and time to get off the computer..we will see what happens in next few days i suppose.

im gonna stick with getting a tube amp to go with the ole trams..unless i run up on a hi amp power suppy super cheap..
been reading up on these computer p.supplys,but im no electrician kida guy unless its in the house or car lol..goodnight all,till the next time{Cry_river}

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

My bet is a pair of 4CX250B's or maybe 4CX350's in that box unless it has a gaggle of sweep tubes instead.

 

[RatsoW8]

Im guessing its going to have 8877 tubes or of the alike. Find out what tubes are in it before you jump on it is the best advice I can give you.

Well It's clear the case and ventilation won't support a 3-500Z. But, my guess it's a sweep tube amp crammed with 6LQ6's or similar. Looks to be from that era. If it is I wouldn't give him $200 for it.

 

[johnny9]

My bet is a pair of 4CX250B's or maybe 4CX350's in that box unless it has a gaggle of sweep tubes instead.

looks like i can afford those a lil easyer

Well It's clear the case and ventilation won't support a 3-500Z. But, my guess it's a sweep tube amp crammed with 6LQ6's or similar. Looks to be from that era. If it is I wouldn't give him $200 for it.

understood..among the other few im thinking about i may be paying 250-300 for a great cond varmit xl450,prob the same tubes or equivelent to the 6lq6,s.
my dad has a bag with a bunch of 6lq6 and 6lf6 iirc..i just seen them a few days ago so spares wouldnt be an issue

 

[w9cll]

I'll play devils advocate here and ask... why do you need an amp at all?

 

[johnny9]

same reason anyone "wants one lol" so i can possibly talk to the ones i hear 3000 miles away when times are right..i dont have a ham ticke yet but thats coming someday also.
im sure when i get the antenna up in the air more i will be fine.
im sticking with this old tram dad used in the day,and 4 watts with a bunch of modulation is good but lets face it,when you wanna talk sometimes a lil power is nice..
i agree,its also nice making contacts with just the radio too..
but like i mentioned before"other threads" i have folks close to where i live that have enough power to bleed thru 40 channels and all side bands and im screwed,as well as anyone else thats trying to talk lol.
i dont need 1 drivin another drivin 2 more drivin the big one like they have ,but when they are total jerks like a lot of them guys out there id like to atleast give a lil back to talk to my friends 20-30 miles away..
i wont lie,id like to bust through them like they do me,,not like the superbowl,like the a hole folks within 10 miles of me..
someday i will have a closet full of dads radios so im trying to learn as much as i can now,as ive always had mobiles with amps and never had a problem till i started getting into the base radio..
even some small mobile amps ive had would talk many miles at times,but not where i live on the base radio..
maybe i will learn differently someday but i doubt it..talking on am is sometimes a pita sometimes and thats what i like till i get a ham radio someday greasemonkey

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

same reason anyone "wants one lol"so i can possibly talk to the ones i hear 3000 miles away when times are right.

When "times are right" a barefoot radio will easily cover that 3000 miles and more. When times are "wrong" 5000 watts won't do it.

maybe i will learn differently someday but i doubt it..talking on am is sometimes a pita sometimes and thats what i like till i get a ham radio someday greasemonkey

DXing on AM? Man talk about self inflicted pain. SSB is so much better for a lot of reasons noise and operating techniques are just two of them. I used to have a daily sched with a station 4800 miles away in Sao Paulo Brazil on 11m. Used to work him almost everyday for well over 100 contacts and just used no more than about 20 watts pep but it HAD to be on SSB. That is how good the advantage of SSB is over AM and this was on the regular 40 channels back then. No out of band stuff.

 

[johnny9]

hey you guys are teaching me and dont think i dont appreciate all this info,i def do..
im just getting into the ssb and i hear well on 36-40 and channel 38 seems to be best where im at,but i can never get to anyone but locals..i need to listen to what everyone has told me and get that darn antenna up in the air before questioning so much huh..with a messed up back its hard to get help with the small tower i got but i gonna have to get it up and going the sooner the better,then what you guys are telling me will come into perspective much more im sure..

well heres the pics the guy sent me lol..looks like it could put out 200 watts to me and i dont no much lol