Traynor Mark III 212 Combo

Features have already been covered by everyone else. The simplicity of this amp is one of the things that I love about it. No major bells or whistles, however I really do like the fact that you can use footswitches for the tremelo and reverb. The other thing that needs mentioning about this beast is the fact that it has MASSIVE transformers and is totally overbuilt. Point to point wiring! And this bad-boy can handle a 2 ohm load! (internal speakers @ 4 ohm, external cabinet @ 4 ohm, running parallel) As far as versatility is concerned, if you have a few good footpedals you can make this amp sound like anything you want it to. An FX loop would be cool, but I wouldn't call that a major drawback. It is a fairly simple mod to add one.

I have played strat's, Les Pauls, SG's, and an ibanez through this amp. They all sound different, i.e. this amp lets the character of each instrument shine through. Like another reviewer said, this can be a good or bad thing, I think he said "Shit-in = Shit-out". LOL In fairness though, even if you played a Squier through this thing it would still sound pretty good compared to a lot of other amps. Personally, my main guitar that I used with this amp is a G&L Legacy that I have customized to my personal tastes, (Van Zandt Blues in neck and mid, Duncan JB bridge). Now with this guitar this amp sounds like thunder rolling off a mountain. You know that "Big" strat sound that everyone try's to get? Well that is exactly what this setup yeilds. I run a DOD compression pedal (Don't laugh, it is one of DOD's oldest models made when they were producing quality pedals), a Boss Chorus, and an Ibanez TS-9 tubescreamer in front of the amp and I can cop all of the tones I want right now. I am going to pick-up one of those Tone-Bone Hot British pedals though. They are the shit if you want to get a cranked Marshall sound. I will be honest here though. I picked up this amp used a few months ago and the previous owner was a real dumb-ass for the following reasons. 1. He replaced the original grill cloth with this crap looking black stuff and placed a stupid logo on it with his bands name. I have restored it to the lovely fender black-face style covering. Much better vintage appearance now, I mean come on, it was made in 1972! Second thing, he had it loaded with 2 JBL e120-8 speakers. Now these are awsome speakers but I think that they are a lot better put to use in Keyboard amps and PA systems. They have a friggin' 8.5 KG magnet in them (that is about 300 oz!!!) and made to handle 300 watts RMS so they stay clean no matter what you throw at them. They gave this amp a very stiff sound that I was not happy with. Sooo, I sold them on ebay (they are worth about $100 each used) and picked up an Eminence Legend V12 and GB12 and slapped them in there. That combo is perfect for this amp. They break up at the perfect time and the bass is super deep and tight. I checked out the preamp tubes as well... this guy had it loaded with telefunken and amperex bugle-boy 12ax7's!!! FYI, 5 of these could easily fetch $250. Obviously I was stoked, but here is the part that I don't understand. These are pretty much the best sounding preamp tubes out there but this dork put Sovtek EL-34's in the power section! WTF?!?! I pulled those out and slapped in some of the new Electro-Harmonix EL-34's (They sound incredibly similiar to old Mullards except they only cost about $50 for a matched quad.) I rebiased, a bit on the hot side for that matter, and now this thing sounds like God's amp! I am kicking out the sound of a 4x12 except that it is coming out of 2x12! This amp has so much power and the Eminences are really efficient (I like them a lot more than Celestion's but that is just a personal preference).

Well it has survived for almost 35 years already so I would say that this bugger was made to last. Like I said, I have only had it for a few month's but so far it has been very good to me. I checked out the inards and all the connections look very solid and clean. I am not worried about this thing crapping out on me and if it did, it would be a pretty easy to fix since there aren't any god-damn circuit boards inside it. The only thing I would be scared of is if either of the tranny's died. They are huge and of really exceptional quality and would cost a fortune to replace. On the bright side though, they are much bigger than they need to be so they will probably last another 35 years. I can't give a rating yet even though so far it deserves a 10. Only time will tell.

