| AB4D |
Rating:     |
2022-03-11 | |
| A simple no frills design that works. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently acquired two Ameritron tube amps from the used market, an AL-82 and an AL-80b. I've also owned many other amplifiers as well from Alpha, Acom, OM Power, and others. So my experience and review comes from that point of view.
To start, the AL-82 is certainly not of the same caliber as those expensive amplifier brands I mentioned. The fit and finish and materials is not as good, nor is the build quality. However, they are economical, reliable and simple designs, that for the average ham, are not too difficult to diagnose and repair when something goes wrong. I see that as a major plus. There are no microprocessors or other complex devices in the AL-82.
I recently began a search to bring a tube amplifier back into my station, since changing to all solid state a few years ago. One major consideration for me is tube availability and cost. Has anyone looked at the cost of tubes these days? I was shocked at the rising costs of various ceramic-metal tubes. The lack of availability of some tubes is also driving up costs. It's one reason I moved away from tube amps a few years ago. Even the Chinese FU-728f, once considered a great value, has increased from $300.00 to $650.00 in a few short years.
That brought me back to consider less costly, but available alternatives. IMO, currently the best performance/cost/availability tube is the 3-500z. I once owned a Drake L-4B. That amp is still in service today with a new owner, and it's still using the original Eimac 3-500z tubes from 1976! With proper care, a 3-500z tube can last a very long time.
Operationally, the Ameritron AL-82 and even the AL-80b are similar to the great Drake L-4B I once owned, and other tube amps I have operated. Tuning the AL-82 is straight forward. It easily makes U.S. legal limit power on all bands 10m-160m. Once the Plate and Load tuning combination for each band is noted. When changing bands, retuning is quick, efficient and repeatable.
Another plus for the AL-82 is it's compatibility with older hybrids and tube rigs. I enjoy using older transceivers from time to time, including a Kenwood TS-830S. However, it's high power output, and lack of RF drive control is incompatible with my solid state amplifiers. A minor slip up can destroy the PA in a solid state amplifier.
Rather, the AL-82 can easily handle 100 watts of drive, without the fear of causing damage. Overall, I would say the AL-82 is a good value, but even more so with the AL-80b. They will likely be my last tube amplifier purchase. The solid state market is gaining ground, and major amplifier manufacturers such as Acom and the new 2020S, are beginning to offer legal limit+ solid state alternatives. When the time is right, I will move in that direction. However, for the short term, the AL-82 or the AL-80b will likely serve me well with it's rugged 3-500z tube(s). |
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| N4TL |
Rating:      |
2021-09-19 | |
| very good amplifier |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought it new in February 1998. It worked fine for years but in 2014, it blew a fuse. I shipped it to Ameritron in Starkville MS. They replaced one relay, some small parts, all eight High voltage electrolytic capacitors and the meter bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs. The amplifier had been working great since then. When it was new, it put out 1,500 watts on all bands. Now 23 years later it still puts out 1,500 watts on 160, 80, 40M. On 20 meters its 1,000; on 15 and 10 the power out is 950 watts. It has the original Ampex graphite tubes. It’s a good amplifier but I decided to go to sold state and sold it. |
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| K3YB |
Rating:      |
2020-09-26 | |
| A hard working amp on a workingman's budget. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Cutting edge technology this is not. Reliable, simple to use and powerful? Yes. Emphatically yes in fact.
Open it up and you won't think you accidentally took off the top of a QRO HF-2000. There is nothing about this amp that is overbuilt! But, and this is a big but, it works, and it works well.
If the amp has been shipped to you or is new, I HIGHLY recommend opening the old girl up and taking a good look around. (you'll most likely have to re-install the transformers and fit the tubes anyway.) There are a few cable assemblies that are not exactly tenacious in their grasp. Also, look around for loose nuts and screws, etc.
An obvious but critical factor in your amplification success is the quality of tubes you can acquire to put in it. I have had good luck with Taylor (Asian) 3-500Zs. Unfortunately, getting a hold of good solid tubes is a pivotal and sometimes challenging part of the success equation these days.
For the price, you can't beat ian AL-82. It is highly recommended.
Life is too short for QRP! Best 73 to you all. Dave, K3YB |
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| K9NZ1 |
Rating:      |
2019-12-24 | |
| The TimeX of Amplifiers |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
It just works, I've had my AL-82 15 years still full output.
I've ran RTTY, CW and SSB, it's a 1994 vintage. The best amp I have ever owned and money well spent.
