Traynor Mark III 212 Combo

Early 70s 212 hand-wired point to point tube amp with reverb, tremolo, 2 channels with separate gains, 3 band EQ, and master volume. 2 separate single pedal inputs for foot control of reverb and tremolo switching. This amp is far more versatile than other reviews will admit. Channel 1 is wonderfully clean and clear, perfect for acoustic/electric, or country. But channel 2 really shines, with the reverb and tremolo, and a gain volume. Drop the master volume down, and crank up the gain, for a growly Fender-style crunch. For way more distortion, use effects, this amp can take it all.

I use Gibson, and Ibanez Artcore mainly, with a varied sound palette. I play contemporary Christian, 80s rock, acoustic funk and a little bit of blues. This amp suits any style, I think that this one I'm going to keep for sure. It beats all the USA Fenders, all the heads I've had, all the other tube amps I've had, including Fender, Gibson, Peavey, Garnet AND Johnson. This amp, with the adjustable tremolo, and spring reverb, has so many flavours, you'll think you died and went to Baskin Robbins....and LOUD ! ! ! I heard that Pete Traynor was very conservative in his power ratings, but man, this amp has got to be 150 watts if it's 5. And it's so amazing I found one all original, INCLUDING the 4 ORIGINAL MULLARD power tubes. Distortion is creamy to crunchy, not too raunchy, or at least I couldn't turn it up loud enough for it to break up like that, without damage to my hearing.

From what I've seen and heard, Traynors are built for war. I would use mine to keep a bus from rolling down a hill, or to hold up a corner of a house foundation.....it's seriously a tank. As for using it without a backup, that's not a concern for me.....I have tons of backup. I don't see this amp breaking down on me, because I take very good care of my stuff, and this comes in good shape.

I'm very close to Long and McQuade, but I have a place I trust way more. Traynor is good for schematics, etc., but I don't need any of that either.

I've been playing for 30 years plus, but seriously for over 10. I own other tube amps by Garnet, Gibson, United, Johnson. If it were stolen, I'd conduct a pretty serious investigation. If it were lost, I'd try to hunt down another. I love the tremolo, it's smoother than others I have tried. I dislike the weight; I think this thing weighs 80 pounds, feels like even more than that. I have compared it to other blues style amps, like the Fender Blues DeVille 410, the Peavey Delta Blues 115, The Gibson Atlas 115, and my flagship, the Johnson Millennium 250 watt tube driven stereo head, sitting atop a Hughes and Kettner 412, wired 4 ohm stereo....It holds up, and sounds amazing.

There really aren't any features. I don't typically like any effects pedals, but with this amp you will need at least one. There is no distortion at all inherent to the amp.

The sound is beautiful. I have heard rumors that this amp was based on the fender twin reverb. Whether that is true or not, I don't know but the sound is definitely comparable.

I've never even considered bringing a backup since I bought this. Part of me wants to be gentle with it and maybe buy some kind of protective case...... But usually I just toss it into the back of my pickup truck and go

N/A

If you come across one of these, get it. You can usually find them for pretty cheap. I only paid $250 for mine, but I would gladly pay over $500 to replace it (if I ever had to).

This is an update of my earlier review. The honeymoon is over and the love is stronger now than ever before! Here's the difference. I swapped out the old speakers with a Weber blue dog and a Weber silver bell. I got a pair of groove tubes substitubes. I had the amp rebiased and a cap job done. I run the substitubes in two slots and el34 tubes (electro-harmonix) in the other two slots. This lowers the overall wattage slightly and lowers the headroom. In this case that is a good thing! I can now get any sound in my head out of this amp. To get Vox/Matchless type sounds I merely remove the el34s and keep the substitubes in. For old school Fender/Marshall tones I put the el34s back in. For moe gain turn up the volume knob (adjust master to taste) for power tube saturation sim. to a plexi i use the 1st channel which has been disconnected from the master knob. Takes pedals really really well - a nice warm boost pedal is lovely to leave on all the time...

If you find one, get it maintained and you'll love it!

70's traynor mark III, pretty basic, has 2channels, point to point wiring, tremolo, reverb. 80watts out of 4 tubes... mine is running with 2, and the reverb doesn't work, but I think it could have something to do with a knackered tube somewhere or something like that. it's old...

u have a footswitch socket, and u could add speakers, that's it...


cheaper then a 50watts vox valvetronix...