Well, I have another Traynor Amp, their newer YCV80 2x12 combo and they have been friendly and always have replied to my emails within a few days so I would say as a company their support is pretty good. Now as far as this amp is concerned they will service it but I am not going to bother doing that. I can fix a lot of common problems myself and there is a Tube Amp Wizard that lives 20 minutes away from me if I need major service. The original circuit schematic is still taped inside the chasis so it would be a cake walk bringing it back to life if need be.

I've been playing for nearly 11 years now and have slowly been upgrading my gear as my tastes change and my budget can afford. I paid a little bit more than a lot of the other lucky bastards who have posted reviews but mine came with sweet preamp tubes so as far as I am concerned, $400 was a steal for what would be called a boutique amp by todays standards. Resale value on these amps suck, but I don't care. I'm never selling this baby even if I ever decide to get another amp. This one is just so damn good at what is does that I couldn't imagine finding anything short of Dumble that would compare and then you are spending at least $3000, probably more like $5000. Once I get the Tone-Bone I am going to sell my other Traynor which is a pretty cool amp, $600 bucks brand new and very versatile. I am just appreciating vintage tones much more nowaday's than modern tones so I really don't use it as much as I used to before I got this one. So here is my word of advce. If you ever see one of these in a pawn shop or on eBay, just buy it! You won't regret it once you load it up with good speakers and tubes. If I ever find another one I am going to snap it up so I can have a wall of sound coming from both side of the stage! lol.

Pretty basic. Two channel, non-switching - one clean, one dirty. The dirty has switchable spring verb and trem, both very decent sounding. 100w 2x12 combo all tube.
My setup (and one I knew I'd be keeping for a long while from the GETGO for the first time ever) is a little unusual.
The music my band plays is a bit out of the ordinary- PowerFolkFunkRock. Primarily I play a Gretsch jumbo accoustic/electric with Fishman Prefix electronics. I route the guitar into a Yamaha AG-Stomp preamp which has stereo 1/4in outs. One channel to an Ibanez Tube-King (ala "screamer" variety) and then to a Boss Bass Disto pedal (rarely used but do on occasion to give me the super fat fuzz just over the edge) and then into the Traynor's dirty hi-gain channel. The other channel from the YamahaAG-Stomp goes clean and direct into my (other great love) Fender Bassman 10 (sealed 4x10 70watt) for the cleanest of clean headroom with all kinds of "thump". The result is my dream setup - it sounds like a crunchy elec and an accoustic guitar rolled into one sound which I can manipulate either way with this setup. Took awhile to get here but LOVE LOVE LOVE all the pieces in this chain the Traynor being every bit as important as ANYTHING.

The dirty channel doesn't have quite the low end and headroom as the clean but still you must push it pretty loud before it begins to break.. when it does break it is that beautiful kind many of you know about. Plenty of punch and more than loud enough for a small or medium sized club with full band.

It has some quirks with the reverb but I think that is just a crappy (very very old) Guild switch that I'm using causing the problem. Other than that nothing's gone wrong in over a year of gigging 2-plus times a month with 3 rehearsals a week. It's a para-trooper.

I've not had the pleasure of any sort of conversation with Yorkville, but they've quite a bit of info online for these older Traynors which says alot all by itself. I understand Yorkville is one of the stand-outs in this category however.

Great rig. Period.

mines a 72 it,stamped on the speakers
2 channels only use one no footswitch to turn on trem nad reverb, can build one.
used as a studio now after retired from road.
loud as a bomb!!!!
clean as canadian waterLOL

strat and tele with tube screamer and a wah.
if i need another dirty sound i switch pedals

still have the original mullard tubes and it hasn't failed yet

take ti to a local repair shop he said it checked out fine

i've been playing 30 years and this is the 2nd mark 3 i've owned
and i probaly won't get rid of it unless i find a smaller less heavy version.

