Traynor YGL-3 Mark III

[plato67]

Who has one of these beasts?
What do you think of it?

[NB-SK]

I do.

What do I think of it? I've had someone try it out for me, but I haven't played it yet. Long story, but I currently live abroad. I had wanted one of these old Traynor's for a while, so read up on the models and it was a toss up between a YGL and a YBA. I was planning on getting one when I return to Canada, but I read that the prices were going up, figured, "it's now or never", found a good deal online on a YGL (300$), now it's waiting for me in Canada.

So, my question from the other thread still stands. I got a pair of GWH Vintage 30 and a pair of their Classic Lead (at the introductory price). Which is better, Vintage 30 in the YGL, Classic Lead in an extension cab, or vis versa? What about the EL84 to 12ax7 mod that was done on my amp by the previous owner? Good idea, bad idea, or just different?

[plato67]

I got my first one on ebay for 200USD shipped. It was a combo with no speakers. Good thing, as it weighs as much as the combined weight of my 2 kids.

I popped 2 old Carvin 100 watt speakers in it and, after I grounded it and snipped the bright cap, was quite suprised at how good it sounded. I later put in 2 Celestion Lead 80's. They don't sound as great...no body to the sound.

I bought a head version off the 'bay which had been heavily modded, I'm going to use it as a project and put it back to stock...one day. I use the chassis of the first in the cab of the second to drive 2 Weber 50 watt Alnico Blue Dogs in a Vox cab. I like it alot. I also rebiased it for 6L6's which sound great.

Whatever speakers you choose...make sure they can handle the 100 watt output of this amp. Thirty watt speakers may not be the best choice.

Mine has the EL84 tube for trem. It sounds Ok to me...not as nice as my buddy's BF Twin. But I don't use it much.

I hope this helps. The YGL is a very cool under-rated amp.

BTW where in NB are you? I was born there.

[NB-SK]

So, looks like the Vintage 30 are going in the YGL and I'll use the Classic Lead for the extension cab. I think it's been grounded because it has a three prong cable. Not sure about the bright cap.

Not in NB now, but lived in Bathurst, Moncton/Riverview.

[twoheadedboy]

I'm currently playing one of the combos. I'm using the clean channel mostly for soul, funk and jazz. It works great. I like it with pedals as well. Just a good basic handwired tube amp with reverb and tremolo for a very fair price. What more could you want?

[NB-SK]

Oh, I forgot. It's been modded so that the reverb and termolo can be used on the two channels.

[ssdeluxe]

yup, got one. its a contender.
all stock except:

--better pre tubes/output tubes
--some negative feedback removed. (highly recommended, sweeter sound)
--mines el84 trem as well, didn't know you could muck with this...hmmmm any reason it would be better with 12ax7 ??
--bright cap removed
--reverb gain reduced and hi freq shelved to make reverb warmer....much better now.

--I'm thinking of putting in a small computer fan, but the big one in there is not too noisy, don't want to muck with a switch.

sorry, don't have experience with warehouse spearkers, alot of folks like these, but I have yet to hear them myself, so I can't offer an opinion on those, but....if you are using a pair, you want to be sure, as Michael has said: that you have enough power rating to handle the 100watts @ 4 ohms this sucka puts out, and it sounds its best matched properly. you can run it with a 8/16 ohm cab, but its not a great match.

hey you guys............stop telling people these are cool (shhhhhhhhh......lol !)

mines the head, they are heavy as hell and lop-sided to carry, they didn't distribute the weight well, but its amazing how this old technology, including some of the 1st master volumes around, still is viable and completey useful. I totally dig this amp, mine particularly sounds great with celi blues, but.....if I turn up loud I will blow them for sure....so I have to watch it , or get 4 of em.......but that's like 1200bucks....

[NB-SK]

The previous owner claimed the 12ax7 instead of the EL84 made the reverb sound more like that of a Fender (correct me if I'm wrong, but EL84s aren't usually used as reverb drivers, right?).

I've read the amp is actually 75watt, not 100watt. Double that at its peak (when it's overdriven and played at full volume, etc). In any case, the stock Marslands are rated 75 watt each, so the WGS "British Lead" should be handle the power (80 watt each). The two 60watt WGS "Veteran 30" apparently can handle the amp, too.

http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/power_rating_speakers.html

[traynor_garnet]

all stock except:

--some negative feedback removed. (highly recommended, sweeter sound)
--reverb gain reduced and hi freq shelved to make reverb warmer....much better now.