I have been using this amp with a tubescreamer mostly, it sounds loud and brown... there's more power even with 2 powertubes then a silverface fender twin... I use gibson style guitars and it really makes them shimmer, mostly just plug it in the clean side, but I'm going to start experiment a bit more with it. also get a set of 4new tubes, but I'm afraid it will be to loud. It outplays a brand new peavey 120watts tubehead with a 4+12 running at cirkus 40watts... u get the picture, it's absolutely perfect for whitestripes, wolfmother stuff using the BigMuff, and it sounds amazing with telecasters. Would love to have more overdrive, but I'm going to start looking for the perfect stompbox combination, as soon as I get the amp fully sorted, but the clean sounds and tremolo sounds of this amp is awesome! and u could sound just like pete townshend when u crank it really high, in other words in my opinion this sounds nothing like a silverface, I have tried a Orange Twin and it seems to be almost the same amp, sounds the same, got the same features, but it will set u back a couple of grand, if u find one... this is amazing value, use it just for the clean sounds and get a a/b box? I will probarly end up doing just that...

theese are 30year old amps, can't see nothing break... mine has one celestion speaker, speakers break. Mine is not serviced and running on 2 power tubes, works like a charm every day. it is built like a volkswagen a bit dull but works... where the fender amps need constant care, but they are also made from a country who has bush, and think that trucks are cars, and after all thoose years manufacturing them can't get the quality of european cars, and need v8's to produce the power of a european moped...

got help load it in the car... have a good website and my friend has a newer traynor, got help from them pretty fast so.

this is my main amp at the moment, use it with a couple of different stompboxes, it works really well with them... play humbucker guitars and if it would get lost, I would get it as head insteed. cause it damn unpractical...

I'm gonna get mine sorted, and I think that will make a great amp shimmer...

if u can get your hands on one of theese and are thinking about getting a silverface twin, but want more of a clean marshall grunt this is the best buy...

Two (non-switching) channels. I think mine is either modded or broken so that channel 1 (vol-bass-mid-treb) is not affected by the master. It behaves like an old plexi, the higher the volume, the more grind you get. channel 2 has the same controls and adds reverb and tremolo (intensity and speed comtrols), it behave more like a Twin. There are bright boost switchs on either channel too and a master volume. Reverb uses a couple of 12ax7's and an el84. There's also a pile of 12ax7's in the preamp section. 80-100 watts before clipping courtesy of the 4 el34's. Oh yeah, both channels have a high and a low input. All of the inputs can be run simultaneously. On the back there a polarity switch, 3 prong cord, jacks to control reverb and tremolo, speaker out (8ohm)and an extra power outlet. In todays terms there aren't a lot of bells and whistles here, but it works very well.

Channel 1 is more aggressive than channel 2 and is not affected by the master volume. It gets into classic rock territory, but no more in terms of overdrive. I'd like to add that the amp, when overdriven, has a certain high end crunch that to me defines the Traynor sound. Channel 2 is where I (and probably anyone elso who owns one) spend all my time. Not as much gain on tap as my 1st channel, but this amp is meant to be played loud and clean. It is, in the truest sense of the word, an amplifier. This is really nice. You can easily hear the different charictaristics of you various guitars and effects. The reverb is good, and the tremolo is unbelievable! In short a great amp for blues, country and clean to dirty rock.

It's a Traynor

Yorkville sound is very good about these old amps.

Who needs channel switching? Tubescreamers all the way! It's a 1972 Traynor Mark III, bought in 1999 for 250 bucks Canadian when I was 15. I learned on this amp and grew up with it, now I play professionally and play two or three shows a week. It had the original Phillips tubes until I had them replaced a few months ago and had the amp cleaned up. Not realizing that new tubes take a while to get broken in (or whatever you call it), I wasn't quite happy with the sound. I bought a Roland Jazz Chorus, and gigged with that for a few months, but after practicing a bit more with the Traynor, it is starting to blow the JC-120 Roland out of the water, a lot more low end and tons of warmth. And don't get me wrong, I love the JC-120's clean tone. This amp now is sounding noticably better every time I use it, I was going to buy a Rivera combo, but now I'm just going to keep the traynor and save my money.

This amp's got more than enouph power for almost any setting, unless you play metal/heavy music, then you just plain need more speakers to move more air, but you could plug the bugger into a cab and I bet it'd do great.

