Traynor Mark III Head

Every one else told the story already. I can only play one guitar at the time. So enough inputs and knobbies to play with. I bought it with the 6 x 10 speakercabinet. Value for money, but bad for your back. You save so much money on any other vintage amp, you can afford yourself a roadie :)

One word.......Great.
What kinda sounds can the amp make??????????? A whirbling sound, because of the fan.

Amp is 29 years old. Everything in it is still original. Everything! And if you look inside you'll see it had a life in smokey and wet joints.

In the Netherlands? No way, nope, nada.

It's been played for all the 29 years. I own lots of other stuff.
I wished it had a cigarette lighter!

The amp is capable of Furnishing Clean or distorted distinct sound for the most discriminating person I know I have Played for over 40 years Using all brands none equil the sound of this amp. It is a 2 channel amp with master volume I wish it had seprate master volumes and reverbe controls for each channels and switching It is Probaly a 70 modle amp I play it every day sence 1980 I replaced the tubes once and had one shorted 6CA7 OutPut toub once. It has been very dependable I play blues rock jazz Clasical and standards It delivers perfict sound for them all. It Is probally a 100 wat amp whitch is more than enough power.

I play a 62 335 a new squire strat both with stock pickups an acoustic washburn a hand maid tourch form Soundlab in Tulsa with old Mighty Might humbuckers and a Demarsio Bass. It works In all styles of music Blues rock jazz clasic standers I even play Christmas songs. I found the distorted sounds to be very smooth all the way to the top it brakes up nicley at about 7 on the chanel but it is too loud to over drive the out put unless you are in very large venues.

I have never caryed a backup amp It has never failed me at a gig I only had one tube short once in 21 years I just put in a 6CA7 and went on.

I traded a Fender twin for it just the chasy With no speakers of cabnet I an a technition and allways fix things my self and Once in 21 years aint bad the quality of componets is very good

I started Playing 42 years ago. I owne too much to list but I do have a Pro sound system At least it was 15 years ago. It would be hard to replace but I would find another if need be. I love the sound that is the most important thind an amp can have. I dont hate annnything about it

Late '60's to early '70's amp...they didn't have features back then the way we do now. No Line Out, Effects Loop, etc. It does have the most incredible shower room to concert hall reverb/echo effect, and the power tube warbling tremolo makes you feel like your head is in the ocean. Reverb and tremolo are foot-switchable or I would've given it a 6. Two channels laid out like old Fenders with plain on one side, effects on other. Both channels have 3 bands of EQ.

I will apologize upfront to those of you who won't give a 10 to anything. Here's my definition of a 10 -- one unit that you always choose to take when you're heading out the door and you can't get enough of the tone. How many times do you get a new/used amp out and someone says, "That sounds good," yet you think to yourself, "Yea, but wait until I get a _____________." It won't happen with this amp...it's my end all/be all tone amp.

I didn't want a Fender and I didn't want a Marshall...this thing has the most incredible TONE for ME. I am using a new MESA 1x12 3/4 back cab with a 90W Mesa/Celestion speaker.

Disclaimers...I found the *original* Phillips 6CA7/EL34 power tubes in the unit, along with all the original Phillips 12AX7As and EL84, yes, and EL84 is used to drive the tremolo. What a difference these original tubes make. Second, it's all about warm and powerful clean tones...not a lot of distortion. You can use the bottom input on the second channel and crank the volume for nice blues breakup.

I've heard a story that Mr. Traynor took the tubes out, and dropped his amp from a building (I've read everything from a two-story to a four-story), put the tubes back in and played the amp. Whatever the distance, it's still a credit to this design. The amp has been absolutely unphased by time in the 30 or so years it has existed.

It doesn't exist

Again, I've gotta go 10 here because it's the only amp I'll use. I've been playing over ten years, six of those electric and have used over a dozen different amps, configurations, digital, analog, tube, you name it.

It's definitely a "pawn shop prize" if you can find one. When you do or if you already have and you're researching, go get it before someone else does.

