| WS7X |
Rating:  |
2020-12-19 | |
| Still a great amplifier after 9 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Still going strong after 9 years! The Alpha will give 1500 watts (with room to spare) on all bands. It really is built like a tank and designed to last. I've no doubt it will continue to give many more years of good service. I wish other products were designed and built like the Alpha - to do exactly what they claim. Probably the best and the last amplifier I will ever buy. |
|
| NW3Y |
Rating: |
2020-10-06 | |
| Solid performer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
To update my last review of the Alpha 8410, I thinks so much of the capabilities and performance of the Alpha 8410 that I now own three. The first series, seven years ago, had the 4CX100A tubes. Works great. The latest one I purchased (#3) has the newer 4CX1500B tubes just as the second 8410 does. These are rock solid performers! I do a lot of contesting and the Alpha 8410 has been a very fine amp and very forgiving if you were to make a mistake. I'm very happy with the performance and capabilities of these amplifiers.
I wrote my first review of the Alpha 8410 in August 2014. For the past 2 years I have been very satisfied to the point of now having a second one which I just used in the 2016 CQWW SSB contest last weekend. The amp arrived Tuesday before the contest, was assembled, tested and installed right on line in the primary position. It was well packed (2 separate boxes) with the ultra-heavy transformer in its own box. I ordered this amp with the additional exterior cooling fan factory installed since I did add the cooling fan to the first one, post purchase, which makes a big difference when running in contest mode. Alpha has changed the tubes to a pair of 4CX1500B from the earlier amps' 4CX1000A. My understanding is that the change was made due to the 4CX1500B being more readily available. Regardless, these do the job easily. The amp runs cool with a relatively low noise level.
If you're considering a high quality full-power amplifier that can hold up in contest mode, I would recommend you consider this one. |
|
| K2WW |
Rating: |
2020-05-21 | |
| My first Tube Amp |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I'm thinking owning this amp, as my first tube big boy amp, may be like flying first class on your first flight, SPOILED.
I purchased this amp from an estate sale from a "fly by night", (long story), at first I was sorry, for selling my KPA-500, to buy this, (No fault of the AMP)
With some coaching from Glenn and a few others on the reflectors, I am doing the JIG. This amp is built for business!!!
If you are thinking about pulling the trigger, DON'T BE FEARED, DO IT!!! |
|
| WC3O |
Rating: |
2018-04-04 | |
| Super amp |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned many amps. This thing is splendid. It's true what they say. There's nothing like an Alpha. 1500 out with around 30 in. Sometimes 25. Easy to tune. Never gets hot. It's a bad dude.
Only complaint:
The T/R vacuum relay is near silent on key-up, but make a tink on unkey. This is not a big deal and is not very loud, but if there was anything to complain about that would be it, as far as I'm concerned (As a CW op). I think the current model has the relay in a more isolated location. I also have a 78 and its relay is quieter. Other than that, LOVE the amp. Gobs of overhead. With the new crop of LDMOS amps coming out time will tell the future of tube amps. But if you are looking at a 8410 don't hesitate. |
|
| K0ZR |
Rating: |
2018-04-03 | |
| Excellent; no problems |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have now had my 8410 five years. No problems whatsoever; original tubes with no "drift" in the tune and load settings; easily develops full legal power. Very happy with it.
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by K0ZR on 2013-03-01
One fine amplifier. This amp doesn't need any running shoes to break the 4-minute mile. Runs cool even in full power, 48 hour CW contests. And, perhaps most importantly, I feel RFC staff go well beyond the norm to ensure you are happy with their fine product line. |
|
| K3MD |
Rating: |
2017-04-30 | |
| Very good amp |
Time Owned: N.A. |
I have been running this amp now very heavily for 2 years. The tubes are still full output. I purchased a spare set, but I am not certain I will need it soon. I run it RTTY CCS at 1KW output, and it does not even get hot. I have the factory-installed chassis fan. Three to five second band change/tuneup. Use the included tuning chart. Every stupid move I and the guest ops have made results in an instant-off condition. Very easy to tune, especially after the HF-2500DX I had. Worth $5000... used 8410's are going for $3800.
