Traynor Tube Mate 30

Year unknown, assembled in Korea, part of Traynor's International series. Hybrid amp (tube preamp/solid state power amp.

Versatile enough for home practice, loud enough to be heard by fellow musicians, quiet enough for late night practice. Dialing in the right tone from clean jazz to dirty blues to Classic Rock is easy enough. Patch a few pedals between guitar and amp and you can play basically anything you like.

One Channel with a High and Low sensitivity inputs, Drive & Volume controls (pull Overdrive on the drive knob) 3 band EQ, Presence, reverb, Line out, Headphone out, Reverb footswitch jack and effects loop; 8" speaker.

Making the reverb foot-switchable rather than the overdrive boost defies logic (just my opinion) so I'm docking a few points. It's compact, feather-light and loud enough.

Fisrt thing that strikes me is that in spite of being quieter than other tube/hybrid combos in the same price range, there still is a hum, low but still present. One can argue that considering the price range that is to be expected ... but it's there, thus I'm mentioning it, but it is a minor thing.

I was at first wincing at the 8" speaker, but it delivers - enough mids, enough lows and plenty of highs. I can acheive a clean jazz tone from my home made Les Paul Custom, provided I connect in the Low sensitivity jack (them Dimarzio's pack quite a whallop!) clean to dirty blues on any guitar (Strat, tele or Les Paul), twang, etc ... I like to keep all tone controls at 5 as a generic tone and sweeten it with an EQ pedal.

The pull overdrive gives out a nice, raunchy, tube sustain with plenty of grit and growl, but look out: that makes the hum even worse. I still must comment on Traynor's decision of making the reverb footswitch selectable and not the overdrive(it may have increased the end cost?) though.

Let's face it, I don't gig. This is my first experience with a genuine hybrid amp (I once owned a Marshall Valvestate 20 that was in fact all SS) so I'm not familiar with their reliability. I've owned several all-tube combos in the past, and they all shared this common trait: high maintenance bills.

Tube amps have the reputation of breaking down more often but offering a better tone, whereas solid state amps have the rep of being cheaper, more reliable but with a sterile tone.

In theory, this hybrid amp should combine reliability (solid state power amp section), better tone (tube preamp) and lower maintenance bills (only one preamp tube to replace once it fails).

In the context of small appartment practise, it's plenty reliable.

I wish I could make the time to call Traynor customer support and ask my questions verbally, but with my weird shift hours that's not always possible, so I tried their email service ... three times my email was returned as undeliverable.

Could be that their email is flooded with questions and comments ... at any rate this is no reflection of their customer service. Perhaps they should invest in an improved mail server? Anyhow, my own fault for not making the time and call myself. I am told their staff is friendly and very professional.

The users manual is pretty generic (here read useless). If and when the tube fails and needs replacing, what tube is required? I'm assuming a 12AX7, but what if it isn't, wouldn't it be a good idea to specify that in the manual?

I used to play a whole lot more actively some 20 years ago, I'm more of a Home Studio rat these days. My previous amp (Fender FM 212) was much too big and much too powerful for my purposes. If lost or stolen, I'd collect my insurance policy and see what I can get - that amp was a floor model, with a few dents and scratches.

In its category (low to medium power practice amp) it's hard to beat. With a bit of patience I can dial pretty much any tone I want from clean to dirty, I can actually sit (believe me, I've done it!) in front of that amp at 2 a.m. with a screaming overdrive tone ... at bedroom levels quiet enough to get 0 complains from the neighbors!

I like the fact that it's compact, feather light (easy to carry with a guitar to a friend's house) and surprisingly versatile for its size and price. I don't hate anything about it, but I am annoyed by the hum (I used to own a Fender Blues Jr which was all tube and it didn't hum at all), and the lack of a foot-switchable overdrive.

I compared it in store to a Epiphone Valve Jr (all tube - the hum on that one was 10 times worse) and to the latest Fender entry in the modelling amps (I forget the model's name, but it was way out of my price range). I ended up choosing the Valve mate because (on paper anyway) a hybrid amp should be that happy medium between Tube and Solid State, it's compact and easy to carry.

I wish it had a foot-switchable overdrive, a 12" speaker and less hum... but then again, for an amp in its price range it is very, very decent.