Palomar 6 Tube

[pitbull3825]

Is it true that whistling in to one of these or any tube amp is a BAD BAD idea?
But other than that I can drive this to 1100 watts and sound absolutely fantastic I am so friggin happy I bought my first tube amp.

[audio boy]

yes it is it heats up the transitors

[pitbull3825]

10-4

[North Texas Mudduck]

if your voice tone was as high as your whistle then yes it would help you out
if you had a tone generator to produce a tone to tune up your amp at your voice level tone then that would be better
or just say AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH in your normal tone and tune up that way

[Tinman590]

Is it true that whistling in to one of these or any tube amp is a BAD BAD idea?
But other than that I can drive this to 1100 watts and sound absolutely fantastic I am so friggin happy I bought my first tube amp.

Good luck with that thing, they sound pretty good but hope your neighbors aint close they are nasty.

[pitbull3825]

No complaints "YET". I'm not running it on HI I did last night for a little while because a friend of mine was on my side of town miss behaving and I needed to put him in his place. His modded sweet 16 was getting stomped every one heard ME and that was the whole point of this investment. Asking for N.O.S. tubes for X Mas and heck my B Day is in January so there I go wife all set with gift ideas now. HA HA HA..
A voice generator huh I been doing the AUDIO AUDIO AUDIO to tune it. Having my Dosey calibrated today also don't trust it. Have a Byrd I can borrow next week just to ease my mind.
I found that driving it with about 135 watts I get a great carrier and sound great covering my whole town....

[drdx]

Are you TUNING that amp to 135 carrier or DRIVING it with 135 watts? I thought most of those old palomars just needed 3-6 watts drive, unless maybe someone modded that thing. My experience is limited to just a few models like the skipper 300 and the 300a so its quite possible i'm confused.

-drdx

[Night Crawler]

yes it is it heats up the transitors

It's a tube amp and it won't hurt anything by whistling into it.

[Tinman590]

Driving it with 135 watts! ?? never heard of that. Tell us more. I had one I hit with 12 watts with a 4 watt key

[pitbull3825]

Well I have a 142gtl that does about 10 watts. I put a Texas Star V mod in line to the amp. I have the V Mod set about half way up but have ran it all the way open. I can get any thing from 600 - 1200 out it on a swing PEP. Kinda make sence??? I have no idea if it's been modded. This make an sence?

[drdx]

I can see what you're saying, but typically it would go Radio-amp, with the radio being like a 3-6 watt deal. I don't think you should need a driver for that amp in between the radio and the amp unless that amplifier has had the driver section removed or maybe has a dead tube or something. What does the amp do with just the 142? What is the amp rated at? Are the tubes 8950's or what? Are they in a cluster of 5 with a stand alone driver tube? What model is it? Many ham amplifiers do require 100w drive but I haven't seen a palomar like that. The only reason I mention it at all is that I'd hate for you to prematurely kill an amp with drive. You're to my east 150 miles and have a good beam. I winder how far east I would have to drive for us to hear each other? I have a healthy mobile and you obviously have a healthy base.


-drdx

[North Texas Mudduck]

holy crap
you dont need a driver for that tube amp
you get them new tubes and drive it with that and your going to be needing tubes for every month of the year
just give the amp a 2 to 3 watt deadkey and let it swing and key the radio an give it a AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhha
just long enough to tune the first knob
then another AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
then unkey and wait few seconds then Another AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
then just let it cruise

[pitbull3825]

I can see what you're saying, but typically it would go Radio-amp, with the radio being like a 3-6 watt deal. I don't think you should need a driver for that amp in between the radio and the amp unless that amplifier has had the driver section removed or maybe has a dead tube or something. What does the amp do with just the 142? What is the amp rated at? Are the tubes 8950's or what? Are they in a cluster of 5 with a stand alone driver tube? What model is it? Many ham amplifiers do require 100w drive but I haven't seen a palomar like that. The only reason I mention it at all is that I'd hate for you to prematurely kill an amp with drive. You're to my east 150 miles and have a good beam. I winder how far east I would have to drive for us to hear each other? I have a healthy mobile and you obviously have a healthy base.


-drdx

6lf6 tubes. it's a 300a palomar. Amp will do 135 with 142. I'm out of town I will check the arrangement but I think it has a cluster of four then two and think there is a driver. East huh? We can give it a try some time.

