Traynor Custom Valve 50BLUE

Made in 2005, Amp not that versatile (I play Blues, Rock and Jazz). Two channels with Master volume, seperate tone controls, one reverb knob for both channels, boost switch on overdrive channel and bright switch on clean channel.

Clean channel lacks headroom and goes into distortion and does not stay clean. Clean channel sound is the EL34 tube sound (low on bass) and does not sound like a Fender (not that I expected it to). The bright switch is pretty nasty and the amp sounding better with it off. I have had a Traynor YCV40 with 6L6 tubes and in many ways these amps are similar. I have noticed on this amp and the YCV40 that the clean channel can be somewhat muddy (mutted chimyness?). The distortion channel does the Marshall thing quite well but I found that I had the gain up all the way most of the time and when rolling it back I found it lacking. Switching between channels was not that great as it was hard to dial in matching tones and It seemed difficult to dial in a nice low gain setting on the dirty channel to switch to, so it was clean channel switching right to high gain. I had better experience switching between channels on the YCV40. The Master volume knob did not seem to work that great with this amp as on others. I would dial in the distortion to a particulare style and would use the dirty channel gain and volume and have to use the master volume as well but then I found it difficult to get the clean I wanted, usally this is a no brainer but with this amp I had to fuss with things quite a bit. I tried the amp with JJ tubes and various speakers. Emminence Patriot speakers worked well and had a nicer break-up (smoother) than the stock Celestion V-30, a Jensen MOD 50 worked well with this amp. The celestion Lead 80 did not seem to work well with this and neither did a G12H 30. I have found that a well broken-in Celestion V30 works nice on the Traynor amps. This amp does the distortion thing (NOT the ultra high gain Marshal) and if it's the type of distortion you like then you will probably be happy and if your NOT needing a real clean clean channel then this amp will probably do. I find Traynor amps fun to play as they I like the tube distortion they do but I feel this amp is not that versatile and I ended up returning it.

New amp and I did not keep it

Not sure

I have been playing 7 years, I have owned Traynor YCV40, Mesa F-50, Peavy Classic 30, Peavey JSX, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Pignose G60V. I felt that this amp is a one trick pony and if you like the trick you'll be happy, I suggest that you try the amp out before buying it.

Two channel combo. The features have been covered below. A solid set of features for an amp in this price range. The best for me is the overall build quality you get. Compared to other manufacturer's offerings for amps in this class it is tops! Solid ply cabinet, and a metal grille speaker cover behind black cloth make it solid! V30 speaker- nice! Accutronics dual spring reverb. The blue nubtex covering looks cool and seems as tough as rhino hide. This amp is a heavy brute, weighing in at about 50 lbs. Not the best looking amp to my eye, but it is pretty cool looking and lots of people have reported that they do like it.

The sound is why I chose to buy this amp. (Don't we all?) I compared this extensively with a whole host of others in an amp oddysey that lasted 8 weeks, in music shops in 3 cities. I tried Fender; Blues Jr, Hot Rod Deluxe, HR Deville, 59 Bassman RI, Marshall; DSL combo, TSL combo, Orange Rockerverb 50, Mesa; F50, Lonestar, Lonestar Special, Traynor; YCV20WR, YCV40, and this one.

I wanted a combo that would supply me with a wide range of tones from Fenderish cleans to nasty crunch. It wasn't necessary for it to go into the nu-metal range, I have a pedal that will do that. My favorite rock tone is that sweet 60s/70s Marshall crunch.

With a budget of $3000 to spend I narrowed it down to a short list of the Blue, the Rockerverb 50 and the Lonestar Special. Whats not to love about any of these 3 amps? Beautiful sounds from each. All very versatile. The build quality of the Orange and the Mesa are on a whole different plane but they were also 3x the price of the Traynor. Honestly, I would have been equally happy with any of these 3 amps.

When I A/B/Ced them I found something great in all of them. The Lonestar was the most flexible with a whole host of features for you to tweak to get your sound. The Orange IMHO is the best looking of them all. But when I mulled over the sound:price ratio in my mind, the Traynor was the clear winner. It actually was able to capably compete with these two boutique amps and hold its own. And it was 1/3 the price. Decision made.

Should be fine here but only time will tell.

Traynor offers a 2/10 warranty even if you break it. I'm not crazy about the owner's manual (see Mesa/Boogie for a lesson on how to draft one) and I find Traynor's website to be average.

I'm very happy with my purchase. I think I got alot of amp for a very reasonable price. It kicks the crap out of anything in its immediate price range for sure and holds its own in the world of overpriced boutiques. If you're interested purely in tone and not so much the status of owning a pricey amp check this one out if you can find one. I got the last one anywhere in my little corner of the world. Distributors are fighting for them and apparently its in limited production.

It gets a 10 because it truly is a FANTASTIC VALUE!

This amp is very easy to use. There is no crap or gimmicks on it to screw around with. Traynor has concentrated on building a fantastic amp here without ridiculous bells and whistles that most people would never use other than playing around with at bedroom level. There are 2 channels with a master volume and reverb. The first channel is the lead/gain channel with boost switch. It has independant gain, trebble bass and mid controls. Next is the clean channel that has the same controls, but without a gain control.
The blue nubtex is much darker than it appears and feels to be quite tough (not as soft as leatherette) which is a good thing in my books since it wont tear as easy. Also, its pobably the best looking amp on the market right now. I have yet to see one that looks as bad@$$ as this.

