Spring Cleaning

[Michelle]

Hey! Thank god it's friday! Sunny day here and it's 16deg C in the garage.....

This is my YGM-3:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/mar06_amp.jpg

(Scene staged for effect); I've had this for over 20yrs, it had a rough life before I bought it

Tubes are NOS Sylvainia origin Japan. USA, W. Germany, I got a pile of tubes

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/mar06_amp_chassis3.jpg

See the charring around the op xfmr? Someone put new op & pwr xfmr and 60W Roland spkr in it befopre I bought it for $100 + my old MusicMaster bass, (in 1983, a mermaid I should be).
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/mar06_amp_chassis2.jpg

Wiring is in good condition, nothing on-board has been overheated, caps aren't leaking but I'm gonna do them anyway.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/mar06_amp_chassis.jpg

This thing kicks-ass!
Have a great weekend!
Mich

[Wild Bill]

The YGM3 has got to be one of the best and most popular amps Pete ever made. Every couple of months another one comes into my shop. There's one waiting to be picked up right now.

Great design! The output tubes being EL84s means its easy to get some good power amp distortion. The tone control circuit is a Baxandall, which means to a player that instead of just treble/mid/bass cuts you put the controls in the middle and you have true cut and boost to treble and bass. Put both on 10 and you have scooped mids. Put both on 0 and you have mid boost. Halfway and things are nice and flat for an acoustic.

The amp is easy and quick to work on. Yep, your filter caps are living on borrowed time and should be replaced (they slowly dry up inside whether the amp is in use or not) but the job is easy and the amp will be fine for another 20-30 years! The cab is a little large but that's because Pete knew his stuff. There's no substitute for a larger speaker cab if you want tone and efficiency. That's why the YGM3 is louder at 30 watts than many amps running 50.

About the only upgrade I ever suggest is the speaker. In the old days Traynor used Marslands from Kitchener/Waterloo, which grew out of the ashes of the old Radio Speakers of Canada company. They had ok tone but weren't overly loud. Put in an Eminence or a Weber and you can scare people!:eek:

We ALL owe Pete a beer!:food-smiley-004:

[Bevo]

Bit off topic but what kind of truck is that? I have a 54 Merc with the same bed style.

Bev

[Graham]

Bit off topic but what kind of truck is that? I have a 54 Merc with the same bed style.

Bev

I was going to ask the same thing.Drool

[Adicted to Tubes]

Michele,
I love the "amp in a truck" picture! Cool!Your avatar shows three fingers.Are we supposed to read between the lines?:confused-smiley-010
I have a couple of cool Traynor amps too.A 1968 Signature with a 1-15 RSC alnico and a Studio mate with 4-8's.Both are way cool amps.
Wild Bill,
I wonder if my studio mate has a baxandall tone stack too? I love the little bastard! The reverb is to die for,and not a reverb transformer in sight.

[mandocaster]

Michele,
I love the "amp in a truck" picture! Cool!Your avatar shows three fingers.Are we supposed to read between the lines?
I have a couple of cool Traynor amps too.A 1968 Signature with a 1-15 RSC alnico and a Studio mate with 4-8's.Both are way cool amps.
Wild Bill,
I wonder if my studio mate has a baxandall tone stack too? I love the little bastard! The reverb is to die for,and not a reverb transformer in sight.

ATT in a room full of solid state stuff.....:mad: :mad:

When little glass bottles full of filaments & plates abound=Drool Drool

[Wild Bill]

Michele,

Wild Bill,
I wonder if my studio mate has a baxandall tone stack too? I love the little bastard! The reverb is to die for,and not a reverb transformer in sight.

Yep! It's the same amp, a YGM3 with a different speaker setup. The trick of driving the reverb tank through a big cap and not a transformer does give a different sound. Not everybody's cup of tea. Seems folks either love it or hate it, no inbetween.

