[Dirtghost6]

OMG yall! NAD!!
1968 Traynor YGA-1A !!!
(w/ master volume mod)

Is this the rarest traynor or what?!?
Theres hardly any talk of the yGa-1 let alone the 1A variant. Just not as many made? Orrrr?
Suppposedly the yGa-1 is the exact same as yBa-1 except the yga has tremolo in place of the mid expander on the yba, and i assume the more powerful 90w yba-1a is the same as yga-1a but same deal, swap in the trem.

By absolute coincidence just a few weeks ago i traded for a vintage (im guessing 60s ish) traynor 1x15 (original marsland that ill eventually swap out with an emi legend or something)
Anywho.. and was planning on getting a new ehx mig50 head as ive been wanting a good/simple/easy maintenance/etc tube head pedal platform but after months of obsessing i saw the traynor being sold by a reputable guitar shop on reverb, super clean/"very good" condition!
I really dig the spooky old vintage vibe and like the cool/unique /weird factor lol, not to mention its essentially the same bassman style amp but beefed up with the bigger transformers and higher plate voltage/watts and possibly just built better/tougher.

Ive had about a half hour on it. Seems preeeeetty cool! But even with the master vol the real test will be with my post punk band at practice on sunday. Cannot wait to let er rip !

Even with both channels fully cranked it only gets sooorta gritty but definitely has a nice muscley grunt!t It IS indeed very stiff/forward in its highmids/highs but not in a bad way. Must be what they mean when they say the 1A is hiwatt like. I think the bright cap mod/speaker swap could sweeten it up a bit?

Btw Im playing my eastwood la baye 2x4 with P90s and with my boss rv5 and rv3 it sounds wonderful! Fuzzes sounding nice and barky, i can tell itd be absolutely brutal for folks in the front row lol.
Cant wait to crank it in a band setting!

 

[Hammerhands]

Garnet Revolution III 4x10

I have one like this.

 

[traynor_garnet]

Posted this in another thread, but here is what my Bassmaster sounds like with 6Ca7 tubes.

TG

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

OMG yall! NAD!!
1968 Traynor YGA-1A !!!
(w/ master volume mod)

Is this the rarest traynor or what?!?
Theres hardly any talk of the yGa-1 let alone the 1A variant. Just not as many made? Orrrr?
Suppposedly the yGa-1 is the exact same as yBa-1 except the yga has tremolo in place of the mid expander on the yba, and i assume the more powerful 90w yba-1a is the same as yga-1a but same deal, swap in the trem.

By absolute coincidence just a few weeks ago i traded for a vintage (im guessing 60s ish) traynor 1x15 (original marsland that ill eventually swap out with an emi legend or something)
Anywho.. and was planning on getting a new ehx mig50 head as ive been wanting a good/simple/easy maintenance/etc tube head pedal platform but after months of obsessing i saw the traynor being sold by a reputable guitar shop on reverb, super clean/"very good" condition!
I really dig the spooky old vintage vibe and like the cool/unique /weird factor lol, not to mention its essentially the same bassman style amp but beefed up with the bigger transformers and higher plate voltage/watts and possibly just built better/tougher.

Ive had about a half hour on it. Seems preeeeetty cool! But even with the master vol the real test will be with my post punk band at practice on sunday. Cannot wait to let er rip !

Even with both channels fully cranked it only gets sooorta gritty but definitely has a nice muscley grunt!t It IS indeed very stiff/forward in its highmids/highs but not in a bad way. Must be what they mean when they say the 1A is hiwatt like. I think the bright cap mod/speaker swap could sweeten it up a bit?

