New Traynor

[Tarl]

I picked up a new Traynor YCS 50 yesterday. Needless to say I am very early in the honeymoon stage. Here are some thoughts and impressions so far...

-I love the 15 watt mode, the saturation is great
-it sounds wonderfull through my 2x12 with Hellatones in it
-super versitile...lotsa knobs and buttons to taylor the sound
-a little dissapointed in the clean (US) channel, it,s still very good though
-new tubes may just cure the above observation
-very well built for the $$$$
-the distortion channel is great, again lots of options
-the expander button is useless
-I have no use for the scoop button
-I like the modern button (tries to head into recto territory)
-resonance and presence controls work but are not as effective as they should be
-it does not seem to like my chorus pedal a whole lot, gotta work on that one with the send and return controls

[Budda]

you dont like the expander button? hm. i enjoyed what it did for my cleans on the YCV80.

clips any time?

[I_cant_play]

that's strange. Maybe the expander on the cv80 was different but when I tried the 80 I thought it made the cleans ridiculously good.

[al3d]

how much is it selling for ?...i know in the states it's 749$ but in canada prices seems to varry a lot

[Tarl]

how much is it selling for ?...i know in the states it's 749$ but in canada prices seems to varry a lot

I got it for $789. The expander might work for some but it's not to my liking, so far at least. This thing has so many tones in it I'm sure it will take a week or two of playing to discover what it can really do. So far I am finding my dirt alot easier to dial in than my clean....just the opposite of my V.

[aC2rs]

Did you get the YCS50 combo or the YCS50H head?

I ask because you said you were running it through a 2X12 cab.

[Kapo_Polenton]

Wow, these amps are a steal at that price! In a world full of boutique builders, its nice to know you can still find quality for under 1000$

[Greg Ellis]

Lucky dog! I've been dreaming about this amp. If only I had the funds available...

I'm wondering if Traynor will make a matching closed-back cab for the 50 watt combo. That would look SO cool stacked up!

[Tarl]

Did you get the YCS50 combo or the YCS50H head?

I ask because you said you were running it through a 2X12 cab.

I got the combo and run it with my cab for a 3x12, and it sounds great. My cab is actually 16 ohms, plus the 8 in the combo, so a 12 ohm load. I e-mailed Traynor and this actually means the amp runs at about 10 and 40 watts instead of 15 and 50 and it should not hurt as long as the load is above 8 ohms (in the 8 ohm setting). I also do this with my Crate 50 watt V series. My V is about 3 years old and was made in the US.....so i have 2 made in North America all tube amps for under $1800.....not bad I think.

[dmish]

Tarl,
Do you mind if I ask where you purchased your new traynor amp? My local retailer are quite a bit more expensive than the $789 you stated.
Thanks,
dmish

[dr_iggi]

Do you mind if I ask where you purchased your new traynor amp? My local retailer are quite a bit more expensive than the $789 you stated.

It was $855 at my local L&M. I am not sure why the difference in pricing.

[Tarl]

Tarl,
Do you mind if I ask where you purchased your new traynor amp? My local retailer are quite a bit more expensive than the $789 you stated.
Thanks,
dmish

I got it a Renaisance Music in Kingston. Unfortunatly the amp was returned. Great amp but I could just not find a clean sound that blew me away. The distortion was amazing but the clean on my V sounds better to my ears.

[dmish]

I got it a Renaisance Music in Kingston. Unfortunatly the amp was returned. Great amp but I could just not find a clean sound that blew me away. The distortion was amazing but the clean on my V sounds better to my ears.

I have my amp choice down to YCS50 and a fender '65 deluxe reverb. I'm really impressed with the versatility of the YCS50, but now i'm a little concerned that i may not be able to get close to the fender clean.
Thanks for the input. If anyone has anything else to offer, feel free.

[hollowbody]

I got it a Renaisance Music in Kingston. Unfortunatly the amp was returned. Great amp but I could just not find a clean sound that blew me away. The distortion was amazing but the clean on my V sounds better to my ears.

+1 to Rennaisance! I got my Dot there for $560 with a case and taxes included! Good people, but they don't just offer great prices to anyone. They definitely appreciate return customers though!

[Greg Ellis]

Great amp but I could just not find a clean sound that blew me away. The distortion was amazing but the clean on my V sounds better to my ears.

Out of curiousity, how long did you work on it?

Did you try the Brit vs US switch to move the tone stack?

What did you feel was lacking in the clean sounds coming out of the YCV?

No insult intended, I'm interested in this amp and any experiences people have with it, good or bad.

[Tarl]

Out of curiousity, how long did you work on it?

Did you try the Brit vs US switch to move the tone stack?

What did you feel was lacking in the clean sounds coming out of the YCV?

No insult intended, I'm interested in this amp and any experiences people have with it, good or bad.

First of all not to confuse anyone but it was a YCS50 not the YCV50....I was very impressed with the amp or I would not have bought it. The thing I really like about the amp is the ability to run in 15 watt mode and it's versatility. It is a great amp and I would recommend it to anyone. As I said earlier the distortion channels are fantastic only the clean side let me down. I tinkered with it for four days using mainly the US voicing but trying the Brit also. The clean is very well done but it did not surpass my Crate V. I found the US clean to be a bit spikey on the treble side and the bass just did not sound full to me...it seemmed to overpower the sound rather than augment it.....hope that makes sense. I also tried a Danolectro Fish N Chips EQ pedal in front to try and tame it. I was looking for a super clean and full bodied sound with a shimmer to it....I guess sort of a Dave Gilmour tone. I also use a chorus pedal all the time for my cleans and this amp did not take well to my pedal (a Digitech Multichorus) although all my other pedals sounded fine. I tried it in front and through the loop. The stock tubes were Sovtek and I swapped them with both JJs and Svetlana tubes I had around. The JJs did make things better both for dirty and clean but again I could not achieve the tone I had in mind. One last thing that I am sure made a difference in tone is that the YCS50 had a new, and relitively, stiff Celestion V30 in it. My V has a 3 year old and very well broken in Tone Tubby Hempcore speaker in it. Hope this information helps.....tone is so subjective everyone has to judge for themselves. Again I,m sure 95 percent of folks would love this amp. Believe me it was a very tough decision to return it.

[Greg Ellis]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

[nitehawk55]

I think a 5751 in the preamp stage would tighten those amps up a lot on the clean channel and still leave lots of distortion on the 2nd channel .