# Traynor YVC80 2X12 Combo



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Anyone care to give an opinion of this amp?


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## nitehawk55 (Sep 19, 2007)

Very loud ?....somewhat heavy ??9kkhhd


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Yeah, I would think from a Z to a Traynor is at best a lateral move.

I had the YCV-40 and from the specs, the YCV-80 seems to be the same amp, just louder and 2x12 and with a master volume.

I loved the cleans on the YCV-40, but found the OD channel to be kind of meh, but a master volume might help that a lot. Traynor's are lotsa bang for little bucks, but I doubt you're going to like it better than your Stangray.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

no, not the same amp - the 40 doesnt have a master volume and the 80 doesnt have a presence knob.

i owned the 80 for a few years - what do you want to know?

and if you have a Dr. Z, i'd keep that over any traynor...


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I plan on keeping my Z's. I want a 6L6 amp and I don't have the money for a third Z amp. The only 6L6 amp that is a Z is the EZG50 head. Then you need a cabinet. I'd be in for another 3 grand most likely. I want something small if possible. Although I"m considering an old twin that L&M has. I think its a 70's.
I'm seriously considering a Fender Custom Vibrolux because it would be nice and small for practice and small clubs.
Most of all I don't want to spend alot of money. So I started looking at the Traynor line. This amp says it has 5881 tubes wich from what I understand are basically 6L6's?


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Budda said:


> no, not the same amp - the 40 doesnt have a master volume and the 80 doesnt have a presence knob.
> 
> i owned the 80 for a few years - what do you want to know?
> 
> and if you have a Dr. Z, i'd keep that over any traynor...



What did you think of it? What type of music did you play with it? How does it stack up against Comparable Fender made amps.
Fuynny thing, when I was a kid playing I was always led to believe that Traynor stuff was crap but I hear alot of positive things said about them now. I have to at least investigate this to see if this is something that is good value. For example how would the 80 stack up against the Fender Twin.
As for My Z's they are EL84 based amps and are entirely a different amp


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

guitarman2 said:


> What did you think of it? What type of music did you play with it? How does it stack up against Comparable Fender made amps.
> Fuynny thing, when I was a kid playing I was always led to believe that Traynor stuff was crap but I hear alot of positive things said about them now. I have to at least investigate this to see if this is something that is good value. For example how would the 80 stack up against the Fender Twin.


If it's a Twin you're looking to compare to, you need to check out the Traynor YGL-3 mkIII, which was designed by Pete Traynor to be his take on the Fender Twin. Even though it's an EL34 based amp, it's still very Twin-ish while still having it's own unique character.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

*disclaimer: I haven't owned this amp in at least two years, and I've learned a bit about sound and EQ'ing since then. I'm going off of what I remember about this amp, and can ask my best friend anything that I can't answer as he's the current owner.*

I have never A/B'd it with a fender - but i prefer traynor cleans to everything else i've heard (including a few various fenders). the YCS100H clean channel, with a gibson les paul = the cleans i want lol.

I think it's a fine amp, but i also think that it's possible to do better (and maybe even for less?). I know i was overcharged by my then-local music store, but that's not it. The amp sounds pretty good (recorded great for a professionally-recored EP actually), but the drive channel was never quite "there" for me.

as for music styles - i tried to get metal out of it, and got close-ish for "low gain metal" as i call it. The amp does not really give you "oomph", and part of that is probably due to its open-back design and (IMO poor) speaker choice. I'd test it out with a V30 212 ext. cab to see if that would improve the tone somewhat, and never ran it through my 412's i dont think. It got a decent punk tone, and anything mid to low gain (think lighter radio rock i suppose) it was pretty good for.

the clean channel: the one thing i wanted to transplant into my JSX lives in this thing's cleans. Knowing what i do now about EQ'ing and setting the amp up, i'd probably run it a bit differently then i did when i owned it. that said, you have some useful features: a bright button, and an expander button. If you want a more full tone, dial in expander with lower bass and up the mids and treble a bit - this will get you a very nice tone with a bucker'd guitar i believe. It's been a couple of years since i owned it, so im doing my best lol. The bright function worked quite well, however it made the clean channel too harsh for my tastes. you can experiment running both at the same time, and running the bass and treble real low and using the mid knob to fine-tune. I need to try that if the amp ever makes it back here (sold it to one of my best friends).

