# Need quick advice. Traynor YGL-3 MArk III?



## gerald guerrero

I found a very nice old Traynor Ygl-3a MArk III for 265.00 U.S. I believe this is the 100 watt TRaynor with the master volume.I am going to get it, but wondering if this is an all tube amp. Any comments on this particualr old Traynor amplifier? Can it be modified to plexi/Bassman like the YSR-1 which i have? Hows the master volume on the amp, and how does the amp sound? Ive heard it described as a " Fender Twin on steroids". It's supposed to get a pretty close shimmery Fender sound? Theres not much on this amp on the web, but i havent checked Harmony Central yet.


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## gerald guerrero

Got 'er! 265.00. Excellent condition thruought. Havent put er thru her paces yet. Well, 100 watts point to point wired Traynor qualaity for 265.00 WITH 4 el34's and all 12ax7's? Thats not so bad.


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## gerald guerrero

I am sorry about the double post.I don't know how to edit from the main page- cant go back and edit in a pic. Heres my beautiful Old Stock Traynor. Thanks To the great nation of Canada for producing these great amplifiers. What a steal!


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## lpstudio

That amp is very loud and clean I have the head into a 4x12 and it is great.


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## Milkman

Funny how times change.

In the 80s no band would be caught dead using Traynor. This was based on nothing more than brand name snobbery and I was as guilty of it as the next guy.


Now Traynor seems to have cache and is desireable. 

The old Traynor you have is punchy as hell and does sound similar to Fenders.

Good score. 


FYI, the PA used at the original Woodstock was....yup, Traynor.


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## bolero

great score!


gerald, is that a YGL3A?

do you have a shot of the back?


if so that is a MONDO bass amp....they are quite sought after & fairly rare, they put out ~200w !!

probably not quite as suited to gtr, unless you're after big clean hiwatt tones or use pedals...but I bet they sound great nonetheless


they use special power tubes, the voltage is run thru a cap on top of the power tubes, you don't want to stick your hand back there when they're on, or you'll end up dancing like a banana!! :banana:


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## gerald guerrero

bolero said:


> great score!
> 
> 
> gerald, is that a YGL3A?
> 
> do you have a shot of the back?
> 
> 
> if so that is a MONDO bass amp....they are quite sought after & fairly rare, they put out ~200w !!
> 
> probably not quite as suited to gtr, unless you're after big clean hiwatt tones or use pedals...but I bet they sound great nonetheless
> 
> 
> they use special power tubes, the voltage is run thru a cap on top of the power tubes, you don't want to stick your hand back there when they're on, or you'll end up dancing like a banana!! :banana:


Thanks for the input guys. Well, Yes, its a YGL-3A. Im pretty pleased with the purchase being that i picked it up for the 265.00.Here are some pics of the back of it, and also a few of the front. I do not see anything hooked up to the tops of the tubes however.THis amp is an absolute beast. I have two others that are this Hefty. A Sound City 120 and a Peavey 120 Watt Hybrid Mace "gary Rossington"(Sweet home Alabama, freebird) head.Any more input on this head? Is it still good for Bass? http://my.opera.com/gjgkerrtx/albums/showpic.dml?album=161811&picture=2389409


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## bolero

I can't get any images in your link to load ?


looks like I have the YBA-3A & YGL-3A mixed up

the YBA-3A is the monster bass amp

http://www.tone-lizard.com/Traynor_Amplifiers.htm


YGl-3A is a 100w gtr amp with trem & verb, I bet that thing sounds fantastic :rockon2: 

there is a some great info on the YGL3 series amps here on velvet black ( traynor site): .pdf with schem, service notes, manual, etc:


http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~dace/vb/models.html#markiiiygl-3a


prolly sounds good for bass too, pete traynor was a bass player


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## delshardware

Hello ! I played a dance last night using a 1975 Traynor YGL-3 combo as my guitar amp and a 1973 YGL-3A as our monitor amp and our Bass Player uses my 1968 Bass Master Mark II. "CANADIAN MADE". I don't know why anyone would want a new amp?


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## gerald guerrero

[I can't get any images in your link to load ?] its probably Bill gates' goon squad trying to make sure that you cant acsess any Opera files from Internet Explorer.This joker wants to keep the net closed. How many Anti-trust suits does he need to get slapped with? He doesnt care, specially with his buddies in the oval office firmly in his pocket.Or maybe its not. back on topic though, anyone know how to replace that noisy clunky old fan with a new onw, i mean exactly?


