Traynor YBA-300

Aussie Mark · July 28, 2011, 08:47:53 PM

TD - yes I'm aware of the impedence options. I'd be mainly using it with my Epifani UL610, which is 5.33 ohms, so the 4 ohm setting will work just fine.

Dave - from Thomann I paid $728 Euros + shipping ($50 flat rate to Australia). That's less than half the price of an SVT-CL, and also 15kg lighter LOL

Psycho Bass Guy · July 30, 2011, 08:09:12 PM

Let us know how it works out. The issues Traynor had with its ill-concieved YBA-200's auto biasing gave a bad rep to what should have been a market dominator. Especially since you're less likely to be as forgiving as some just because it's tube, I'm extremely interested in your assessment of the 300. Traynors definitely have their own unique sound.

Aussie Mark · July 31, 2011, 12:03:13 AM

Quote from: Psycho Bass Guy on July 30, 2011, 08:09:12 PM
Let us know how it works out. The issues Traynor had with its ill-concieved YBA-200's auto biasing gave a bad rep to what should have been a market dominator. Especially since you're less likely to be as forgiving as some just because it's tube, I'm extremely interested in your assessment of the 300. Traynors definitely have their own unique sound.

My YBA-200 hasn't missed a beat in almost 12 months of gigging. The YBA-300 is not self biasing, but the biasing can be done by the user, via a trim pot and LEDs for each pair, on the back panel. That's pretty cool I reckon.

Psycho Bass Guy · July 31, 2011, 02:17:21 AM

In theory the YBA-200's auto biasing should have been a good feature, which IMO, was probably designed to keep nosy kids from messing in their amp's guts needlessly and dangerously. It failed because the loads facing modern bass amps and the consistency of output tube quality are decades removed from the published emission standards and output section designs that once had very little variation. Simply put, there was no way to build in a simple robust system that could properly deal with current variations in tube quality and/or speaker loads that skirt (and often greatly exceed) safe ratings (extreme port tunings, homemade folded horns- etc.) The trim pot/LED scheme which Ampeg has used to great effect is barely more than a light show, and certainly NOT a useful diagnostic or performance tweaking tool, but because it gives the user a sense of control, is quite popular.

Even the vintage SVT's biasing instructions screened on the chassis were exactly the same thing; old SVT's just required voltage readings using meters instead of using LED indicators (which didn't exist commonly at the consumer level 30-40 years ago). The saving grace for Ampeg then was that the US government paid large subsidies to tube manufacturers to hold very strict QC on ALL their production so that when a JAN run was ordered, the military wouldn't have to wait for an extended QC development cycle. As a result tubes made in the US through the late 70's all had very close tolerances. They were no better in overall quality than what is being made today; they were just picked through VERY thoroughly and the ones that didn't fall into spec were either destroyed or sold overseas. This meant that output biasing could easily be met using a pretty narrow range of pots.

.

bassvirtuoso · July 31, 2011, 10:13:56 AM

Perfect, I was waiting on PBG to chime in on this. Now I'm VERY tempted...

Thornton Davis · August 02, 2011, 07:12:31 PM

I just finalized the deal today for my YBA300. It's there waiting for me to pick it up, which will be no later than this coming Saturday.

TD

Aussie Mark · August 02, 2011, 09:51:51 PM

Good to hear, TD. Mine will arrive here from Germany in a few days.

Thornton Davis · August 16, 2011, 12:57:39 PM

Mark, I know you've already seen these, but I thought I would post them for the others to check out.

TD

bassvirtuoso · August 16, 2011, 01:24:09 PM

That's just torture. How does she sound?

Aussie Mark · August 16, 2011, 04:56:06 PM

Mine looks like it's out for delivery today.

Aussie Mark · August 17, 2011, 10:14:16 PM

Well, my Traynor YBA-300 arrived today, after taking 17 days to get to me from Germany, via DHL. Thomann's packing job is officially the worst I've ever seen for an international shipment. No original Traynor box and packing, the amp was just floating in a single layer box, with some foam corners loose in the carton. No "fragile" stickers or "this way up" marking at all, so when I went downstairs after the courier dropped it off at my office the box was upside down.

I'll be taking off the cage tonight and making sure all the tubes are seated properly before I connect a speaker and fire it up. Fingers crossed!

Thornton Davis · August 18, 2011, 10:20:03 AM

Yikes!!

Hope the tubes are ok and there's no damage.

Let us know.

TD

jumbodbassman · August 18, 2011, 11:09:56 AM

eagerly await your review

Aussie Mark · August 18, 2011, 04:47:41 PM

I took off the top cover, and made sure all the tubes were seated properly (4 or 5 of them weren't - not surprising after the journey it had) before I switched it on. The bias LED for one pair was indicating slightly high, so a quick tweak of the DIY trim pot and I was ready to give it a test run. All good!

At the living room volume I was able to test it at last night (kids asleep) the tone seemed identical to my YBA-200, which is just what I was hoping, and there are no extraneous knobs like the YBA-200 ("scoop", "resonance"). I wish the YBA-300 still had the DI on the front instead of the back, sound guys really like the ease of access of having the DI on the front of my YBA-200.

I've got a gig tomorrow night so will give it a proper test drive at volume and will report back.

I emailed Thomann yesterday afternoon -

"Hi, my Traynor YBA-300 arrived today after taking 17 days to get to Australia from Germany via DHL. I haven't switched the amp on to test it yet, but will do so when I get home from work later tonight. I am appalled at how poorly this fragile 26kg item was packed, not even using the original factory shipping carton. It came in a very thin single layer carton with a few pieces of foam padding that floated around inside, offering no protection to the product. Here is a photo of what I saw when I opened your package .... http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/mdeayton/Bass%20gear/IMG00397-20110818-1353.jpg

If this is how you pack a tube amplifier worth 755 Euro for international shipping, and don't use original factory packaging, I won't be recommending Thomann to any of my acquaintances in the international music industry. Hopefully it has not been damaged, but I will know more tonight after I check it in detail before switching it on. "

To their credit they replied fairly quickly, but their response was pithy -

"Thanks for your mail and the information. We are truly sorry to hear about that.

Please have the unit checked at your earliest convienece and let us know if the unit is working fine.

Apologies for the condition the unit arrived to you.

We will wait for further information from you.

Thanks and with kind regards"

Dave W · August 18, 2011, 07:58:46 PM

I can't understand why they would discard the original packaging and send it that way. Maybe it saved a little postage. Whatever the reason, it was foolish.