Question:
What do people think of the Traynor Custom Valve amps? I'm looking at getting a tube amp within the next year or so, and I've been looking a little bit at these. I like the fact that they all have a line out, speaker out, and an effects loop. Anyone have any pros or cons to add?
Answer:
give this post long enough for Hopeful to respond, and you'll get a full review. i know he loves his YCV40.
Answer:
Thanks for the intro, Steve. Like he said, I love my Traynor YCV40. I've also played the YCV50 and it is a cool amp at a very reasonable price. If I ever felt like replacing it, I'd seriously consider the YCV50. And, it's quieter than my YCV40.
Pros (in addition to those you pointed out):
- Nicely priced and affordable
- Nice and portable at about 45 lbs; nice looking too, if you asked me
- Nice gain channel, great cleans (almost as nice as my '69 Fender Bandmaster Reverb), foot switchable with the included footswitch that also controls a boost in the gain channel
- Self biasing for the tubes
- Steel grill plate across the front of the amp under the grill cloth
- Chicken beak type knobs that are well protected by being on the top of the amp rather than exposed on the front
- Best warranty in the business that I've come across - two years you break it, they'll fix it!
- This is one tough amp! It even survived a fall out of the back of my van; you don't ever want to hear the sound an amp makes as it hits the ground.
- Takes pedals well
- At 40 watts, it's about all the power you need
- It's a tube amp! Lots of folks like 'em (check out the Fender Forum).
- It's made by Yorkville which has a demonstrated history of making good amps
Cons:
- The WR version has a better speaker as does the YCV50; this is easily fixed though by replacing the speaker.
- Reverb is not foot switchable
- Replacing the preamp tubes requires you open up the back panel and remove a metal panel, but this is not that bad at all.
- And, my biggest beef of all, I wish it had a headphone jack! But not many tube amps do.
I hope this helps. I've had mine for a while now and have replaced the power tubes once as well as the preamp tubes. It's passed my tests and I haven't had any desire to replace it, other than the YCV50 (or a higher end SS, but more for the versatility of amp simulation). Bottom line, it's been a keeper for me. This reminds me, I have yet to check it out with my 1X12 cab as an extension, which I will try to do this week.
Answer:
Sounds pretty much like what I'm looking for. Does the YCV40 have the speaker defeat like the YCV20 does? That's the only one I've tried out so far.
The other amps I've been considering are a Fender Hot Rod or Bassman.
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Question about the distortion on the YCV40. On the YCV20 I didn't particularily like the distortion. I'm not to concerned about it though, since I would probably use my Boss DS-2 and the natural break up of the clean channel. If the distortion on the 40 is nicer though, that would be a plus!
Answer:
Originally Posted by Mosher-Bryan Question about the distortion on the YCV40. On the YCV20 I didn't particularily like the distortion. I'm not to concerned about it though, since I would probably use my Boss DS-2 and the natural break up of the clean channel. If the distortion on the 40 is nicer though, that would be a plus!
I can't say that I've compared the two, but I'll say that I like the gain channel, especially boosted in my 40. Please see this thread in which Major Tom gives some advice about swapping out the preamp tubes to impact the gain channel.
As far as speaker defeat, I would have to pull the speaker cable out of the jack in order to do that. Anyway, since you're Canadian, why not go for the Canadian product, Traynor. I would also recommend you try out the YCV50 - it is sweet!
Answer:
Good call on the Canadian product. I don't think I'd go as far as changing the tubes. It's not that the distortion was terrible, it just wasn't quite what I'd want for most of the stuff I play. It would have it's uses, but I'd probably use my pedal more. It actually sounds very good with this amp.
I guess I just need to find the money and a good justification for buying this amp (I just bought a Roland Cube 60 last spring, so it's not like I NEED a new amp)