Traynor TS-410 Cabinet

A quick follow up to my review.

Since I posted my review I have been in contact with Eminence. They confirmed via the serial number on the back of the speakers that they are Eminence speakers from the early 80's and are no longer made. I believe they are the original speakers since they were made at the same time the cab was. They are rated at 150 watts at 16 ohms. Since it's wired in paralell the cab will take a whopping 600 watts at 4 ohms. It must be an old bass amp with that kind of power handling.

These cabinets were constructed in the early 80?s. Based on the date on the back of the speakers, this one appears to be a 1982 model. It?s a mono slant cabinet, 400 watts at 8 ohms, completely sealed and front loaded with 4x10 inch speakers (I believe they are Eminence). I was told by Yorkville Sound, the maker of Traynor products, that two of the speakers have a lower voicing and two have a brighter voice. Even though it has a slant front, the cabinet frame itself is straight meaning that if you look at the cab from the side, it looks like a straight cab. This allows the amp head plenty of room to sit on top of it while giving you the added dispersion of a slant cab. It however, isn?t a pretty piece of equipment. Gray tolex with black grill cloth and white piping. The Traynor name plate was removed prior to my ownership but you can see where it was once screwed to the front. Two heavy duty handles are inset on each side. Basically, it looks like something that you?d expect to see sitting around a Jr. High band room with the school department name stenciled on the side. I can change the cosmetics though so the way it looks doesn?t particularly bother me.

Inside it looks brand new which says a lot considering the beating the exterior has obviously taken. No insulation or damping just clean, high quality three-quarter inch plywood with supports running from the front to the rear for structural reinforcement and to cut down on vibration. Even thought the exterior is pretty beat up, the cab itself is still tight as a drum with no rattles, squeaks, cracked wood or splitting seams. Put your hand on it at high volumes and you feel an unbelievably small amount of cabinet resonance. It seems extremely well built.

It is fairly large for a 4x10 cab. In fact it?s slightly larger than the Marshall Valvestate 4x12 that it was sitting next to in the store. For it?s size it is remarkably light though. I can carry it by the handle with one hand and walk a fair distance (25-50 yards) without much problem. I?m guessing it?s about 60 pounds.

I was in the market for a 4x10 cab and was playing the Marshall 4x12 valvestate cab sitting right next to this one at the store. I only tried the Marshall because it was so small. I completely disregarded this cab because it looked like an old piece of beer encrusted crap. I was extremely under whelmed by the Marshall and told this to the guy in the store. In passing I said I was really looking for a 4x10 anyway and he recommended that I try this Traynor. I thought, ?Sure. What the heck??.

It pretty much had me from hello. (that?s Jerry MacGuire lingo) Take a Marshall 4x12 cab and cross it with a Fender Bassman 4x10 combo and that?s pretty much what this cab sounds like. It?s fairly bright, open and punchy like the Fender but has nice round, present mids and low end like the Marshall. You wouldn?t mistake it for the Bassman or the Marshall but I do hear subtle characteristics of each.

I?m running a Peavey Classic 100 head through it and they are a perfect combo. Very warm and bighting without being harsh. Modern hard core Metal isn?t probably on the menu but Classic Rock, Blues, Country, Surf and all the rest is a possibility. Basically, I am the only sonic limitation this rig has.

The greatest thing about this cab is that it doesn?t really have what I think of as the ?zone of pain? Most of the time I stand to one side of the amp or the other. With most amps I?ve played that?s where the best sound is and if you step directly in front of the speakers you hear a sharp volume boost and the tone takes on a harsh, ice pick kind of tone.

The sound from this cab isn?t as directional. The sound just kind of emanates from it. (must be the Eminence speakers:-) You can hear a difference when you stand directly in front of it but it isn?t harsh and doesn?t have a significantly different characteristic than the indirect sound. When I turn the amp volume up, it doesn?t just get louder, it gets BIGGER. At high volumes any harshness is due to sound pressure levels; not the amp or cabinet losing control.

It handles all of the 100 tube watts of my head without flinching or farting. Granted, the Classic 100 isn?t the loudest 100 watt amp out there but 100 watts is ?loud? regardless.

It's made it this far so I have little doubt it'll be alive and kicking for quite a while.

Yorkville sound was a little help in finding info on this amp but beyond that, NOBODY knows anything. I'm not expecting much customer support on a 19 year old cab anyway.

I liked the sound of this cab before I saw the price. When I found out they only wanted $119 for it I was hard pressed to walk away from it. I played it in the store with several heads at all volumes for about an hour and a half and found nothing sonically bad about it. Its tones are 3 dimensional and smooth. The low end is tight and round. The highs are crisp without being harsh. I gave them $60 and an old Fender practice amp (an emotional hardship for me) and walked out the door cab in tow.

I will be recovering it and replacing the old grill cloth. Because I got it so cheaply I can afford to give it a makeover so it matches my head. Once I do that it will look great and people will think I have a matched head and cab. But I?m pretty sure I?ll be the only one around with this particular combination of gear.

From what I can tell, the TS in the name is Traynor?s way of saying that it was originally paired with some kind of solid state amp but I don?t know if that was a guitar amp or a bass amp. I could see this being used as a bass cab. Such a high power rating for a 4x10 cab seems to support this possibility. Honestly I don?t really care because I like it with my guitar set up. I also get a kick out of finding great off-beat products at good prices.

At this point I think I?m the only one in the world who owns one of these cabinets. I was able to get some basic info from Yorkville but they have NOTHING on their web site about it. Also, nobody else on the web who is into Traynor products talks about it either. The only old Traynor products people want to talk about are the pre 1980 amps and cabs. If you know anything about this line of Traynor cabinets or you own one, feel free to Emil me. I?d be happy to hear anything you know.

You should keep your eyes open because the next time you?re in a pawn shop, that ugly, gray, beer soaked, cigarette burned cab with the Clearance tag hanging off of it could be a Traynor TS-410. Do yourself a favor, close your eyes and check it out. You might like what you hear.

I?ve been playing for 25+ years. I don?t know everything but I know what I like and I have owned several amps. All of them were good but none of them pleased me as much as this set up.