I don't mean to hi-jack your thread, but I would love to do these two mods to my YGM-1 (a very early one). The reverb is WAY too strong and bright and someone told me the negative feedback was also very high in this design.

TG

[plato67]

I don't mean to hi-jack your thread,

TG

No problem...we hijacked yours to begin with:smile:. I, too, would like to know more about this negative feedback. What's involved Stephen?

[bcmatt]

Hey,
I should say something. I have one of these! Had no idea what it was at first and completely under-appreciated it.

Very loud and very clean. I wanted Marshall type sounds out of it and wasn't satisfied with the lack of saturation. Have to crank up the pre-amp volume to about 9 to get some, but it isn't bad. I have since repented of my thoughts of modding it into a roaring Marshall, and appreciate it as a Fender-Twin style amp. It has a real nice clean sound, that I now appreciate and sounds beautiful with a tonebone distortion pedal when distortion is needed. So now if I use it, I turn up the master volume to about 7 or higher with the pre-amp volume around 1 or 2 to get a very sweet tone (quite clean) tone.

I had a Yorkville 1x15 cabinet I was using with it, which I discovered was causing a bit of a metallic high pitched buzz that was disturbing me. Now that it is being used with a 2x12 cab with WGS Veteran 30s, it sounds so much better. After using the other amps, I really appreciate the toneful and powerful cleans this can offer, as well as the perks of reverb and tremelo. But ya, even though it's being used as a bass amp right now, I would never sell it, because I have really grown to love it. Big, heavy, powerful, can get brighter than you could ever want it (but you can tone that down) , but I see it as a keeper for life.
I may need to replace that 15" speaker if I want to use that cab with it again, but I think 2 Veteran 30s sound great with it. So does the cab I built for it that has a Veteran 30 and a Private Jack.

[ssdeluxe]

guys............ I thought we were going to keep this secret hush hush............geeez....................lol

ok, I will harrass my brother (edwardamp.com, shameless, ..shameless plug I know) and ask him for the recipe for the neg. feedback removal/reduction, also the reverb gain reduction/bright reduction.

I will also ask him about the 12ax7 mod on the rev, makes sense to me, the el84 has too much gain in it, but I'll see what he did here.

I like the idea of trem/rev on both channels, but I also like channel 1 raw.
ITs funny, in my deluxe rev. for yrs I never touched channel one, and while in the studio a couple weeks ago, I started using it and LOVE channel one, it definately has extra punch with no tone suck.....I also like it for the same reason's on the markIII.

I'll be in touch asap with hopefully what to do with the above questions.

interesting about the warehouse spkrs, alot of folks like these, I'll have to try for myself and see.

..........now ..stop hypin' this amp !!!!!!!! lol :food-smiley-004:


p.s. as Michael mentioned, I would try snipping the bright cap on the gain channel, sounds better, since you have the bright switch (which I love for twang !).

[NB-SK]

Yeah, that would be great if you could run that by your brother. I'd love to hear his opinion on the mods that were done on my amp. Like I said, I haven't tried it myself yet. All I know is that it works because I had someone test it for me when it was delivered. As for the bright cap, snipping it does seem like the sensible thing to do. I'll have to keep that mod in mind.


Oh, and don't buy this amp....it's crap. It weighs a ton, too. What you need is one of those new, lightweight, solid state amps. LOL

[plato67]

In all seriousness, it is ridiculously heavy. So much so that I would never gig with it in combo form. That handle might as well be made of barbed wire. IF I were to hump this up or down stairs, I would install 2 vertical handles a la an AC30, or install 2 Marshal-cab type side handles. That would, however, necessitate cutting the cab.

[NB-SK]

In all seriousness, it is ridiculously heavy. So much so that I would never gig with it in combo form. That handle might as well be made of barbed wire. IF I were to hump this up or down stairs, I would install 2 vertical handles a la an AC30, or install 2 Marshal-cab type side handles. That would, however, necessitate cutting the cab.