Important to note, I don't play this amp because I can't afford a twin reverb! As I noted I was looking at buying a new Rivera, which I had saved for because I think they're some of the best sounding amps around, but it would be a waste as long as I still had the Traynor.

I only play with a single coil Strat, I use a Tubescreamer and/or a Fulldrive pedal and it sounds great, good sustain and even good feedback controll when the amp's turned up a bit. This amp is perfect for blues and rock, I use it for a lot of funk. VERY clean if you want, but it'll break up pretty good too if you crank the gain. It's my main amp for most shows, I've got a 100W Marshall half stack for large shows with a heavy band, but everything else I use the traynor for. (I could probably just run the traynor through the cab and have saved myself 1500.00 bucks for the marshall head). I think the only thing I wouldn't recommend this amp for is metal, even with a great metal distortion pedal it doesn't get you a great metal sound, and that's only because of the speakers. (besides is a good metal sound really a good tonefull sound?)

I used it for a bass amp by disconnecting the speakers and running through a 4x10 cab, and it was keeping up with a pretty loud drummer, the tone was great for bass too, but don't waste one of these amps as a bass rig.

You won't find a more rigid, reliable amp with tubes in it. I've heard that one got dropped out the back of a truck bed, and just needed one new valve, I believe it too, I played the heck out of this thing for five years when the tubes were already 30 years old, and I was pushing it hard because I was using it for a bass amp.

It's a 34 year old amp, who the hell's gonna help me with it? I guess all I'll say is that it's reliable as hell, so it doesn't matter.

I've been playing for ten years, I have a Marshall JCM-2000 for big shows, and I'm selling a Roland Jazz Chorus I don't use because this amps clean tone is THAT good. (If you've ran through a Roland JC you know how good they sound)

They're kind of hard to find, so if it was stolen I wouldn't look for another one, I'd probably drop two grand on a new rivera in an attempt to find a sound that was as good, or a decent fender reverb, but they are really hit and miss (as are all hand wired tube amps)

I love the simplicity of this amp, and the only thing I don't like is the weight (but I'm only 130 pounds and manage to get it to gigs in the middle of winter in Calgary, so suck it up), and possibly the speakers, I might buy new speakers for it.

Bought this one used for 550 e. Made 1997. I'm 48 years old and was
rised listening to Beatles, Rolling Stones,CCR etc. and this is what
I play. To this comes a little jazz and also metall just for fun.
Seems to be in original super condition even with the old Philips output valves. Two channels with volyme, treble,middle, bass and treble boost in the clean one and volyme, treble, middle,bass, treble boost reverb and tremolo in the second channel. There's also a master volyme that effects the second channel only. Two inputs per channel one low and the other high. No effects loop or headphone jack. This gem is all tube and point to point made. The reverb and tremolo is tube and foot switchable. Wattage is 80 loud ones. I use this amp basicly at home and the best thing about it is that it sounds good even on home volymes. On the other hand there's enough power for bigger stages too.

I use mainly a Tokai LP copy with Duncan Jazz in neck and Jeff
Beck in bridge positon. My other guitar is a warmoth telecaster
with Duncan quarter pounder in the neck and minihumbucker in bridge
position. The clean channel is clean almost to maximum volyme. The second channel has the typical 70-s type distortion. You need to really crank the pre volyme to get into distortin territory. I use a Carl Martin plexitone (exellent pedal) for the heavyer stuff and a H20 Liquid chorus for the lush sounds. The amp lets my guitars sound as different as they do and it responds very vell to playing dynamics. In my opinion this is a very silent tube amp even with sigle coils. If you crank it it will hum a bit but nothing to be embarassed of.

Well I've had it for about half a month so I can't really tell yet.
It is very sturdy constructed and the point to point wiring is very
neatly done. I'm the third owner and the guy I bought it from was
a professional guitarist and he had used it for 20 years whithout a
problem. I've heard that the old Traynors were build to last.
I would use it on a gig without backup, I know this souds silly
but if you take proper care of your equipment it will deliver.

I've mailed the company to get some answers about the age and speakers
and they answered over night. That's something. Due to the amps
construction it is easy to serve for anybody who is familiar with
old time electronics. No digits and bits here.