Me, I like it. If you want to nail that Bryan Adams tone ("Summer of 69") these are the amps that do it!:rockon2:

[Michelle]

Michele,
I love the "amp in a truck" picture! Cool!Your avatar shows three fingers.Are we supposed to read between the lines?:confused-smiley-010

No, that's actually two fingers, the other 'finger' is a part of my arm, what were you thinkin'? :)

Bevo; The truck is a '79 F100, don'tcha just love vintage gear!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/Jan06_snowtruck.jpg

[bRian]

Michelle, that's a beautiful truck, one of my favorite Fords. Looks like it's in fantastic shape.

[Bevo]

Thats a nice truck, my Dad had a fleetside of the same one..

Reminds me I have to get my engine into my 54 now that its a bit warmer out here..

Oh yeah good luck with the amp.
Bev

[bRian]

Michelle, just bagged a YGM-3 last night, in very good condition. No tears in the tolex or grille cloth. Mine has the Traynor logo mounted on the left. My tubes are laid out a little different than your too. The 12AX7's on mine are all in a row. I see also your reverb tank is mounted under your chassis, mine is below the speaker. My cousin has a YGM-3 also and his logo is mounted on the top center of the baffle. My logo is flat whereas the letters in his are raised and mine has amp corners. I'm not sure how to date these yet. My serial #starts with 2 as does my cousin's but they have different cosmetics. I'll throw some pics up later on.

[Michelle]

Hey Brian; Here is a link to Velvet Black which is a really cool Traynor page, they have the dating info:

http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~dace/vb/

I go the filter caps for mine at the local electronics distributor, cost me $18ea for dual 50uf/500V, not sure if they ripped me. Anyway, just need to figure how I'm going to physically mount them, the wiring is simple, and it will be back in biz.

Bill: Thanks for your usual great advise!

Michelle

[Wild Bill]

I go the filter caps for mine at the local electronics distributor, cost me $18ea for dual 50uf/500V, not sure if they ripped me. Anyway, just need to figure how I'm going to physically mount them, the wiring is simple, and it will be back in biz.

Bill: Thanks for your usual great advise!

Michelle

You're welcome! :wave:

$18 is not bad for a local electronics disti. I'm VERY surprised they had them! Mainstream electronics distis stopped carrying high voltage filters years ago. Transistor stuff rarely calls for more than an 80 volt or so rating. Caps for tube stuff might sell at a rate of one or two a year! They'd lose more on the floors.

That's why we have specialty suppliers on the net. They can get enough volume to get the franchise for a brand of tube type caps in the first place. I get mine from http://www.thetubestore.com Usually I buy JJs. Reasonably priced and never had a bad one yet. They sell a 50/50 @ 500 for about $10 U$. Your local store may have brought them in from someone like them and marked them up. Since they paid the shipping then you did ok.

Besides, this advice is coming from a guy, Michelle! If the difference in price is less than a beer or two we don't get excited!:food-smiley-004:

Anyhow, you almost certainly got the can style with the terminals out the bottom. I haven't seen tubular caps with wires like your Mallorys in 30 years. The can style is designed to go with a clamp. You punch a hole in the chassis and mount the can vertically from the top with the terminals on the bottom entering the inside of the chassis. The clamps are available from thetubestore as well, or maybe at your local source. They come in different sizes for different diameter cans.

You can also wander around Home Depot and look for an electrical or plumbing clamp. That would let you just mount the can on its side on the under-chassis and not have to punch a hole.

Whatever, its worth it!:rockon2:

[Michelle]

Hi Bill; The distributor here is great because a few of the guys are musicians so they stock tubes, the right pots, good jacks, and these caps. They are JJ's. I'm thinkin' that they gave me the 'retail' price, shit, should have asked for the Aliant discount. No biggie, just a little suprised at the price. "For What it's Worth?" It *is* worth it. Also meant to ask them about Webers/Celestions/Eminence, etc, and dummy loads, next time. I'm a little GAS-broke over the new Ampeg.

I don't think I'll punch holes in the chassis though I do have the clamps, (save for future fix - $1.36ea). I was thinking about those ty-raps that have a mtg hole on the end, should be ok, if not, it's off to CDN Tire to check what's in plumbing and automotive. I'm gonna heat-shrink the leads on the caps just in case they free themselves from whatever I use to clamp 'em.

