Traynor

As the world of "lunchbox" amps begins to get dangerously overcrowded, it's becoming harder to justify not owning at least one of them. A few years ago, amps like these were hard to find. Now they're everywhere and every manufacturer has one. Traynor's darkhorse lives up to its name though by looking different right out of the box. Seriously, you can see the transformers! That's something new. The internals are no surprises. 6V6 tubes. 15 watts. It has three tonestack settings: USA, brit, and pure. The pure is basically a bypass. I elected not to get the extension cab. Although I am used it in with a matchless 212 with greenbacks so i can't be too far off. UTILIZATION There's really not that much to the Darkhorse. It doesn't even have a gain knob. Just pure master volume amp tones. I will say though, for a tiny little thing this is built about as tough as any lunchbox amp I have played. The design gives you that vibe as well, that this is an amp that was designed with a military spec or something. SOUNDS The USA setting has kind of an overdriven fender tweed thing going on. But when you push it, there's some heavy overdrive to be had. Kind of Sounds like a Mesa Mark I in a way. Impressive. The Pure channel is really really loud, and is also probably the gainiest. It sounds best for strumming rock stuff and not much else. But still a sick channel. The brit channel is probably the most aggressive sounding. You can get a lot of gain out of it with some tweaking, probably even more than the Pure channel. It doesn't sound quite traditional enough for me though. I wish it sounded more marshally. Don't expect any super high gain out of this thing. It can get into led zeppelin territory. That's about it. OVERALL OPINION The midrange voicing is fixed, and for me that's kind of annoying so that's probably the only big gripe. It's surprisingly versatile. It can do blues to heavy rock and everything in between. Not metal though. Sorry. I would like to try it with some different speakers to see if I can get it to sound a bit different. The lack of a full eq is a real shame. I feel like as it stands, this is a really good amp, but a couple more features could make it great.

Got this glorious tone-glutton from Texas Music Emporium on 1960. Walked in, asked about tube amps and the salesman directed me towards the amp of my dreams. The prodigal son had returned. Once I plugged in I had to have it. Was on sale for $499.00 and then he threw in an amp-stand for $25. Overall it cost me near $550.00, friggin WELL SPENT!!! 40 watts, don't be mistaken, in a well-built amp like this 40 watts seems like 200!! 3 12ax7a preamp tubs, 2 6l6g8 power amp tubes. Autobalancing bias supply, low-noise power supply, 12" celestion speaker. Clean channel and OD channel, with boost makes it like 3 channels. Bright switch on clean fills room with shimmery goodness. Comes with pedal. Core overdrive on this amp is creamy and warm with sweet tube distortion. Clean channel is soft and saturated. Rich gain structure. Extremely loud when turned up. Quite frankly, best amp I have ever had the honor of playing. I would have to say NOTHING!! This amp is perfect. It was the GuitarPlayer Editors Pick for pete's sake!!!You can't go wrong with this baby. Strong, durable plywood construction with beautiful bluish black tolex and chrome plated corners. Perforated steel grille. Bottom Line-This is the first and last amp I'd ever need. If ever stolen I would hunt down the man that did it and get a brutal revenge...and then I would replace the amp as soon as possible. Excellent amp for gigging, when mic'd this amp sounds GORGEOUS! Best amp I've ever played. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Traynor TVM10 is a small battery powered amplifier built by Canadian company Traynor Amplfication. It is solid state and puts out about 10 watts of power. It's designed to be able to handle guitar, microphone or CD/MP3 inputs and run for extended periods of time for great tones even at high volumes. There are two separate channels, each with their own input and volume control. They each share a four band EQ which has bass, low midrange, high midrange, and treble. There is also auxiliary inputs as well as a 1/4" headphone jack. UTILIZATION Getting a good sound out of this amp is surprisingly easy. It's only got the two channels each with just a volume control and the four band EQ for dialing in tones. However that doesn't stop the amp from sounding really, really good. I was actually shocked the first time I plugged into it. The interface is easy enough to dial in which is great. The extra control afforded by the separate midrange controls really helps out a lot as well. There's no onboard overdrive or effects like reverb or delay so you're left having to use pedals if you want versatility. However the core tones out of this little amp really are excellent clean tones, so as long as you're fine with using dry cleans or pedals, you're set to go! SOUNDS This amp, though it's basically a little monitor still manages to somehow sound really excellent. I'm not sure how Traynor did it but they were able to pack a ridiculously gutsy and powerful sounding clean tone that works so well for funk or blues type sounds into such a little package. It almost sounds like there is a built in compressor or limiter that ever so slightly distorts the signal giving some great natural sounding breakup to the sound. Considering that this is a tiny little solid state amp, that comes as a surprise. Using single coils yields some great classic funk and country tones, and switching over to humbuckers thickens up to the tone for some clean classic rock type textures with a hint of natural breakup... oh yeah! OVERALL OPINION All in all I think this amp is really fantastic for the cash. They're about $170 new and to me that's a fantastic deal considering that you've got a great sounding small amplifier that's not overly loud (yet loud enough) and is portable, plus can deal with not only guitar, but also microphone and your CD/MP3 player as well! I'm definitely impressed and definitely would recommend this to someone who needs a little amp that trades extra features in on a tone that rocks.