Btw Im playing my eastwood la baye 2x4 with P90s and with my boss rv5 and rv3 it sounds wonderful! Fuzzes sounding nice and barky, i can tell itd be absolutely brutal for folks in the front row lol.
Cant wait to crank it in a band setting!
View attachment 614768
View attachment 614769
View attachment 614770

Both the YGA-1 and YGA-1A are YBA-1, 45w @ 8 ohms chassis with the range expanders replaced with a tremolo circuit. According to Mike Holman's history, the YGA-1 was introduced in 1965 and was a head, the YGA-1A was a 15" speaker combo version, introduced in 1966. According to photo evidence for both models the combo came first (YGA-1), and the head came second (YGA-1A). Most likely a typo when he was drawing up the history. The years would still be correct though, as he got his history from internal company documents and no one introduces a '1A' sub-model before they introduce the '1', regardless of what the item is.
The YGA-1A is not related to the YBA-1A circuit. They just have the sub-model naming convention in common.
As a general rule of thumb, the most accurate production dating for a specific pre 1970 Traynor amplifier is, year it was introduced to 1970, or most recent date ink stamp on an internal component to 1970. They cannot be dated to a specific year through internal component ink stamp dating unless an original component ink stamp indicates 1969 or 1970 as the earliest year of manufacture. 'Earliest possible year' dating can also be done through design/schematics evolutions mid-production for amp models affected by that. Posted online production year claims for pre date code serial number Traynors are pie in the sky 99.9% of the time, especially on ads for these things, but also in blog posts and forums.
These were designed to be used with the first and second generation stand alone reverb units.

 

[Paul Running]

Even with both channels fully cranked it only gets sooorta gritty but definitely has a nice muscley grunt!t It IS indeed very stiff/forward in its highmids/highs but not in a bad way. Must be what they mean when they say the 1A is hiwatt like. I think the bright cap mod/speaker swap could sweeten it up a bit?

If your amp has 7027A output tubes, there's 397VDC on the plates...conservative.
The YBA-1A is operating a pair of 6CA7s, with 537VDC on the plates...pushed near maximum.

 

[traynor_garnet]

Picked this up yesterday. Strangely, although I have owned a TON of Traynor amps (including the rarest stuff) I have never owned an EL84 Bassmate. I have owned several Bassmates over the years but they were all 6V6 based (including heads and combos). This version has more top end and sparkle and I think the cleans are better. Anyone selling a 6V6 bassmate head?

 

[Granny Gremlin]

'D' might have referred to the head versions.

It most definitly does (as with all things Garnet: most of the time).

Some more decoding:

Garnet Revolution III 4x10
Hard to read but looks like G100Q
Picked this last winter for a fair price. This has the most headroom out of any Garnet I have owned.
Trem, Reverb, Master Volume. Two channels that you can jumper. Channel 1 has more bass and channel 2 more treble.
2x6l6. Loud but controllable with the master.
The original ceramic speakers were fine. I could have kept them in no problem but wanted to try a quad of alnico and managed to picked up four Jensen P10r's for a good price.
The Jensen's have more top end. More glassy spank. Dirt is more tweed.
Prior to me buying it, this amp was worked on in a youtube video by a channel called "Do All the Things!"
I'm happy with it. It wasn't hacked up. Home use only for now but would love to gig it.

Very nice - and yes rarish. A bandmate has the more common 2x12 and its a great amp too. Also used by Dallas Good from The Sadies (etc).

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

It most definitly does (as with all things Garnet: most of the time).

Some more decoding:

Very nice - and yes rarish. A bandmate has the more common 2x12 and its a great amp too. Also used by Dallas Good from The Sadies (etc).

Nice chart
I'm def a fan of Garnet model naming conventions for the stencil logo stuff. I got to hear the Dallas Good amp at the Horseshoe once, backed up by Greg Keelor playing slide with a bottle of Mateus he was working on

 

[Paul Running]

This version has more top end and sparkle and I think the cleans are better.

The 6BQ5s are operating 395VDC and 390VDC on the plates and screens, added with -16VDC for bias provides a great deal of headroom for an EL84 type, push-pull amp.
You may wish to add adjustable bias to the output tubes.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

If your amp has 7027A output tubes, there's 397VDC on the plates...conservative.
The YBA-1A is operating a pair of 6CA7s, with 537VDC on the plates...pushed near maximum.

