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Dx431
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 1:56 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What is the rating on the tubes of this amp? It has 4 8950 tubes. thanx in advance
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Jyd
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 11:18 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

should due about 600 or 700 watts with a 65watt drive.replace them with 2057's and you will do more.peolpe say to use a 100watt drive but it will last longer with a 65watt drive
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Scrapiron63
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 7:18 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The 8950 tube, according to my RCA tube book, is rated at 100 watts. A skipper 300 is a low drive amplifier, I would not want to put over 5 watts keyup into one, 2 or 3 watts will probably sound better.
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Scrapiron63
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 8:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I should have added, the Skipper 300's that I know about, has 1 8950 driving 3 8950s. The ones I've tried run best with 2 or 3 watts in, they keyed 200-250 watts, swing about 400-450.
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Ss8541
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2002 - 10:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yes scrapiron, the 300 is a low drive amp. it will hit full output of 300-350wpep with about 12-15wpep input power. you can make them do a little more by higher input, but don't expect them to last a very long time. i don't do much with tube amps but i do know the input/output of the skipper 300.
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Dx431
Posted on Sunday, June 30, 2002 - 12:23 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanx for the info, gentlemen. I appriciate it. Best darn forum on the net!
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Dx431
Posted on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 10:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I have 2 questions regaurding this amp. It belongs to friend and we finally fired it up this weekend, and everything seems to work fine except the RX amp. It cuts out the RX completely. Is this an easy fix? and what is this amp worth?
Thanx in advance.
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2600
Posted on Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 11:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The preamp is victim of a couple of weaknesses. First, the kind of relay your amp has in it makes a big difference. The oldest version has three (clear)plastic-enclosed relays at the center-rear of the chassis held in by screws from beneath. Relays this old can go bad from age alone. The later version has the relays on a printed-circuit board bolted to the inside of the rear panel. The small white plastic relays marked "R50-E2-Y2" are a consistent failure item. One of them is the preamp relay. If you tap lightly on it with the preamp turned on, a bad relay will usually "kick in" or make noises. The bad news is that these are discontinued and tough to find.
The preamp transistor will fall victim to another weakness: using the preamp on SSB. The delay that keeps the relay from chattering on SSB also delays the 'kick-in' time when you key and talk. On AM, the relays kick in right away. When the preamp is running, a very short burst of your carrier power gets fed "upstream" into it while the relays click over. They included a surge diode to protect this transistor from that brief burst of radio power. On SSB, the delay causes this burst to last much longer, and the transistor will take it on the chin. Best not to use the preamp for SSB when transmitting in this model. A common generic PN2907A transistor will replace the metal-can 2N2905 that the factory used for the preamp. If the preamp transistor has died, be sure to also check the little glass diode next to it. The generic 1N4148 glass diode will replace it just fine if the old one is shorted inside.

73
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Dx431
Posted on Monday, July 29, 2002 - 10:52 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanx, 2600. Do you have any idea what this amp is worth?
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2600
Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 12:10 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't sell (or buy) amplifiers, so I'm not a good one to ask. You sure don't want to ask what it's worth to me! Wouldn't be polite to answer that one.
Checking Ebay for Amateur Radios (can't remember their category number.. 1500?, maybe?) today turned up a Palomar 300A, Eagle 500, Courier ML-100, an old ABC 200, and a home-brew single 3-500Z amp (funny, no bandswitch) all from JUST the items closing by tomorrow. At least you may find a few like the Skipper 300 to compare what they bring at auction. Unlike old cars, there's no "Blue Book" to use as a guide for this kind of stuff. What it's REALLY worth is what a SERIOUS buyer will offer. Aside from that, free advice on "worth" is mostly just smoke being blown up your, uh, well, you get the idea.
73
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Dx431
Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 11:36 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanx, 2600......the man who owns the amp wants to sell the amp and wanted an idea of a price to start with. If there are any perspective buyers out there, e-mail me with questions.

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