The Traynor YCS50 was introduced by the company within the last few years as an update to their more traditional line of combo amps. It was built to emulate a more British range of tones in a pleasing 50 watt head. The amp features two channels, clean and drive and has a fairly standard control setup overall. Each channel has its own gain, volume, treble, middle, bass, reverb and effects return volume (effects loop) controls. There is also a master presence, resonance and volume control section as well. To cap things off there is a boost section available for the drive channel that allows the user to get a bit more saturation and volume if desired for things like solos. The amp puts out 50 watts of tube power, switchable down to 15 and runs on EL34s as stock. UTILIZATION Getting a good sound out of this amp isn't difficult, but it's not my favourite tone when you dial it in. The controls are pretty intuitive and easy to understand and use which is nice. It's not overly complex like a Boogie or similar amps which is great for not spending endless hours tweaking tones. The two channels have almost identical control layouts, the drive channel being on the top and the clean channel being below that. The only difference between them is the onboard boost section for the drive channel. Upon plugging in, the first reaction I had is that it sounded like your fairly typical 50 watt EL34 powered head. The cleans had a nice shimmer at times but could seem a little flat or bland as well. The drive tones were nice and crunchy, but lacked a little of that booming low end or sizzling high end that I look for in a Marshall style amp. SOUNDS The amp was auditioned mainly through the matching Traynor 4x12 with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. It's the type of amp that has very promising features, so I hoped the sound would really blow me away. Well... it's not that the amp sounds BAD or anything, it just really doesn't do anything to sound unique or cool to my ears. The clean tones were pretty average to my ears... they could have a bit of flair at times but on most occasions they ended up just sounding rather generic at best. There wasn't any of that classic Fender woodness or VOX chime. The drive tones were better, and offered some nice classic rock/early metal crunch. However it's not the most high gain amp in the world, so it didn't work for much beyond '80s rock to me. The tones I got from that channel were decent but tended to lack the top end sizzle as well as the huger low end that I look for in EL34 designs nowadays. It ended up sounding like a pretty standard Marshally amp, but without the characteristics that I really look for in such a design. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Traynor YCS50 head is a decent buy for someone on a budget looking for classic British type tones in a convenient package. It's not the most remarkable sounding amp but it gets the job done in a gig or jam scenario. For those who aren't total tone snobs and just want a standard sounding EL34 loaded head with some good features at a fair price this one is worth a look. It's priced well at about $800 new, which is pretty reasonable given the features. It's not something I'd ever look at myself being that it doesn't really fall in the tonal spectrum of what I look for in a British type head, but maybe for others it would work well.