It's just 75lbs, so it isn't really that heavy. It's the fact that your body is thrown off balance that makes it hard to carry, which makes me wonder if these were meant to be carried two at a time (it would actually be easier to carry two because each would balance the other out). In any case, Marshall-type side handles and wheels had already been installed when I bought my amp, so that takes care of the balance problem. At first I worried it might affect its value in the long run...but then I remembered why I was buying it...a great amp for just 300$ plus delivery. LOL.

[hollowbody]

a great amp for just 300$ plus delivery.

Just wondering, what did you pay for delivery? Someone is selling one for 420, and I wanted to pitch him an offer, but thought I'd get an idea of what others have paid for it.

It's all original, but missing the footswitch (any idea where I would be able to get an orig footswitch, or one that just works?)

[ssdeluxe]

I'm on it: I'll post soon as I find out from Ed about all these mods

stay tuned.

[NB-SK]

Just wondering, what did you pay for delivery? Someone is selling one for 420, and I wanted to pitch him an offer, but thought I'd get an idea of what others have paid for it.

It's all original, but missing the footswitch (any idea where I would be able to get an orig footswitch, or one that just works?)

I can't remember, exactly. I think it was 100$ or so plus brokerage fees (40 or 45$) because it was too heavy for USPS.

[plato67]

Shipping will be in the 75-100$ range. I don't think I've ever seen an original footswitch for one of these. I use a Fender one.

[bcmatt]

It's all original, but missing the footswitch (any idea where I would be able to get an orig footswitch, or one that just works?)

I bought an apex footswitch for mine for I think about $12 last year and it works great. Any latching switch (if I remember correctly) should work. I got a double switch that came with a 1/4" TRS to TRS (stereo) cable.
What you need (and I also bought for about $10) is a cable that goes from 1 stereo 1/4" plug into two separate mono 1/4" plugs. Each of the mono ends plug into the back of the amp (tremelo footswitch jack and reverb footswitch jack), while the stereo end plugs into the double footswitch. I sometimes use the stereo cable (that came with the pedal) and a stereo cigar to connect between the pedal and the splitting cable to give me an extra 10 feet if I am standing far from the amp. Does this make sense? I spent less than $25 at L&M to get this setup (plus another $8 at circuit city for the cigar (what a ripoff)).

[hollowbody]

I bought an apex footswitch for mine for I think about $12 last year and it works great. Any latching switch (if I remember correctly) should work. I got a double switch that came with a 1/4" TRS to TRS (stereo) cable.
What you need (and I also bought for about $10) is a cable that goes from 1 stereo 1/4" plug into two separate mono 1/4" plugs. Each of the mono ends plug into the back of the amp (tremelo footswitch jack and reverb footswitch jack), while the stereo end plugs into the double footswitch. I sometimes use the stereo cable (that came with the pedal) and a stereo cigar to connect between the pedal and the splitting cable to give me an extra 10 feet if I am standing far from the amp. Does this make sense? I spent less than $25 at L&M to get this setup (plus another $8 at circuit city for the cigar (what a ripoff)).


Gotcha, thanks for the tip. Hopefully I can find that same apex switch you got. I'd hate to end up having to spring for a boss switch that'll run me 50 bucks.

I might be picking the YGL up this weekend, and I am sooooo excited right now. Can't wait to hear what kind of difference there is in sound between it and my YCV40.

[NB-SK]

I bought an apex footswitch for mine for I think about $12 last year and it works great. Any latching switch (if I remember correctly) should work. I got a double switch that came with a 1/4" TRS to TRS (stereo) cable.
What you need (and I also bought for about $10) is a cable that goes from 1 stereo 1/4" plug into two separate mono 1/4" plugs. Each of the mono ends plug into the back of the amp (tremelo footswitch jack and reverb footswitch jack), while the stereo end plugs into the double footswitch. I sometimes use the stereo cable (that came with the pedal) and a stereo cigar to connect between the pedal and the splitting cable to give me an extra 10 feet if I am standing far from the amp. Does this make sense? I spent less than $25 at L&M to get this setup (plus another $8 at circuit city for the cigar (what a ripoff)).


Well, that answers the only other question I had about this amp. You have no idea how often I've looked for this info on the net. You're the first one to post this, apparently.

