New Old Amp Day (NOAD)

I made a trade with a friend of mine the other day; my 1978 Traynor YGM-3 that I fixed up and did some tone mods to for his stock 1971 Traynor YGM-3. You're probably wondering why trade for the same thing? Well, they're not the same really. The 1967 to 1975 YGM-3's used a closed back cabinet with a slide out chassis while the 1976 to 1980 ones used an open back cabinet with the chassis accessible by unbolting the top of the cab. All of them used two EL84 tubes for about 25 watts of power using plate voltages in excess of 400 VDC, a 12 inch speaker and have onboard reverb and tremolo. Some people call them the Canadian Deluxe Reverb but the EL84 tubes give them a different character than a Deluxe. There's a bit of Canadian pride in owning an old Traynor.

Anyway, this one is in very good condition. It needed a bit of cleaning up which I have done this weekend. It needs a new speaker which I have not decided on just yet. I'm looking for a British voiced speaker for this one. Something that works well with the closed back cab.







The transformers on these amps were made by Hammond and are quite large for the output of the amp.



Comparison shot showing it between my 5E3 Deluxe clone and my 1973 Champ.

I like it a lot. HNOAD!

Cool! My dad had a 4-10 Traynor of some sort. I remember it being pretty dark sounding (I think it was a 2 EL34 amp). I think my mom still has it in storage. I think my point here is that it wasn't really a Fender, Vox, or Marshall sound -- it was sort of its own thing. Seems like maybe yours is the same way?

400V+ on EL84 plates? 25Watts? That's pretty hot, quite a bit above the nominal spec.

As for speakers, check out WGS. Affordable and excellent, notably their british style speakers.

I have never used one but always thought they were cool! -- Darwin

400V+ on EL84 plates? 25Watts? That's pretty hot, quite a bit above the nominal spec.

As for speakers, check out WGS. Affordable and excellent, notably their british style speakers.

The actual spec of the PT is 410 VDC. These amps used to ship with Philips/Amperex tubes. This one still has the original preamp tubes in it.

I've heard one of these with a WGS Veteran 30 and quite liked the sound.

My brother had a Traynor back in the 80's. I used to plug in when he wasn't home, ( 9 year age difference ) all I remember was that it was very loud. I have no idea which model it was . It was stolen and he replaced it with a Fender 75. I have never owned one but anybody who has ever been to Long & Mcquade would have a chance to try out their line up. They offer very good value for money for a North American made product.

Found a couple of cold solder joints and fixed those up today. Put a Celestion Seventy 80 in it as that's all I have around. Dug around in my stash of tubes and found a pair of late 50's Amperex Holland EL84's from and an old Voice of Music stereo and put them in. Warmed her up and plugged in my ASAT Classic...

This thing sounds beautiful! The reverb is lush and cavernous on 3! A very clean and loud amp in the lower half of the range and gets a nice crunch as you turn it up farther. These amps have baxendall tone controls that add more gain as you turn them up. Quite unique. I think Ampeg was using them as well if I'm not mistaken. Not Fender like at all. Less chime, more grind I'd say. Very nice.

My brother had a Traynor back in the 80's. I used to plug in when he wasn't home, ( 9 year age difference ) all I remember was that it was very loud. I have no idea which model it was . It was stolen and he replaced it with a Fender 75. I have never owned one but anybody who has ever been to Long & Mcquade would have a chance to try out their line up. They offer very good value for money for a North American made product.

Funny how when we were kids here in Canada we always wanted the Fender or Marshall amps that we couldn't afford and turned up our noses at the Traynor amps. If we only knew how good they really were. Here's an interesting read on the History of Traynor Amps from someone on the inside. http://www.yorkville.com/downloads/othe ... istory.pdf