The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bass Amps & Effects => Topic started by: SKATE RAT on August 03, 2009, 10:09:23 PM
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does anybody know about these?
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does anybody know about these?
yes.
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do you mind sharing?
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Great tube stuff from the 60's-70's made in Canada. If you have a chance to pick one up do so. What model you looking at ?
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Traynor still exists. They make affordable full tube bass amps.
The YBA200 cost only 750 Euro
(http://www.ampandspeaker.com/images/lg_yba200.jpg)
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well,i've seen a few different "all tube" ones including the one above.
how do they sound? power? wattage? volume? why are they so cheap?
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Sorry I meant to answer in a reply. But I messed up your post by mistake :o
how do they sound?
From what I've read they're supposed to be pretty good.
Old fashioned tube technology.
4 KT88 powertubes.
power? wattage?
200 watts of tube power. Not comparable to 200 watts transistor power.
volume?
Louder than you will need
why are they so cheap?
The question is, why are other full tube amps so expensive.
Relatively easy to build. Not sure if they're really built in Canada. Perhaps China? Dunno.
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I can pipe in here and offer some insight as I've been using Yorkville/Traynor gear on and off for years. Yorkville as a company has recently re-branded all their instrument amps and cabs with the Traynor name - why I'm not sure .... brand recognition perhaps? Right now, they've got a standard line-up of cabs including 2x10, 4x10, 1x12, 1x15, 8x8, 8x10 and a 1x15/2x10. Heads are available in a 400W hybrid, 800W hybrid (both with tube pre's) and the all-tube 200W already mentioned. Then there's the combos which range from 10W up to 400W with various speaker configurations. All cabs and combos are loaded with Eminence drivers.
From personal experience I'll say this: Yorkville/Traynor gear is built like a tank and they offer an unmatched warranty. In fact, the last I heard, they'll even go beyond their standard 2 year warranty to keep customers happy. As far as the tones ...... the cabs can't be beaten. I've played everything from SWR to Trace to Eden and I keep going back to Yorkville/Traynor. They bury ANYTHING at this price-point. I can't offer much on the heads as I haven't owned one in several years but I will say that the hybrids (in particular the 800W beast) are loaded with all the bells and whistles you'd see in a much more expensive amp and sound pretty damn good to me (when demo-ing them or hearing them onstage with other bands). When I demoed the 200W all-tube head, I was impressed but not blown-away. It's good but it ain't no SVT. All in all though, I think Yorkville/Traynor is one of the great undiscovered secrets in the bass world. If I wasn't so completely hooked on Ampeg heads, I'd probably have a Traynor to match my 1x15 and 1x12 Yorkies.
Anyway - good luck. Try them all but don't get too overly hooked on the 200W all-tube head. The 800W Dynabass smokes it in terms of power, features and overall tone ...... it's surprisingly "tuby".
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Traynor is still made in Canada. Their factory was featured on the "How it's made" TV show.
I had a YBA-200 for a while and was not impressed. It suffered from low volume, I took it to a local shop for warranty repair. They had it for months and tried to get me to pay $180 for the repair. Even after being rebuilt and re-tubed I could not get clean deep bass from it. I was looking for something easier to transport than my Sunn 300t. The Traynor is half the weight, but I'm still humping the Sunn to gigs.
However if you're looking for a gritty overdriven sound it might be just the trick.
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Traynor does have an " International Series" made in China or somewhere else in the far east, but that series consists of their lower wattage solid state amps.
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I had one of the early Traynor YBA Bassmasters (older than the one in the picture) mid 60s I guess. I think it was 180 watts or something like that. It was a poor mans Marshall soundwise, but basicly it was a POS. Turn up channel 1 and channel 2 gets louder, real tempermental piece of crap with no chance of a clean sound with the volume above 2. I dumped it as quick as I could.
Within a year or two after I dumped it they started making some really nice powerhouse bass stuff. A friend of mine had a Traynor and an SVT ....... he preferred the Traynor :o
Rick
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well i'm more interested in the older stuff.and not interested in playing clean.dirt don't hurt!but i wan't something reliable.and really loud.i have an svt 4X10+1X15 cab and an empty 2X15 cab i can load with the best speakers for the head.i would love an old SVT but too expensive.my solid state SVT sucks.i have my plush but its just not loud enough.maybe if i piggy back it with something else. whats the best way to run 2 heads into 1 cab.should i do this? ??? ???
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Over at TB there seems to be a love/hate relationship with the newer YBA bass head. The second version (without the wing logo I believe) gets better marks than the first version. I've never tried one tho so I can't say.
Peavey makes a 225 watt all tube head that seems to get good reviews from users. Pricing isn't that much higher than the Traynor. Used prices weren't bad on them. Don't remember what people thought about the ability to get dirty with it tho. The ability to get dirt would be important to me also. I might not use super dirt all the time but I'd want to be able to get it when needed.
