[Amps] SS Amps are expensive...why?

[Bob Shohet, KQ2M]

I don’t know the origin of some of these prices – perhaps they were prices for buying the amp new as opposed to used in excellent condition.

AL1500 used in excellent condition can generally be bought for ~ $1,500 – $2,000 with lightly used “stock” tubes

ACOM2000a can generally be bought for ~ $4,000 – $4,500 used in excellent condition with lightly used tubes.

I am not aware of an ACOM2002a  and a google search did not show an ACOM2002a amp so I am going to assume that the price comparison was for an ACOM2000a

I own and have heavily used the AL1500 and ACOM2000a and still believe that they are among the best values on the market for reliability and heavy usage at legal limit power in tube amps.  The Titan’s are excellent too (I have those as well) and also represent good value.  If you don’t intend heavy use then there may be even better values out there.  

If you know and trust the seller and the amp is in excellent condition there are few values better than buying the amp secondhand  - buying new may not be such a great alternative.  Having said that, as the amps age, replacement parts get harder and harder to find and more and more expensive, which partially offsets the advantage of buying secondhand.  But then you also know the quality of the old amp model itself whereas buying a solid state amp of recent vintage is at least partially an “act of faith” in BOTH the amp and manufacturer, aside from any technical and/or manufacturing shortcomings which usually take months to years to become fully evident.  I point all of this out because some of the solid state amps do NOT deliver full legal limit output power or are not able to deliver it over a full contest without it being “strained”.  So the comparison of price of SS amps to tube amps may not be “apples to apples” despite what the SS amp specs claim.  

Regarding inflation, all almost used tube amps depreciate in value over time (notable exception SB200 and SB220’s  :-).  If you buy used then you have a better chance of selling it for ~ what you paid for it, whereas with the SS amp you are not only paying up for the new technology but you are paying up for it again to buy it NEW. And if you have bought new, by the time that you discover any usage and/or design issues then you have already paid full price for something that may only be worth a fraction of that.  Caveat Emptor!

But there is more to the comparison, isn’t there?  SS amps weigh less which is probably a consideration for most of us as we age and our backs can’t handle the weight and transport as well as when we were younger.  And it costs a lot more to ship than it used to.  And SS amps use less electricity and don’t need to be left idling to be ready to work that DXpedition on 30 seconds notice while the AL1500 or Acom2000a takes several minutes to warm up.  (I have worked a lot or DX barefoot while waiting for the amps to warm up!)  The alternative is to keep the tube amps on standby all the time and waste a LOT of electricity, which costs $$ over the years.

So, the comparison of purchase costs is easy – the comparison of the accumulated costs is not so easy and definitely impacts the overall calculation and relative values of tube vs SS amps.  Even if we could know in advance the exact amount of all of those costs over say 10 years of use, not everyone would make the same decision as which type of amp to purchase.

“Buy in haste, repent in leisure”.

73

Bob  KQ2M


From: George Fremin III 
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2019 1:54 PM
To: Bob Wilson, N6TV 
Cc: Amps Reflector 
Subject: Re: [Amps] SS Amps are expensive...why?


> On Jan 25, 2019, at 12:21 AM, Bob Wilson, N6TV <n6tv at arrl.net> wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Jan 20, 2019 at 1:05 PM Lee Buller <k0wa at swbell.net> wrote:
> 
>> Why are solid state amps so expensive?  Even the kits are lots of
>> dollars.   What makes them so?
>> Lee
>> 
> 
> Well, one must also consider the effects of inflation.


I will contend that they are not much different in price than tube amps.

Lets take inflation out of it.

You can compare prices with current amps.


Elecraft KPA-1500 - Amp and Auto Antenna tuner 1500 watts  $6000
Full auto no tune amp

Acom 2002A - full auto tune amp 1500 watts   $6500


RF-Kit - Solid State amp with or with out tuner   Last I looked it was in the $3000 - $3500 range
This amp is a kit. But not that much of a kit   1500 watts
This has a computer and a microprocessor in it to do all sorts to 
monitoring and control

Ameritron AL-1500 1500 watts     $3500  or more if you get the Eimac tube
Simple amp - manual tune
no microprocessers

Ameritron ALS-1300 - 1200 watt amp   $2500
Simple solid state amp
No tuner not micro processor


Ameritron ALS-1306 - 1200 watt amp   $3150
Simple solid state amp
No tuner not micro processor
Has 6 meters


I think that there is a market for a LDMOS amp that is dead simple.
Thank AL-1500 but with LDMOS.
No built in tuner
No microprocessor
Control and protection circuits that are like the W6PQL amp control board. 
http://w6pql.com/amplifier_control_board.htm <http://w6pql.com/amplifier_control_board.htm>
And it would sale for the same or maybe even less than an AL-1500 amp.
I was thinking of building an amp like this for my own use.
And I did for 432.
But in the end - used tube amps are showing up at good enough prices that it made sense for me to buy some 
used auto tune tube amps.   Tube amps are getting harder and harder to sell.
They will keep working - tubes last a long time. 
At some point I might move to solid state. Maybe by then I will be buying some used
Solid state version of an AL-1500 or a used Elecraft or whatever other cool solid state amp shows up
on the market in the coming years.  There will be many more of these showing up in the years to come.

—
George 
K5TR