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Black Cat Amplifier

oil2gas

oil2gas

Member
Apr 5, 2010
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Just found a mobile 300 watt Black Cat amplifer at a local flea market ???/I know it could be fried but just curious if anyone has any info on this unit? Have searched hi and lo and nothing but a JBM name and they are really hi dollar units..Back to the person who is selling it and he is our local PC guy and will give me a guranatee that it will do what he says? Just curious and would like to read up on it befiore i buy it ($90) Caould always use a standby for that price!!!!
Is This Country Great or What:confused:
 

I had a coworker give me a Kopy Kat amplifier a few years ago. It worked OK, wasn't anything to write home about, but the problem was the method used to convert 12v dc to the higher voltages needed for the tubes produced a very loud and annoying audible squeal. The only way to keep the squeal from being transmitted in the audio was to locate the amplifier in the trunk.
 
Those amplifiers are a typical boomer / palomar 250 / 225 and you would see about 160 - 180 watts I believe it was 2 x SD1446 transistors They were between $80.00 and $100.00 new Ill have to look around here I believe I still have info on these from when they first came out. They were avaiolable for a year or 2 then I didnt see them anymore or I didnt notice them.

If they sported 2 x SD1446 or even if they would have used 2SC2290 transistors they are not going to do 300 watts as the model number would state.
 
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big 10-4 on what the model said about the 300 guy and thanks again for the info and its not worth the 90 bucks and even thou its a solid state amp. Since it falls into the class c amp of palomar cobra etc and again WWDX thanks for the answers i have recieved
 
The current 'batch' of amplifiers coming onto the scene (for the last 15 or so years, mass produced) can pretty much be counted on to be INPUT power.

The 300 you're talking about takes 300 watts INPUT from your power supply to create the 150-200 watts output. Peak.

Marketing ploy, sure... Useful, if you know how to 'interpolate' the actual numbers into a meaningful number for You.

The OTHER problem I've found in those amps is this: The ferrite in the output transformer is wrong. Key up for 30-45 seconds to test... You'll watch the output fall off DRASTICALLY!

I thought I had a problem with a bigger amplifier until I realized it was the predriver falling off in output power. Replaced the xformer, no mo problems. They work GREAT as a 6 meter amp :) WHICH IS WHAT THE SD1446 WAS DESIGNED FOR!!!

--Toll_Free
 
I guess what your telling me that if i apply the power formula ...it would only tell the amps that it would generate at the full wattage? but I can find no reason to use this...I guess? Thanks for all the info
 
After reading your last post, I'm telling you to do a little research, learn about input power, output power, efficiency, etc.

It's a bit more complicated than me throwing a couple sentences at you.

BUT, since you stated you'd have no use for such information, I can tell you have NO idea about how an amplifier works. They aren't rated in amps.. They are rated in watts.


--Toll_Free
 
On any modern mass produced "pill" amp, I apply the 60% rule. If you power it at 13.8VDC and hit it with a 2WDK and you see 60% of the "Rated" watts, consider yourself lucky.

Now if you want to drive it hard you can achieve the "Nameplate" watts.

You can also let all of the magic smoke escape. :D

Any time you see an amp with the letters "HD" in the name you assume this means "High Drive".

What it actually means is "Hardly Drive" it as in no more than a 2-3WDK.

My personal .02 on pill amps. Flame suit on, let it fly.
 
Those black cat 300's are the same amp as the Palomar Elite 300. As stated they are at the lower end of the quality and performance scale. 5-6 years ago if you bought a case of 15 they were about 52 dollars each shipped from H & Y.

If you do decide on trying that little 2 pill I would try to get it for 50-75 bucks or skip it all together. I think the number 300 is more of a model number or marketing ploy. If you can get 150-180 out of one I would be happy.
 
9C1Driver said:
Those black cat 300's are the same amp as the Palomar Elite 300. As stated they are at the lower end of the quality and performance scale. 5-6 years ago if you bought a case of 15 they were about 52 dollars each shipped from H & Y.

If you do decide on trying that little 2 pill I would try to get it for 50-75 bucks or skip it all together. I think the number 300 is more of a model number or marketing ploy. If you can get 150-180 out of one I would be happy.
Click to expand...


300x60%=180
We are in agreement in that. :D
 
No i'mot a electonic tech but have worked with electonic process control instrumentation and that is about as much as i know about power (p=IxE) and only knowing for sure that the power was stated at 300watts and I knew the voltage applied then applying these two variables ......i would know what the amps it would draw ...That all i was saying ? b ut if the power was only 180 then it would draw a lot less amps...but thanks for the info and that these numbers given are for the input and not the acutal output . the face plate was messed up and i only could only see the 300 whatever the units were ...i could only see the numeric value and not the units
Thanks for info you provided
 
This is funny because it makes me think about when my buddies and I were buying the Palomar 225 amplifiers back in the mid 1990s and eveyone was b!tching because they were not seeing 225 watts they ranged from 160 - 180 watts although mine was doing a bit more than the other guys and they were flustered by this.

We snapped the bottom covers off to compare and sure enough the boards were different but I explained to the other guys that it was still the same and I was sure it was the difference in the radios in which we were driving the amplifiers. I also for the hundreth time explained 225 did not mean 225 watts!!

Im sure when playing with my peak reading meters this all may change but this is why alot of guys dont use peak reading meters and care only about actual average which is most important.
 
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OK... first of all, is this a tube amplifier or a transistor amp? If it is a Black Cat tube amp, these amps always sounded great on the air, regardless of wattage. If it's a transistor amp, well... there are a lot of better (i.e. newer technology)amps on the market today. For 90 bucks, to me it's a tossup.

- 399
 
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