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by K3MD on 2015-02-27
I always wanted a brand-new Rolls Royce. Now I have one!! |
|
| KB6DYA |
Rating: |
2017-04-24 | |
| GREAT AMP |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
This is my first amp and i was so paranoid that I was going to do something wrong. I was sending Glen e-mail all the time when I thought something
not working wright. this is a older Alpha 8410 amp tubes were replaced in June 2015 with N.O.S. Eimac tubes ( 4cx1500b ). Glen was very kind and quick to respond to my E-mails I know i was a Pain in you know where. It turns out the amp is working like it should. I must have encountered every fault that I caused. the amp is very easy to tune. If you have a older 8410 here is some thing I found on Alpha's web site under the store at the middle of the page."Cathode resistor for 8410. Early 8410 amps used 3, always replace them with FOUR 22 Ohm 5W in parallel (5.5 Ohms total)
Check these resistors if GAIN of amp drops (amp takes more drive than normal for typical output power). They may have increased in value or may be open, causing too much negative feedback and reduced gain. Install FOUR in parallel." |
|
| W9RAC |
Rating: |
2017-02-26 | |
| Great Product |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Never have had a hint of a problem with any Alpha I have owned. The 8410 is a great amp, fast to tune and very dependable. I had a 811H as a backup which I purchased new as a just in case but sold it after 3 years unused since the Alpha 8410 never slows down! |
|
| K8HU |
Rating: |
2016-04-03 | |
| On OK amplifier but not an "ETO Alpha" |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Nope, its not a bad product at all but not in the same league as "ETO Alpha's." I owned an unmodified 86 for nearly 25 years and it never failed or even burped. But when its 3CX800's became nearly impossible to find, I decided to "upgrade" to an 8410. After all, it used the same 4CX1000 tetrode as my Collins 30S-1 for which I have spares. The 8410 is by no means a "bad" amplifier and its quality is head and shoulders above most new product on today's market. Its pair of 4CX1000's and huge power supply loaf along at 100% output and produce a full 1.5KW out with about 30 watts (depending on the band) input but I'm not a fan of the "dynamic tube biasing" and miss the ETO, foolproof tuning aid on the '86. The fan "growls" on its lowest setting and is a bit on the annoying side. The vernier reduction for the "Tune" and "Load" adjustments are missing but looking top down at the 86 and 8410, you'd be hard pressed to see any differences.
Ages of both and tube availability being equal, given the choice, I'd give the nod to the "ETO Alpha." |
|
| AB4D |
Rating: |
2016-02-14 | |
| Great Quality Ampliifier |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently had the opportunity to acquire a used Alpha 8410 that was still under warranty, after recently selling my Alpha 9500. However, it had some known issues that required repair/update. I became intimately familiar with the 8410, to make the repairs.
Construction of the amplifier, as expected is excellent. Operationally, it works very well. Tuning is smooth and consistent. Keying of the amplifier is nearly silent thanks to the vacuum relay. Notably, it's one of the few amps on the market that has an individual band tap for each HF amateur band. It's that attention to detail, which separates Alpha from other manufactures in this class, such as Acom, OM Power, and QRO.
Nevertheless, from my research, I found there are some known issues that can occur with this amplifier. The 8410 I purchased had several of them. When received, it exhibited an unusually high input SWR, and lower than expected output. I performed the necessary repairs to the input circuit, cathode circuit, and upgraded the metering resistors as well.
The previous issues were corrected, but afterwards output was still only around 1250 watts out, indicative the tubes (4CX-1000) had gone soft. I question whether the Chinese 4CX-1000 are as good as Eimac tubes, which seem to last forever. IMO a pair of these should have lasted for a much longer time.
Subsequently, they were replaced with a new matched pair of 4CX-1500b's. Output was then observed to be capable of 2600+ watts. I only used the amplifier for a short period of time in my station. Although the 8410 is great, I quickly found I missed the automatic tuning of the Alpha 9500 I previously owned. Therefore, I sold the 8410.
I believe the Alpha 8410 is one of the finest manual tune amplifier's available. It certainly would have stayed in my station, if I had not wanted to return to a automatic tune type amplifier.
|
|