[bcmatt]

Well, that answers the only other question I had about this amp. You have no idea how often I've looked for this info on the net. You're the first one to post this, apparently.

Wow! Really? I never thought I would ever say anything useful on here. Now, I'll feel bad if it is actually non-latching. IN any case, it's a cheap buy at Long & McQuade and if it doesn't work, you can take it back and try another one as long as it is less than 30 days.
I did forget to mention one negative thing though. I think the pedal introduced a little bit of hum when it was engaged, if that is possible. Maybe it was only when I had it at full 20' length. I'll check tomorrow and let you know once I've tested it.

[NB-SK]

Nope, I'm not kidding.

"Any latching switch (if I remember correctly) should work. I got a double switch that came with a 1/4" TRS to TRS (stereo) cable.
What you need (and I also bought for about $10) is a cable that goes from 1 stereo 1/4" plug into two separate mono 1/4" plugs. Each of the mono ends plug into the back of the amp (tremelo footswitch jack and reverb footswitch jack), while the stereo end plugs into the double footswitch."

That is the most complete info I found on footswitches for this amp.

I had found some posts on this, but they often left out whether it should be a one button/two buttons or one wire/two wires foot switch...and they never explained how to hook it up, or at least not as clearly as you did.

[bcmatt]

Ok, I did some testing today of the footswitch(es) and took pictures of the setup. I found out some new stuff about it too regarding buzzing and posted it with the pictures on my blog here just now. Check it out:
http://yeomansinstruments.blogspot.com/

[NB-SK]

Cool blog. Thanks.

[NB-SK]

ssdeluxe, did you get a chance to ask your brother about those mods?

[ssdeluxe]

yes !!>..sorry for the delay on this......he's notorious for taking his time...............I'll give him a nudge and report back....

bcmatt, that is a cool blog ! :food-smiley-004:

[hollowbody]

K, so I just got my YGL-3 today! I'm just waiting for it to hit room temperature so I can fire it up (don't wanna shatter the tubes!)

What the heck is this ground switch on the back? it's in the up position currently. The amp has a two prong cord on it currently, so should the switch be up or down? I don't wanna blow it up, or set my house on fire!

Also, I'd like to slap a three-pronger on there eventually. What does that entail???

[gerald guerrero]

I have one. Bland sounding amp. Once called a twin on steriods, but the cleans arent fendery. I am thinking of selling mine, but only keeping it around as a bass ampo since its so clean and powerfull.

[NB-SK]

I have one. Bland sounding amp. Once called a twin on steriods, but the cleans arent fendery. I am thinking of selling mine, but only keeping it around as a bass ampo since its so clean and powerfull.

What tubes do you have in it? That might be the answer. 6CA7s aren't exactly Fendery in tone. I read that Eddie Van Halen used those in a Marshall amp on the first couple of Van Halen albums, so maybe not the cleanest sounding tubes. If you're really after a Fender clean tone, swap those with 6L6s or 5881s (don't forget to rebias).

[ssdeluxe]

HERE THEY ARE! : THE EDWARDAMP.COM JGL MODS! :


ok...sorry for the delay, my brother was gracious enough to put his mods in pdf form and attach schem. pics for those savy enough to try it yourself.

n.b . mod 2 is the mod for the neg. feedback reduction (it was not stated by Ed as so, just wanted to be clear.)

http://www.edwardamp.com/TraynorYGL-3AMKIIImod.pdf


hope you guys find these useful !
take care

p.s.Hey Gerald, perhaps yours was not sounding its best because of spk impedence mismatch, these are the uncommon 4ohms output. When tweaked, this is one mighty nice sounding amp, I have to say, I really really like mine with all the mods and the tesla el34's going into celi blues (100watts,...I gotta be careful....blues are only 15w ea. :0 ...maybe gold's are in order here......)

[plato67]

Right On! Thanks Stephen.

[ssdeluxe]

my pleasure Michael, I think all these mods have made this amp just as good as any in my pile o amps, truly terrifc and I think 6l6 versions would sound great as well, just more in the fender vain, whereas, with the tesla 34's, mine goes into marsh/vox chime with the blues' attached.

p.s. you know what to do when you get bored of that ugly carr slant6 ;)