# New member here! Which Traynor for me?



## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Hi everyone,

I am a longtime lurker, but this is my first post on GuitarsCanada. I am hoping for your advice in choosing a new amp. I apologize in advance for the long post!

Some important info:

1) I used to have a Traynor YCV40WR, but sold it and bought a Traynor YBA1.

2) I'm into an old-school 70s style Marshall sound (dirty, but not overly compressed) with gain hitting plexi-JCM800 territory, no higher. Looking for AC/DC, MC5, T-Rex like sound in the overdrive. However, I also love nice warm, clean sounds with lots of oscillating, modulating effects; so an effects loop is rather essential, unless I use a dirt pedal.

I loved my YCV40WR for its channel switching abilities, its effects loop, and the cleans it gave me. But wanted a more Marshall-like OD.

I also love the sound of the YBA-1 (huge, 3D sound with lots of beef). It is big, powerful, yet subtle in the sense that it is not like a "loudness" button has been switched on. Anyway, despite my love for the YBA1, as everyone knows it is very hard to tame the beast! To do so, I find my current rig is far too complicated. I have an Unleash attenuator. The Unleash also provides an effects loop, but I don't think it does well with dynamic volume shifts.

So, I am heavily leaning toward simplifying my rig for my needs. I have read extensively about the Traynor YCS-50 and the Traynor YCV-50, and I think they might fit the bill.

I am in Costa Rica for the year (sorry to mention that fellow Canucks!) and will only have a chance to try out these other Traynors in a few months time.

So my main questions in brief: 

1) If I move to either the YCV50 or the YCS50 will I be underwhelmed after playing with the beefy YBA1?

2) If it won't be such a dramatic change, which of the two amps would you recommend for the sound/features I am after?

3) Or would a YBA1 with a dirt pedal in front create a better, fuller, OD sound than any of the two more modern amps?

If you've had a chance to compare any of these amps, please chime in!

Thanks in advance.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Now I'm not a Traynor expert or anything. But I've always been under the impression that, generally, Traynors are more Fender-ish than anything else. I'm not sure there are ANY Marshall-ish Traynors out there (unless they've been modded in some way to achieve that). If you're a "Traynor Guy", you might have more luck with a Marshall-ish type drive pedal on the clean channel.

That being said, IMO, used Traynors are some of the best value amps out there. I'm actually considering selling one of my Fender amps and getting a similar Traynor and pocketing the $300 - $400 surplus. Also, there's a TON of value in the higher wattage (50w+) tube amps in general nowadays. With the 20w types being hip now and higher wattage one's being "out of fashion" people are practically giving away the higher wattage ones. IMO, other than the weight issues with moving them around, I prefer the higher wattage for the clean headroom. You can dirty up a high wattage amp with a pedal without it making your ears bleed, but you can't clean up a lower wattage amp and still play it loud. Besides, a 50w amp isn't really THAT much louder (at least as far as our ears are concerned) than a 20w. The lower wattage just dirties up sooner. I think it takes something in the region of 10x the wattage to double the perceived volume (or something like that).


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I didn't like the Unleash with my Bassmaster. Fizz.

I would stick with the YBA and grab a nice dirt pedal; with this amp, a Timmy is amazing for light dirt and as a foundation to "stack" other pedals. For the tones you want, I would pair the Timmy with a Catalinbread DLS.

Alternatively, try another attenutaor. The Jet City Jettenutaor was surprisingly good with my YBA and it is cheap. The Alex and Aracom were also good but they are more $.

TG


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

traynor_garnet said:


> I didn't like the Unleash with my Bassmaster. Fizz.
> 
> I would stick with the YBA and grab a nice dirt pedal; with this amp, a Timmy is amazing for light dirt and as a foundation to "stack" other pedals. For the tones you want, I would pair the Timmy with a Catalinbread DLS.
> 
> TG


So far, I like your advice traynor_garnet, but I'd still love to hear from other members about the YCS50 and the YCV50 in terms of how it'd work for me. 

If I keep the YBA1, I also saw the potential of buying the YBX212, which I think looks awesome, and is exactly the type of setup I'm after at least in terms of looks and dimensions. So, in short: if I just keep the YBA1 clean or just breaking up, and have a dirt pedal like the DLS going in, I should have the great dirt from the pedal + the huge, beefy sound from the amp itself? I've always been of the school of thought that I need to get the power tubes cooking to get a good beefy sound, but I think this might work, and actually simplifies things for me.

