# New Traynor Dark Horse...lots of hum!! Likely silly question but appreciate help!



## tvrfan203 (Jan 6, 2009)

I have a new Traynor Dark Horse head built into an old rolltop....built a custom cab, with a new GSW 12inch Greenback clone in it. Used a new amp- speaker cable used in çombos"to minimize connections as connections slip nicely onto speaker tabs, and proper plug into back of head. Figured hard to go wrong with wiring that way!
Most of what I play has Buckers, so not "normal single coil issue...does it on a Tele Custom clone I built (thought maybe I ahd a gorund issue) but also does it on my Gibson LP Standard! Get a constant hum that is quite pronounced. Plugged into a friends old vintage Gibson amp and no problem? 
All new so can't see it being speakers, Humbuckers rule out normal 60 cycle Single coil issue, all my guitars do it in this amp? Can it be circuit? Gear is in my den, there is a computer and monitor about 10 ft away, but no flourscents in room. Pretty sure its on different circuit from furnace or fridge? Running out of ideas? What am I missing? How do I check wiring of house? Or is it likley not that???


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I am no tech, but have you tried it in a different room in the house, or perhaps even in another house or area?


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## tvrfan203 (Jan 6, 2009)

Thats next  but given that its built into an oak rolltop (even a smaller one) that was an experiment I wanted to leave initially in case there was a simply explanation, or at least an easier one to check  Figured an extention cord may provide its own issues? But may be only choice....


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2005/Images/Circuit Tester.jpg

Try one of these?

Peace, Mooh.


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## tvrfan203 (Jan 6, 2009)

Mooh, hadn't checked as house had normal 3 plug wiring in den, but when checked found indeed it was old two wire to it....was able to run new dedicated proper circuit from fuse box to it.....and still have hum!!! No doubt it is better and safer now that it HAS a proper circuit and you indeed found a problem....THANKS...but appears there is still an issue with the amp or something in here???


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I wrote my review in the big Dark Horse thread. I returned mine after 48 hours and, though I noted other things I didn't like, the deal killer was how noisy the amp was. And you could hear the hum while playing quiet passages, it just doesn't go away.

Side note, I picked up a Mesa TA-15. Double the price, yes, but it makes the DH seem like a toy. Not as much clean headroom is about the only issue that might bother some. Close (it's 25W (switchable 15W/5W), but running EL84's) but not quite as much. Clean voicing definitely not as Blackface either, but still very pleasant.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Well I got underwhelmed by the Dark Horse and so I returned it and ended up with a YCS50 head. I wanted to get a Princeton Reverb RI but since L&M didn't have it in stock, I made a choice of which one to take home, either the Mesa Boogie Transatlantic or the YCS50. I thought the YCS50 can give me more options than the TA. I might still go for the Princeton Reverb RI though. 

I agree with a lot of what Keto mentioned in his review. The boom specially on my cube cab was there but it can be tamed, there's lots of options on that amp, but like Keto the hum was the killer. Last Sunday I had 3 amps running all at the same time, a Fender Twin, a Peavey Classic 30 and the DH, and it was the one with the loudest hum. Our drummer came over and turned it off. When I asked him why he said "man that amp hums like crazy..." The cleans were good though although with not a lot of headroom.

So there goes my Dark Horse experience.


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Not trying to pile in on this amp here but they had one sitting on the counter the other day at L&M as I was paying I was fiddling with the knobs and thought "this thing seems like a toy"

I had just bought an Egnater Tweaker head a few days earlier and for also being only 15w it seemed much more like a proper head. My $0.02


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## tvrfan203 (Jan 6, 2009)

I had posted on another thread about the hum in the Dark Horse I got, and Keto forwarded his review and another member send PM about wiring issues...I emailed Traynor and got following response....apparently its not news!

Shawn,

* Sorry to hear of this , but a few units managed to slip out of the factory with improper wire dressing in the preamp. They were all to have been returned but I guess that did not happen. You can return that to L&M for exchange, and please test the new one before you leave the store.

Regards Guy
Guy Beresford
Customer Support*
Yorkville Sound

I was excited about the small size and multiple voicings but can't deal with the hum as while hidden by power chords, is brutal for blues and quiet note playing....like Chito like the Mesa but at double the cost hard to justify....may ahve to look at the Egnator??


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## Yorkville (Mar 18, 2010)

As the issue of hum in the DarkHorse seems to be showing up in the forums I thought I'd chime in to explain the situation and hopefully address some concerns. We're just starting to ship our third batch of amps and are pretty confident the units going out the door do not exhibit the level of noise found in some of the early amps. 

