Traynor Guitar Combo Amplifiers

The Traynor YCV40WR is an older model design that works well for musicians looking for something that has a decent variety of tones in a simple and portable package. This particular amp is loaded with 5881 (6L6) power tubes and puts out 40 watts of power. It has two channels, each with its own EQ (bass, middle, treble) and volume controls. The drive channel also has a gain knob and an onboard boost. There is also a master presence control as well as reverb too. It's loaded with the classic Celestion Vintage 30 speaker as well. There is also an effects loop located on the rear panel of the amp for pedal fiends as well. Definitely a great feature-set that combines everything you need with nothing that you don't! UTILIZATION Getting a good sound out of this amp is pretty easy to do overall. It was designed to be a sort of jack-of-all-trades kind of deal, something that will cover a whole variety of tones that really work well for everything from jazz or blues to some rock and possibly even metal tones as well. They're not exactly designed to do extremely KILLER cleans or the highest gain of metal fury tones, but it will get a great balance between the clean and drive modes for the gigging/jamming musician who needs everything all in one. SOUNDS This amp sounds better than some of Traynor's newer offerings that at all mention the phrase "high gain," that's certainly sure. It's definitely got a pretty classic vibe to it overall... The clean channel is very Fenderesque to my ears. The 6L6 tubes and typical Fender style tonestack provide some great classic clean tones. They don't quite have the woodiness/glassiness of the classic Twins and Deluxes but as a reasonable facsimile they're not bad. The drive channel is nice for what it is. It's smoother in tonality and I find it works best for lower gain crunch tones (for blues or early classic rock styles) or for smoother lead type tones perhaps using an overdrive pedal as a booster. It's not a ridiculously high gain amplifier by any means, but if you hit it with the right pedal you can get into some harder rock or metal tones. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Traynor YCV40WR is pretty good. It's nice and versatile and does clean and drive tones all in one. The tones are good and lack the overcompressed nature of a lot of newer Traynor gear. Being that I'm in Canada I run across a LOT of these amps in gig and jam scenarios so I've learned to work with them the best I can. They can be had for about $500 used which is a decent deal considering that you're getting a good sounding quality tube amp that will work very well for everything from jazz to classic rock.