distortion: if you're not going heavier then rock, this will do you just fine! keep the gain on 5, start cranking the amp up a bit, a lot of mids and this amp will give you a nice rock tone to work with. You have the scoop function, which really just made everything a mushy mess IMO. the low-gain overdrive tones you can get from this channel with the gain very low are quite tasteful, and could work well for blues applications. I used the boost feature for solo's, however it just made my tone a bit muddy and some gain, not really a good thing if you already have the gain up on the amp. that said, if you were running a moderate gain setup and then engaged this with the footswitch I imagine it would work out well.

as for portability, i bounced mine off walls more than once haha. 65lbs, the handle was sturdy enough. I ended up just picking it up using the sides and carrying it around that way so that it wasnt swinging. After a few years the reverb went on it somehow, and i dunno if my buddy has fixed that as yet - he's taking an electronics course and has been modding his epi VJ. before that, no major issues though.

You may find the YCV40WR more to your liking in terms of cleans, however it doesnt have a master volume or the expander feature on the clean channel, as well as the scoop function on the drive channel.

I'd look around for some used mesa combos as well - DC series, studio calibre. I'd suggest the F30 but i believe that runs on EL84's and you seem to be jonesin' for the 6L6 amps at the moment.

here are links to hearing it:
DeathCharge (first highschool band, rock - professionally done) www.purevolume.com/deathcharge - I played lead guitar, and unfortunately due to mixing you cant hear much of my buddy (the current owner of that amp) as the rhythm guitarist. Here i used a Hamer SFX2 (basswood body dual pickups LP DC style) and got a really nice tone for our EP. Crybaby classic was the only pedal used.

Inreligio (2nd highschool band, rock/metal/ska? - demo) - www.purevolume.com/inreligio - it's just me playing guitar on this one, and the sound quality isnt the greatest. For this recording session, I used my gibson les paul studio. all effects were added post-recording.

My personal recordings - www.soundclick.com/thebuddaproject. Pretty much all stuff before 06 was the YCV80 and les paul, and done in my home using a cheap mic and audacity.

Hopefully some of that is of use to you!


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> If it's a Twin you're looking to compare to, you need to check out the Traynor YGL-3 mkIII, which was designed by Pete Traynor to be his take on the Fender Twin. Even though it's an EL34 based amp, it's still very Twin-ish while still having it's own unique character.



I'm looking for a clean amp (6L6 or even EL 34) that can act as a backup for my main rig and possibly be used on stage with my main rig to take care of the very clean fenderish tones. I was taking a look at Traynor because they are Canadian and easily accessible as L&M carries that brand. Probably easy to get them fixed if needed. Like my strat that acts as my back up to my tele the Traynor (or whatever I get) won't see alot of play time. So I'm not too worried about the weight. And I also don't want to spend alot of money. I've also got my eye out for an older (70's) Fender Twin or a Pro reverb.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

guitarman2 said:


> I'm looking for a clean amp (6L6 or even EL 34) that can act as a backup for my main rig and possibly be used on stage with my main rig to take care of the very clean fenderish tones. I was taking a look at Traynor because they are Canadian and easily accessible as L&M carries that brand. Probably easy to get them fixed if needed. Like my strat that acts as my back up to my tele the Traynor (or whatever I get) won't see alot of play time. So I'm not too worried about the weight. And I also don't want to spend alot of money. I've also got my eye out for an older (70's) Fender Twin or a Pro reverb.


If you're looking for cleans and are open to used, a Traynor YGL3 is where you need to look. The amp has monsterous headroom - even with a humbucking guitar, with the pre turned all the way up, I would only ever get a smidge of dirt until I boosted it with something else. Gorgeous cleans, very Fender-ish, even though it was an EL34 based amp. Good news is that you can get them fairly cheap, and definitely for less than an equivalent era Twin.

