Is this amp special or what?

[psycho]

I understand that some amps with good filtering cost more but is this amp worth $150 used?
MOBILE LINEAR AMPLIFIER TX225-12 VOLT - eBay (item 250341920787 end time Dec-22-08 15:30:00 PST)

 

[Moleculo]

Hard to say without more info. Going just on the standard $1/watt rule, it seems like that might be an OK price. He doesn't give much more info or pictures of what's inside, though. If it's the model that is biased and has some output filetering, I'd say it's probably a fair price.

 

[74IN]

1$ a watt?

Strange rule. Doesn't seem to be hard and fast.

 

[Switch Kit]

As Mole said psycho , kind of hard to say , but the price does look very heafty to me , in other words , TO MUCH !! even if it was AB1 and filtered nicely for SSB , used , it still wouldn't be worth no more near that much to me.

By the looks of it , it just looks like a run of the mill class c small 2 transistor box AM only which really wouldn't be worth much more then 60 to 80 dollars shipped. (if that) But there's many folks out there that just don't have access to boxes like many of us do and they will pay the price if they feel the need.

This looks kind of funny to me to begin with , they could be just bidding up on the price of it to begin with , I think they call it "shilling" that amp will most likely be pulled before the auction ends. Mosu amps like that don't make it very long on Ebay anymore as they once did. Even Texas Stars get pulled all the time.

 

[MisterFatty]

they could be just bidding up on the price of it to begin with , I think they call it "shilling" that amp will most likely be pulled before the auction ends.

That would be my guess, the brand new zero bidder, and possibly another, look to be driving the price up...

 

[Switch Kit]

There you go Fatty !

 

[W5LZ]

About that $1 / watt thingy.

That's really a sort of 'ball-park' kind'a thing. Depends a lot on just what it is, 'style', any 'extras' that sort of thing. As with any 'ROT' (rule of thumb) there are exceptions in both directions. If you aren't all that familiar with amplifiers, the market for them and so on, it'll usually work, sort of. At least you probably won't get 'stung' all that bad. It isn't exactly a 'rule', just a sort of guide line.
- 'Doc

 

[Switch Kit]

I'll say this much , it's not the 80s no more , even brand new amps of this calober at a dollar a watt would be uncalled for. Although , depending on whom is selling them , it's possible for brand new ones , even then , it's a total price mark up from maker price to distributor !! Even new Texas Star boxes are not a dollar a watt , but they could be if one feels the need to buy one at that price. Many radio shops will sell amps at double the cost from makers or distributors. but at the same time , they are puttin there asses on the line selling them in the frist place.

 

[psycho]

I'll say this much , it's not the 80s no more , even brand new amps of this calober at a dollar a watt would be uncalled for. Although , depending on whom is selling them , it's possible for brand new ones , even then , it's a total price mark up from maker price to distributor !! Even new Texas Star boxes are not a dollar a watt , but they could be if one feels the need to buy one at that price. Many radio shops will sell amps at double the cost from makers or distributors. but at the same time , they are puttin there asses on the line selling them in the frist place.

If the dollar a watt rule applies then the Texas Star 500 should sell for no more than $250 unless you are talking about Dosy watts then $500.

 

[mackmobile43]

If the dollar a watt rule applies then the Texas Star 500 should sell for no more than $250 unless you are talking about Dosy watts then $500.

The ts500 will produce 400 watts carrier in FM with 8 watts input carrier so that would bring the cost into line with it's output per/watt and easily in CW mode.

Realistically it should do 600 pep in SSB modes which would make it a steal in the dollar per/watt scenario.

All these readings are from my bird43 with a pep board installed by myself so I know the numbers are correct.

 

[cobranut]

You can tell how long someone has been operating a radio when you used the old, $1 per watt reference. That's about what 1 watt of power use to cost.

 

[Bronco]

I bought a Palomar 225 amp earlier this year and it only ran about 125 bucks brand new. Somebody paid way too much on that ebay amp IMHO because there is no guarantee it will work when they get it.

 

[psycho]

I bought a Palomar 225 amp earlier this year and it only ran about 125 bucks brand new. Somebody paid way too much on that ebay amp IMHO because there is no guarantee it will work when they get it.

Alot of times you get the "It worked the last time I used it but haven't the means to test, sold as is". Selling something without testing it out is not good sense.

 

[Switch Kit]

these are very nice amps. Filtered AB , turn a good 148/Grant with slightly more power then a RCI2970 or one of those "other" type Mosfet radios on the market today. Although I like cb radios over exports and 10 meter radios. Unfortunetly , the mark up on these can be killer. )-: Although these 225s are good , I think anything over 150.00 shipped (if need be ?) is way to much.

There fetching just under 100.00 shipped via Ebay , that's a fairly good deal on these. They were made tough ! It's just the fact that they are AB and very clean running little amps. They have been around for about 15 years , they are bulit up north from me. His first models in the 90s pretty much carried the MRF 455s , the first run models always had a AM delay problem , meaning about a second or two delay which would cut off the in comings first few words.

It was an easy fix just changing the cap to a lower value or removing it completly if AM was your only thing. But why have AB if your not into SSB ? What was kind of weird about this was that maker didn't change the design for many years before he finally did and changed the cap. Go figure ? IM guessing he had the boards made by a board house and just left well enough alone ?

In the early to mid 2000s he finally changed the caps and went to 1446s instead of the MRF 455s , those freaking 1446s never sieze to amaze me ! They just tend to really put out on 27mhz , 90 watts from what I understand . They do tend to give a little more then 455s , but IM sure not enough to make a differents on the receiving end of things. (Motorola's went sky high in price a few years back and 1446s were much cheaper , but as of the last few years , 1446's have also gone sky high in price !! was getting them for 17 dollars a piece a few years ago , they are now 26 a piece ! ouch !! )

These amps (the 225s) are all fairly good for at least 200 pep watts AM/SSB (depending on how there driven) I've been through a lot of amps in my time and I put this maker as well as his line of amps (Blue Faced / Galaxy / Palomar /Skipper Palomar / Cobra XL series ) over the years right up there with Texas Stars , all though his amps run cooler then the TS brands.

Bottom line here is that you can't go wrong with one of these amps.

 

[TonyV225]

My favorite on EBAY is when they know all the specifics on the amplifier or radio and after all the detail iformation they follow up with "Ihave no antenna to test this so its sold as is but it did work when last used"

I remember when the old timers would advertise an amplifier and it was the old dollar a watt scale for pricing.