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New Amp Day


slavestate

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Hello there,

 

I recently was flipping through some local craigslist adds and this one caught my eye. The seller mentioned it hadn't been played in years and that he had intentions to play it but due to "life" he had to pass it along. The seller mentioned he received it from a friend of the family who purchased it new and seemed to be original. I called him up on the phone and he said it was $40, not the $300 listed in the advertisement from about a month ago. I wasn't even sure if he'd still have it for sale, however because the listing was still up I figured I'd send a ring.

 

So, after about a half an hour of a drive, some good conversations about a bunch of other hobbies besides gear I took this away with me for $40!

 

It's a YBA-2A head with (2) EL 84's and (2) 12AX7's, all of which are original and sound great. The cabinet is a YT-15, which has the original Traynor branded 15" speakers, which sound great as well. As you can see from the first photo, it sounds the best with everything at 11.

 

I have noticed that running two 15" speakers is a bit much for this little guy, and it's more like 25 watts RMS into one 16 Ohm speaker. With both 15" speakers the amp sounds a bit distant and low, however when I put it into a 16 Ohm 12" speaker alone I was astonished at how large the sound was! I have been playing my SG Standard through it and it's so bright and grainy in a good way. I'm stoked with it overall.

 

I felt I had to share this little guy to you all, as I am sure some of you might have had some old Traynor bedroom amps growing up. Especially those of you in the Northern Mid-West and North East.

 

I'll probably keep this around for a bit and record a few things with it and then pass it along to someone else who really will end up using it.

 

I definitely love getting another piece of furniture.

 

Enjoy!

 

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Dude! You have a knack for finding the coolest amps. That is so awesome! I bet that would be awesome through like a 1X12 or a 2X12. What ohms is the speaker out? It looks like a sweet little rig.

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I played bass through it a little and didn't really like the sound. It's very acute in the responsiveness and really suits guitar much better. This is a blues machine for sure.

 

I rewired the cabinet because when I first acquired it there was some weird signal degradation. It turned out to be the speaker wires were just twisted to the sockets and input jack, so I went ahead and soldered everything up. I'm thinking about adding a second input jack on the rear to be able to use either both or just one 15" speaker.

 

I'm pretty sure the amp runs at 16 Ohms, however with both of the 15" speakers it probably is running at 8 Ohms. I haven't really tried to sort this out yet. But I will dig around to see what I come up with. I did notice a significant dB drop when used with two speakers but this could have something to do with the wattage of the head, not the impedance of the speaker send. I'm not too sure though.

 

I just keep my eyes looking around every day both locally and out of state. I figure there are plenty of individuals who are just looking to make space in their homes or storage. Now's the time to look for the goodies.

 

Enjoy!

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You know another aspect I lucked out on with this one is the weight. It's remarkably light and on the smaller side compared to other 2x15's. The speakers have smaller magnets and the cabinet seems to be very thin wood. I'm about to head out to run over some material with my buddy, and this one is coming. I don't mind loading it in and out, ha!

 

My Plush 4000G is loosely based on a YBA-3 and I'm keeping my eyes out for one reasonably priced. I love the budget plexi's.

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You certainly picked up one of the "Holy Grails" of amps.You'd be really lucky around here to get one of these puppies along with the cabinet for less than $500 and that would be considered a steal.I own or owned 4 Traynor amps and routinely kick my own butt for letting 2 of the beauties go.One was a Custom Reverb with a 2-12 cab that had 35 or 40W and sounded like no other amp around it was just sweet.I also had a Mk. III combo that put out an ear-splitting 140W and could out-Twin a Twin it too was an amazing amp especially when you turned up the non-effects channel on bust and the master on 3 0r 4-you had better stand well back,it sounded like a Twin mated with a Marshall.Currently I have 2 Traynors-a 1966 Guitar Mate that survived getting scortched and then soaked in a nightclub fire-that's another story-and a TS-15 which is a 2-8" 15W combo which sounds just like a tube amp despite the fact that it's solid state.The Guitar Mate was one of the very earliest Traynors and mine was one of the first out of the factory.For a 15W amp they sound just deadly and can sound deliciously mellow at low volumes but when it's cranked it has the bluesiest overdrive that you can imagine.

 

Hold on to that little treasure as there are guys-myself included-who would sell a kidney to get their hands on one.

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