Traynor YBA-3A Super Custom Special

i had my first one in 70

it`s a .bass amp.i`m not sure i should even be responding that stuff about be critical is b.s.our whole band used traynor`s at one time six nighters 8years staight.not one problem i repeat not one

i`ve had extensive experiance with traynor,s real life.be glad to share.for instance a special doesn`t work well with guitar,a custom doe`s and vise versa.in fact i`m looking for one now.have mesa 400 laughable is the best discription. traynors are very different you must play one to see.mine got destroyed in a hurricane or i`m sure i`d still be using them today.never replaced power tubes just tone.jeff cyma@xtn.net

I just purchased this amp used, in very good shape, from a long time friend. I had to gently persuade him to sell it to me, and I'm glad I did! It's a 70's model. Single channel, two inputs. The amp has a huge punchy bass sound, and the all tube circut typically has quite a bit of transparency as well. The tubes are 3-12ax7's in the pre-amp, and 4-6kg6a/EL 509's. The 'expander' knobs, in conjunction with the boost switches allow quite a bit of tone shaping. U.P.S. (U. P.ackage S.mashed) broke one of the unusual power tubes, and I was able to obtain a N.O.S. RCA replacement from Antique electronic Supply online, for a decent price. This amp has a big gnarly tone, with huge fundamentals and killer highs. The design, and layout, although simple- is quite a bit different from my old SVT, and Marshall Major heads of the past, and even with two cast iron transformers, it is noticeably lighter in weight, too. Middle aged guys with back problems take note! Pete Traynor made some truly great amps, and they are still in the bargain basement as far as vintage amp prices go. This model, I believe, is maybe the rarest of all the bass heads Traynor produced, the YBA-3 custom special being more common, as I do see them on Ebay from time to time. I have only tested this with an SWR Triad cabinet, and it kicks the cabinet so hard, I need to add another cabinet to handle all the power available! It has a 2/4 ohm switch on the back, so running 2- 4 ohm cabinets is no problem. I have lots of other bass gear, and this amp is a great addition to my arsenal. The only reason it doesn't get a 10, is because there really isn't any customer support from Traynor on these, and no direct out- both no discredit to the amp. After all, it is a older amp, made before di's became pretty much standard on bass amps. In summary: a great piece of gear, built like a tank, with all the stuff tube amps are noted for. If you see one, and it's working, Grab it!

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Been around a long time, still working perfectly.

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I have a 70's model. You can tell by the silver piping on the sides of the head. ALL TUBE! This is a 2 channel (Hi/Low) amp with a presence control that actually works! Bass and treble boost switches; treble and bass controls with corresponding "expanders" (Kinda parametric EQ-ish). I was amused to find that the volume control goes past 10 to an equivalent of 14 on the dial! 2 speaker outputs with a 2/4 ohm impedance selctor. 250 watts RMS with no distortion.

I've been playing for over 30 years and have used every amp imaginable. This is the best sounding amp I've heard in a long time. Coupled with a matching Traynor "Big B" 8x10 cabinet, this amp cranks the meanest bass tone you could wish for. I've used Jazz basses, Precisions, Rickenbackers, and Ibanez Artist and a 70's Ripper through it (I favor the Jazz bass the most). With the amp volume set on 10 it's pure tube power WITH NO DISTORTION!

I've only used this in my living room. Traynor's have an amazing track record as tube amps go.

I have not had any service issues since I purchased it. The power tubes are unique. Should be fun trying to get new ones! Traynor still exists in its successor firm Yorkville. These amps are way out of warranty. I noticed that Yorkville just deleted their links to their vintage amp information that was on their website.

The set up is easier to manueuver than the original SVT's and because of this difference it has a different type of tone. I've just recently gotten back to tube amps. They weigh a ton but so does a rack with a preamp/power amp. I haven't seen another one of these since getting it. I would seriously consider buying another one if I saw it!

The front end of this monster is a simple two input single channel with master volume. Tone controls consist of bass and treble boost switches, bass gain and bass expander, treble gain and treble expander. The front end is exactly like the YBA-3 as described in other postings here, and uses 3 12AX7A's. At the back end it gets different. It runs a quartet of EL509's (6KG6A's) at 560 Volts to produce an insane quantity of house shaking power (probably capable of about 300 watts -- it'll do 150 without clipping into a 2 ohm dummy with only two EL509s in the chassis) . It has two speaker output jacks and a switch for 2 or 4 ohms.

With my 66 Jazz and a Yamaha 2x15 cabinet it is a very warm sounding amp - actually leaning toward the muddy side. I haven't gigged with it yet as it is still on the bench. I'll post again after I've used it with my SWR Goliath IIs and other basses.

When repaired and set up properly this should be a fairly reliable amp as old tube amps go. The EL509s seem to run pretty cool and should provide very good service life. The problem is getting good output tubes for it - EL509s aren't all that common and are hard to find matched. I don't recommend the Sovtek 6pi45C, I bought some (unmatched) and two were trash -- they failed quite spectacularly. I highly recommend adding some output fusing.

This is a very cool amp. I've never seen another one like it. It's freakin huge. This is one of those amps you take to gigs just to scare the competition -- when you drag this bad boy out of the truck (you couldn't get it in a car) they will know you ain't screwin around. It should have been called they Traynor Peterbuilt.