The Traynor YBA-2B Bass Mate is a bass guitar combo amp. It's a pretty compact amplifier and is all tube based. I don't know the exact years on this amp, but there are two versions of this amp with different tubes. I believe the one I've used is from the late 60's, which is the one pictured above. This version of the amp has 6V6 tubes and a 15" speaker. It's got two separate 1/4" inputs in the front and I don't know what's on the back panel since I've never had to make any connections back there... UTILIZATION The front panel of the Traynor YBA-2B Bass Mate couldn't be any easier to operate, as it only has three knobs. These include controls for bass and treble EQ control and one for overall volume control. That's all there is to using the amp, so definitely no need for a manual. SOUNDS The Traynor YBA-2B Bass Mate absolutely rips! I've only used it for bass guitar, but it's probably pretty great for guitar as well. As for it's use with bass, this is really the perfect recording amp. It might not be as good for live shows, since it's got a certain sound and is best suited when blended with a more defined DI sound. It's definitely an aggressive sound, which is usually I'm looking for in a bass amp sound. I've used it with a Fender P-Bass, which really blended well with the vibe of this amp. OVERALL OPINION The Traynor YBA-2B Bass Mate is truly an awesome amp for guitar and while I can't say so from experience, I'd bet it sounds great for guitar as well. It packs a lot of punch for a pretty compact amp, though it's vertically tall. I really love the vibe of this amp, but it wouldn't be the best choice for an all purpose bass amp since it's pretty old and fragile. Be sure to see the difference between older and later versions of the Traynor YBA-2B Bass Mate as they're quite different!

The Traynor YRM-1 Reverb Master is an amp head designed for guitar. The amp has both reverb and tremolo effects and is overall there isn't anything out of the ordinary on this amp. The amp is a tube based one and I'm not sure the exact wattage on it, but this amp really cranks! Even when I have it on one or two, it is more than enough volume for me to work with. The amp has two 1/4 inch inputs in the front and a speaker output in the back for sending this to a cabinet. UTILIZATION The make up of the Traynor YRM-1 Reverb Master isn't too hard to figure out as the parameters seen here are pretty ubiquitous. You've got a volume knob as well as EQ knobs for bass and treble. For the effects you have a reverb knob and intensity and speed knobs to control the tremolo, and lastly you've got a master volume knob. Since everything is pretty self explanatory, I don't believe that a manual is needed regardless of how much experience you have. SOUNDS I usually use the Traynor YRM-1 Reverb Master amp head with either a Fender Strat or a Fender Jazzmaster for recording in my home studio and I find I can get some pretty awesome tones within this configuration. Even though there aren't any overdrive parameters, simply turning this amp up a bit will give you some really awesome tube overdrive. The clean sounds are also quite good as everything comes in clearly with a good amount of crunch. The reverb and tremolo are both great sounding effects, with the latter being my favorite of the two. This will work well for recording or for live shows... OVERALL OPINION While the Traynor YRM-1 Reverb Master isn't the easiest amp to find, if you can get your hands on one of these I think you'll be very pleased with what you hear. The amp is versatile as the effects are great sounding and in general the amp has a great inherent tone. The price of one of these would probably be about average granted you could find one. If you are interested in a tube head I can't say I would recommend seeking one of these out since they are hard to come by, but I would definitely recommend checking it out if you ever come across one.

After doing some online/in-person research into a new amp I decided to take a close look at this one. Music Castle in Berkley, MI had all three variations of this amp in stock and ready to play (2 Tube 10s, 1 70/80, 1 Vintage 30) I liked the sound of the 2x10 version slightly better than the other two and paid $545 for the unit. Simple controls! No digital effects, no MIDI, just everything you need; effects loop, 2 channels, reverb. It is loud AND has good nearfield projection - nice widespread sound, no beaming. Solid construction and a beautiful cab. Plus you can add a matching ext cab without loosing the use of the internal speakers. The reverb is subtle. Other reviews mention how you have to turn it up to get a lot of effect; duh ? I like that if its set low I get only the tinyest bit of verb and set high I get a lot, makes sense. Dual footswitch included! The extension cab jack is hard to get to. The Boost seems to deliver a bit too much low end, can sound muddy if the Bass is past ½ way. The owner's manual tells you the wiring on the TRS connector for the effects loop, however after reading it I had no clue. BUT it works, perhaps Microsoft writes their manuals. Birch plywood construction seems solid and not as heavy as some MDF constructed units I looked at. The Tolex/vinyl is of Fender quality and the application seems neat. Tubes seem conservitivly shielded and held in place with lots of spacing. While carrying around the reverb 'boings' but I don't notice this while playing. Overall I get the impression of quality workmanship and the warranty it comes with backs that impression up. Bottom line. Add an RP200 if you need digital effects. A Hot Tubes will give you all the low volume overdrive you'll ever need. For the money you're not goin to get a new amp with as many quality components or ones as well matched. Don't like the exact tone? Try different tubes or replace 1 of the speakers with a Delta Demon. Traynor's are kind of rare which is neat, any they offer the best warranty that I could find. Their dealer offered a fair trade -in on my old amp. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

How: I found myself with a decent wad oif cash, and after after dreaming of versatile amplifier for years, I picked this one up. Where: Fazio's Frets and Friends, St. Louis, MO Price: $720.00 US First of all, this is an all-tube amp, and it's a beast! The chassis is solid plywood, and you can tell when you try to pick it up. There is a steel grate in front of the speakers, too, so if you kick it, you stand no chance of damaging the the two Celestion 70/80s, and even if you do break something, or if you get your kicks at chunking Traynor amps out of your car when you're going 80 on the highway, Traynor will pay for the repairs or replace the amp altogther. Who else offers that kind of warranty? Anyway this thing has an amazing sound: at Fazio's, where I purchased the unit, there is an entire room filled with every kind of amp imaginable, from the lowest Crate, to Peaveys and Cornfords, Genz-Benzs, and even completely custom Riveras--the baseline Rivera goes for $2500. In anycase, I nabbed an Amercican Strat, and later a Parker Nightfly M, which I also purchased, and plugged it into every amp in my price range, which was up to $1000, and it came down to a 25th Anniversary Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 212 and this Traynor. With Eminence speakers, the Hot Rod cannot keep up with the Celestions in the Traynor, although the Fender seems to have its own niche more in the realm of blues. The Traynor, however, is much more versatile, or so I found it: the array of sound that you can get from the lead channel alone is unbelievable. The gain can provide as much distortion as I will ever desire, and the scoop button will automatcially pulls out the mids and boosts the bass to give a little more edge and chunk to your solos. Then there is the rhythm channel with brighness and expander switches that just make the amp sound that much better. The treble boosts and deep bottom end (respectfully) that these buttons add to your sound are enough make any electric sound like the best Breedlove or Santa Cruz acoustic guitars around (that might be stretching it, but is sounds pretty awesome). Anyway, you can add brighter attack for acoustics, or to simulate acoustics, and expand the range of frequencies to add additional warmth to the natuarally warm sound of a tube amp. I play mainly acoustics, including a Taylor 410ce, and my acoustics sound simply as good, if not better, through the Traynor as they do through a dedicated acoustic amp such as my SWR Strawberry Blonde. The versatily of this amp is unmatched--my Parker Nightfly gains an unspeakable presence when plugged into this amp. And I love spring reverb, and the reverb on this amp is no exception. (Does anyone else like that clack of the spring when you rock a tube amp?) Few amps in this price range can rival this sound, or at least that is my experience. But to change gears, this amp is the perfect gig and studio amp: it has a balanced XLR line out and a 1/4 inch line out or headphone jack, as well as a jack for extension speakers units--Traynor makes speaker cabinets that match their amps, including the sweeping rake of the front grate! Now here's the cool part: these amps have a speaker defeat so when you're in the studio and running a direct out from the amp, you don't have to unplug the speakers and take a chance at overloading the tubes: you just click the switch to turn off the speakers and add a fake load to the tubes! How cool is that! In addition the amp features a stero effect loop, and you can even adjust the volume of the natural imput going into the effects loop, as well as the volume coming out of the loop, so you can hear both the natural and "effected" sounds from the guitar and adjust the volumes of both individually--I hope that made sense. In anycase, for $720 US, I haven't found a better deal on any amp. The guy who helped me out even said he doesn't know how Traynor can pack so much into an amp and ask so little money for, and the answer is certainly not in the quality--this amp isn't like something out of China, it's made in good ol' Canada! My only qualm so far, after four weeks, is that if the amp doesn't receive full power, it has a tendency to get really bassy--not necessarily muddy, but enough to rattle something back there, most likely one of the tubes. I have this amp plugged into a socket that is on the same circuit as my washing machine, so when the laundry is going I prefer to stick with my acoustic