I bought my Mark III brand new in 1972 and used it almost exclusively for 20 years taking it on countless gigs. Hand wired, point to point all tube amp that is extremely versatile, reliable and sounds great. Traynor amps are the best kept secret out there. See reviews below for features.

This amp is excellent for rock, blues, country and jazz. It does it all, though a pedal is helpful for distortion. I use a Les Paul, Stratocaster, ES-175D, Gretsch Tennessean, Fender triple-neck steel and it sounds good with all.

Totally bullet proof. After 31 years of playing this thing, I have not anything to it but change tubes; and even that was not necessary. I still have the original Philips tubes that came with it which I re-installed. This amp runs very hot so I recommend installing a cooling fan as I did. I just hook the brackets over the bottom back panel at the and plug it in the accessory unput plug. I'm sure it extends the life of everything in the amp.

Are you kidding? This amp doesn't need service.

If I had to sell every amp but one, I would probably keep this Traynor Mark III.

big Fender Twin killer. made in around 72 or 71, killer Phillip's tubes, loud loud loud. Two channels, can't loop but who cares. Great tremolo, reverb, etc. Amp is versatile and made for concert halls and stadiums.

sounds awesome. Run it through my Tele, Gibson or Flying V all lawsuit guitars when people cared about the guitars they were making. The japs didn't fall asleep like the American makers did back in the 70's. This amp sounds so loud and clean when it wants to and then it has that brown 70's distortion which is excellent.

this thing is a tank and really really heavy over 70 pounds. Put casters on it so no worries about rolling it around. Yorkville will still service it but I take it to a local amp guy Tortice Blues at Encore Music.

Yorkville will still service the amp and their web site has historical section but I would rather take it to a amp specialist who can hot rod it and really put his soul into it. Want a 1-800# buy Yamaha, Peavey, etc. want a killer amp that puts Marshall's and Fender's to shame get a Traynor Mark III

Playing for years, never had something this powerful in a combo that is over 30 years old. Lost or stolen I would find another one, would I buy it again, yes. Compared to other products the price kills them all. Get yourself a Traynor.

All tube, point-to-point handwired combo amp made in 1974. 80 conservatively rated watts from 4 - EL34 power tubes. Huge transformers. Huge magnets on the 2 -12? speakers. I think they may be the Phillips Norelco speakers that were standard on most of these amps???? They are not the cheapo Marsland ones with the 16 oz magnets. 5 - 12ax7 pre-amp tubes and an EL84 to drive the reverb. 2 unswitchable channels with 2 inputs on each channel and treble boost switches. Volume, Treble, Middle and Bass controls on both channels, Reverb and Tremelo Speed and Intensity on the Effects channel. Separate footswitch jacks for Reverb and Tremolo, but not required to utilize those effects. Grounding switch in back as well as an extension speaker jack. One of the first guitar amps (the first was the 1969 Traynor YSR-2 Guitar amp head) to have a Master volume control which comes in very handy as I will explain in the sound review???? I bought my first one of these amps brand new in early 1972, I was one of the first kids on the block with one of these. I used it extensively (3 nights a week plus Sunday matinee plus practices and jams, etc) for nearly 3 years and it always worked. Stupidly sold it when I got a real job, and just purchased this particular 1974 model on the net last year. Without a doubt, this is my favorite amp of anything that exists. Traynor was known for it?s advanced design, reliability, durability, quality sound reproduction and conservative rating techniques. 80 Traynor watts is 125+ everybody else?s watts. These amps are INCREDIBLY loud, even without an extension speaker hooked up. My first experience with one of these was when a touring band passed thru town. Me and my guitar playing buddy were walking down the street towards the local hockey arena where the band was playing, and both were astounded how the guitar sound level was head and shoulders above the rest of the band. We were imagining the stack of amplifiers he had to have to move all that air. When we got in there we saw the band had a typical set-up for the time in Canada (early 1972); Hammond organ with a Leslie miked into the PA, rhythm guitar through a Bandmaster, bass thru a Traynor Custom Special with 2 8X10 boxes, a BIG PA system and the lead player with this combo amp like I?d never seen before. Turns out it was the brand new production, Traynor YGL-3 Mk III twin amp with NO extension speaker and NOT miked thru the PA system. Very impressive. The guitar player had had it for about a month and loved it. I had one a week later, ordered it thru the local music store. About $475 CNDN out the door if I remember correctly; at that time the CNDN$ were roughly equal to the US$. That?s about $1500 in today?s dollars, but a Fender Twin was about $1900 equivalent at that time, and a half Marshall stack required a mortgage.