I think the YBA-1A is 'unique' partially in the sense that the YBA-3 and YGL-3 are. It runs at 4 ohms on one speaker output and I'm assuming the ext out is in series to get an 8 ohm load.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

Picked this up yesterday. Strangely, although I have owned a TON of Traynor amps (including the rarest stuff) I have never owned an EL84 Bassmate. I have owned several Bassmates over the years but they were all 6V6 based (including heads and combos). This version has more top end and sparkle and I think the cleans are better. Anyone selling a 6V6 bassmate head?


View attachment 615673

Is it a YBA-2, or a YBA-2B? Edit: The 2A is buried deep in the history but found it after the fact.

 

[Paul Running]

The A1339 output transformer in his amp is spec'd for 5K1Ω plate-to-plate primary, for an 8Ω secondary. The tubes are going to run hot, if pushed hard, even with -16VDC on the control-grids (-16VDC is actually class B mode however, their is controversy concerning AB2 and B for this voltage but a scope will reveal the mode of operation).
The 6V6 version operates the plates at the same voltage but the screens are throttled back to 350VDC and it is self-biased, which is safer when operating at those voltages.

Is it a YBA-2, or a YBA-2B?

The schematic covers both A and B.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

Pete is 'famous' for high plate voltages. It came up quite often in blogs, etc., usually by a tech inspecting or repairing one of his amps for the first time.
I'm tempted to assume it was part of his method of increasing the headroom/volume potential as far as he thought he could take it. The customers wanted more clean volume at the time, no dirt.
The YBA-2A is listed as 24w in the history but that could be a typo. The 2B - 25w.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

1977 YGM-3 Reference Photos. 100% factory, no repairs, no bias pot added.
Schematic applies to YGM-3 and YGM-4, Dated Sept 11, 1973
The 7372 inkstamp on the speaker is the Yorkville part number.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

Fire Engine Red Traynor View attachment 612954 View attachment 612955 View attachment 612956 View attachment 612957 View attachment 612958 YCV-40

Liking this one

 

[Paul Running]

The YBA-2A is listed as 24w in the history but that could be a typo. The 2B - 25w.

That claim can be misleading: that is the max. plate-dissipation (2× 12W), of the output tubes; the output power sinked by the speaker will be 17W, if the amp is 70% efficient, which may be possible because it is operated in class-B mode.

 

[Paul Running]

I think the YBA-1A is 'unique' partially in the sense that the YBA-3 and YGL-3 are. It runs at 4 ohms on one speaker output and I'm assuming the ext out is in series to get an 8 ohm load.

As long as the contacts are free from oxides, it works however, I can see why some folks have issues with this configuration.

Edit: with the speaker plugged-in:

 

[Thrash 101]

The Vintage Traynor amps are - The Best!
Put a modern preamp pedal in front of them and these amps will amaze you with there Tone and Power.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

The Vintage Traynor amps are - The Best!
Put a modern preamp pedal in front of them and these amps will amaze you with there Tone and Power.

Tbh, I've been considering making stand alone preamps with some of the 60's - 70's Traynor circuits that have the Baxandall tone stack, lol
I've run a guitar into a freshly restored YBA-3 and high power 412 with everything dimed. That amp was the only one that didn't make me miss not having reverb for guitar the chime was so good.

 

[Frustrated Bassist]

As long as the contacts are free from oxides, it works however, I can see why some folks have issues with this configuration.

View attachment 616106​

Edit: with the speaker plugged-in:

View attachment 616109​

You are 100% correct re the contacts. I don't clean chassis without thoroughly cleaning all contact tabs on 1/4" switching receptacles. I've found it to a be a problem with 80's amps more than any other generation so far. Will make an ss instrument amp sound like the pre section is blown, 95% signal volume drop trying to fight its way through a lot of white noise. I refer to an oxidized contact as a dirty resistor because that is basically what it becomes. Ironically, I've never had it with a Traynor yet, even though Pete and Yorkville used switching receptacles for everything for years. He must have bought a large quantity case with Jack's money when they were due to reorder and he switched from the enclosed barrel receptacles. Single input Traynor speaker cabinets - switching jack, lol I actually pull them and save them when I have non switching on hand. I sometimes add a series output to speaker cabinets for series ganging.