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D&A PDX400 and Phantom
- Thread starter Happy_Hamer
- Start date
HH the top gray one is an D&A Phantom, they made ten tube and 12 tube models.
I think later on they made triple stage models, squirrly as all heck the 3 stage models were.
It is a tried and true work horse, 110VDC relays hard to find but easy to convert to 12vdc relays.
Keying tube (can not remember the part number), can be converted to SS keying with out to much problem.
Whole string of 6LQ6, tubes are worth more than the amp now a days.
I can not begin to count how many of those old D&A'S I have had across the bench in the last 30 years.
The tan face from what I hear is the end of the D&A dynasty, changed colors of the cases, same design basically.
The ones you have pictured look clean on the outside, some custom decal or paint has been added to the gray one.
There is a market out there and it seems the buyers like to pay well for those old amps.
I think later on they made triple stage models, squirrly as all heck the 3 stage models were.
It is a tried and true work horse, 110VDC relays hard to find but easy to convert to 12vdc relays.
Keying tube (can not remember the part number), can be converted to SS keying with out to much problem.
Whole string of 6LQ6, tubes are worth more than the amp now a days.
I can not begin to count how many of those old D&A'S I have had across the bench in the last 30 years.
The tan face from what I hear is the end of the D&A dynasty, changed colors of the cases, same design basically.
The ones you have pictured look clean on the outside, some custom decal or paint has been added to the gray one.
There is a market out there and it seems the buyers like to pay well for those old amps.
a good looking and working phantom use to bring near 300.00 bucks .now its more like half that .problem is they never survive shipping .
that pdx 400 is in much better shape and again used to bring about 300.00 but with tube prices on the climb and getting harder to find these ol tubers just dont bring the bucks they use to .
at one time i had each of these come thru here .but i bought them local .my pdx 400 needed new power supply caps but after i replaced them it was quite a amp .
both these can do over a kw of swing on a peak reader with good tubes .
a friend of mine bought a phantom and had it shipped ,the guy literally threw it in a box and shipped it .
i arrived dropped on its corner ,a few busted tubes(he left them in their sockets)bent casing ect,ect,.......it barely worked even after we chased down some tubes .
there are still people who love these old tubers .
judging by what i see condition wise on these 2 here ,all else aside i`d say if he got 150.00 for the phantom i`d take it .
the pdx 400 i`d let go for anything over 200.00 .
nice amps when working correctly but its been my experience that by the time they come up for sale and you buy one ,your lucky if it lasts a few keys before something goes amis .
if you can verify they work and work good and have good tubes that test over 85% and dont need new caps everywhere then you could expect over 200.00 on each one .but again ,shipping is key!
good luck to your friend ,he should try to sell local first and ship as a last resort .if he elects to ship i have had good luck bubble wrapping the tubes and placing them inside the cabinet with more bubble wrap to take up any left over room inside the cabinet .
then totally bubble wrap the case about 4 times ,then place in a large box with a few inches of space all around the sides ,then fill that with packing peanuts .
yes i have shipped amps of this size before and never lost a tube .or had damage .
good luck
ps- as stated above the tubes might be worth more than the amps .maybe consider selling the tubes ,then selling the amps without tubes .might get more money that way .does he plan to ebay them??
that pdx 400 is in much better shape and again used to bring about 300.00 but with tube prices on the climb and getting harder to find these ol tubers just dont bring the bucks they use to .
at one time i had each of these come thru here .but i bought them local .my pdx 400 needed new power supply caps but after i replaced them it was quite a amp .
both these can do over a kw of swing on a peak reader with good tubes .
a friend of mine bought a phantom and had it shipped ,the guy literally threw it in a box and shipped it .
i arrived dropped on its corner ,a few busted tubes(he left them in their sockets)bent casing ect,ect,.......it barely worked even after we chased down some tubes .
there are still people who love these old tubers .
judging by what i see condition wise on these 2 here ,all else aside i`d say if he got 150.00 for the phantom i`d take it .
the pdx 400 i`d let go for anything over 200.00 .
nice amps when working correctly but its been my experience that by the time they come up for sale and you buy one ,your lucky if it lasts a few keys before something goes amis .