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well i'm more interested in the older stuff.and not interested in playing clean.dirt don't hurt!but i wan't something reliable.and really loud.i have an svt 4X10+1X15 cab and an empty 2X15 cab i can load with the best speakers for the head.i would love an old SVT but too expensive.my solid state SVT sucks.i have my plush but its just not loud enough.maybe if i piggy back it with something else. whats the best way to run 2 heads into 1 cab.should i do this? ??? ???
NO.
Unless your cab is split into two separate halves, running two heads into one cabinet is definitely a no-no. What happens is that one head will see the other's output as a speaker load - not a good thing. HOWEVER, if you have one of Tonebone's head/cab switchers (not cheap), it can be done.
http://www.tonebone.com/tbone-products.htm
Tube bass heads, especially good ones, are expensive no matter what brand you're looking at. Personally, I'm very skeptical of the newer "affordable" stuff because the components are sometimes of less than optimal quality.
If you like growl and grind, and you're on a budget, an old Traynor Custom Special or Super Custom Special is a good move (if you can find one). Far more plentiful is the Ampeg V4/V4B (either will do ya). They are only 100w but I've used them for years in clubs with no issues whatsoever - they are nearly bulletproof. You're in NYC, so once you get one, a quick trip over to Dennis Kager's shop in NJ for a freshening up will get the amp in top form. DK was an Ampeg tech in the old days, and most people consider him to be the top dog with regard to setting up an old 'peg.
Which Plush do you have? Some of those were pretty hefty units, and should be more than enough for your needs.
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You bring up a lot of good points in running multiple heads together. I did this in the old days but I had a great tech who added all the plug ins to make it safe and easy. I forget the particulars but it amounted to using the preamp from one head and then linking the power stages from all the heads together to act as one. My part was to just plug stuff in to the color coded holes and play. A lot of guys from that era were just daisy chaining stuff together thru speaker outputs or other means and blowing stuff to pieces :o
Another point you brought up was about the Plush amps. I never owned one but I did get to play them on two occassions in very large rooms, and my recollection of them was that they were some pretty darn strong ass kicking powerful stuff.
Rick
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i have a plush "royal Bass" 1060-s. it runs 4 6l6's.but not loud enough.maybe if i have it serviced,it will be louder.it does have a jack for a "slave". also my SVT cab can be split into a 4x10 and a 1x15. it has 4 jacks in back.
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The one thing you want to know is does "slave " mean just a power amp or another complete head running preamp and power stages.
A lot of old Ampeg stuff was well set up for daisy chaining amps together. My old Ampeg GT-15C has oulets for an "external amplifier" as well as "external speaker". Very simple and very easy to understand, the term "slave " could mean a power amp in which case plugging in another complete head could damage the preamp or something else in the head plugged into that outlet.....I don't know ???
For outdoor gigs or when I used to just get nuts and loud , I would run the 235watt Ampeg to power 4 15" Altecs in two cabs, a 200watt Sunn to power either 2 or 4 more 15" EV SROs a set on the other side of the stage, and a 35-40 watt Gibson Atlas aimed at the drummer. It sounded pretty good but make no mistake, I did some damage to my hearing :sad: So , if you are gonna be messing with a bunch of heavy artillery... take some precautions 8)
I SAID TAKE SOME PRECAUTIONS ... sorry , I couldn't hear myself ;)
Rick
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i have a plush "royal Bass" 1060-s. it runs 4 6l6's.but not loud enough.maybe if i have it serviced,it will be louder.it does have a jack for a "slave". also my SVT cab can be split into a 4x10 and a 1x15. it has 4 jacks in back.
If you want to service the Plush (which, BTW is rated at 110w RMS), you might want to contact Andy Fuchs at Fuchs Audio Technology in Clifton, NJ. Andy now owns the Plush name and is currently producing effects pedals. He has also spent a fair amount of time researching and repairing the old amps, and makes his own killer amp line. He knows his stuff.
Are you maybe underpowering that SVT with the Plush? I've found that vintage heads often sound better through a cabinet design from that period. Ah, maybe it's just me...
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(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x120/yrofrat/P1060-blue-back.jpg)
this is not my Plush,mine's black but same amp. it has 2 1/4" jacks for main speaker and external speaker. plus 3 RCA jacks. 2 for "slave amplifiers and 1 recording output.
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A popular example of a Traynor amp tone you can check out is Bob Weston from Shellac. He gets that (imo) great tone from an old Traynor TS-50B amp. Of course his Bean bass and EV loaded 1x15 cabs have to do with the overall sound too, but that Traynor is the heart of his sound. Live he uses two 1x15 cabs and runs the Traynor into a power amp to get the volume he needs.
If you like that tone you may want to check out the Tronographic Rusty Box pedal, which is just the preamp from the TS-50B in pedal form. Not as cool vibed as an old head, but pair it with a poweramp it'll give you a very nice tone.