This is a very versatile amp. This is the first Traynor that I've owned, and I will never get rid of it. It has 2 channels. Channel 1 has two inputs that features a treble boost switch, treble, bass, and volume. Channel 2 has two inputs that features a treble boost, treble, mid, bass, reverb, tremolo(speed and intensity knobs). Two output jacks for speakers, footswitch output for reverb as well as tremolo. This workhorse is all tube, including the reverb. This baby cranks. Yes, it can get plenty loud. No question about that! To get the amp to distort I find that you have to crank the volume knob and use the master for level. I also find that depending on how loud I turn up the master knob sometimes I have to compensate on where I set the volume knob. The tremolo is great, but find that when I click it on with my footswitch, I lose a little bit of power(volume). I use the tremolo mainly when I am tracking. It's awesome! I kind of wish the EQ was a little more defined. I carry this head to every show. I love it.

I Mainly use an '86 Les Paul Custom, a 95 Les Paul Studio, and a '68 ES-355 (stereo). I get a nice bluesy sound from the amp. The sustain that I get from the Les Pauls is amazing. I will never get rid of this amp. It has such a rich defined sound. The amp is not noisy unless I crank up the reverb to much. By keeping my volume knob on ten, I find that if I turn the reverb past 10 o'clock I lose tone. With some adjustments I can get a very nice clean sound out of the amp, but for the most part I stick with a dirty sound. The distortion is not brutal at all.

Great dependablility. I never carry a backup. I've had this amp for two years now and never had any problems. I still have the original tubes inside.

I don't know of any traynor dealers in my area, so it is hard to get any support. I do not know where to find support. I don't even know if traynor even makes amps any more.

I've been playing for 5 years. I also own a Laney GC60 combo amp, an Ampeg B2 bass combo, and a fender jazz bass. I will never get rid of this amp. I've never played an amp quite like this one. This amp is full of tone! Hard to find, so good luck. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you what kind of cabinet I play through. Yes, a Traynor. 8-10 cabinet. Yes, that's what I said, 8 ten inch speakers. It's a beautiful rig. It's almost as tall as me. That is the downer, It is a heavy rig for me to carry around, but it's worth it. if I had to compare it to another amp I would say a fender. Like a fender twin. I wish it had a footswitch for the clean to dirty sound.

This is the 100w Mark 3 head, by Toronto's own Pete Traynor. Its a 2-channel head with reverb and tremolo.
Its power section boasts four el34 and a few 12ax7's in the preamp stage with tube for reverb and one for tremolo.
Channel one features 2 inputs (boost and normal switch), volume, bass, treble and presence. This side does not have reverb or master volume. This is much like the Bassmaster, tone wise.
Channel two features 2 inputs (boost and normal switch), volume, bass, treble, speed, intensity, reverb and master volume.

I use a '76 LP standard (stock except for a bigsby vibrato) with this amp. Its great for clean, some have compared it to the Twin. The reverb is HUGE, alot like the Ampeg VT-22.
My only concern is that the reverb seems to diminish when one cranks the volume and uses the master volume for overall volume. This could be due to the overdriven tubes.....hey, what am I, Pete Traynor?

This a reliable amp. I would use this amp (if I knew the history of the tubes) on a gig without a backup.
I haven't had this perticular amp long enough to have it break down. I did do a cap job on it when I bought it. I do own another Traynor amp, for about a year now and no problems what so ever.
Come on, Pete dropped these things from a 3-storey building and they still worked -- I dare you to try that with your plexi.

This amp is no longer being made, so there is not much dealer support. However, I did email Long And Mcquade (the store where it all began) and they did write back, but didn't have to say.
Luckily, here in Toronto Traynor is a household name so it isn't hard to find repair guys who've seen thousands of these jems.

Overall, Traynor is the way to go. They're available, relatively cheap and built just as good as any Fender, Marshall or Ampeg.
If you're lucky enough to find one that hasn't been modded by Mr. Tonelab (heh heh), you may find a treasure of Mullard's inside.
Enjoy.