In the early 70?s I had a near full?time gig with a local ?rockin? country band, but did the occasional rock thing with another part-time band, and was on-call and played fill-in jobs for the union. I used the Traynor amp with either a 1971 Fender standard tele, a 1972 Gibson SG standard, and occasionally one of those horrid Les Paul recording models. (Someone unsuccessfully tried to unload it on me.) Whichever guitar I used, I ran it thru a fuzz-wah pedal that I can?t remember the name of, and usually had the amp plugged into a 4 X 12 box which I don?t remember who made???? (Old age memory goin fast). This set-up covered everything well. It goes without saying that it was always loud enough, probably too loud, but I was young and stupid and unaware of the permanent damage I was doing to my hearing. Nice thick spring Reverb (if you want it) and a strong tremelo sound, unlike a lot of the newer production solid state tremelo circuits that cause an overall drop in amplifier volume when engaged. It is only since I recently got the 1974 model Mk III that I started to explore the tonal posibilities with this amp. The top input jack on each channel has less gain than the lower input jack, and the effects channel has slightly more gain than the normal channel. If you have the channel volume pot at a low level and turn up the master volume to a high setting, you get a rather clean sound with lots of clean headroom. Not quite as clean and midrangey as a Fender, but in that general area. If you turn the channel volume pot up to max and keep the master on the lower side, you get some very nice tube overdrive that was ?the? sound in the late 60?s to early 70?s before the metal-heads started the massive gain trend. It couldn?t get as nasty as a Marshall, but then nothing else could at that time without a pedal of some sort. So, that?s why I had a pedal, and also do now for this amp. I prefer to play blues now, and this amp is perfect with a Strat or Tele (read, single coil pickups) for the blues. I prefer other amps when using an SG or LP (read, humbucker pickups) because I feel this amp is just a little too muddy for my tastes with those guitars. I?m sure there are many players who could find their sound when using a humbucker equipped guitar with this amp, but I can?t. It could be because I just prefer the sound of a Strat or Tele? In the early 70?s when this amp was designed and built, it defined what all-around meant; today with the multi-channel amps with built ? in gain, effects loops, etc, etc, it is pretty basic. In it?s defense though, it handles effects pedals very well; I have had some amps that don?t.

As mentioned previously, I used my original 1972 production amp essentially full time for nearly 3 years without a hitch. Never even thought about tubes??? It was in and out of a couple of hundred different venues in good weather and bad, over rough roads and I?m sure some rough handling on the nights I don?t remember the nasty details and the who/when/what/where/how of the previous evening. These amps are tough and known for it. Pete Traynor dropped a Custom Special? out of a 2nd or 3rd story window for Steve Miller? to demonstrate it?s reliability. (It?s been awhile since I read the story and my memory ?you know). He picked out all the broken tubes, replaced them and fired it up ? it worked. Pete Traynor was a working musician before he started his design/manufacturing career and knew the trials and tribulations of the working road musician, and designed and built his amps so that we didn?t have to worry about at least one thing ? our amplifiers. They always worked. Components were overdesigned, especially the transformers. All hand wired, point-to-point like the expensive boutique amps made today. When I got my 1974 model MK III twin in late 2002, it still had the original Sylvania tubes in it and it still made the eardrums bleed. I had to replace a 12ax7 tube to get the tremelo speed to work properly, and about a month later one of the power tubes died. In the process it nearly cooked a couple of screen resistors. With some guidance from the guys on the alt.guitar.amps newsgroup I got a new set of power tubes, installed 2 new screen resistors just in case, and using the biasing data printed on the schematic diagram provided inside the amp, I set the bias for the new tubes. What more can you ask for. Try that on one of those amps with those printed circuit board insides.

