I have the chance to buy a Varmint 1000 and a Phantom. I only have funds for one of them. The phantom is in perfect condition it still has the original tubes in it and hasn't been ran much the tubes checked 90 percent of better. The varmint has brand new tubes in it. What would y'all go with if you had to chance.
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Varmint 1000 or D&A Phantom
- Thread starter small block
- Start date
Hmm. Got offered my choice of two barn-find cars. A '74 Firebird or a '73 SS Camaro. Everything is original on them but the tires.
If this were offered to me, first question I would have is the odometer. High mileage is a liability for any machine that's over 40 years old.
The choice of one 45 year-old amplifier over another will have more to do with condition than anything else. Too bad there's no odometer to read.
If the Phantom is the older 12-tube version, run don't walk the other way. It has a problem with destroying the High/Low relay, and it's the oldest version, to boot. If the "40-year tuneup" has been done, this would be a big advantage. If you make it a daily driver, any factory-original electrolytic capacitors will liven up your day when (not "if") they break down from age alone. If they have been changed out you won't need to.
I'm accustomed to seeing the two relays in the rear of the Varmints going bad after the first 30 years. The newest Varmint you could buy was 1979, so you're well past that 30-year mark. Same rule about electrolytic capacitors as for the Phantom. With one difference. The big high-voltage filter caps are probably concealed under a circuit board where you can't see them.
It's certainly possible that either or both 40 or 50-year old amplifiers will fire up and be a reliable daily driver.
The odds are not so favorable, though.
73
If this were offered to me, first question I would have is the odometer. High mileage is a liability for any machine that's over 40 years old.
The choice of one 45 year-old amplifier over another will have more to do with condition than anything else. Too bad there's no odometer to read.
If the Phantom is the older 12-tube version, run don't walk the other way. It has a problem with destroying the High/Low relay, and it's the oldest version, to boot. If the "40-year tuneup" has been done, this would be a big advantage. If you make it a daily driver, any factory-original electrolytic capacitors will liven up your day when (not "if") they break down from age alone. If they have been changed out you won't need to.
I'm accustomed to seeing the two relays in the rear of the Varmints going bad after the first 30 years. The newest Varmint you could buy was 1979, so you're well past that 30-year mark. Same rule about electrolytic capacitors as for the Phantom. With one difference. The big high-voltage filter caps are probably concealed under a circuit board where you can't see them.
It's certainly possible that either or both 40 or 50-year old amplifiers will fire up and be a reliable daily driver.
The odds are not so favorable, though.
73
All other things being equal, I'd have to agree. Mileage still counts, no matter which one you're looking at.
73
I would go with the Phantom. The 6lq6 tubes are easier to find and it is easier to work on if a big if it will ever need any work. Tune it up correctly and do not drive the snot out of it and it is a great amp. I have 4 of them myself.
As far as the phantoms go, and I may be confusing it with a maco, wasn't there a variant that had like five knobs on the front to tune to get the thing running? For some reason I seem to remember a phantom that had five things to turn. And I never really saw a good explanation to its tune-up procedure. Unless it was a big maco that I'm thinking of that had a driver built in.
That was the 12-tube original Phantom. Driver controls were at the bottom of the front panel. The Low-side Tune was separate from the High side driver Tune and Load.
The "upgrade" from twelve to ten tubes made it a lot easier to tune up and to tweak when tubes got changed.
73
Those XL1000 Varmint amps have a lot of audio coming out of them. I have a 10 tube Phantom thats 56 yrs old works great out put is a lil lower than new tubes probably a lil soft. I had a XL450 Varmint back in the day and it worked great.
If the original D&A tubes with the double strapped, black anode cap are still good, they are far superior to anything you are likely to find in the Varmint. About the only exception would be if the Varmint had Amprex 6LF6 tubes made in Holland.
That particular plant made the most reliable 12 pin compactron tubes ever. They lasted more than twice as long as the GE tubes made in Kentucky. I base this on use in a 10 tube Andy Anderson amp I ran throughout the 1980's. That 3 stage amp beat the snot out of the 6 finals.
I was changing GE's and Sylvania (all 3 colors) every 6 months of hard use, until I found the Amprex ones. They lasted for years until I stopped using that amp and sold it. While the M-2057 would make more power, that Amprex was more reliable. Everything including the filiment insulator coating, anode and envelope thickness were noticeably heavier. I suspect the oxide coating on the cathode was too. It was also less prone to internal arcing, an indication of an improved vacuum.
That particular plant made the most reliable 12 pin compactron tubes ever. They lasted more than twice as long as the GE tubes made in Kentucky. I base this on use in a 10 tube Andy Anderson amp I ran throughout the 1980's. That 3 stage amp beat the snot out of the 6 finals.
I was changing GE's and Sylvania (all 3 colors) every 6 months of hard use, until I found the Amprex ones. They lasted for years until I stopped using that amp and sold it. While the M-2057 would make more power, that Amprex was more reliable. Everything including the filiment insulator coating, anode and envelope thickness were noticeably heavier. I suspect the oxide coating on the cathode was too. It was also less prone to internal arcing, an indication of an improved vacuum.