I listened to the DLS and I think it sounds incredible. It's too bad though that the switch from JTM45 to plexi is on the inside of the pedal. It's also a very expensive pedal. Any other JTM+Plexi in a box pedals that you'd recommend (I know there are tons, but maybe not ones that have both)? 

BTW I actually seem to recall having discussions with you about the Unleash on TGP. Do you still have your YBA1?


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I've owned the YCV50 twice - a Blue when they were brand new, and a Black this year. I think in that they use EL34's, they are much more Marshall-ish than the 40 (or 20). Couple of things:

-it's a Vintage 30 speaker, so it's going to take some time to break in. It can be somewhat bright/forward at first. Give it a chance, though they are known to take a while to fully break in
-it can benefit greatly from tube changes. I never got around to doing the preamps on the Black, but changing out the power tubes to JJ's gave it a little earlier breakup and a nicer crunch than whatever the stock tubes were. No biasing required. Pre's were OK for the sound I wanted so I just let them ride.

It seems to me my old Blue was a little more directly crunchy than the Black, but it's many years inbetween so I could be mistaken.

The loop on the Black is good.....I had a slight level issue with my Fulltone Trem (it was quiet thru the loop, had to crank pedal vol) but delay/flanger/etc were fine. I also used a boost in the loop, as opposed to or in addition to using the built in boost, which is a gain stage and adds a lot of distortion.

Though I recently traded off the Black, I would own one again with no reservations. I just go through a lot of amps lol.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

agree with traynor_garnet: I would keep the YBA1 & get a couple pedals

you'll have all the headroom you need from the amp, and there is such versatility in pedals these days you can get anything else you want easily

same concept works for David Gilmour, except he has a Hiwatt

I wouldn't bother with an attenuator, I think they choke up the sound. I owned a couple & got rid of them


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Welcome to the forum.

I had the YCV50 for years. I couldn't squeeze a convincing AC/DC tone out of it. With that said, I wasn't into pedals at the time, so it probably could have been achieved.


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## kelspaul (Dec 19, 2014)

I have played many different amps like vox old traynors fender Marshall and so on. I got into the pedal craze for a while. The reason why I went back to playing a ycv 50 was because simply a great sounding versatile amp.it has the darker sound like a Marshall in the overdrive channel (very British sounding). The clean channel is also great sounding (just like a ycv40). I played through a ycv40 and as good as it sounded it did not sound as good as a ycv50 in the overdrive side.as for pedals this amp takes them very well as I've used pedals in the past with all kinds of amps so I definitely can assure this. My reason to go back to two channel amp was to pretty much get away from pedals.all I use is a wah and a cool cat 2 transparent od at lower volumes. In conclusion your current amp would be great with pedals but the ycv 50 for me at least does awesome without. Cheers.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

My main band runs clean jcm800's with dirt out front. Low gain, and its awesome. Bandmate uses a way huge green rhino (has eq over other options) and I use a V.4 OCD. 

I would keep the yba and get one or two dirt pedals. In fact, thats the setup I hope to move to (though i already have the dirt pedal).


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I also had a YCV50 for a number of years. I sold it when I got a YBA1 which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to do. Like everyone has already mentioned the YCV50 is an excellent amp, specially if you are looking for a 'marshall sounding' amp. Having said that, if I were you, I'd keep the YBA and find some pedal that will work with it to get the sound or tone you' want.


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## Rideski (Feb 25, 2009)

I just sold my Marshal 1974X in favour of my new YBA-mod1(limited edition version from this past yr) with the YBX212. It's a very cool rig, although I do miss my Marshall, but I run my DLS V4 in front of the YBA for my always on dirt, and have a few different fuzzes in front of the DLS. I can coax out a lot of different tones this way. I'm still tweaking the YBA to find just the right sweet spot but there isn't any sour spots to be found, with this setup.


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

I didn't notice a mention of the current cabinet you are running. If you are in a 4x12 I would expect you to be underwhelmed by dropping down to a YCV50 with the single speaker.

As far as the YCV50 goes, I believe you can mod them easily to the Blue values, at least the service manual suggests that. It does cover the clean to Marshall sound easily and includes an effects loop. The great thing about the YCV50 is you can go rent it from Long & McQuade to see how it works for you for not much money!


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Thanks for all the advice everyone. For now, I'm going to keep my yba1 head and find a ybx212 for it. As for dirt I'll be using a Timmy and either a sl drive or a dls. That should hopefully give me a really good and relatively simple setup. 

