After going through what I did and occasionally still do I was of the belief that people should stay away from the old sweep tube type amplifiers like d&a, Palomar, pride, galexy ect ect.
The reasons for owning these types of amps myself are two, 1. I already had several from my day's back when they where basically all that was available (especially for base use.) 2. Pure nastalgia.
When I got back on the air approximately two and a half years ago +(? from a 25+ year absence) BANG!!
All I read about as far as availability for new amplifiers where transistorized/pill amps.
I thought since I had enough amplifiers to set up two decent stations (one AM the other SSB) I would just go ahead and have the oldies refurbished.
That was the first hurdle.
Finding someone who could and was willing to work on these amplifiers was definitely a job in itself.
Then narrowing it down through what I found online or in my case a referral, I was lucky enough to find
someone who in my opinion is the real deal.
I was totally convinced that anyone in the market for a base amplifier should stay away from what I myself gravitated towards. And that's sweep tube amplifiers made specifically for the 11 m (CB radio band.)
My opinion over the last year or so has greatly changed.
Once a sweep tube amplifier is brought back to, or above the spec standard it left the factory from your for the most part good to go.
Whether it be d&a, Palomar, Pride, etc etc etc once these amplifiers are restored and properly run correctly, and when I say run correctly I mean driven properly with a non heavily modified (or properly moded) CB radio, they are not only a pleasure to operate But can and in most cases last many years. Are you never going to have another issue once the restoration is done? Most likely not. Just like any communication gear (modem or not) one might eventually have a Problem pop up.
From the little bit that I read I believe most of these amplifiers operate class AB.
That's something that seems to be a big stumbling point when purchasing a transistorized amplifier.
Every single sweep tube amp I own sounds just as good on SSB as it does on AM (low drive 1/2-2 watts DK 8-15 pep 10-15 SSB.)
The people that probably understand where I'm coming from are most likely the ones who can repair their own equipment and own these types of amps.
I cannot repair anything related to the hobby myself. But after reading all the nightmarish stories about transistorized CB radio amplifiers I am of the belief that if you know someone who can bring these types of amplifiers back to or better yet above their original working state, go right ahead and buy one.
If you enjoy the hobby and never experienced a tube amplifier, purchase one.
If your soldering skills are good recapping one should be easy and certainly cheap enough.
The cost of the tubes used in most of these amps (and lack availability)
will inevitably come up in many replies, but there out there.
Many sellers of tubes test for leak's, shorts, and strength.
Some of these sellers even offer a 30 money-back guarantees, and if you are good at soldering and have some skills at understandings schematics there are many sites that will tell you which $60 tube Can be substituted with a $12 tube. As I mentioned earlier some knowledge is of course a good thing but with all the knowledge in its totality right here on this
fourm I believe many of you can pull this off with the help of your friends right here. If you look long enough you just might find one that has already been restored 2 or above its original condition. There are people out there who know what they're doing. Not everyone is a golden screwdriver. Of course one must absolutely take care of due diligence. Ask lots and lots of questions and if there's something you think doesn't seem right and would like to call out a seller but aren't sure what exactly to ask him, just come right here and ask the geniuses (no a jab) they're truly are many genius scenes in the field of radio communications that are always happy to answer any question you might have or would like to ask a particular seller. This is of course just my two cents.
73 PS. Something tells me I'm going to get blasted For this post. But one has to be willing to take a beating sometimes for what they believe in.
