Traynor YBA-1 for steel?

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 6 Feb 2003 1:34 pm

Anyone ever try this head for steel? How close is it to 59 bassman tone?
Dennis

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 7 Feb 2003 11:17 am

Dennis,
The YBA-1 is great for steel...It has a tone very similar to a Blackface Fender Bassman on the first channel inputs...The 2nd channel inputs are the ones that are sought after by guitar players...It's rightfully named "The poor mans Plexi"...It has a tone very similar to an early Marshall Plexi...Depending on how you like to hear your steel, the first channel is nice a round like a Blackface Bassman, the 2nd channel will give you more grind if that's what you're looking for...Jim

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 7 Feb 2003 11:56 am

Yup, the Traynor YBA-1 is a great amp. It's essentially a 59 Bassman and a Marshall Plexi all in one. Very clean and loud. Great on guitar and steel. The EQ isn't that flexible but the tone is amazing. Very pure and simple circuit design, all point to point wiring. The trick that most Marshall players will do is to plug into the first input with the guitar, then take the second jack from channel 1 and with a little cord, jump it over to the input on channel 2. Now the guitar is feeding both channels. Channel 1 is a warm, fat Bassman tone. Channel 2 is a very bright and biting trebly tone. With channel 1 volume set where you like it and channel 2 volume set at barely 1 or 2, you'll find the blend to be very versatile. Consider channel 1 the main tone and channel 2 just a presence or treble control. Great amp for steel. I may go that route someday. The YBA-1 is honestly every bit as good an amp as a '59 bassman or a Marshall Plexi. Traynor cultists believe the Traynor is superior because of it's extra rugged transformers that some claim are indestructible. Best tube amp for the money anywhere.

Brad Sarno
St. Louis, MO

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 12 Feb 2003 9:41 am

I have 3 Traynors....One was sent to me from this guy across the country from me...I'm in NY, and he was from CA....He sent me this amp UPS, and put it in a toaster box !!!...This box was made of very thin cardboard, and fit as tight as a glove...The amp got to me, and 2 of the THICK metal corners were straight out, and the tubes were broken, as well as a couple of the control knobs... I have quite a few differnt tube amps and had extra tubes laying around, and I put some tubes in it, bent the corners back in place, and fired it up !!..It's been playing away ever since !!..It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin !!..Try that with some of your newer amps !!....Jim

BTW..The old Traynors are the best bang for the buck you can buy in the world of tube amps

Michael Brebes · Post by **Michael Brebes** » 13 Feb 2003 8:56 am

I agree on the value of the old amps. I've got a 100 watt Mark3 that I've had since 1973 and it's been a workhorse. The preamp tone control section is similar to the late-tweed/early-tolex Fenders, but it uses the EL34s instead of 6L6s, which I prefer anyway. Great sounding amp.

Jerry Hedge · Post by **Jerry Hedge** » 14 Feb 2003 8:09 pm

The YBA-1A is one of my favorite amps for steel as well as guitar!!! James' post about the shipping nightmare reminds me of how Pete Traynor would test the ruggedness of his amps. He would take prototype amps to the roof of Long & McQuade's Toronto store and THROW THEM OFF!!! after cleaning up the broken tubes, he would replace them, fire the amp up and if it still worked it was good enough to called a Traynor. He had been a professional bassist on the road and knew the abuse gear takes. The YBA-1A ran between 540 and 560 Volts on the the output tube plates for an output of 80 watts. Compare that to a Bassman's 450 volts. And he used custom made Hammond transformers that gave his amps a high fidelity sound no other amp had. It's been said that the reason those amps didn't become more popular is that they were TOO clean. Remember, they were built when Marshall had became the rock guitar amp. By the time you were getting a distorted rock sound the amp was so loud you couldn'd stand it! One day I would like to find a Custom Deluxe, 4 EL34s 160 watts of clean warm tube sound. Rumour has it that Dan Armstrong took a Custom Deluxe head and 2 cabinets with 8 10s in each to Ampeg and told them "This is what you have to beat" and they came up with the SVT bass amp.

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 15 Feb 2003 6:40 am

I've found modification info on the internet that converts the amp to 59 bassman specs and adds a few more preamp variables. For clean sound, I'm not sure it's required? It does need to be checked over and cleaned up however.
I got this amp with a YF-10 bass bottom. One speaker is frozen. Does anyone know where I might find a used replacement 10" speaker? I'm told they are either Marsland or World Radio? It doesn't look like it can be reconed.
Thanks
Dennis

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 25 Feb 2003 6:57 pm

What is the size of this Traynor amp? I've considered getting an all tube head but the Showmans are pretty large and heavy and a Bassman doesn't have quite enough juice for many situations.

A couple of years ago I had a shot at a very early Showman and it wasn't much bigger than a Bassman. Didn't get to play thru it but the tone must have been killer.

I currenly use a rack rig with a SS power amp and a TubeWorks pre-amp. Very nice sound. For smaller gigs I've been using a Fender Deluxe Hot Rod which also has a great tone and more gain than you'd expect from a 40 watt amp.
--JR