I've been playing or 35 years. Some gigging but mostly as a fantastic
hobby. I have a crush for older vintage stuff and basic tone. Other stuff I have is a warmoth telecaster and a Tokai strat copy both with duncans a K Yairi acoustic a trademark 60 and a Roland Mikro Cube amp. If the Traynor was stolen I would be very sad because I'm very fond of old stuff and this is really a gem in all aspects. I would definetely buy another one, perhaps the mark 3 head if I could find one in prima condition. I love everything about the amp especially the clean non colored powerfull sound and the fact that there's no modern extra features. I've compared this against a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe which I traded and of course A-B it against my trademark 60 and if we are talking about basic roots sounds the Traynor sounds awesome especially on the clean side.

I love it to bits. I was promoted from roadie/soldering iron owner(!)to rhythm guitarist in a Welsh language band during the early to mid 1980's and consequently needed amplification for the Fender Bullet I had been loaned. I somehow got to hear of this baby which was previously owned by a member of Bran (a Welsh 'supergroup' of the 1970's) and which was being used by some kids for rehearsal in a shed on a local pig farm in deepest Anglesey! The farmer took me to see it, I saw the valves and transformers cheekily poking out of the back and immediately offered the full #80 (about $170? at todays prices) cash that was being requested for me to take it away from its smelly fate. I almost instictively knew this was a good amp. just by the way it was so overengineered - y'know, solid!

The speakers, bearing shiny metallic stickers with the text 'Special Design Yorkville Sound Ltd. Traynor Electronic Instrument Transducer' in blue text are both stamped with the date May 6 1974 and the number 7383 so I'm assuming that it is now just coming up to it's 31st birthday in a few weeks.

The fact that it has 4 inputs at the front was very useful for us in the band back then, one for me (normally the upper (bright) channel on the reverb side) and then the singers' mike and the bass guitar (he was still looking for an amp. at the time) into any of the others. The abuse this thing took you would not believe.

We played mainly rock / funk / cod reggae (I think that's what you might call it) and this amp. performed admirably under any circumstance we threw at it. Just how loud was a matter of hearing protection really.

As regards features I wish it had, no really obvious ones, does it need any more than the ability to do what it does REALLY well? The tremolo circuit was not that well liked to be honest and was rarely used. But the reveb spring was/is superb - I mean, proper spring reverb on a powerful valve amp. with Hammond transformers? Superb.

The band split up towards the end of 1986 and I have only used it a couple of times in public since. I now use it at home where I've just discovered the art of messing about with effects and stomp boxes that I've bought on Ebay (one of the perks of growing old?), however, as a bit of a birthday treat (for the amp.) it's being brought out of residential retirement for the bassists wedding in October! (We think).

I've used a cheap Strat copy (my first guitar), a Fender Bullet, a cheap Sattelite Les Paul copy and a Squier Strat (my current guitar), and they all sound good with a touch of overdrive and flanger/chorus. I've got an old Roger Mayer rocket series classic fuzz which sounds good through it.

The sounds (and volumes) that can be obtained from this amp are quite phenomenal and rich for a two speaker combo. I've just sourced an Ibanez SM-9 & CP-9, an E-H Electric Mistress and a Boss SD-1 and am almost passing out at the possibilities. Buying this bargain was the best #80 I ever spent!!!

Has never given any serious trouble at all even after a few years in a pigshed. I've seen friends with AC30's and Marshalls etc. of similar age going into 'spend money on me mode' but this just keeps on going no problem.

And again, you would just not believe the abuse it's had. I remember 3 of us sleeping in our small van with a choice that had to be made - the amp and guitars lost out and had to sleep outside underneath the van, it's a bit tatty, but sonically - pure. It's amazing it hasn't been nicked!

I had no idea who Traynor were at the time way back then, all I knew is that this amp. was similar, but not the same as, a Fender Twin. It's only since I typed Traynor into Google recently that I've discovered that there are other YGL3 owners out there - and boy, do we seem to be the lucky ones.

There was a bit of hum problem present at one point (but isn't that what's nice about a valve amp.?) which was progressively getting worse and more irritating (probably as a result of the abuse it was getting from the bass) until I took it to an electronics engineer who had a penchant for all things valvey, vintage and analog at the local University, he gave it the once over, a new set of valves and tried to buy it off me.

I refused.

I've owned a guitar of some description since Chistmas 1980 and I'm still learning how to play. I like to mess around with gear though, that's how I got into the band in the first place.

As I mentioned above, I've got this amp., a small 10W (soild state) practice amp. and about 12-13 various boxes of tricks who make different types of noises - which is always good for the amp., keeps it supple in old age.

