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Who works on Texas Star amps?

Lkaskel

Lkaskel

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2017
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Hi Everyone,
I have a DX500 from a local op and asked me to replace the pills with new ones he had supplied. The amp is in great shape so I thought, sure. I was wiling to do that with the understanding that I am not guaranteeing it will work. When I opened it there was a burned resistor in a bag and some of the wires were not connected, of course.... I am not going to do anything with it as I am not an amp guy but I know the op wants it repaired. The best I can do for him is to recommend someone to repair it. Anyone have a recommendation?

Thanks as always!!
 

yep, somebody screwed it up! Usually on these Texas Star / Palomar amps,
I find them not working because it was overdriven. So the T/R relay circuit is
burned out, and if the amp has a variable resistor on the RF input, it is burned
out also. And then somebody tried to repair the T/R switching circuit and wired it up incorrectly. These are not "repair" jobs, but finding out what the last guy
screwed up and making things even worse. Yes, let someone that knows how to
work on amps make it work. You are right on this one.
 
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Does Galaxy still own Texas Star? They repair the amps at the Galaxy service center.


Texas Star Amp Repair free help

:bdh: a quarter century with Texas Star, and I have been put to pasture. I did tech support for about 10 years. I am sure that some of you must know me. It is my intention now to help techs and hobiests to repair a stock TS amplifier. I am not an engineer and there are things which I will...
www.worldwidedx.com www.worldwidedx.com
 
Last edited:
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A big worry will be damaged foil traces on the "solder" side of either pc board. You pretty well have to remove each one from the amplifier to eyeball it for that.

Texas Star amps were engineered to reduce the cost of building them. But that boosts the cost of taking them apart for any kind of service.

Just think nice thoughts about the switch deck. You do not want to get involved with replacing one of those.

No need to ask me how I know.

73
 
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Shadetree Mechanic said:
Does Galaxy still own Texas Star? They repair the amps at the Galaxy service center.


Texas Star Amp Repair free help

:bdh: a quarter century with Texas Star, and I have been put to pasture. I did tech support for about 10 years. I am sure that some of you must know me. It is my intention now to help techs and hobiests to repair a stock TS amplifier. I am not an engineer and there are things which I will...
www.worldwidedx.com www.worldwidedx.com
Click to expand...
Probably still doing the repairs.
But they will not accept/repair a basket case that has been hacked up or modified.
 
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here is a stack of amplifiers I took to "repair"

I got two working after figuring out what the last guy did
to screwed them up even worse. I don't need this!!
Then gave the rest of them back.
 

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There was a time when I would get asked what a repair job was going to cost, sight unseen. I would ask how many unsuccessful attempts had already been made on that unit. Depending on the item in question I would say "add a hundred bucks or more for each time a repair was attempted, but not completed."

Probably a low-ball number in todays shrinking buckettes.

73
 
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nomadradio said:
There was a time when I would get asked what a repair job was going to cost, sight unseen. I would ask how many unsuccessful attempts had already been made on that unit. Depending on the item in question I would say "add a hundred bucks or more for each time a repair was attempted, but not completed."

Probably a low-ball number in todays shrinking buckettes.

73
Click to expand...
There is some good wisdom there!!! I don't mind working on something that broke even when its broken through foolishness like trying to get tooo much out of a radio. I do have reservations when someone else has been in it though. Thats when it can quickly get beyond my abilities. I also work on vintage (70's) stereos as well. Funny thing is, no one has been in most of them before.....
 
Lkaskel said:
I also work on vintage (70's) stereos as well.
Click to expand...
A scenario we used to see several times a year. A young guy walks in with the burned emitter resistors from one of the speaker channels in his stereo amplifier. Asks "do you stock these?". I would reply "sure". And as he next asked "If I buy them from you and put them in myself will this ..". I would bark out "NO!" before he could complete the sentence and get to the word "fix". I would get a startled look, since I had interrupted him. I would reply "those resistors are the casualty, not the cause of the trouble. What's causing the problem are parts that look perfectly okay on the outside. If you just replace these, the new resistors will burn up just like those two in your hand. How many do you want?

Probably would have been so harsh getting to the point if it didn't keep coming up over and over.

73
 
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So in talking to a sales rep that I've known for years, he mentioned that a grandson of one of the Galaxy guys has taken over the Texas Star amps part.
This is from what I was told.
He mentioned that more than one dealer have now reported that the build is better than it has been for many years and that production has not stopped but is just really slow.
That said I'm taking a chance and pre-ordered a 350hdv and I myself will report to wwdx once it's in service. I should have it in hand next week sometime.
 
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There a guy named gatekeeper, I think he's a member here, seems to work exclusively on Texas star amps, you can find him on YouTube as well
 
That's odd. I'd heard quality had declined and Texas Star were using inferior DEI transistors.....course that's just scuttlebutt.
 
Any amp builder will be using HG finals these days. I thought the DEI's ran dry before Covid even.
 

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