Let me start by saying that the clean channel on this amp is actually very very nice. I enjoy it with the brightness switch left on all the time. I prefer it over the clean channel on the YCV20 WR and can go much louder as well. The reverb can also get a great echo sound. Im not big on reverb so this is perfect for me.
The Distortion channel is also awsome! The gain control on its own can get very crunchy and could satisfy anybody not looking to reach Peavy xxx and other metal amp HIGH gain distortion. I use the gain about half way on the distortion ch with either a keeley ds-1 or a pedalworx neo-drive and a very heavy sound can be achieved quite easily. A 10 for sure for being able to dial in both fantastic clean sounds and nasty gain! Most tube amps will only do one or the other.

2 and 10 year warranty... even if YOU break it. LOL i might take them up on this just for kicks! Just kidding. I would hate to loose this amp. Ill give it 10 because it seems to be rock solid.

I emailed them and recieved a response within a two days. Thats a pretty decent turn around time if you ask me.

Listen...for the price I challenge anybody to go find an amp that could out perform this one, because I highly doubt it could be found. For a North American built amp under $800 (both US and CDN) this amp is a steal and it looks killer to boot. It comes loaded with great components and has an unbeatable warranty.

I traded up to this amp from a ycv20 and it was not a comparable amp. I personally did not like it at all. It rattled alot, could not achieve satisfactory distortion and the greenback speaker bottomed out easily. The clean channel was quiter than a mouse - it was only useful for bedroom playing. Given that I listen to and play 90's rock and alternative + nu-metal music, the ycv20 wr was a bad purchase in the first place but I was on budget. Traynor quality is hard to macth.

The lead channel is a darker, "marshall" sound while the clean channel is much brighter and is useful to me for clearly hearing yourself while practicing and playing music such as the red hot chilli peppers.

I would definately buy this amp again for sure. I would give the line 6 flextoneIII a shot first. HOWEVER if you are "custom/hand-built analog and true bypass pedal junkie" like me, then you would probably never use any of the plethora of gadgets available on the line6 and therefore a quality, no frills TRAYNOR amp would probably suit you best!

PS... want any tips on some of the BEST well-priced pedal builders out there? Feel free to drop me an email. Im confident I could point you in the right direction. And best of all -most you can pick up for the same price as the big name, crappy machine built digital pedals out there.

This amp is, as far as I know, a special run from Traynor. The covering is a blue tolex or leatherette material (as opposed to the black covering) with a black grille cloth. It
is very eye-catching.
The all tube circuitry consists of 12ax7's in the pre-amp, and 2 el34's for power. The controls have your basic treb/mid/bass set-up and gain for the 2 channel operation.
The only fault I can find is that there is no presence, but no big deal. There is a master volume and reverb for both channels. Nice to have for easy on-the-fly volume
adjustments. The master volume also makes it possible to drive the gain in the clean channel into overdrive without excess volume. It's a very basic set-up, but after
dealing with processor patches for a lengthy stint, I find this refreshing. The speaker is a celestion vintage 30. This is the first time I have had one of these speakers, and I
must say, they meet all the hype. The cab that houses the chassis and speaker (1x12) is very sturdy and made of good, solid plywood for a nice resonation at high
volumes. I give it a nine only because of the lack of a presence control.

I have had this amp for about a month now and gigged a few times live and also used it at lower volume settings for home enjoyment. My style consists mostly of
blues/rock instrumental and this amp is the real deal for this application. I also play on a worsip team at church and find it suitable for this as well. The amp is very
responsive with both my Les Paul standard and American Strat. I have looked for quite a while for this type of tone. When I was about 17, I got my first jcm 800 head,
and regretably sold it a few years later.
I tried alot of amps after that to get that kind of sound again, but to my shugrin, never could quite capture that same tone again. What I mean by tone is that nice woody
3-d sound that kind of makes each note run through your body when you play it. Kind of corny but, man, when you capture that in your playing, it makes you not want
to put your guitar down. The dirty channel has a nice glassy/smoke sound that is great for anything from Carlos to Page to Satriani. The real difference came when I
flipped my L.P. into the rhythm position. Un-frickin-beleivable. There it was.........my darker marshall thick sound. This thing compresses like a nice big stack and makes
nuance in my playing really audible. The Strat also has a very warm, almost Gilmore type sound. The clean channel is also very warm sounding. I forgot to mention in
the previous category that the amp has a gain boost (selectable with the supplied foot switch) and a bright switch on the clean channel (accessable only on the panel).
With the gain turned up past five in the clean channel, you can get the warmest overdrive that I've ever heard, and I've tried a abundle of 'em. This amp is the perfect choice
if you are into hearing all the little subtleties in your playing. I don't really have any beefs with the sound. It's exactly what I was looking for and needed for my playing
style.

I have only had tis amp for a month, but the reliabilty has been good so far. I would gig this amp anywhere and anytime. I would also feel quite comfortable with no
backup from what I know of past Traynor products.

Haven't had to deal with them so far. Knock on plywood.

I have been playing for about 25 years. I also have a '57 bassman (real deal), peavey bandit, peavey classic 30,Boss dd-3,Dunlop wah
and my previously mentioned electrics. Oh yeah, I scored a nice '67
Gibson J-50 acoustic a couple of months ago too. If my amp were stolen, I would certainly replace it (if I could find another one).
I love the whole vibe and sound of this amp and hate absolutely nothing !! I need a cover for it, but that's coming.