# Traynor amp repairs & mods in the GTA



## Blues Jr (Aug 14, 2007)

Hey guys,

I've had a '71 YGM-3 that I've been wanting to mod for awhile now, but haven't got around to it.
I think I'm ready to have a few mods done, especially those that I've noticed on You Tube.
I think those mods made that amp sound great.

I've spoken to a few techs, but they seem to have their own ideas rather than what I want. 

Just wondering if anyone can recommend some techs in the GTA that know Traynors?


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## filmosound (Feb 27, 2006)

Just outside the GTA in Hamilton, I've heard that Wild Bill Costello is known for his mods on old Traynors but he might want to do his own thing -- not sure.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

I didn't know the areas of Ontario, otherwise I would have suggested Wild Bill as well. He is sort of the "amp Professor" around these parts (on the forum). *Very* knowledgeable about amp building and extremely experienced with Traynors. Doing the mods from youtube would almost be too easy for him, but I'm sure he could do them if that's all you want. But I bet if you describe the sound you've always fantasized about, he could could probably nail it a lot more exactly than even those youtube amps. You would be in good hands.

_Also, isn't there also another amp tech from the forum that works at a lot of festivals there in the summer? Is it HammondLeslie or something?_

Edit: It's* NonReverb*. Haha! It's because I am a visual person; He has a Hammond and Leslie in his profile pic. Anyways, It looks like he is in the Ottawa area not GTA. Unfortunately, all that gets stored as "ontario" in my memory.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

The best advice I've seen (with regard to any amp modification) is to start with your speakers. They will have the biggest impact on your sound. Try to get as close to what you want by changing speakers. Then modify if required. As mentioned above, Wild Bill is highly recommended.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

The YGM3 is one of the better sounding vintage stock Traynors in stock form IMO. I would just start with some maintenance to bring it up to optimum performance (clean pots and sockets, change electrolytic caps if necessary, new tubes if necessary). Any of the good techs in town should be able to take this on. As mentioned in the previous post, a speaker swap would probably improve things as well

If, after doing these things, u want to tweak it more, probably can't go wrong with Wild Bill.

I had one of these as my main amp several years ago. All I did was the maintenance mentioned above, added bias pot and sensing resistors for easier biasing, and changed the grounding to reduce noise. The circuit was kept stock and sounded really good.


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## Blues Jr (Aug 14, 2007)

Hey thanks for the replies. The speaker is a Red Fang, and sounds nice with the amp.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

.....peter maziar at tonewerkz.com is your guy. he's in the west end - windermere south of bloor.


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## parkhead (Aug 14, 2009)

If you are refering to this "mod" it's really super simple 

http://youtu.be/hLhGeU4wb2U

Change the speaker, which you have done 

Remove the fizzy cap, doable for people who cannot solder, with a pair of wire cutters 

change the 1st stage coupling cap from .1 to .01 to tighten the floppy bottom 

The MOD was never intended to be an elaborate reworking of the amp. 

It was based on the observation that most people complain about the shrill quality of the stock speaker when in fact the 

pre-set presence control is factory set WIDE OPEN ... 

taming the presence is as simple as clipping out the offending cap... once you study the schematic and compare the 

output design to a Brown Deluxe or other small Fender amp 


Re-setting the presence to a middle or compromise setting is as simple as swapping the 4.7k resistor underneath to a 

more common "Fender" value like 1.5k or a compromise like 2 or 3.3k 

the lower the resistor the more presence the amp has but at a flatter frequency peak 

FYI the layout is now online at Traynor 

http://www.traynoramps.com/downloads/servman/smygm3.pdf

the parts you want to tweak are 

presence:
c11 strung between eyelets w49 and w 53 

Pre amp bottom: 
C2 strung between w6 and w7 from .1 to .01 (lifts the bottom from 8hz to 80hz) 

to tweak the tone stack a little: 
c6 strung between w31 and w32 goes to .02 to reduce the mid bottom hump and shift the eq into fender territory
wider mids when turned up and more bottom reduction when turned down 

if you don't want to tackle it yourself Rob Fowler, classic amps out cambridge way knows the mod 
and can help you out 

 p


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