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## Wild Bill

*Why replace it?*



gerald guerrero said:


> [I can't get any images in your link to load ?] its probably Bill gates' goon squad trying to make sure that you cant acsess any Opera files from Internet Explorer.This joker wants to keep the net closed. How many Anti-trust suits does he need to get slapped with? He doesnt care, specially with his buddies in the oval office firmly in his pocket.Or maybe its not. back on topic though, anyone know how to replace that noisy clunky old fan with a new onw, i mean exactly?


Dunno, never had to actually replace one! I just remove them from the case, clean up all the dust and pop the centre hub cover. A drop or two of really light sewing machine oil to replace the lubricant that had dried up since the 60's and the fan always ran nice and quiet again.


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## gerald guerrero

Thanks Wild Bill. Just a heads up. I'm looking at after the first of the year to have my YSR-1 sent there for the full Busen Plexi mods. Thanks.


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## bolero

gerald guerrero said:


> [I can't get any images in your link to load ?] its probably Bill gates' goon squad trying to make sure that you cant acsess any Opera files from Internet Explorer.This joker wants to keep the net closed. How many Anti-trust suits does he need to get slapped with? He doesnt care, specially with his buddies in the oval office firmly in his pocket.Or maybe its not. back on topic though, anyone know how to replace that noisy clunky old fan with a new onw, i mean exactly?



hehe, no I am using firefox, the new version as well

why on earth does everyone f*ck up traynor amps by sending them to some guy to mod? they sound fuggin GREAT as they are...

I own a '66 100w marshall, a vintage 50w hiwatt, an ampeg V4B & a blackfaced SF twin reverb...and can attest that a stock traynor will go head to head with all of them. they are right up there with the best of the best.

my buddy has a YSR1 I have played through, it is a fantastic amp stock. the bias modulating tremolo is better than any other, including anything past a brown era fender. IMO


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## Wild Bill

*Different strokes...*



bolero said:


> hehe, no I am using firefox, the new version as well
> 
> why on earth does everyone f*ck up traynor amps by sending them to some guy to mod? they sound fuggin GREAT as they are...
> 
> I own a '66 100w marshall, a vintage 50w hiwatt, an ampeg V4B & a blackfaced SF twin reverb...and can attest that a stock traynor will go head to head with all of them. they are right up there with the best of the best.
> 
> my buddy has a YSR1 I have played through, it is a fantastic amp stock. the bias modulating tremolo is better than any other, including anything past a brown era fender. IMO


Hey, it's all taste. And not all of us already have the gear that's in your kit so we appreciate having more choices.

I would be the LAST person to ever criticize Pete Traynor's designs! He has always been one of my heroes in the field. I've been promised the opportunity to visit him by a friend in common and I fully intend to greet him with a "Wayne's World" bow!

That being said, again I stress that it's all taste and I see nothing wrong with tweaking an amp to better suit the player. Many Traynors, Fenders and Marshalls are very similar anyway, especially the earlier models. Pete did some dramatic differences by using Baxandall tone stacks in some models, a la Ampeg but some of the differences from the other brands seemed chosen more to avoid legalities than to get the "best" sound. 

What's more, I firmly believe that a modded Traynor sounds BETTER than a vintage PLEXI!

So I'll continue to tweak any amp to better please the player! That's what it's really all about. I make no attempt to TELL the player what amp's sound is best! That's not my job. I make suggestions and offer as much information as I can to help her or him make their choices. 

When that amp is done, THEY are the one who has to be happy with it! Not me!


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## bolero

yes, but my point is that people buy traynors & immediately ship them off somewhere to get all kinds of mods done...without actually giving the amp a chance as-is. 


I just listed those amps as references a stock traynor will already cop; I'm not talking out of my arse here, I have actually played them side by side. and the traynors sound as good, if not better.


without having to gut & rewire the thing, like this:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Traynor-YBA1A-gu...ryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



some mods are less invasive than others, but I generally believe in keeping an amp close to it's original design...unless it sounds like crap...which most traynors don't!!

but you are right, it is the owners choice...unf many people aren't aware of how good these sound stock. or so it seems.