If I lost etc. this amp. I would be totally gutted, not only because I like this one (& it's history), and would not really know where to get another like it, but I got one hell of a bargain back in the early eighties.

I love the way it sounds and the fact that it's not too ashamed to show it's age and scars, but I hate the little castors that someone must have put on it at some time (they look like they came off some aborted office furniture designed in the sixties - during a bad acid trip) but they are a necessary evil owing to the fact that this little thing is not really so little and is damn heavy.

I'd really like to find out what it sounds like when mated to a Marshall 4x12 cab, that'd be nice.

I'm not sure when this was made but i'm thinkin in the early 70's. Its amazing i paid $450cdn for it and i saved up for it for a long time a few months and then finally traded in a Fender Fm65r. I love the features because the two seperate channels so i plug the mics in the first channel which is usaully louder than the 2nd channel, the 2nd channel is where i plug my guitar in i love this channel because the amazing reverb(always at 10) and the tremolo is a new world to discover,very loud i had it at 1 1/2 in the basement and i could hear it across the street!!! soon i'll crank it at the gigs, i love it cause its so clean on the 1st channel and the 2nd channel is just enough distortion for me i don't like distortion, it has a voice of its own. Also what i love is that its pretty simple no 12 channels and millions of digital crap preamps and that stuff because truthfully you spend more time playing with knobs and getting that right "tone" than auctully playing and its easier to get that right "tone" with less controls. also one last thing this thing is ALL TUBE so very loud and lots of tone.

currently i use a Hunter Michael Bruce from Alice Cooper Signature SG (i bought it because of the looks the price and the money signs in the fretboard lol) I also use sometimes if i can borrow it a Danelectro octivia and i have a homemade fuzz face that works but loose solder connections so right now i'm pluggin straight into this thing, i play a lot of genres rock, blues, some country, metal, classic rock, but mostly oringinals which fit all most of those critereas, its sounds awesome but its so versitile and i love old amps cause of no channel switching so you can plug in what u need and just keep it there, i keep the mics in the high input on the 1st channel and let me tell u this thing is the best PA system ever barely any feedback and really loud vocals and its always louder than 2nd channel but it has a good mix when your playing and singing so i'm happy that i don't need to buy a PA, but the distortion is just perfect because i don't like a lot of distortion just enough that its rock and blues, and i love the reverb on this very rich and same with the tremolo it opens a whole new world of possibilities. and finally the last thing for the 1st channel is that its very loud and very clean perfect for vocals. Just one word to describe this amp awesome i have nothing to complain about.

i just bought it a few days ago but from what i've red you cant complain about the relibility cause its built like a tank

can't say anything right now, I have a 30 day warrenty from the music store thats it. and haven't dealt with Traynor yet

Worth the every cent, and if someone stole this i'll track them down and beat them then let the prision take them over "cough prision bitch cough" all i have to say is that traynor make an amazing product and people may laugh at them but you just wait till i turn it on and turn it up then i won't be able to hear your laughter and u will be to jelous to speak!

My amp was made in 74' , this amp is so versitile, i know the music i play,Rockabilly,Rythm n Blues, its very hard to get the right sound from any amp for this music, but this Traynor has gotten it pretty much to a 't'.With any amp it takes quite while to get your sound perfect but you cant go wrong with a Traynor Mk III.
The tremelo built in is brilliant and the reverb is the old style spring at the back.
I use this amp gigging, you wouldnt believe the noise that comes out of it , it will drown out any drum kit with absolute no problem.

I use a 335, and a stratocaster with it , but mostly the 335.I use both pickups, all the volume and tones turned fully up , apart from the treble tone turned down a little.
It suits my style very well , if your into rockabilly or rythm n blues u gotta concider this amp.So many sounds you can get out of it and the variety is big.thers so many handles and clean sockets you've just gotta mess round to get whatever you want because this will get whatever you want.If you really want the distortion, it can become too rediculous.

This is a very reliable amp, apparently the advert for this amp was someone chucking it out of a third story building then running down stairs and plugging it in, and it would work perfectly.I would definately use it on a gig without a backup amp.
This amp has never been broken , just the tubes have to be changed.

i havent had any problems with the amp so i have had no need to contact he company.

i love evry thing about this amp, and i hate nothing, i did compare it to a fender twin, and this, for its price, just blows it away!

Its a good find if you find any old traynor amps, so think deeply about it being a option.