amp simply due to the loss of sound. To go along with that, when power is not abundant, every once in a while you'll hear a big pop from the amp, and, because it is so unexpected, it's enough to stop you where you stand. But other that that, I love this amp. Again, the quality is unquestionably wonderful, and if it's not and something breaks in the next two years, which I highly doubt, Traynor will fix or give me a new one! They must have pretty good faith in their product to offer a warranty like that and I'm coming to agree with them. Try one, check 'em out, play one againt all the amps you can get your hands on. It won't sound as good as a Rivera, I understand, but any Rivera will cost you an arm and a leg! The Traynor will give you all that you need, and probably more. You will be happily surprised by this amp, just as I was, and I thought I was settled on a Hot Rod Deluxe! After several visits to guitar stores, and after a bit of shopping around, I made my decision, and I am thankful for it everyday. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Traynor TRM-30 is a small, 30 watt guitar combo amplifier. It's definitely best suited for practicing, but in theory could also be used for low level recording or live shows in a smaller settings. I'd really only recommend it for practicing, however. It's got 1/4" connections for input, line, headphones, and for a footswitch, and it also has an effects loop in the back. The speaker inside of it is 10 inches. It's got two channels, as well as built in spring reverb. UTILIZATION The make up of the Traynor TRM-30 isn't difficult to understand. If you are familiar and aware of the setting controls generally associated with guitar amplifiers, you'll feel at ease here as there isn't anything out of the ordinary to work with. Each of the two channels has parameters for gain and volume, in addition to a four band equalizer with parameters for high, mid, low, and presence controls. The spring reverb also has it's own knob for setting the amount of reverb you'd like. I haven't seen the manual for the TRM-30. SOUNDS For me, the Traynor TRM-30 doesn't have a very impressive sound. While it's fine for practicing at home if you're just getting started, I don't think that I'd recommend it for other applications. The sound isn't very vibrant, although there's a good amount of control here between the two channels, the EQ, and the reverb. That's the good news, but the bad news is that the tone quality really isn't all that great. The reverb is probably the best sounding part of the amp, as it's pretty lush sounding. This amp was made in China, which isn't true of Traynor's vintage amps, which is probably the reason for the decline in quality... OVERALL OPINION They no longer make the Traynor TRM-30, which isn't too big of a surprise to me. There are plenty of high quality amps out there for this size and/or price, but this unfortunately isn't one of them. Traynor's older amplifiers are in another world than this one. Even if you're looking for a cheap practice guitar amp, you can definitely get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

The Traynor YGM-3 Guitar Mate Reverb is a guitar combo amplifier that has two 1/4 inch connections in the front, some of which I believe have three inputs as well. The amp is a tube based amp and is one that also has some on board effects including reverb and tremolo. UTILIZATION The configuration of the Traynor YGM-3 Guitar Mate Reverb isn't hard to follow at all and will only take a glance or two to be able to understand exactly what everything does. The amp has knobs for volume, bass, treble, reverb, and speed and intensity for the tremolo effect. Getting a good sound is pretty easy especially if you are into tremolo as you simply turn up the speed and intensity and bit and you have yourself a pretty good sounding tremolo effect. The reverb is pretty good as well and I'm definitely a fan of the way this amp sound when simply used clean. Since this is a pretty old amp I've never had access to a manual but don't need one anyway as the amp is quite easy to use without one. SOUNDS The sound of the Traynor YGM-3 Guitar Mate Reverb isn't anything all that incredible but does sound really good in my opinion. The clean sound is pretty crisp and when turned up loud will give you some nice tube overdrive as is the case with most tube amplifiers. The effects are also really good on this amp as I love the tremolo and the reverb isn't half bad either. I use the amp usually with a Fender Strat or a Gibson SG and while they are varying tones of course, they both sound pretty cool with this amp. I've never used too many effects with this amp beyond a Boss DS-1 distortion as I like the reverb and tremolo enough to just need those while using the amp. OVERALL OPINION I've had the Traynor YGM-3 Guitar Mate Reverb for years as it has been in my family for a while now, way before I even used it. I've always liked the sound of this amp, but it doesn't compare to some other tube amps from a similar time like the Fender Twin Reverb, but does sound solid in its own right. You can get these amps used for a pretty decent price if you can find them and I would definitely recommend trying one out if you ever get the chance.