[pitbull3825]

holy crap
you dont need a driver for that tube amp
you get them new tubes and drive it with that and your going to be needing tubes for every month of the year
just give the amp a 2 to 3 watt deadkey and let it swing and key the radio an give it a AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhha
just long enough to tune the first knob
then another AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
then unkey and wait few seconds then Another AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
then just let it cruise

Yup need the new tubes most definitely...

[drdx]

Yeah, the 300a should only take a few watts drve, so I'm guessing something is off kilter there. If you want another one of those, my local guy has one, and its power supply, for sale in his shop. I don't advertise for him as he's not a sponsor but if you're a fan of that model and want one I thought I'd pass it along.

-drdx

[1skywalker]

On low a 300a is set up for 100 watts input. On high is when the two driver tubes are added. Thats the way mine works.

[Seecar]

On low a 300a is set up for 100 watts input. On high is when the two driver tubes are added. Thats the way mine works.

An' that's a ROGER!

I've had a dozen of those but always wanted to run 'em too fast and furious.

Even had a pair with one hooked to each of my stacked Moorakers.
Yeah, it was possible for I matched in the shack instead of on the boom.
Still do.

Not a good thing to run 'em hot like mentioned in this thread though.

Carl

['Doc]

Something else to think about is that all tubes have a useful 'life span'. Ordinary use shortens that 'life span', harder than 'ordinary use' really shortens that 'life span'. The general trend is away from tubes, so they are not as common as at one time, which means they are going to be harder to find and cost more. The easiest/cheapest way around that is to use a 'bigger' tube and run them conservatively. Worst thing you can do is drive the snot out of them. Hard to believe, but having a little extra 'snot' really is beneficial. Nasty way of looking at it, but that doesn't change the fact of the matter. (I think I just talked my self out of breakfast...)
- 'Doc

[Seecar]

The easiest/cheapest way around that is to use a 'bigger' tube and run them conservatively. Worst thing you can do is drive the snot out of them. (I think I just talked my self out of breakfast...)
- 'Doc

Doc, that's what I do now. Using National NCL-2000 with 2 8122 ceramics - $800 a pair now

If you were headed to Shoney's, not too much of a loss.

Carl

['Doc]

We don't have a 'Shoney's' here. Do they serve snot too??
- 'Doc


aw crap. I think I just talked myself out of dinner too.

[audio boy]

haha

[420Snowman]

I just bought one of these amps too, I heard on the forum that I can run it WITH the driver tubes, (on high) with a 35W input and run it all day like that and get about 800+ PEP out of it and not hurt the tubes. I am going to run it a little lower to get a feel for it, then maybe bump it to 35W and let her scream!!

Snowman

[420Snowman]

This thing looks pretty good, cant wait to get home and fire it up!! I will be swinging DX tonight!!!

[warlock35po]

As in all things we must start with a few assumptions,one there are 6 tubes,they are 6Lf^s,unit has not been modified,you are using a corectly calibrated watt meter. 6LF6 tubes have a safe total plate disipation per tube of around 75 watts,75x6=450 watts,thats all your going to see except maybe a whack of harmonics and SWR. that amp unmodified needs only enough wattage to key and be clean, from approx.1/2 to 2and1/2 watts.I run an old Kenrich 500,2 driving 5 20Lf6s, using a MK||| with 6 tenths of awatt into the amp for the swing. Regards Warlock35po

[drdx]

As in all things we must start with a few assumptions,one there are 6 tubes,they are 6Lf^s,unit has not been modified,you are using a corectly calibrated watt meter. 6LF6 tubes have a safe total plate disipation per tube of around 75 watts,75x6=450 watts,thats all your going to see except maybe a whack of harmonics and SWR. that amp unmodified needs only enough wattage to key and be clean, from approx.1/2 to 2and1/2 watts.I run an old Kenrich 500,2 driving 5 20Lf6s, using a MK||| with 6 tenths of awatt into the amp for the swing. Regards Warlock35po

I think that's great advice. I know that in this day folks drive stuff hard but those old amps need very very little to be excited properly. I ran old Maco and Varmint amps and those only need 3 to 6 watts MAX, the same goes for the old Maverick 250. If you cruised that amp at 300 watts you'd be well within a pound of strength that you'd be if you had something doing that 850 watts and be much cleaner. Even the pill amps of today don't need near as much drive as most think.

-drdx