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## gerald guerrero

bolero said:


> hehe, no I am using firefox, the new version as well
> 
> why on earth does everyone f*ck up traynor amps by sending them to some guy to mod? they sound fuggin GREAT as they are...
> 
> I own a '66 100w marshall, a vintage 50w hiwatt, an ampeg V4B & a blackfaced SF twin reverb...and can attest that a stock traynor will go head to head with all of them. they are right up there with the best of the best.
> 
> my buddy has a YSR1 I have played through, it is a fantastic amp stock. the bias modulating tremolo is better than any other, including anything past a brown era fender. IMO


Agree on the Trem. I wouldnt want to take that baby out the circuit. Its the absolute best.As far as modyfying the YSR-1. I agree, its a great amp stock-really great with the right choice of cabinet for Classic rock sounds. Fortunately , I was able to get another Traynor-the YGL3A to keep bone stock.Like it or dont, many of the Traynors are generally considered platforms for mods.They are great, yes, but they were built to a price-point, and some of the work on the inside is pretty avevrage on the later amps like my YSR-1. No offence, but a stock 70's YSR1 Traynor sounding as good as a ' 66 Marshall Plexi?...doubt it. The YSR-1 amp can sound better than it is with Plexi/JTM mods, thats pretty much aa fact thats taken for granted, and why many informed people use these amps to modify. In this world, there are some things to be reverenced and left stock. If i had a 59 Bassman in nice shape, would I put on a three prong power chord? NO, I would like, run it through a power conditioner. The world needs a great vintage platform for Mods , so a poor man can have a vintage plexi at prices less than those super exotic and costly botique clones.Well, fortunately the world has it-Traynor amps!!I'm not knocking the stock YSR-1 by the way, as I said before, its a great amp, but I see no harm in doing something to these amps thats reversible down the road for any future owner.


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## bolero

ps. I hope you guys don't think I'm being ornery or anything...no bad vibes intended in this thread!!

:food-smiley-004: 


but before you mod it....plug a les paul into that sucker, hook it up to a good 4x12, and crank the snot out of it!! :banana: 

get back to me on how it sounds.... 



I've had my eye out for a YSR1 & a YBA1 for a while, I think the only thing I would change are the volume pots


cheers


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## davetcan

You are indeed an ornery cuss :food-smiley-004:


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## Scottone

bolero said:


> ps. I hope you guys don't think I'm being ornery or anything...no bad vibes intended in this thread!!
> 
> :food-smiley-004:
> 
> 
> but before you mod it....plug a les paul into that sucker, hook it up to a good 4x12, and crank the snot out of it!! :banana:
> 
> get back to me on how it sounds....
> 
> 
> 
> I've had my eye out for a YSR1 & a YBA1 for a while, I think the only thing I would change are the volume pots
> 
> 
> cheers


Change the volume pots!!! You damn butcher


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## Ripper

If it hadn't been for people modding there would have been no Boogie amps. The original Marshall amps were modded Fenders. Tons of big name players use modded amps as well, it's just a fact of life. Everyone has that "magic tone" in their head and they will do what they need to get it.

Blackfacing SF amps is a prime example. Someday down the road those SF's will be vintage. I mean twenty five years ago, you could pick up Garnets and Traynors for $50 easy anywhere around where I am, as no one was playing them (the name snob thing again), but now look at the prices they are starting to go for.

What sounds good stock for some, isn't what others want. People have budgets and if modding a lower priced amp gives them the sound they want, then more power to them. I just fixed up a 64 Fender concert for a guy. Cosmetically it was perfect, but back in the 70's he had someone convert it to a Twin type of amp, extra power tubes, mid controls, mid boosts, the trem speed is now a gain control for the second jack on the vibrato side and the intensity is a master volume, with a pull out for half power mod. The four ten inch speakers were replaced with two twelves. He loves it and he knows how much more it would be worth NOW if he had left it, but the fact of the matter is, he loves it and the way it sounds.

I guess what I'm getting at is, if a person owns the equipment and wants to mod it to suit them, then go for it.


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## bolero

....bah humbug!!


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## davetcan

bolero said:


> ....bah humbug!!


  :banana: :banana:


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## bolero

hehe....



None


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## gerald guerrero

Actually Bolero, I owe you a debt of gratitute. I really hadnt realised just how nice the YGL-3a sounded stock till I took youre advicer and kranked 'er up just like you said. This one's staying stock and will bewith me till they haul my stuff away to charity and I am no longer 98.6 Degrees.The Ysr-1 however, goes to wild bill to do the Plexi mods.Or actually, since the YSr-1 sounds better than the Ygl3a, maybe the Ysr-1 stays stock and the YGl-3a gets the Busen mods!


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## bolero

haha, you're gonna give me a freakin' seizure if you keep that up!!


:banana:


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