Guess I gotta go back to work now.
Have a great day!
Michelle

[bRian]

Here's some pics. The tubes are: GT EL84's, and GE 12AX7's.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m251/Caper177/100_4306.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m251/Caper177/100_4297.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m251/Caper177/100_4230.jpg

[jcayer]

I go the filter caps for mine at the local electronics distributor, cost me $18ea for dual 50uf/500V, ...
Michelle


Michelle,

did you bought some lefthanded caps ? :tongue: :wink:

[Adicted to Tubes]

Hey Brian,

I have the same amp only with 4-8" speakers.It's a little newer model with reverb and trem.I like it a lot,but my 18 watt with 6V6's blows it away even without reverb.I may be putting a pair of 6V6's in the Traynor soon.Love the tone with octal tubes better than fixed bias EL-84's.Now cathode biased EL84's are cool.

Michelle,
sorry about the 'finger' thing.I guess my old eyes are getting bad.Got a bigger picture of yourself?:rockon2:

[bRian]

I gutted mine today and gave it a good cleaning. I must say they are well constructed; trust me you don't want to take one apart without a cordless drill:eek: . Lottsa screws. I gave the pots a cleaning, replaced the power cord, no ground on it when I got it, and cleaned the reverb and speaker connection. The cab is all birch, I'm impressed. I've heard that the speakers were the only weak spot in these amps and when you see how cheaply they are made you would agree. It actually sounds better than one would expect but I think I'll be looking at a Weber later on down the road. When I took the chassis out I saw they glued the original schematic underneath the top of the cab; why couldn't they have glued it to the back of the speaker cover. The schematic was dated 1969 with revisions in 69, 70, and 71. Is there much work involved in doing the 6V6 conversion?

[Michelle]

Michelle,

did you bought some lefthanded caps ? :tongue: :wink:

ah-hahaha, no, they only had right-handed so I had to convert them, that's ok, I'm used to living in the mirror. :wave:

[Michelle]

Michelle,
sorry about the 'finger' thing.I guess my old eyes are getting bad.Got a bigger picture of yourself?:rockon2:

It got me too A2T, lemme see if I got a pic..........

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/Oct06_barnwood.jpg

At the Barnwood, identities of the innocent have been protected!

I'm gonna change my avatar sometime. :eek:

[Michelle]

I gutted mine today and gave it a good cleaning....

That amp is so clean! It's like new, beautiful bRian!

I did the filter caps on the weekend and put in an un-matched set of NOS Phillips 'made in GB' 6BQ5's, it sounds awesome, quiet, sweet, crunchy... Those ty-rap thingies work really well.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/flt_cap.jpg

I want more of these old Traynors! :bow:

[bRian]

Yep, I sure lucked out Michelle. I bought an Eminence Legend speaker yesterday, might have it by the end of the week. I'll order a couple of tube retainers for the power tubes and filter caps from the tubestore soon.

[bRian]

Well I got the Eminence Legend today and dropped it in; it sounds much better in an open cab, imo. I didn't like it at all after I closed the cab up. Not enough bottom end for my liking. I'm looking for a speaker for clean country, this one is probably more suited for blues and rock with a bit of grit. ONe thing about it though it is loud. I can't believe the power in these amps, my ears were ringing after 10 minutes; back to 1 on the volume control. I was getting a loud snap when I switched the amp to standby and a friend told me a loose power tube socket would cause that. Sure enough I remembered one was loose so I removed both sockets and installed new ones; problem solved. Next will be a new set of filter caps and this puppy will be good for the next couple of decades.

[Michelle]

Well I got the Eminence Legend today and dropped it in; it sounds much better in an open cab, imo. I didn't like it at all after I closed the cab up............

Hey bRian; Mine lost it's back before I got it, you're absolutely right about what these can deliver. Give it about 7 with an overdrive, lots of bass, a little reverb, a wah pedal and stand in front of it. Like a religious experience for me. I love it when the sound travels thru me.

My summer adventure is to check out as many yard sales & flea markets to find more Traynor anythings. I passed up an old 4-10" model last year, it looked like an old Traynor but was solid-state, speaker wires were off so I knew the op transistors were shot, and the ser# was ground off, that pissed me off so I walked away.

Mich