Yo Bob
I think I can demonstrate your point by example.
Many years ago I found an old Swan Mark ll amp in a flea market.
The amp was pretty big, made of steel and had a good looking front
panel. Thinking it would be a great box for a home brew amp I got
it cheap. When I got it home and looked inside it didn't look all
that bad. Actually pretty good. The tubes were gone (of course) so
I stuck in some new ones and let it rip in a CW contest.
BLAM went the transformer! They used the same transformer for both
control, filaments and HV. They guy that owned it said he used it
for YEARS and sells it to a contester where it lasted 1 hour.
No problem. I added new separate transformers. This time with a
good plate xmfr and let it rip again.
Really big Blam. The band switch exploded.
I stripped the box as I originally planned and used it for a real
nice homebrew 3-500z amp that was used in contests for years before
it was retired from service.
The MLA-2500 was a great amp. Small, sleek, quit, lots of power (in
those days) and pretty. They have a special place with me because
after losing three in the 1982? WPX contest to smoke, fire and
explosions I said "never again". We now use ugly wart hog homebrew
contest amps and worry about other things like when's lunch.
Rich KL7RA
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