www.yorkville.com is the website for the Yorkville Sound Company, the past and present manufacturer of the new line of Traynor tube amplifiers. There is a section in the website called ?Historic Yorkville?, which has a lot of interesting historical information and technical info and schematics for the 60?s and 70?s Traynor amps. I emailed one of the US distributors with some technical questions and got the answers from somebody a couple of days later. Thanks to who-ever you are.

I have been playing for nearly 40 years and have had a lot of good and bad gear pass through my hands in that time. I have played a few different music styles but prefer to play the white mans blues. I prefer Strats and Teles, but have had my share of SG?s, LP?s and ES335?s. With a guitar plugged directly into this amp, it can cover a lot of ground style-wise, the addition of a pedal or two allows you to do most everything with this amp. This is my favorite amp of all time. It doesn?t have channel switching, or effects loops or all the other modern features common on todays production amplifiers, but like Bon Scott sang, :?She?s got balls?! You could build or buy an A/B footswitch box and have instant access to both channels if that?s what you need. The only negatives about this amp are it?s weight at 75 lbs, and it runs very hot. All of the high power combo amps suffer from the weight problem, and many of the tube designs run very hot like this amp. Some auxiliary handles on the side of the amp plus a set of casters installed or a dolly solves the first problem, a compact, high capacity fan stolen from an old microwave oven solved the second problem.

Can't give it a high mark for features (even though i could care less). Has a straight-forward Vol, Treble, Middle, Bass channel, and another channel with the previous knobs aswell as Reverb, Tremolo-Speed & Intensity. It has four total inputs, and each of the two channels has a Boost switch (which i always have on). I don't have a footswitch, but may look into getting one. The amp takes 4 EL34 power tubes and 5 12AX7 pre-amp tubes and a single EL84 pre-amp tube.

I use this amp with my Fender Jaguar reissue (stock pickups), a Danelectro Dan-Echo delay pedal, a Crowther Audio Hotcake O/D, a Boss Blues Driver, Vox wah, EH Big Muff (the big silver new one).

I got this amp in a pawn shop about 5+ years ago, when i bought it only the 1st channel worked, so i got the guy to knock off $70 dollars and give it to me without tax ($180 canadian total). The sound was pretty crappy and i tried to sell it on a few occassions without much success. But then i did some research and found that this amp should sound as good as any Fender or other quality amp with similar features/power etc. So a few weeks ago i replaced all the preamp tubes with 5 EH-12AX7's and a Sovtek EL84. I let the amp warm up a bit then turned it on. HOLY CRAP!!!!! the lord has just replaced my P.O.S. amp with something incredible! this amp has to be the best deal on the planet. it sounds better than many of my friends $1500 fender, orange, marshall etc. amps. And now the second channel (with reverb, tremelo etc) works perfectly! and i actually prefer the second channel for its warmth and reverb (the reverb is very touchy and is really only usable from 0-3 settings, but it does a decent job). The tremolo effect is pretty cool and i will likely use it here and there (need a footswitch). I can only describe the sound as very Fender-like, but maybe a little better (not TOO full of a sound, just right). I find the highs to be especially impressive, they are incredibly rich (i dont mean sparkly or piercing at all, very pretty and smooth) the mids are very vintage sounding and the lows are very good aswell, not overly fat but definately heavy enough for my style (everything from stones, velvet underground, stooges, sonic youth, dinosaur jr., galaxie 500) blues players will definately like this amp too.

I'm excited to see how good this thing sounds when i replace the power tubes (4 el43's) which i will do in the coming weeks.

