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Reviews For: Ameritron AL-572 (all models)

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

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Review Summary For : Ameritron AL-572 (all models)
Reviews: 74MSRP: 2400
Description:
1300 Watts PEP SSB nominal power out on 160-15M. WARC bands and 10 Meters with reduced performance - user modified for 10/12 Meters with license. Uses four 572B tubes
Product is in production
More Info: https://mfjenterprises.com/products/al-572
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00744.1
WB2GXL Rating: 1999-09-21
It works very well and the price is GREAT! Time Owned: unknown months.
I have two al 572 amps and both work very well. Very clean audio AND EASY to load up.
The tubes tend to get gassy if you let them sit without use. If, however, you use the amp on a regular basis or at least once a month the amp works perfectly. The key is to turn on those
tubes every so often. I highly recommend this amp for people who want 10 to 12 db of gain
and want it for a great price.
K4SUS Rating: 1999-09-16
AL-572B AMERITRONS ONLY BIG PROBLEM ! Time Owned: unknown months.
I FINALLY SENT MY AL-572B BACK TO THEM AFTER MANY ONGOING PROBLEMS AS MENTIONED BY OTHERS IN THIS REVIEW. I'M SURPRISED THAT THEY STILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE AND SELL THEM! I GOT THEIR AL-1200. THE AL-1200 WITH THE SUPER 3CX1200A7 TUBE IS A GREAT 1.5 KW AMP VALUE. DON'T BUY A AL-572B.........
AD4C Rating: 1999-09-08
AL-572B from Ameritron. Time Owned: unknown months.
Never has been good practice to buy any rig as soon it comes out to the market just because the Company says its a wonder,always all rigs traditionally has had design defects since the beginning and then once they have been used by many unlucky hams they decide to "upgrade" the design,unfortunately this product since the beggining is giving lots of problem and a great majority of people who has bought it are dissapointed.In spite of Ameritron has built exelent amps like the AL-82 or the AL-1500,this one has serious design problems that has to be corrected.
UNHPY Rating: 1999-09-07
Needs a new tube supplier.... Time Owned: unknown months.
I've had a AL-572B for about a year now. Early on it developed a ticking sound inside some of the tubes so I believe they are gassy. Eventually the one of the tubes arc'd over and blew out some of the transistors in the bias circuitry. I sent the amp back for repair.
I also fried the parasitic suppressors with operation on the FM part of 10Meters. I was told by tech support that adding a long lossy length of coax to the input side of the amp from the excitor would fix the problem. It seems to help, but an engineering change is needed here. It's not stable on 10 Meters with low drive (10W). The plate current peaks instead of dips and the ALC voltage goes up by itself.
After the amp came back, they replaced some tubes and suppessor circuit board. After 2-3 months the ticking started again and the bias board blew. Fixed it myself. Left the unit on overnight with just the filaments, and unit seems more stable now. I did notice that the recommended plate voltage no load is 2800V in the Ameritron manual and the Svetlana tube spec is 2500V ???
Talked to several other owners, all have had to send units back, one of them wants to sell the unit. Prefer not to give callsign...