K9NZ
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| KA5ROW |
Rating:      |
2017-12-30 | |
| Great Amp |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have had my amp for 6 months and it works great. No issues at all, most of it’s use is on 160 and some on 20M. The amp is capable of 1700 watts, so running at 1500 is easy and no need to drive it hard to get to legal limit. I do think it could use a heaver duty chasse and heaver cover, “I would like to set my AL-80B on top” other than that it’s an all right amp. The AL-80B is issue free also. |
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| N6BIZ |
Rating:      |
2017-02-23 | |
| GREAT |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| GREAT AMP |
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| KG5BV |
Rating:   |
2017-02-23 | |
| Great amp but... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've owned the AL-82, the AL-1200 and the AL-1500. My favorite? The AL-82. I have had it for 10 years and use it daily. Except for a couple of bad 3-500ZG tubes, no problems, just 1500 watts of power. Then why the bad review? I was happily going alone on a net the other night, and THUMP. Everything went dark. With a handful of fuses, I traced the problem to the plate transformer with a shorted secondary. Bummer. What to do? I have an external HV power supply, so I'll mount it all in a rack and keep on rocking! I wish Peter Dahl was still providing transformers. Sigh... |
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| VE3CNX |
Rating:      |
2017-02-13 | |
| Stable Amplifier |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I purchased this amplifier new in 2013 and used it only on 80M as I had other rigs/amps/antennas for other bands. After 3 years, I thought I should rotate the band selector switch to "exercise" it. Much to my surprise,and disappointment, it would not "lock" into place on the adjoining 40M and 20M positions. Upon taking the cover off, I discovered that the band switch frame rotating portion had one small broken piece, preventing it from locking into place. I called Ameritron, and spoke with their senior Service Tech and he said that they had not encountered this type of problem before, but it was possible it had been a manufacture point weakness that had manifested over time. On the plus side, he said that it would not be necessary to change out the entire band switch, only the frame assembly. Nevertheless, it would involve a considerable amount of time though as the band switch had to be removed entirely in order to do so. He offered to send me the replacement part, even though it was long past warranty, which I accepted. We discussed the logistics of repair, and he said that rather than send it back to them, I could have it repaired by the Ameritron dealer in Toronto, some distance away still. I contacted the local dealer and spoke to the tech and he said that he could repair but that it was a labor intensive job. (Code for big $$). So, I made plans to do so. In the meantime, a good friend and Elmer (Bill- VE3NH), sensing my uneasiness at tackling the job, encouraged (pushed) me to do the job at home and generously offered his help. He is a retired and well-accomplished radio tech, and he would not hear of my sending it out for a costly repair. I graciously accepted his offer (challenge). Upon reviewing the task in more detail, I came to the conclusion that the best way was to disassemble the tuning section entirely by removing the tuning/loading coils, Finals, etc. and disconnecting the band switch from the capacitors, etc. rather than desoldering the connections on the band switch itself. It looked fairly straightforward and I estimated we should be able to do it in about 2.0 hours max. After taking many photos and assembling all the necessary tools, we undertook the job. As it turned out, it was a little more finicky than I initially thought, as the space was tight and many screws/connections. In the end, we only had to desolder one wire from the 40M connection at the loading coil. We also had some difficulty extracting the band switch frame assembly from the wafers themselves. Other than that, it went fairly smooth. But instead of a couple of hours, it took us exactly 4.5 hours, start to finish. (Actually Bill- VE3NH did most of the work, I just held the light). When we finished, we gave it the smoke test into a dummy load, and it performed flawlessly on every band. Thank you Bill (VE3NH) for your tireless and steady hand and iron clad memory for detail.
I rate this amplifier as a 5 because aside from the band switch issue, it has performed flawlessly over the three years since new. Also, because the Service Dept. at Ameritron were so helpful in guiding me to a reasonable solution/repair. I have a number of amplifiers (Alpha/Yaesu/Kenwood/Drake) but this AL-82 is a real workhorse. It tunes easily and operates flawlessly. I would not hesitate to buy another Ameritron amplifer. |
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| K5VSH |
Rating:      |
2016-02-04 | |
| The Best that I've had |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I've had Hallicrafter (Ht-41?), Yaesu (Fl-2100B), Dentron (Clipperton-L), and Ameritron (Al-80A, AL-811H,and Al-800 Amplifiers. This AL-82 is the best of the lot. Keep the load control up or it will arc on you-Hi!! |
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| K2VI |
Rating:    |
2015-06-22 | |
| poor mfj quality control |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have had to send two back and still do not have an al-82. First one had a band switch that was erratic and the knob was misaligned and loose that caused the shaft to slip on the knob...A few washers rattling around inside so it went back to ameritron. The second one was UPS must have tossed the box 10 feet in the air. The rf deck was off it's shipping insert. This left an indentation not only on the outer box but also inside. This caused the blower fan to dislodge from the deck and smashed into the PI-network coil which was damaged.The reason the blower came loose was ameritron uses small plastic bolts to fasten the big blower to the amp. Two of these bolts sheered off. If they used metal bolts the amp would have been fine. So when I get lucky and get a good one I will revise my review. By the way ameritron has young women building these amps. I wonder if they actually went to technical school or learning on the job? One other thing that makes me afraid to own MFJ stuff is that they sent a warranty card that had a different serial number than the box and unit was stamped.It was off by one digit. How can one mess that up Is downright boneheaded....BUT WE ARE TALKING MFJ JUST SAYING. |
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