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Reviews For: Ameritron ALS-600

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - HF & HF+6M

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Review Summary For : Ameritron ALS-600
Reviews: 197MSRP: 1299.99
Description:
600W Output Solid State Amplifier w /Power Supply on 100/110/120V for US
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ameritron.com/Product.php?productid=ALS-600
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
451974.2
N4RSS Rating: 2008-07-22
Works Well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have had for about a month. Works well with my Pro3. Will shutdown on reflected power. Radio power supply on top of amp is a no-no, as RF will shutdown radio, so I separated by a couple of feet. Runnning on 220v and have added the 10/12m mod kit. Interior seems well constructed to me, but I'm no expert. No noise from the switching power supply that I notice.

N4RSS
K4LVR Rating: 2008-06-15
Good Value - not without quirks Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I wanted something simple for DXing, although I am competitive in contests with low power, the extra S unit in DX'ing saves time. I have a tube amp but its old and is really too much for my antennas, so this seemed just right. Purchased the "new" model with relay bandpass switching and remote band switching (which I cant use with my current rig). Also, the "traditional" linear power supply. After working with them since February (Orlando Hamcation) on pricing, I finally got a deal from HRO Atlanta that met my budget constraints and couldnt be passed up!

So the amp arrives, and the box it came in was rather scruffy. The double boxes inside were packed well with foam gussets. The manual is skimpy, wierldy organized, but useful.

QC, well that's another story. The RF deck has a rattle in it when shaken. Opened it up and found some toroids flopping around cables. Zip tied them, no more rattle. The power supply has a deep ding in the back, but powers up and works fine. No way this ding was caused in shipping! The cabinets, while they look fine, wobble when set on a table... They are close but not perfectly square, so that the weight of the RF deck rests on three feet, the fourth just hangs in the air. A little sticky rubber pad fixed that. Same issue with the Power Supply, the cabinets were not bent square at the factory! The ding in the back by the fan is from the INSIDE!

Electronic build quality is very good, nice looking solder joints, nice boards, lots of plug in connectors. One conector's cables on the RF deck look like they get pinched by the cabinet when its put on. A little Dremmel grinding of the side edge of the top mounting deck and that problem goes away.

Performance is just fine! Solid 510w out on CW, 650 peak on SSB on my wattmeter with 85w in. This is really all I will ever need. I will probably run less exciter output and keep it at around 500w for some overhead.

Waveforms look good on the scope, The ALC works as advertised. The T/R relay is realy loud (will soon replace it with aftermarket QSK after the warranty expires). The fan is surprisingly quiet for the ammount of air it moves.

Martin, Please! Spend a couple of pennies on some zip ties for the toroids! Make sure that the bending brake in the shop is set square and consider putting the exhaust of one unit on the oposite side of the other, or best of all, flow the air THROUGH the cabinet from front to back! The way it is now, you HAVE to stack 'em, you cant set them side by side because one or the other cabinet's air exhaust will be blocked! I would really like to see the voltage and current on the RF deck instead of on the PS. This unit should get a 5 but gets a 4 because for $1.2k list, I shouldnt have to be the final QC department!

But I still think its a good value... Its made in America by Americans, it works fine and it is affordable with two kids in college and Gas at $4/gallon, so this ALS-600 fits the bill for my station, hopefully, for a long time, if Im nice to it. Works perfectly with the MFJ 998 tuner, like a poor man's PW1 once I get a rig with Band select out, next year if the roof doesnt need replaced. So far, so good.

