# Traynor Guitar Mate Reverb: Help Me Choose a Speaker & Other Questions



## Johnny Canuck (Mar 15, 2008)

Hey there, I'm looking for the opinion of anyone who has had or currently owns a Traynor Guitar Mate Reverb and has replaced the stock speaker. 

The first great amp I owned when I was in my teens was a Guitar Mate Reverb and I loved it. Like an idiot I sold it and "traded up" for a 100 watt H&H Musician head (well it seemed like a good idea at the time and in my defense I WAS young ...). Finally, many, many years later I just scored a Guitar Mate in pretty good condition on Ebay and grabbed it. I now have a number of questions and I'm hoping those out there with knowledge of the amp can help to answer:

Replacement Speaker:
While the amp is in pretty good condition overall it came sans speaker. I have quite a number of available 12" 8 ohmers to choose from so I'm looking for your advice re: which if the following will match best with the amp:

- Hellatone (Celestion) G12H30
- Hellatone 60 (Celestion Vintage 30)
- Hellatone 60L (special Celestion Vintage 30 with more bottom end)
- Weber California
- Eminence Governor
- Eminence Tonker
- Eminence Swamp Thang
- Eminence Red White and Blues
- Ampeg Alnico (came out of a great old Legend amp) 
- Reverend Alltone
- Carvin VL 100

Yes, I have a bunch of speakers kicking around but it would be simply too time-consuming to try them all so I'm looking for a little guidance. If none of the above is a great match, then what have you GM users found that works really well? 

Speaker Cabinet Back:
OK, I've also read a fair bit about the merits of leaving the back of the speaker enclosure on or off. Opinions re:

- On?
- Off?
- Partial closed/open back?

Replacement Tubes:
Unbelievably it appears that the original set of Phillips preamp tubes are still in their sockets - all grimy, dusty and faded. The power tubes have been replaced with a pair of Groove Tubes white label EL84's that also look really old. I'd like to replace them all and have a standby set of new matched JJ 84's and pre's ready to go. Can anyone tell me which of the tubes is the phase splitter? The one closest to the power tubes or closest to the cabinet edge - or? 

Also, what experience have you had with various brands of replacements?


Amp Inputs & Bright Switch:
This particular YGM-3 has only 2 inputs and where the third would be there's a "boost" switch. The one I owned originally - and every other Guitar Mate I have seen - came equipped with three inputs and no boost switch. This one however is clearly factory original - anyone know anything about it? 

Also, the boost switch is hellaciously bright when engaged. It adds about 20 db but man does it pump up the highs to the point that you can kill small rodents at 20 paces with a nicely twanged note! Has anyone modded this switch? I presume it simply needs the value of a resistor or capacitor changed. It seems to me that this could also be pretty useful if it was footswitchable. Has anyone added footswitch capability to the boost circuit? 


Dating the YGM-3:
The serial number is 3111248. Can anyone help me to decipher the date of manufacture?


Circuit Mods:
I fired the amp up for a few moments, running it into a 2x10 cab. It has beautiful, sweet tone and just one real issue - a flabby, distorted, crapping out sound when you play a low note at higher volume. That may be a result of the old, old tubes or ...? The Verb is almost too much of a good thing in this amp but the Trem is awe-inspiring and achingly beautiful.

I'm curious though whether some of you have come across mods to the circuit? I'm not trying to turn this amp into something its not (like a JCM 800) but looking for small updates to the pots, values, etc that will enhance its tonefulness or utility without changing its overall character. Any suggestions?


Other than all of the above, I have to tell you that I fired the amp up for "just a minute" in order to make sure it works (it arrived this afternoon). 45 minutes later I was still going strong! This amp has such a wonderful, beguiling tone its hard to stop playing.

So I'm back in the Guitar Mate Club and looking for input, suggestions and advice. Thanks in advance for taking the time to educate/enlighten me. 

Cheers,

Johnny Canuck


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Welcome to the forum. Great to have you aboard. However, please do a search since some of your questions have been asked/answered several times.

TG


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## Johnny Canuck (Mar 15, 2008)

Thanks for the welcome. In my excitement re; my new toy I neglected to think about searching the site. I appreciate the heads up. 

BTW I cleaned the Phillips 12ax7's up and they are all made in Great Britain. If I understand correctly they were actually made in the Mullard factory - and they sound great. I replaced the Groove Tubes with the new JJ set and voila, the crapping out/distrtion problem is eliminated. 

I'll hunt for additional info on the Forums. Cheers, JC.


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## CocoTone (Jan 22, 2006)

In my signature, you will hear tons of examples of my Guitarmate. Most of those recordings were done with that amp. I replaced the speaker with a g12h30 Heritage celeation, and the results speak for themselves. 

CT.


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