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Gator44
Junior Member
Username: Gator44

Post Number: 21
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 4:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey tech's...a little help here. I just changed the tubes in this box out a week ago and has been running great till last night! I was transmitting when all the sudden one small flash then another from the underside of it!!! I looked in it and saw no visible burn on anything but no transmit from the box now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also my radio Dk 2 watts and pep is 17. Don't think this was the problem though.. Thanks
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Sonny
Intermediate Member
Username: Sonny

Post Number: 145
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 5:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gator, you might have been over driving it the instructions call for no more than 300 max on Hi
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Gator44
Junior Member
Username: Gator44

Post Number: 22
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 7:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How can you over drive it with 17 watts in?? With tune and load set properly 2 watt DK and pep of 17? Don't see the overdrive problem!!
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Sonny
Intermediate Member
Username: Sonny

Post Number: 146
Registered: 5-2004
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 8:08 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I sent you the instructions on that amp, my Siltronix La550 calls for no more than 3.5 watts DK but no more than 7 to 10 PEP. You said you were getting 500 watts out on earlier post ouch. on a 300 watt max amp
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B_d
New member
Username: B_d

Post Number: 5
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 9:18 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Can anyone tell me if the Brute Force Amps are any good?
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Gator44
Junior Member
Username: Gator44

Post Number: 23
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 10:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Never used one man!! There's alot of info on the amp section...check it out.
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Kid_vicious
Senior Member
Username: Kid_vicious

Post Number: 2371
Registered: 9-2004


Posted on Friday, February 02, 2007 - 12:33 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

gator, what kind of tubes did you use and what is their origin?

my guess is that you bought them used off of the auction site.
when it comes to sweep tubes, its really buyer beware, because the guys selling these tubes know exactly how used or leaky they are, and will flat out lie in the ads because they know that us dumb CB'ers will put them in an amp and if they blow, we will not know if it was the tube's fault or not.
it might have also been an electrolytic cap that blew in the amp, as they will all eventually do this with enough age/use.
should be pretty darn easy to see if this was the case, as there will be black goop all over the place and one of your caps will look like a used firecracker.
be very, very careful replacing this stuff, it can easily KILL YOU!
want some good news?
your skipper 300 could be converted to use the EL519's that are used in the KLV amps and those are still available brand new for pretty cheap.
good luck,
matt
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Lonestarbandit
Member
Username: Lonestarbandit

Post Number: 66
Registered: 10-2006


Posted on Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 5:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

so how to discharge amp before workin on it?
id like to clean up my firebird 500 as the last owner smoked like chimmney and stinks and tubes have nicotine varnish on em cant be good..... can i convert my 6lq6 firebird to e519 easy?
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Kid_vicious
Senior Member
Username: Kid_vicious

Post Number: 2373
Registered: 9-2004


Posted on Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 11:03 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

to discharge the caps, use a big screwdriver with a large plastic handle.
touch one part of the screwdrivers shaft on the pos. terminal of the cap. and touch the end of the shaft to the chassis.
you may hear a pop.
make sure the amp is off and unplugged before doing this.

"easy" is a very relative term. what might be easy for some could be an insurmountable task for others.
i will say its not a tube beginners project, and should only be done by someone who knows the insides of these old beasts quite well.
for someone like that, it wouldnt be too hard.

in general, for old tube linears, you can get great results by replacing the electrolytic caps, the tubes and maybe the relays.
if the amp used to work, you could be up and running with just that much.
good luck, and be careful,
matt
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Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire

Post Number: 2177
Registered: 1-2005


Posted on Sunday, February 04, 2007 - 12:12 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gator44, Have you tried putting your old tubes back in to see if the amp comes back to life? I don't think tubes just go poof all of the sudden.You or somebody listening would have noticed something wrong. Not sure but you may have a driver tube or maybe the radio drives all 4 tubes alone. The driver would be the suspect bad tube. As I said before it takes very little to drive a small amp. If you was sure that the heat was low and audio was right then may not be the tube. Kid is probably right about the caps!

Gotta baby them old amps! Long keydowns or putting mudducks on time out is rough on them old boxes!
Kenny
cef491(27.115lsb)
2sf491(27.555usb)
Indiana
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Gator44
Junior Member
Username: Gator44

Post Number: 25
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 - 8:26 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well i'm taking it down to my tech and gonna let him take a look at it this weekend. All tubes still glow and seem to be ok...the light show was from the underside of the case. I want to get it back on line though cause it sure is (was) a good box..clean and crisp audio. Right now i'm using my standby cadet box @150 watts and it works good on my setup for now. But thanks for all the imput. (have'nt tried the old tubes back in it either) I think having the new tubes in that old box that probably has'nt seen regular power in years...old parts need changing!! Who knows....

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