My venerable 36 year old Dentron 160-10L is now retired from active duty. The shack is a lot cooler too!
-W4LT
W0YN Rating: 2008-06-05
Nice Amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I initially had mixed emotions on this unit. I purchased a brand new ALS-600 with a switching power supply. The new amp had several cover screws that came off during shipment and a circuit board plug that wasn't even connected. It must have been a rough UPS shipment. After reseating the connectors and looking over the insides (construction and soldering looked very good) I fired it up. I turned the amplifier on and it immediately keyed itself with no cables connected and the power output meter was pinned. The power supply was just fine but I had obviously gotten a shaken up lemon amplifier. I returned the amp to the dealer for credit (less shipping). They didn't have another amp to send me but I happened to find a new one at HRO with the linear power supply. I really wanted to try a solid state hf amp but 3 grand isn't in my budget for an import model. The new ALS-600 arrived and everything looked perfect. When picking up the amplifier I heard a rattle inside the case when I tilted the unit. Not again, I thought, but the rattle was of no concern. It was a ferrite bead on a wire inside that rattled a bit with movement. The linear power supply is one heavy case compared to the amplifier which is light weight. The fan in the linear supply seems quieter than the switching supply. The case is the same size as the amplifier. The switching supply case is longer in length. The ALS-600 I received is one of the new models with a modified front panel with remote sockets. I turned on the new unit and all functions working normal. 90 watts drive gives me a solid 600 watts output. I've given the amplifier a very good workout on various bands using my ground mounted vertical and yagi on a tower. I am impressed with this little amplifier. It is reasonably quiet and the broadband no-tune feature really adds enjoyment to the operating shack. I agree as other users have said, I'll never go back to a tube amp after using a no tune solid state amp. The latest QST review of the ALS-600 is worth reading. I'm very happy with it and it stay in my shack for a long time.
N8EWX Rating: 2008-03-17
Not Happy !!!!!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hello I Bought My ALS-600 2 years ago Just before the one year
warranty was up the RF Section went out. Sent to Ameritron Repaired. One Year Later Same Problem ...This Time Out of warranty..... I Use the amp very Frequently. I am Not Happy I know this Repair Costs will be 2-300.00 I switched to the ALS-600 Due to a Pacemaker that i had to Have. Really Miss my old Reliable Tube AMP for 1200.00 Bucks I expected Better Chris Bauer N8EWX
KN4MC Rating: 2008-02-09
Works as it should Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got the Amp about a week ago. So far it is working great. It was easy to hook up (after I replaced a bad jumper). I have made contacts from 40m to 10m so far. It is putting out 600 watts with 90 watts drive. I do not think I could ask for any better. This is the first Amp I have owned. So far so good.
EB7CTX Rating: 2008-01-27
Normal tirando a malo Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Tengo un ALS 600 mas de un año, y puedo decir que no esta mal, la potencia por lo general no supera los 550 watios en ninguna banda, y el ventilador de la fuente es muy ruidoso, la proteccíón contra estacionarias es muy sensible, y salta cuando menos lo esperas, resulta molesta con un día de viento que se mueva la antena te corta la transmisión varias veces, es duro y simple, la fuente parece de la edad de piedra (pero funciona)
En España es caro, me costo 1200 euros usado (6 meses) supongo que todo se va en impuestos y transporte..jeje
N0YXE Rating: 2008-01-21
Total Crap! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my ALS brand new. I set it up and nothing happened. After several days on-line with tech support and several dealers I was convinced that maybe there was something wrong (duh?) with the machine, and not me. After the dealer received it back and tested it I was told that the unit was defective. Things appeared not to be connected (perhaps the unit was not finished?). I received the repaired unit and after setting it up I could not get it to go on. The 704 buffer light would not light and RF was fully bypassed! The amplifier started to produce A STRONG BURNING SMELL! Two strikes and it's out. I'm send this lemon back. I've just ordered, at great expense (plus 2X shipping costs) a new Toyko Hy Power HL-1.2KFX amplifier. I hope the amplifier gods will be kinder!
N4KZ Rating: 2008-01-17
Nice, affordable solid-state amp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had an ALS-600S for almost exactly 3 months. I got one of the first ones from the latest production run. The amp has been redesigned to include auto bandswitching when used with the optional ARI-500 interface from Ameritron.

The amp's protective circuitry works very well in shutting down when the SWR is excessive or if set to the wrong band (when not using auto bandswitching) or when overdriven. I get 600 watts PEP out on 160 through 12 meters and 500 out on 10 meters. CW output is a little over 500 on all bands but 10 where it's about 450 watts.

Using a no-tune amp that automatically follows the rig when changing bands is a very, very nice way to operate. I will never return to using a tube amp that requires retuning when band changing.

Fit and finish on the amp is pretty decent. It's not in the same league as some other brands but neither is the price. Tech support from the factory has been very good when I had some questions. I have found that I must be careful not to overdrive the amp when on 17m SSB or the power supply will shut off after 20-30 minutes of use. But a quick reset fixes it and more recent ALC adjustments seem to have alleviated the problem.

The money I saved by buying this amp as opposed to some other brand gave me the extra cash to then buy a nice auto tuner which I use with my 80m full-wave horizontal loop. The freedom to roam the bands and transmit at will without tuning the amp or tuner is very nice.

73, Dave, N4KZ
KG8CO Rating: 2007-12-09
Issue's On SSB Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Most of the reviews on Eham.net seemed good, so I decided to purchase an ALS-600. I happened to purchase the amp with the switching power supply.

During SSB qso's the power supply would turn off. I was offered a few suggestions from Ameritron on what could be causing the power supply shut off .... but no luck.

I turned down the power from the exicter, turned down the mic gain, processor gain etc. But still no luck. If I kept the power around 200 watts out (from the amp), it would work, but why bother. I ended up sending the amp back, purchased another solid state amplifer from another manufacturer and it is working great.

The ALS-600S has been around for many years, so I assume the amp is just fine, it just seems the switching power supply is a little flakey.

Maybe I just got a bad switching power supply.

W5KG Rating: 2007-12-04
Normaly don't give a 5 but! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this amp used about two months ago. I am the third owner, the second owner never used it.

I must say this is a great amp. Easy to use. Very well protected.
With 60w drive I can get 500-600w out.
It did not come with 10m in it but that is not a big deal with me. For $30 I could install but don't think I will.

Fan is not very noisy as some have stated and would be nice to auto band changing but can't have everything for what I paid.

It was bought new in 1996 and I bought it used for $800 including shipping. Not a bad buy.

You can find them used now for between $800-$900 which is still a good buy.
I an very satisfied with this amp even though it is over 12 years old.
I am glad I got it.
Don, W5KG