Buying a new amp soon: Traynor...

[caspersvapors]

so Im gonna buy a new amp soon, and Ive heard nothing but overwhelming praise about Traynor, not only here but everywhere. So Im thinking of either the ycv40wr or the ycv20wr. I currently play a fender 25r frontman.

Im kinda wondering which amp I should get. the ycv20wr is only 15w, and pretty expensive for something that small. the ycv40wr is only 50 bucks more on certain sites and you get over double the power, but at the same time is that too much powah for someone whos pretty much just a home player at the moment? or is it just about right?

[spacehead333]

I love Traynor amps. I have the ycv40wr at my house and love it!

[strumminsix]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

[wisedyes]

I have a Traynor YCVQ80 and absolutely love it! If you are looking for something that has bedroom volume capacity, but can also play a gig or do a band rehearsal, I suggest you look at the Traynor YCV50.

It is a 50 watt 1x12 Class AB all tube combo, that is switchable down to 15 watts Class A. Never played through one, but I have tried other Traynors and honestly never found one I didn't like.

You can't go wrong with a Custom Valve 40 either, imho.

[FretfulDave]

Please heed Strummin's advice. Play amps. As many as you can. Know which tubes you are trying. Know the sound you are looking for.

I tried the Traynors, Fenders, Crate and Peavey and ended up going with the Peavey Classic 30 cause it gave me enough clean and enough dirt. But you couldn't beat the Crate V30, I believe it was, class A amp for absolutely creamy tone, for example.

But my band (on hiatus) plays other than GD music and I needed something with more dirt as well a decent clean tone. I could not get enough dirt out of the Traynor. That said, you are playing a Fender amp, traditionally clean sound, so ...

Remember the classic warning... if you are looking at a tube amp and coming from a solid state, be prepared. As many note, not all noise is the same volume. You will find lots of references to tube amps being perceived as much louder than the equivalent wattage solid state. For inside house practice, 30 or 40 watts is too much, imo (and my wife's)... even 15 tube watts is loud in a living room, in my case. When I play a tube amp in home practice, I now have a little Giant tube (pre and power), 3/5 watt. That is allowed in my house.

Ultimately, it was a mix of my ears and music types that got me to my choice. Not just opinions and writeups.

Good luck in your pursuit.


Dave

[caspersvapors]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

[caspersvapors]

I have a Traynor YCVQ80 and absolutely love it! If you are looking for something that has bedroom volume capacity, but can also play a gig or do a band rehearsal, I suggest you look at the Traynor YCV50.

It is a 50 watt 1x12 Class AB all tube combo, that is switchable down to 15 watts Class A. Never played through one, but I have tried other Traynors and honestly never found one I didn't like.

You can't go wrong with a Custom Valve 40 either, imho.

are you sure about the ycv50? i havent read anything indicating it can do that

[strumminsix]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

If you favor the American amp flavor get one with 6v6s pr 6l6s.

If you favor British, EL34/EL84.

A vs AB is how power is managed. Class A doesn't have much headroom but delicious and unique.

Versatile? Can't say. What makes an amp versatile? Does that mean it has a rich sound at all levels of versatility? Seems alot of amp manufacturers and shoppers like versatility but the amp has say 4 mediocre channels vs say a fender with 1 great channel!

[wisedyes]

Ooops, sorry, my bad.... the switchable Traynor is a Custom Special 50, not a YCV50. You can go to the Traynor website and look at all their amps specs, etc.

[caspersvapors]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

If you favor the American amp flavor get one with 6v6s pr 6l6s.

If you favor British, EL34/EL84.

A vs AB is how power is managed. Class A doesn't have much headroom but delicious and unique.

Versatile? Can't say. What makes an amp versatile? Does that mean it has a rich sound at all levels of versatility? Seems alot of amp manufacturers and shoppers like versatility but the amp has say 4 mediocre channels vs say a fender with 1 great channel!

thats a good point

[strumminsix]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

If you favor the American amp flavor get one with 6v6s pr 6l6s.