if you can verify they work and work good and have good tubes that test over 85% and dont need new caps everywhere then you could expect over 200.00 on each one .but again ,shipping is key!
good luck to your friend ,he should try to sell local first and ship as a last resort .if he elects to ship i have had good luck bubble wrapping the tubes and placing them inside the cabinet with more bubble wrap to take up any left over room inside the cabinet .
then totally bubble wrap the case about 4 times ,then place in a large box with a few inches of space all around the sides ,then fill that with packing peanuts .
yes i have shipped amps of this size before and never lost a tube .or had damage .
good luck
ps- as stated above the tubes might be worth more than the amps .maybe consider selling the tubes ,then selling the amps without tubes .might get more money that way .does he plan to ebay them??
used them many times since 1967 on also...just sold a 12 tuber 3 months ago...double box it and should be fine,shipped a mohack10 awhile back,73 de JW Late note,they are great on 10 and 12 mtrs also...use a mdx200 till last month and a rdx75 also,73
phantom
I have a 10 tube phantom,3 transformers a great workhorse!Due to the weight of this item packing is very crucial I received mine with every tube broken A box full of broken glass...Now mine is completely rebuilt ,new caps,new tubes etc. And will put down 800 rms watts all day long!
I have a 10 tube phantom,3 transformers a great workhorse!Due to the weight of this item packing is very crucial I received mine with every tube broken A box full of broken glass...Now mine is completely rebuilt ,new caps,new tubes etc. And will put down 800 rms watts all day long!
Phantoms
I agree with Wavrider I have 4 phantoms 2 grey 12 tubers, a black T-600 10 tube and a tan & brown 10 tuber. Reguardless what others say I have found that these old amps take a beating and keep on keeping on sure the tubes can be expensive if you have to replace them but I have had very good luck with used ones or a replacement type tube. Donot overdrive amp and the tubes will last you till you are tired of keying it up. As far as value just check ebay or craigslist and you will find that these amps will bring well more than 150 dollars we sell the non working amps without tubes for 150 dollars and a good looking amp working for 300 to 500 dollars. The great thing about some models of these amps is the 3 power ranges you can pick and chose what level you need. Most of the cb radios that people buy around here make from 50 to 200 watts and that is just radio I prefer my old modified 23 channel tube radios running a phantom on low for everyday talking and high range to get over the idoits trying to dead key me LOL if they can. Shipping them make sure it is double boxed and packed to take a beating these are heavy and they will slam them every chance they get. I believe tubes should be shipped in a different box stops breakage due to amp weight.
I agree with Wavrider I have 4 phantoms 2 grey 12 tubers, a black T-600 10 tube and a tan & brown 10 tuber. Reguardless what others say I have found that these old amps take a beating and keep on keeping on sure the tubes can be expensive if you have to replace them but I have had very good luck with used ones or a replacement type tube. Donot overdrive amp and the tubes will last you till you are tired of keying it up. As far as value just check ebay or craigslist and you will find that these amps will bring well more than 150 dollars we sell the non working amps without tubes for 150 dollars and a good looking amp working for 300 to 500 dollars. The great thing about some models of these amps is the 3 power ranges you can pick and chose what level you need. Most of the cb radios that people buy around here make from 50 to 200 watts and that is just radio I prefer my old modified 23 channel tube radios running a phantom on low for everyday talking and high range to get over the idoits trying to dead key me LOL if they can. Shipping them make sure it is double boxed and packed to take a beating these are heavy and they will slam them every chance they get. I believe tubes should be shipped in a different box stops breakage due to amp weight.
Great for nostalgia purposes but IMO that's about it. Sweep tube boxes which in itself from a design standpoint wasn't a bad thing when the tubes were cheap. But running that many like that..these things have unacceptable IMD but then again they were purposely built that way to show high "swing" on AM. The people building them knew what they were doing and purposely built them to do this so people would buy them. All of that aside..they are easy as pie to work on..there isn't much to them and they can be converted to run different tubes either cheaper ones with different filament voltages or a different type of tube altogether. I personally wouldn't run one but have rebuilt and converted several over the years and people do like them and run 'em.
I know where you can get any tube you want,and at a great price...snd tubes,Mike isnt far from me...73 de n0zna