Traynor YBA-2A Bassmate Head

My BassMate head was made in September of 1971. The amp runs 2xEL84 and 2X12AX7, you can use a 12AU7 and you should if you use it for bass (this is what the schematic actually calls for). It is a single channel push-pull and runs about 22-25 watts. I use it for bass and guitar(priamrily) - It will get you evicted with any cab. I wish it had a choke for a standby, it doesn't, hence the 7 rating. It gets played through a 2x12 loaded with Weber Alnico speakers, extremely efficient. These speakers are the reissue of the Jensen P12N speakers, more the fender type, but blends nice with the Brit flavor. Also gets palyed through a 1x12 with an Eminence Red fang, which is more British, I don't know which is best, but for the cleans, the Weber and for breakup the Fang. It loves the alnico's and p-90 type pickups. It was fine with a Vintage 30, but not great. The whole point with a Traynor is it sounds like an amp that costs 3-4 times as much so don't be tight, buy some good speakers, this little amp DESERVES them. As for versatility, it is a one-trick pony, but it is a damn fine trick, as with most low-wattage boutique amps. Enough power for any rehearsal sitaution, and most live ones as well.

the guitars and bases that get plugged into this one are a 69 Dan Armstrong bass, a 69 Les Paul Deluxe, a 68 EB3 and a 64 Gretsch Corvette. They are great instruments. Anything with strings sounds good through this amp. The amp starts to clip at three with 2 12AX7's. five with a 12AU7 in the first position. I use good German and British tubes, too. Again, the amp deserves these. This amp would be suitable for country to hard rock it gets really saturated but if you want metal buy another amp. Again, good speakers in an effucuent configuration will clean it. Go 1x12 alncio in a sealed back, this will give it the most distortion, approaching the metal zone but wisely not stepping over the line.

Take it to an amp tech for a checkup when you get it, once it gets a clean bill of health, it will not break, sure it needs new tubes once in a while, these run at high plate voltage and have massive hammond transformers. I have never seen a Traynor on Ebay or anywhere that had had a tranny changed, alot more than you can say for Fenders. Traynors, Hiwatts, Sound City, old Oranges and of cours pre PCB Marshalls, these are the amps that commonly have the good trannys.

Never had to deal with customer support. Any amp tech with a pulse could fix this amp, but more than likely that won't be necessary unless YOU do something stupid.

I've been playing for about 13 years. If it got stolen I would get another. Again, I wish it had the stand-by. I also have the 130 watt Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special and matching 8x10 cabwhich is my live rig. This amp is similar in sound to a Tophat of the same configuration that I had, the Tophat sounded a little better, but for 4x price. Get a Traynor and GET SOME GOOD SPEAKERS you won't be sorry

This amp was made between '69 and '72,when I believe they came out with the YBA-2B, which is el-84 powered, and a little cleaner sounding.It has 2 12AX7's and 2 6V6 tubes,2 inputs, and bass,treble, and volume controls.Single channel, with one speaker output rated for 8 ohms. Pretty much the model of simplicity!Ok for use with bass at low volumes, but better suited for guitar. Power sounds like it's in the 20 watt range, but not completely sure on this.

I use mostly mid-90's Hamers these days,primarily a Daytona, a Mirage 2, and an Archtop studio.I play blues rock, and country rock. This amp works best at semi-distorted to moderately distorted type tones, and reminds me of my first amp, a '62 brownface deluxe, only with tighter bass end. It likes 4x10 and 2x12 Marshall cabs, and a 1912 cab as well. It would be best with a speaker of at least 60 watts rating that handles low end well,IMO.It has a decent warm clean sound, but sounds better turned up!If using pedals with this amp,a clean boost of some sort, such as a tube screamer or a TC line driver would probably work best.I don't really hear the Marshall comparison that everyone makes-it's not dissimilar, but not identical either.I've AB'ed it against a '74 superbass,an '80 JMP,an '89 JTM 45 RI,and an'85 studio 15.Still, it's a cool head if it can be had for $300 or less.I've also tried a '78 les paul deluxe a'59 les paul jr. through this amp with good results.

IT is all PTP wired, with Hammond trannies, and Mallory caps. I recently had the caps replaced, and the amp works fine.This seems like more of a practice and recording amp, but I'm sure it would work well in a gig situation miked.It appears to be built like a tank, and is easily serviced, according to my tech.

The old Traynor company is gone,but Yorkville Sound is supposed to be good about supplying schematics, There is a website called "velvet black" that has links with schematics available. Also, Hammond transformers are still made, and available through Parts Express, and antique radio supply.All these amps came with schematics in the top of the cabinet as well.No warranty!

I've played 26 years, and through just about everything, including many 50's and 60's fenders, and 60's Marshalls.I own a lot of vintage and vintage-sounding gear, and feel reasonably qualified to rate gear on this site,but I'm not an "expert", whatever that is!I would buy this amp again ,if the price was under $300.00.It's not a Marshall, but has a good vintage O/D sound, and is useful for blues.These definetely sound better than YBA-2B's, which had some circuit changes made to clean them up, and use different output tubes. These later ones are not bad, but I wouldn't pay as much for one, as there are more of them around. They don't sound like AC15's, either!

Mine is a '70, I believe, with chicken head knobs, volume, bass and treble. Two 6V6s, two 12AX7s, solid state rectifier. No standby, only one speaker output. Beautiful sImplicity. Massive Hammond transformers, clean point-to-point wiring, the schematic on the inside of the chassis (why don't all amp makers do this?!?), a fuse holder inside the cabinet (again, a simple, intelligent feature that is cheap to boot. Why don't all tube amp manufacturers screw one of these things into the side of their cabs?)