As noticed by a couple of users, the transformer leads were unnecessarily long in the first batch of 50 amps that went out in March. Most units were correctly dressed for minimal hum, but a few bad apples seem to have got through. We've had a couple of units returned to stores for noise but the vast majority seem to work great and the people taking them home tend to go home happy - so many in fact that we're doubling our run size with each batch. From the second run onwards, we have shortened the leads on the transformer and have set a tighter threshold on our noise testing so as to improve the quality of our product. 

If you believe you have a unit that hums at an unacceptable level when you turn up the controls (do this without a guitar plugged in to eliminate it as a source of noise), don't feel that you have to open the thing up and fix it yourself. Our amplifiers ship with a 2-year, no questions asked warranty.


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## dug dog (Feb 7, 2010)

Yorkville said:


> Our amplifiers ship with a 2-year, no questions asked warranty.


Can't argue with that. It would be interesting to see if an exchange for a new one remedies the problem. 
BTW, it's nice to hear directly from someone at Yorkville...


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## tvrfan203 (Jan 6, 2009)

Agreed, Yorkville were god to respond when I emailed about problem, and quick to advise me return it toL&M, and even offered to check stock at plant if store didnt have replacement for me, so no complaints about their effort...but would have been nice if they proactively recalled them and not left in stores to be bought? And being told "We're just starting to ship our *third *batch of amps and are pretty confident the units going out the door do not exhibit the level of noise found in some of the early amps."didnt give much confidence...anyway, they are great sounding amps, and sincere at CS so sincerely hope they have fixed, but this wasnt a hard to "notice" quality control problem , so for me, Mesa gained a customer...


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

It's a pretty good amp and hopefully the issue has been resolved. I've had 2 of those that I brought home, one was from an earlier production run, then a newer one from the latest batch. Both had the same issue. I hope I don't get misunderstood here. I am a fan of Traynor amps and I still have my YCV50. I think being that there are a few 'lunchbox' amps now and with all these other options, people will look for which one is close to being "perfect" for them. I got the DH due to the 6v6s as I was looking to complete my amp lineup of all the different types of tubes, 6l6s with my The Twin, EL34s on the YCV50Blue, EL84s on the Peavey C30 and Blackheart LG. So in the end, I ended up with probably the best production 6v6 amp ever made, the Fender Deluxe Reverb. Although I might add it is the reissue version. So far, the cleans are 'Fendery' hahaha


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

tvrfan203 said:


> Agreed, Yorkville were god to respond when I emailed about problem, and quick to advise me return it toL&M, and even offered to check stock at plant if store didnt have replacement for me, so no complaints about their effort...but would have been nice if they proactively recalled them and not left in stores to be bought? And being told "We're just starting to ship our *third *batch of amps and are pretty confident the units going out the door do not exhibit the level of noise found in some of the early amps."didnt give much confidence...anyway, they are great sounding amps, and sincere at CS so sincerely hope they have fixed, but this wasnt a hard to "notice" quality control problem , so for me, Mesa gained a customer...


"Pro-active recall"? I guess that depends if Yorkville has up to date info on who bought an amp!

If they rely on a music store to send them the customer's name and address then probably most of the time it never happens. So to be fair, the guys at Yorkville would have to be psychics to know who to contact!

They have good quality. They have a 2 year, no questions asked warranty. They will actually take the trouble to come on this board and let people know what's going on!

Seems to me that they're doing a damn good job and far more than most other manufacturers!

WB


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Wild Bill said:


> "Pro-active recall"? I guess that depends if Yorkville has up to date info on who bought an amp!
> 
> If they rely on a music store to send them the customer's name and address then probably most of the time it never happens. So to be fair, the guys at Yorkville would have to be psychics to know who to contact!
> 
> ...


Yeah, I gotta agree with Bill. Sure, it's unfortunate that some of their amps weren't to their usual level of quality, but if a huge multi-national company like Toyota can let a bunch of lemons out the door, you can't really fault Yorkville for letting a couple go. I've never had a Traynor amp disappoint me and yeah, the warranty they offer is unparalleled in the amp world. Clearly, they're a company that believes in their product and will stand behind it. 

Also, kudos to Yorkville for popping up here to give us a statement about the amp.


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## parkhead (Aug 14, 2009)

I have one of those first amps that had the hum. 
They fixed it up fine in short order. None of my friends who have purchased second run amps have had a noise problem.


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## geothepencil (Mar 11, 2011)

The Vox AC30 has had like problems with hum and the solution at least for mine was to carefully experiment with the filament power leads and their placement. Moving them around with a pencil, changing the crossing points and after finding the quietest location, a couple of zip ties to hold them in place eliminated most of the hum. When I first got it, I was ready to send it back immediately, but after finding the cure on the net from a company in Wisconsin, all was forgiven.

geo


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