# Anyone Want To Take A Shot At Diagnosing My Amp?



## colchar (May 22, 2010)

I just picked up a 1972 Traynor YGL3 Mark III and have noticed a couple of issues with it, so I was wondering if anyone here can offer a guess as to what the problems might be?

On channel #1 the sound cuts in and out when using the low input (there is also a bit of crackling, so it might be something as simple as a dirty input). The high input is as loud as would be expected from this amp. 

On channel #2 the volume from both the low and high inputs is lower than the volume from the high input on channel #1. Other than the slightly lower volume, both of those channels sound really good.

Any idea what might be going on here? I have a friend who works on amps, but he has a ton of other stuff on his plate (home renovations, real job, etc.) so isn't doing many repairs right now. Still, he might be able to take care of it for me. The guy who runs RedX amp repairs lives right around the corner from me. I bought an amp from him a few months ago, so I just sent him an email about this.

But while I wait to hear back from the two of them, I was wondering if anyone here might have some guesses as to what is going on with the amp?


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

There’s not a lot of parts between the high input and low input. If the high input is working, you must be right about it cutting out, it has to be poor contact, probably dirty. The advice I’ve read is plug and unplug a bunch of times. The tip spring contact could be making a loose connection.

If you swap the preamp tubes, is channel #2 still quieter than channel #1? Potentiometers especially, and resistors never have the same measured values, and old parts drift.



https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/thetubestore/schematics/Traynor/Traynor-MKIII-YGL3-3A-Schematic.pdf



I can’t think of any way the switches on the jacks could cause the sound to cut out?


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

You could try some Deoxit to clean the jacks. If you have some small foam swabs soak them with Deoxit and clean the contacts.


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

I vote for cleaning the input jacks too....


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Looking at the schematic, one channel has an extra gain stage not unlike most BF/SF Fenders. Might explain the difference in perceived output .


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

^^^This. If you know what you _should_ be hearing, you're less likely to confound it with what you _shouldn't_ be hearing.


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## Larry (Sep 3, 2016)

Your in the GTA, take it to Traynor/Yorkville Sound, let them do a complete diagnostic check up etc, or just take it to your Local L&M and request they send it there.

Then you will have a like New totally upgraded 72 Traynor Amp.

www.traynor.com

That's where they build them.

Good Luck


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

It does sound like a jack issue. However the darn things are cheap and easy to replace. I wouldn't waste time cleaning them. Replace them all.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

Larry said:


> Your in the GTA, take it to Traynor/Yorkville Sound, let them do a complete diagnostic check up etc, or just take it to your Local L&M and request they send it there.
> 
> Then you will have a like New totally upgraded 72 Traynor Amp.
> 
> ...



They have a massive backlog right now (I believe due to lower staffing levels during pandemic). The last amp I sent there was with them for almost four months.

I will speak to one of the managers at my local store on Sunday and will get him to check on the wait time for me.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

colchar said:


> They have a massive backlog right now (I believe due to lower staffing levels during pandemic). The last amp I sent there was with them for almost four months.
> 
> I will speak to one of the managers at my local store on Sunday and will get him to check on the wait time for me.


There must be Freelancers or hobbyists in the GTA that could help you.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

Paul Running said:


> There must be Freelancers or hobbyists in the GTA that could help you.



Yeah, I mentioned in my original post that I have a friend who does amp repairs (but he is really busy with other stuff right now) and the guy who owns RedX amp repairs lives just a few hundred yards from my place. I have sent messages to both and am awaiting replies (my friend is a teacher so is unlikely to be checking personal messages during the school day).


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

RedX? Robert in Brampton? He’s super good but also very busy. Only reason I haven’t gone to him in a few years.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

colchar said:


> Yeah, I mentioned in my original post that I have a friend who does amp repairs (but he is really busy with other stuff right now) and the guy who owns RedX amp repairs lives just a few hundred yards from my place. I have sent messages to both and am awaiting replies (my friend is a teacher so is unlikely to be checking personal messages during the school day).


If you are tight with your friend who does repairs, I'll bet he knows somebody with his knowledge and skills in electronics...it's a tight-knit-circle for most electronic hobbyists clubs...Ham Radio, Vintage Radio.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

colchar said:


> I just picked up a 1972 Traynor YGL3 Mark III and have noticed a couple of issues with it, so I was wondering if anyone here can offer a guess as to what the problems might be?
> 
> On channel #1 the sound cuts in and out when using the low input (there is also a bit of crackling, so it might be something as simple as a dirty input). The high input is as loud as would be expected from this amp.
> 
> ...


That sounds like an intermittent problem. Most intermittent faults on electronic gear are not *electronic *related. Most electronic faults are hard failures. The person that you seek does not have to be knowledgeable in Electronics. Troubleshooting experinience would be helpful...that's another skill on it's own. You must know many people that have those characteristics.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

DaddyDog said:


> RedX? Robert in Brampton? He’s super good but also very busy. Only reason I haven’t gone to him in a few years.



Yeah that's him.

I realize he will be super busy, and likely more so now because Yorkville/Traynor is backed up and our local L&M sends amp repairs to him too.

But it is worth having a conversation with him, particularly as he lives so close to me (put it this way - Google Maps doesn't give driving directions from one house to the other, instead it gives walking directions!). Him being so good is an added bonus.

ETA: Out of curiosity I just checked and according to Google Maps it is a 900m walk from my place to his.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I think it needs to played with all controls maxed for a minimum of 30 minutes. That helps to seat the tube pins in place, remove all corrosion from the controls and input jack, and blow all the bad dust off the cones. ;-)


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

nonreverb said:


> Looking at the schematic, one channel has an extra gain stage not unlike most BF/SF Fenders. Might explain the difference in perceived output .