For new Traynors, I can only speak about the YCV40, which had decent cleans, more along the lines of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, but I thought the YGL3's cleans were superior.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

the YCV80 does have some great cleans - and the expander and bright buttons offer options to sculpt the clean tone a bit more. add some reverb and its all there.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Budda said:


> the YCV80 does have some great cleans - and the expander and bright buttons offer options to sculpt the clean tone a bit more. add some reverb and its all there.


I went to L&M in Cambridge on my way Guelph last night for a band practice. They happened to have a used YVC80 there for $500. I talked him in to letting me take it out for a couple of days. I used it last night at my band practice. IN our practice hall there is quite a bit of room and its acoustically sound in there. Lots of carpeting and furniture to absorb sound. So I got a pretty good idea of what it can do. I was able to open it up pretty good. Its loud. It has a fat tone. But it sounds like a blanket over the amp. When I use some of eq settings to get more clarity I get a thinner ice pick sound. I could probably fool around with this thing to get something better but I can pretty much tell this is an amp that won't even suit practices let alone a backup amp. I like to have a good sound even for practices. When I have a good tone I enjoy myself better. Whenever I play I want to enjoy myself, whether I'm making money or just practicing. 
For what I want I don't think I'm going to get off cheap. I think even for a backup amp I'm gonna have to look at something from Dr Z or more probably something hand wired from the Fender Custom Shop.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

why not just a used fender HRD or something then?


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Budda said:


> why not just a used fender HRD or something then?


I've not ever tried the hot rod. Most reviews I've read don't give it much favor. For this reason I've pretty much ignored it. As well from what I read it has low head room. Which is the opposite of what I'm after.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Paul said:


> There is nothing wrong with Dr. Z on any level, but if it's Vintage Fender Clean you want......Victoria, or build a kit. for a 1/3 the price.


Building a kit is not in the cards for me to do personally. Its an intriguing option to commission someone to do it for me though. I don't know anyone local though. And I'd have a couple of concerns. As with Dr Z or Victoria you pretty much know what you're going to get if you're familiar with the different models and what they are voiced after. 
For a local builder I'd be worried that the end results weren't 100% what I wanted but I'd be on the hook for the cost anyway.
No resale value, although I don't really care about that. If it turned out to be exactly what I wanted I wouldn't care about selling it anyway.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

since he's in southern ontario, he could probably ask wild bill real nice...


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Budda said:


> since he's in southern ontario, he could probably ask wild bill real nice...



doe ole Wild Bill build amps? I wonder if he has any built that I could hear.


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

guitarman2 said:


> I've not ever tried the hot rod. Most reviews I've read don't give it much favor. For this reason I've pretty much ignored it. As well from what I read it has low head room. Which is the opposite of what I'm after.


sigiifa

The HRD has a lot of headroom on the clean channel. Very loud amp. 

I'm very picky and in my opinion the cleans are excellent. However, the drive and more drive are essentially useless. Use the clean channel with a good pedal and I think you will like what you hear. Please note that mine is a special edition with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. The regular Eminence speaker is okay but not quite as good, in my opinion.


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## Big White Tele (Feb 10, 2007)

pattste said:


> sigiifa
> 
> The HRD has a lot of headroom on the clean channel. Very loud amp.
> 
> I'm very picky and in my opinion the cleans are excellent. However, the drive and more drive are essentially useless. Use the clean channel with a good pedal and I think you will like what you hear. Please note that mine is a special edition with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. The regular Eminence speaker is okay but not quite as good, in my opinion.


Ive got to agree, and in a lot of ways I find my DRz Maz sr, and the HRDX quite similar, at least in the clean dept.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Big White Tele said:


> Ive got to agree, and in a lot of ways I find my DRz Maz sr, and the HRDX quite similar, at least in the clean dept.


Interesting. Since I owned and really liked the Maz Sr.


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