I thought this amp was dead! replaced the pre-amp tubes and voila! ( i wish i had taken the risk of replacing the tubes 5 years ago! would never have bought those other amps i own)

Well, traynor is kinda back (but is it the same? dont think so) but the best customer support you're gonna get for this is talking to the old dudes in the repair shops at long & mcquade, or scouring the web for info. i can easily give it a 8 though simply because you wont need any support.

I've played guitar for about 10 years. In that time i have owned a solid state Crate (cant remember the model), sold that and bought this Traynor (it collected dust for many years), a Fender Pro Jr, Fender Princeton Reverb, Fender Blues Jr (sold the Pro Jr)and i honestly think the Traynor sounds the best so far (with the tubes replaced). I know i would never go spend well over $1000 on some amp with the same power, even for more features (O/D, Fat Boost etc). I'll be keeping a look out for Traynor amps in pawn shops and on E-Bay because i really want to get more now! save yourself alot of money and get a '70's Traynor!

100watts of super clean power - like a Fender Twin but way way way better. If you've played both you know what I mean. Point to point wiring and robust circuitry found only in boutique amps costing many times what I paid for this amp.

Two channels, each with volume, bass, middle, treble controls, treble boost switch. Channel two has reverb and tremolo effect as well. There is the all-important master gain. Effects are footswitchable. There's one extension speaker output jack on the back panel for a 4ohm ext. cab. Tubes are: Four 6CA7 (EL34), one 6BQ5(EL84), five 12AX7A. 4 ohms output to a pair of 8ohm 12" JBL K120s in parallel. It has the great transparent Traynor silvery grey grille cloth. Mine has a matching factory cover. It's REALLY heavy - 75 pounds and I plan on installing castors ASAP :) Dimensions: 27 3/4" x 21" x 12 1/2".

It does not have an effects loop - don't care. Doesn't have channel switching - don't care. I don't use the boost switches or the reverb or the tremolo. No headphone jack - don't care.

I run a highly modified Strat into a GT-6 (I can't say enough good things about this multi-effects pedal) and then direct into the amp.

This amp has amazing clean headroom. I can empty a gymnasium with sheer sound power if necessary. It is a perfect match for my effects and playing style (all styles from country to metal... cover band stuff).

I'm not going to give it less than a ten because it does everything it was designed to do with exemplary aplomb. It doesn't pretend to be a modelling amp. 30 years ago this was the Canadian BOMB!

By the way, if you absolutely need a footswitch for the effects, Yamaha makes one - two buttons, one fat cord, two jacks... or you can make one yourself with 4-strand speaker wire (although it will cost $20 in hardware plus a box for the switches... cheaper on eBay).

This amp has amazing clean headroom. I can empty a gymnasium with sheer sound power if necessary. It is a perfect match for my effects and playing style (all styles from country to metal... cover band stuff). Getting crunch depends entirely on the speakers selected. I have tried EV, JBL, Eminence, and Marsland... all have completely different characteristics. I like the EVM 12-L's for monster clean headroom. And, for tonal variety, I have a mint Traynor 2x15" cab with original Marslands. I swapped the wiring around to make it a 4ohm cab and run it as an extension speaker. Really fattens up the tone with more breakup for non-processed signal playing. This amp can do anything if you are wise in selecting the other components in the tone chain. I get so weary hearing people who have played for three months talk about their $100 guitars going into a cheesy "heavy metal" stompbox from then into an amp... and then criticize the amp for sound quality. Give us all a break :)

No noise from the amp (and none from my guitar, frankly... I've "quieted the beast" thanks to guitarnuts.com).

Played without any effects, the amp is full of harmonics with clear shimmering highs and a full bodied bottom end (whatever that means to you...). I have no pops or clicks or crackles or hisses. Good quality tubes (I use all EH for their tone, heat resistance, and low to nil microphonics) and a cap job at the 30 year mark have kept this beastie silent. If necessary, I'd clean the pots with some magic-spray but I haven't had to yet :)

It's a Traynor. Do the Pete Traynor thing... drop the amp from a second/third/fourth/fifth story window... replace the tubes... power up and play.