StevieMac said:


> ^^^This. If you know what you _should_ be hearing, you're less likely to confound it with what you _shouldn't_ be hearing.



You'll both have to excuse me as I am completely clueless about electronics. And when I say 'completely clueless' I mean dumb as a stump.

Are you saying that the second channel should have a different output level?

These amps are basically blackface Twins, but with a master volume. So does this mean that the first channel should be louder than the second? If so, that's great and all it means is that there is a connection issue on one input on the first channel which is likely a stupidly easy fix.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

tomee2 said:


> I think it needs to played with all controls maxed for a minimum of 30 minutes. That helps to seat the tube pins in place, remove all corrosion from the controls and input jack, and blow all the bad dust off the cones. ;-)



Well it is in the basement which is kind of dusty so maybe that's a good idea as blasting that would sure help me lift dust in the basement!


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

colchar said:


> Well it is in the basement which is kind of dusty so maybe that's a good idea as blasting that would sure help me lift dust in the basement!


and have your vacuum cleaner running at the same time. two chores in one.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

The extra preamp stage is in the reverb channel. Not sure whether that is ch.1 or 2 and if it correctly relates to the channel you find to be louder.
And not sure how much difference you are hearing or what it should be. Looks pretty much the same as classic blackface fender where the reverb channel also has an extra stage. How much difference in level do those have? Most users don't know as hardly anyone uses the non-reverb channel. 
If the one channel only cuts out on it's low jack, it's pretty much narrowed down to just that jack.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

jb welder said:


> The extra preamp stage is in the reverb channel. Not sure whether that is ch.1 or 2 and if it correctly relates to the channel you find to be louder.


Channel two has reverb and tremolo, and it is the channel that I find to be quieter.




> And not sure how much difference you are hearing or what it should be. Looks pretty much the same as classic blackface fender where the reverb channel also has an extra stage. How much difference in level do those have? Most users don't know as hardly anyone uses the non-reverb channel.


Enough that it is noticeable. In a little while when I have the chance to sit down with it I will get both channels to the same volume level, will note the settings on the knobs, and will post them here to illustrate the difference.




> If the one channel only cuts out on it's low jack, it's pretty much narrowed down to just that jack.



Yep, only on that jack.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

I recorded the amp, but the file is too large to transfer.

There was a noticeable drop in volume from channel one to channel two with both channels set to:
Channel volume - 2
Master volume - 2


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

colchar said:


> Channel two has reverb and tremolo, and it is the channel that I find to be quieter.


Refer to numbering on tube layout pic below.

Swap V1 and V2. Does fault move to other channel? If so, tube now in V1 position is culprit.
If no change, return tubes to original position.
Swap V1 and V4. Does fault move to other channel? If so, tube now in V1 position is culprit.

If by any chance, problem is solved and both channels now work correctly, it was dirty socket contacts and you cleaned them by working the sockets.
If nothing made any difference, it does not seem to be a tube issue.


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

colchar said:


> I recorded the amp, but the file is too large to transfer.
> 
> There was a noticeable drop in volume from channel one to channel two with both channels set to:
> Channel volume - 2
> Master volume - 2


That's identical to what you'd find with a Fender amp sporting verb & trem. Those effects pull a surprising amount of signal so the "Normal" channel (Ch 1 on yours) sounds louder & more dynamic at a given Volume setting. Perfectly normal phenomenon.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

StevieMac said:


> That's identical to what you'd find with a Fender amp sporting verb & trem. Those effects pull a surprising amount of signal so the "Normal" channel (Ch 1 on yours) sounds louder & more dynamic at a given Volume setting. Perfectly normal phenomenon.



If so, then that is just perfect.

I traded another amp that I really liked for this, because that other amp was loud and I couldn't get it past '2' on the volume (no master volume) as well as the fact that I am firmly sold on 2x12 (or greater) speaker configurations.

This is a 2x12 and I figured the master volume would help me control it. Even with the master volume the first channel is loud, almost exactly like the amp I traded but now I have an extra speaker! Channel two is quieter, and when working with the channel and master volumes I have a greater range of volume that I can use. That is perfect. But I am not familiar with this model of amp, nor vintage Fender models with reverb and trem, so I thought that the volume drop indicated a problem, not a feature inherent to the design.

Last night I noticed a little crackling from the high input on channel two, so I think that all of the inputs need to be cleaned. I will get that friend to do it if he has time and, if not, I will contact RedX amps (he still hasn't replied to my email, but I have his cell number so can text him).

Other than the inputs, the amp is in remarkably good condition for something that is 49 years old. I am three years older than the amp and am in nowhere near as good a shape!


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

colchar said:


> I traded another amp that I really liked for this, because that other amp was loud


The YGL is loud if you are running all the 6CA7s; according to the specs, they claim to 80W clean, up to 150W max. This amp should be plenty loud.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

Paul Running said:


> The YGL is loud if you are running all the 6CA7s; according to the specs, they claim to 80W clean, up to 150W max. This amp should be plenty loud.
> View attachment 385399



Don't get me wrong, it is loud. In fact, it can be stupid loud. But the master volume makes that easier to tame and when combined with the channel volume there is more range of volume than with a non-master volume amp.


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

Sounds like you need to ground the transcombobulator and look and go over the sprocket valves with a Henry wrench.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Always12AM said:


> Sounds like you need to ground the transcombobulator and look and go over the sprocket valves with a Henry wrench.


What about using a Harriet wrench?


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