Opinion on solid state hf amps ?

[One Country Boy]

I'm considering investing in an HF Amplifier for my home station. I've not owned one in awhile and never owned a solid state amp. I've been looking at the Ameritron ALS-600 with PS. Have seen several autioned on e-Bay. It would be nice to have one you didn't have to tune. I exchanged e-mails with another ham that once owned a ALS-600. He stated that it was very sensitive to any SWR. Stated it would shut down on him often due to his SWR. I understand and appreciate the value of the equipment protectecting itself from a high SWR. I wonder if this is a problem related to the Ameritron are is it the same with any of the solid state amps. I don't need a KW for my contacts, 600 watts would be plenty of power for me. Anyone out there with experience or opinions on this subject I would like to hear from.

Thank you.

[W6CD]

I have a SGC-500 in the house shack. It's great, auto tune makes it like a 500+ watt transceiver. I power it with a Astron 70 amp power supply (only do SSB, so it's enough) and have a LDG-600 autotuner. Quality unit - built like a tank.

[wa8yxm]

I days of old when Hams were bold and amps had tubes kept shacks heated.
SWR was not so much and pi-networks compensated.

Today's Solid state gear however is, in fact senistive to SWR, where a tube amp could often shrug off SWR's in the upper stratosphere what happens when SWR climbs is that peak voltage climbs, The transistors can not survive that kind of PIV so they shut down to protect themselves. This is called good design.

With a solid state amp a proper tuner is an absolute must.

Beyond that.. I run barefoot.

[W5DOK]

I HAD a solid state amp for awhile. Then my CRS kicked in and I keyed on an open position of my antenna switch. Now I have an old Ameritron 1500 that forgives my trespasses.

Doc