If that doesn't work I might go the ycv50 + ext cab route.


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## gtrchris (Apr 1, 2007)

I agree with Bolero, never met a attenuator I liked... I'd keep the YBA1(about as close to a Marshall as you can get- I believe its essentially a jtm-45 ) and run it with a less efficient speaker, or if it's too much power get a 18 watt ceriatone, or similar clone head and you'll be in heaven. I'm finding the simpler the set up the less there is to get in the way of your practicing and playing-you can waste an awful lot of time tweaking stuff and you really shouldn't be when you're playing.


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## stringer (Jun 17, 2009)

Looks like I'm late to the party as usual. I picked up a used YCS 50 a few months ago and enjoy it a lot. ( hmm, never did post a new amp day thread ) Look for a demo on youtube. I can't remember the guys name but he does a 10 min run down that explains a lot. I find it to be a very versatile amp with many features. To me the clean channel has a nice Fender-ish clean sound and the dirt channel can definitely sound Marshall-esque. It takes pedals well and seems well built.


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Chito said:


> I also had a YCV50 for a number of years. I sold it when I got a YBA1 which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to do. Like everyone has already mentioned the YCV50 is an excellent amp, specially if you are looking for a 'marshall sounding' amp. Having said that, if I were you, I'd keep the YBA and find some pedal that will work with it to get the sound or tone you' want.


Hey Chito,

I was wondering if you could tell me what you liked more about the YBA1 over the YCV50. In terms of versatitlity it would seem like the YCV50 would win hands down. So, it must just be about the base tone, correct? Can you expand a bit on this, because I am pretty much set on keeping my YBA1, but once in awhile I'll see an ad for a YCV50 and I am tempted to pull the trigger. It's rare to see a poster on a forum directly compare these two amps, so your further input would be greatly appreciated.


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

keto said:


> I've owned the YCV50 twice - a Blue when they were brand new, and a Black this year. I think in that they use EL34's, they are much more Marshall-ish than the 40 (or 20). Couple of things:
> 
> -it's a Vintage 30 speaker, so it's going to take some time to break in. It can be somewhat bright/forward at first. Give it a chance, though they are known to take a while to fully break in
> -it can benefit greatly from tube changes. I never got around to doing the preamps on the Black, but changing out the power tubes to JJ's gave it a little earlier breakup and a nicer crunch than whatever the stock tubes were. No biasing required. Pre's were OK for the sound I wanted so I just let them ride.
> ...


Now that I've been on GC for awhile I see that it is indeed true that you've been through a lot of amps! Can you give me a bit of a comparison looking at the YCV50 and the YBA1?


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Guys I need your help and fast! I've got a couple of deals on used gear that I can pull the trigger on. One is for a YCV50 + ext cab. The other is for a YBA-1MOD1 + YBX212 cab. Without revealing prices, let's say the first deal is for $1.00. The latter is $1.50. The first is an unbelievable deal that I can honestly say I'll never see again. But then again, that YBA-1MOD1 is uber sexy with the YBX212 cab. What would you do in my shoes?


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

isoneedacoffee said:


> Guys I need your help and fast! I've got a couple of deals on used gear that I can pull the trigger on. One is for a YCV50 + ext cab. The other is for a YBA-1MOD1 + YBX212 cab. Without revealing prices, let's say the first deal is for $1.00. The latter is $1.50. The first is an unbelievable deal that I can honestly say I'll never see again. But then again, that YBA-1MOD1 is uber sexy with the YBX212 cab. What would you do in my shoes?


Take price out of the equation since they're relatively close then ask yourself what rig suites my needs best? What rig will I be most likely to enjoy owning and keep?


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## -=Sc0rch=- (Mar 28, 2010)

The YCV50 Blue was always my go-to amp when I was trying guitars out at L&M. I love that thing and always wanted one, someday perhaps. Does the marshall thing very well. A buddy of mine rented one and hooked up a 4x12 cab loaded with greenbacks. the tone was amazing!


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Update: I ended up getting an awesome deal on the ycv50 + cab so I sprang for it. The yba1 mod1 route was too complicated and while it was a good deal I could likely find that deal again, with far fewer complications in the future if I find myself unhappy with the ycv50.

EDIT: The deal for the YCV50 fell through. Luckily. I ended up getting a fantastic price from L&M on a used Traynor YBA-1MOD1 and the matching YBX212 cab. I'll only be able to play it when I return in July, but I swear I am counting the days!


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