If you favor British, EL34/EL84.

A vs AB is how power is managed. Class A doesn't have much headroom but delicious and unique.

Versatile? Can't say. What makes an amp versatile? Does that mean it has a rich sound at all levels of versatility? Seems alot of amp manufacturers and shoppers like versatility but the amp has say 4 mediocre channels vs say a fender with 1 great channel!

thats a good point

The whole versatile thing is a common theme among people in the Line6/Vox ToneLab world. Those neat devices do alot of things well but nothing GREAT! That is why I backed away from that whole arena. I found I just wanted a great mostly clean amp that I can push the front-end a bit on. Found a few varieties of that, thankfully.

[wisedyes]

Strummin, ouch! I loves my Vox Tonelab! I've actually decided that it's all I need. Now, admittedly, I DO seem to be about half deaf anymore, and by reading your posts, your knowledge of the more technical side of guitardom dwarfs mine, but hey, I am really very, very happy with that particular device.

[caspersvapors]

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

If you favor the American amp flavor get one with 6v6s pr 6l6s.

If you favor British, EL34/EL84.

A vs AB is how power is managed. Class A doesn't have much headroom but delicious and unique.

Versatile? Can't say. What makes an amp versatile? Does that mean it has a rich sound at all levels of versatility? Seems alot of amp manufacturers and shoppers like versatility but the amp has say 4 mediocre channels vs say a fender with 1 great channel!

thats a good point

The whole versatile thing is a common theme among people in the Line6/Vox ToneLab world. Those neat devices do alot of things well but nothing GREAT! That is why I backed away from that whole arena. I found I just wanted a great mostly clean amp that I can push the front-end a bit on. Found a few varieties of that, thankfully.

what did you ultimately settle on? Im sure youve said it many times but i dont feel like searching lol

[strumminsix]

Strummin, ouch! I loves my Vox Tonelab! I've actually decided that it's all I need. Now, admittedly, I DO seem to be about half deaf anymore, and by reading your posts, your knowledge of the more technical side of guitardom dwarfs mine, but hey, I am really very, very happy with that particular device.

It was not meant to be offensive. And I just learn more and more ever day from kind folks here!

The Vox TL is good but IMO doesn't get that full tube feel.

I would rehearse regularly with a pod xt into my PA or with my XT into an amp for all my fx.

Please promise you will try each out first!
I've played both and found for my style and my
tonal requirements the amps just couldn't do it.
Got great tones single coil but not duals...
But that is just me and I'm totally a Fender guy!

Also, the volume difference between 20-40 watts is not significant.

What is significant is:
- clean headroom
- what tubes 5881 vs EL84s (Amer vs. Brit tone)
- Class A vs. AB
- appears the 40 has a v30 speaker

These guys are totally different machines.

i tend to favor american clean tone. i tend to keep my gain at a medium level, but i do like to play some zepp and black keys stuff which is definitely dirtier... i also play a strat. but i do want to play these amps, just hard to find places locally that carry them.

i remember people on this site claiming how versatile the traynors were, which is basically what im going for. im not out to imitate or copy someones tone

do tube amps tend to become class ab as the wattage increases?

If you favor the American amp flavor get one with 6v6s pr 6l6s.

If you favor British, EL34/EL84.

A vs AB is how power is managed. Class A doesn't have much headroom but delicious and unique.

Versatile? Can't say. What makes an amp versatile? Does that mean it has a rich sound at all levels of versatility? Seems alot of amp manufacturers and shoppers like versatility but the amp has say 4 mediocre channels vs say a fender with 1 great channel!

thats a good point

The whole versatile thing is a common theme among people in the Line6/Vox ToneLab world. Those neat devices do alot of things well but nothing GREAT! That is why I backed away from that whole arena. I found I just wanted a great mostly clean amp that I can push the front-end a bit on. Found a few varieties of that, thankfully.

what did you ultimately settle on? Im sure youve said it many times but i dont feel like searching lol

Custom amp by Fargen as my main. Also a few vintage Fenders.