Value old Palomar 300a

[Lafitte]

Have a guy offering an old Palomar 300A , w/ tubes ca. 1976 , in storage last 20 years.
What would be a fair offer ?

MODBREAK_HEADMDY

edited post

[MDYoungblood]

I would say take a look and go with what you think, make sure it has the power supply with it. Look up the going prices online for it and that would show you all it might need. Hope the storage wasn't a barn.

3's

Greg

[jessejamesdallas]

Yep, you can ask how it was stored, and hopefully it's been in a nice cozy-warm closet for those 20 years+...Be sure like MDY said it has the transformer that plugs into the back, because there were two different voltage transformers used with the 300A's and both use the same plugs, so you need the one that is wired for that unit...

Fair price for a working Palomar 300A would be $300 if all the tubes are good and the unit works...These old amps usually will end up needing new caps, and possibly new tubes depending on how the amp was ran by the last person who used it. You can find used tubes for it on the auction site for anywhere from $15 to $30, NOS tubes can run over $50...

I have a Palomar 300A I use daily with a Cobra 2000 GTL and it works great! These were, and still are, very reliable amps as long as they are not abused to get every watt possible out...

If you have a stock radio that has a DK under 3w and swings around 10w's, then run the 300A on HI PWR...If the radio swings over 20w's then keep the 300A on LOW PWR....(HI PWR the driver stage tubes are ON, LOW PWR just the final stage tubes are on)

If you try and run a radio with a higher DK than 3w's or one that swings over 25-30 watts in the HI PWR setting, you will sound raspy, over modulated, and can damage the amp...

IMO the tube amps sound the best on AM and SSB, and as long as you have the amp set-up right and don't abuse it, tubes should last you for years...

One side note...Don't get too hung-up on trying to keep one of these things cool...Tubes are made to get HOT! That's what they do! Heck, the hotter my 300A gets, the more watts it does!