I've never needed a backup solution with this amp. But I always have one. Paying audiences have a right to guaranteed uninterrupted listening pleasure :)

Long/McQuade in Canada is/was the Traynor pipeline to the public. They're great. My '73 amp is long past its warranty period but there are quite a few tube amp techs that can work on this amp (I got a great referral from the local L&M so I have to say support is excellent)

Pop the top off and all the guts are accessible. The point to point wiring and time-tested design are a big plus. Also the schematics are widely available. Easy peasy.

I've been playing electrics 25 years (others, longer). I've owned Fender, Ampeg, Traynor and other amps... many of each. I've played through Mesa, Marshall, Orange, and Vox. I can afford virtually any amp out there and am satisfied with my YGL-3 MkIII. I have to admit that I haven't played through a Matchless and reserve judgement on that comparison. However, I can get all the tone that I've ever heard from one. Still, that's not the same as playing though one myself. There are a few other amps that I've only sampled briefing... Dr.Z, Dumble, etc. thanks to some good friends... but I still prefer my Traynor.

However, only your ears matter in the end... :)

Yes, I'd buy another. They come up on eBay from time to time and are one of the unsung values in amp-land.

This is a mid 70s Traynor. Not too pretty looking but that is my only gripe, despite it being a little weak and pickey gripe. All tube, point to point hand wired, with 2 chanells, tube reverb, tremelo, 2-12 inch speakers, built like a brick house. It is an incredible product.

This amp is amazing!!!!!! It is everything what I wanted my blackface twins to be. The fender twin reverbs were my main amps untill I found these. The Traynor is much more responsive, warm and musical. It sounds like the twin, yet it does not have that "middey" midrange problem twins have. The trebble is excellent and you can easilly dial in as much or as little as you wish with out hurting the tone of the amp. Many amps are easily transformed into too muddy or too crisp when you roll out or in, respectively, the trebble. The bass is wonderfull, yet if you turn it up too much it can get really bassy and possibly interfere with you bassists tone! This amp is TONE. The amp breaks up a little easier than the twin in the high input chanell, producing a well compressed overdriven natural distortion ala Led Zepplin. If you max it out, with all tone and volume controls (not including trem or reverb) it is full-on hendrix. The other channel stays fairly clean around 3/4 volume, clean enough for pedal steel. I am comparing this amp to the Fender Twin because it is basically the same wattage, and speaker configuration. However, soundwise it is more like a much louder fender princeton reverb.

I have had this thing for almost two years now and it is a Tank! I dont think i could break it with out heavy duty construction equipment. The wiring is excellent, not as good as a boutique amp and that is why I am giving it a 9, yet nothing is as good as those way overpriced boutique amps built by anal retentive electronic smartty pants.

never dealt with em.

Hands down the best amp I have ever played, especially for the value.

really cool amp with reverb and tremelo.

Sounds like a Fender Twin, but it is much better made and much more warm sounding than a twin. It is hard to get this amp to break up much unless your willing to deal with playing at a very high volume, but its clean is warm, natural and distinctive. If you crank the master volume and play loud it is more like a marshall JTM 45. I saw eric johnson use one of these amps next to a twin and two 100 watt marshall lead plexi amps in '98 at a show in dallas.

Very reliable, made solid as can be. The transformers are huge, and it is point to point hand wired. These are inexpensive amps but they are certainly not cheaply made. If you buy one, leave it alone no matter how easy people claim it is to modify them. If you want an amp that sounds like a marshall, then buy a marshall. This amp is unique and sounds much better than most.

n/a

I own two. If one was stolen, Id buy another. It is really truly a fantastic amp. I never give any amp a 10 rating!!