This amp sounds like a tweed Fender Deluxe on steroids. It's go that stringy crunch and sparkly high end. If you crank the bass you can dial up as much saturated tube distortion as you like. It's just an amazing sounding, bluesy, ballsy amp. And it's only pushing 18 or 20 watts! It kicks my '57 Fender Deluxe's booty all across town. I play it through the YS15 15" cab it came with and an Avatar 2x12 (one Greenback and one G12H30) open back. Both sound great but the Avatar really matches up well.

Plug in guitar, turn on amp, play. Replace tubes every now and then, a cap job every 10 years or so, repeat. These things are built like tanks and will likely outlast all of us.

Never dealt with Yorkville but I've heard they're great!

I have six amps, some of them very expensive boutique and some very expensive vintage, and this little, cheap Canadian wonder is my favorite of the lot. The only thing I'm curious about is what the earlier Bass Mates sound like with the tube rectifier. I'm on the hunt for one.

Mine is a 73. It has 3 Knobs. Volume - Bass - Treble
no standby. no effects loop. This is your basic meat + potatoes vintage tube head. Not for people looking for features. Im pretty sure this amp is class A with point to point hand wiring.

I had it serviced 5 years ago and it still screams. I play a '91 american std. Telecaster through a snarling dog erogenous moan/volume pedal>>vintage Jap Boss ds-1>>EH Stereo Memory Man>>> Bassmate through Kustom T&R 2x12" w/ vintage jensens/ in stero with a silverface Fender Bassman 10 w/ 4-10". I really LOVE this setup. Sometimes I'll go through another old solid state Kustom 100 w/ 1-15" to fill up the low end. The bassmate is really the jewel of my rig. I keep the volume on 9 or 10 for best performance. Bass knob is always higher than treble. It doesnt sound too good until you get it loud but that is just the nature of tube amps. Compared to the bassman, this amp has a fuller lowend that sounds way better with distortion for lead AND rhythm. It gets a natural overdrive when cranked similar to a Marshall distorted sound. If I push it with a little bit of ds-1 at high volumes, I get a heavy Fugazi-like JCM800 sound. If I set back a bit with my volume pedal, I get a somewhat clean sound that rivals the volume of the distortion. For $50, I couldnt be happier. I would have paid $200 for it, looking back. The service job (5 years ago) only cost me $25 for all new tubes!! The guy that did it told me he would hotrod it for guitar, though I don't think he made any serious modification with a $25 price tag. The service man also seemed real delighted to get his hands on it. Said it was one of the easiest amps to work on.

SEE ABOVE. Easy to fix

First of all let me say that this is the second time I've rendered an opinion on one of these units. The first however, was a later el84 model & had entirely different cicuitry.
This one's a 1969 model with (2)12ax7's and (2)6v6's. It's as basic as it gets ... One channel w/ two inputs, volume, treble & bass. An AC switch and one speaker out (8ohm). The only thing lacking that I really wish it had is a standby switch.
Plate voltage is 385V... cathode biased into Class A operation - output is somewhere arround 12-15 watts RMS. In fact, if you compare the schematic to that of a 50's Fender tweed Deluxe you'll see they're virtually indentical start to finish .... the only difference being a solid state rectifier and a bass control.

My playing style is rock/blues & this is a a blues box all the way! With the volume set at 6-7 it's got exceptionally smooth breakup. My setup includes a Gibson es-335 dot, a TS-9 and and Ibanez digital delay (used very sparingly in place of reverb). For me it's just the right amount of power miked up on stage, and has a sweet tone that I've come to prefer over my silverface Fenders.

Well built - top rate! With new tubes & caps it's totally reliable

Modern day Traynor is very helpful in supplying info or schematics for thier vintage gear. These units are so simple and easy to work on - repairs aren't an issue.

Been playing 30+ years & won't bother rattling off my current inventory list - it'll be different next week anyway! This a very cool little amp - it's absolutely Tweed! If you want to try a Fender tweed Deluxe but don't want to lay $1500, try one of these with a good 1-12 cab.

Schematic is dated 1970
2 - El84's and 2 - 12ax7's. Plate voltage on the output tubes is 430v so I'm guessing around 20 - 25 watts. Plenty of power/headroom if you mic your amp.
Two inputs. Volume, treble and bass - about as basic as it gets - but that's what I love about this thing! Only thing lacking that I wish for is a standby switch.

It breaks up from about 6 & up (as they all do). I'm not a big fan of power amp distortion, but rather I prefer a lot of clean headroom (I gig with a twin & a mesa boogie v-twin up front)
Good bass and highs but to my ears it lack mids somewhat.That can easily be adusted by changing the midrange resistor to a higher value but I'll probably leave it stock.

I've replaced the tubes and all electrolytic caps (should be done with any vintage tube amp), so it's good to go for another 20 years or so! The design of this pup is so simple and workmanship excellent with oversized tranformers ect. - probably the most dependable piece I own.

Find a good local shop or learn to do it yourself. Vintage tube amps have a lot to offer in terms of tone character and feel, but they require a lot of TLC to get them and keep them up to peak performance.

Been playing for 30+ years & have accumulated too much gear too list.
This is one cool little amp and is in fact the second one of these I've had recently. Though I don't gig with it at present, I would so gladly & with no hesitation.