Traynor YCV40-WR 112 Combo

Bought this baby back in 2005. Great looks, reliability, price and sound. Solidly built. No noise problems. Effects loop, reverb, presence control.

I play mainly in a church praise band. Some soft stuff where I need a nice clean sound and some classic rock type music where I need a good solid crunch plus a singing lead. It's great for all that.
This puppy is really too loud for what I do, I would buy the 15W model if I had to do over. I use a Marshall Power Brake to push the amp for a warmer sound and give me some room with the volume controls. Otherwise I am fiddling with the volumes between 1 and 1 1/2 in my environment.

I would not recommend it for real heavy metal shredding unless your using a distortion pedal to get your tone. If you want more of a Marshall tone go for the Traynor YCV50 Blue with the EL34 tubes.

It's got 2 channels, clean and overdrive. The overdrive has a boost switch to get you some more gain for leads. The footswitch has two buttons, one for clean/OD and the other for OD boost. The clean channel sounds great and warm, if you crank the volume past 5 or so it it gets a touch of bluesy crunch to it. The OD channel sounds great but if you push the gain past 5 or 6 (depending on your axe) it gets a little harsh sounding. The boost switch boosts the input from your axe to pump up your leads and get more of a singing tone to them.

I got a replacement tube set from Eurotubes which improved the sound. Highly recommended.

I have a Fender Strat and a Gibson Les Paul Classic. It sounds good with both, but especially with the Strat.

It's real solid, as I said before. I do use it without a backup. Never any problems.

No problems so no occasion to deal with the company but they have a great warranty and I hear they're great to deal with.

Been playing on and off for 35 years. If stolen I would pickup the 15W model (wine red) instead. I love the tone, don't hate anything except lugging it up and down stairs.

I compared it to a Fender Hot Rod, I liked the tone and features better.

I wish it had an anti-gravity device so it wouldn't be a bear to lug for my 47 year old arms.

The looks of this beast rock as much as the sound.

This is a basic combo amp, and has most of the features a serious player would need. The built-in reverb sounds great, and it has an effects loop and standby switch. My only complaint on features would be that the included footswitch does not turn the effects loop on and off. It changes channels and turns on the boost. It would be great if it'd control the effects loop. Other than that, no complaints! And mine came with a Traynor cover too.

This amp sounds fantastic. However, I do have to qualify that statement with one caveat...it really is true that you need to retube it. Some might say "why buy an amp that I have to immediately spend money buying new tubes for?" Well, even after purchasing new tubes, you get a great value of a tube amp. Any other tube amp with this kind of quality sound would cost much more than the price of this amp with new tubes. I'd read the reviews and saw that many suggested a retube, and I thought that might be unneccesary. I ordered the amp, and when it came in, I started tweaking with it and found that it sounded brittle. The factory Sovtek tubes just lacked that warmth anf fullness I was looking for in a tube amp. I was a little disappointed. And I decided to take the advice of my peers and try a retube. However, I did not "follow the wave" and go directly for JJs like so many. I'm sure they would sound alright, but I've read that the JJs are LOUD but lack some of the dynamics of other choices. I loaded mine with Electro Harmonix 12ax7EH preamp tubes and a matched pair of SED Winged C 6l6gc power tubes. And this amp came ALIVE!! There is no comparison to the amp that was delivered. The headroom increased dramatically. The clean channel had that great clarity and chimey quality, is very percussive and warm. You can strum, pick, tap...it all sounds great. Turn this thing up to about 2 and just let it go! I LOVE IT. The distorted channel has that creamy rich groovey sound. It's a growler. Love it...and I'm not using a very distorted guitar either. I have an American Telecaster HS, and I usually play in the middle position so that I'm playing with one humbucker and one single coil. Sounds great on both channels. If you want an affordable tube amp that will give you all the vintage tone, tone for days, GO BUY THIS AMP! It makes you want to play just to hear the tone.

I can't say much to the reliability since I have only had the amp about a month. No problems right out of the box. It is well made and sturdy. It should hold up over time.

I have not had to have any customer support.

I've been playing over 20 years and have tried several amps. I owned a Carvin 100 watt 212 X amp, and most recently a Vox 50watt Valvetronix, and have played on a variety of other amps both solid state and tube. This Traynor amp is the best tone I've had, and I love it. If it were stolen I'd buy another and retube it just the same. I do wish the footswitch controlled the effects loop. The 40 watts is perfect, it can get loud enough to jam with a live drummer in my studio, but also sounds great at low volumes. And you can turn it up without getting ridiculously loud, a problem I had with my Carvin. I never got that thing above 1. I can crank this one on up to 2 and push the tubes without being super loud, which is awesome. Also, for other varieties of distortion and special effects, I run a Digitech RP150 into the clean channel, and the amp responds well to it. The amp's distortion (with my SED retube) is a creamy retro sounding distortion, very groovey and awesome. If you want to get that more brittle dark british type distortion, you either want a different amp or a multieffects pedal. For the times when i want that kind of distortion, I just dial it up on my RP150 and the amp gives it to me! I suppose if that is your preference in distortion, you might want to go with the Traynor Blue amp, which has EL34 tubes in it and will go that direction more. If you want a classic sounding tube amp, the YCV40-WR will give you one awesome tube amp for a great price! You will love it!

*Amp purchesed around late 2005.
*This amp has been vary versite thus far. Been trying to find a low
powered amp w/ 2 channels that sounds good...that doesn't cost a
grand....wow is that almost impossible. would love a Koch!! but
whew..pricey little dude.
*2 Channels, effects loop & reverb.I wish it had a Master Volume and
independent Verb and Presence.
I rarely use the boost. For me it's just over the top. To loud,
adds way to much bottem...like a mutant fuzz pedal...just not my
thing. I think this is a Mod for the future. Probably put in a
resitor and seperate volume control. Amp has plaenty of power..still
to much. I like to be able to push the power tubes. Can do that
somewhat on the clean channel, not on the Lead.
*Mostly in a church setting playing comtemporary Worship...don't
worry...we rock. I rock out w/ some buds playin Blues and classic
rock stuff.

*I get nice cledan sound, vary Fenderish..not a lot of bottom. I
find the EZ controls pretty unresponsive at low volumes...at least
the bass control is. Heard other reviews that it has to much of a
high end tone no matter what you do...not so. You can cut the highs.
*The distortion channel ( It's more overdrive...but that's OK! )
Could use a little more bottom...but it crunches nicely. I deff. use
a boost pedal for leads. The stock boost is way to loud...to fat.
To much like a Fuzz. You might like that but not me. It's just
really out of character for the amp.
*I play a hand made guitar from Paul Beard of Beard Guitars. It's a
Strat body (Mahog/Maple Cap), modeled a 65' Strat neck..Ebony
fretboard..huge frets. Pearly Gates in Bridge (tapped),
Fender Silver Lace in Middle, S. Duncan SH2 in Neck (Tapped)
Only electric he ever made...I put it against any PRS, Tom Anderson,
Terry Macin...whatever and it's as good if not better. Also play a
Jimmie Vaughan Strat (Mex Neck) on a American Body with Texas
Special Pickups. Several other Guitars but these are the Mainstays.
As you can see I'm pushing good tones into the amp.
*Amp sounds great with Blues, Classic Rock, Alternative. Doesn't
do New Metal well...without out some crazy pedals and an EQ in the
EZ Loop.
*Don't find it to be noisy.

I've expeimented with several...many pedals...good ones...to cheap ones. Haven't re-tubed yet. I like to do a lot of study before I do that. I'm getting close.
Currently I plug into a Radial Tone Bone Over-Drive pedal..into a Arion "Tunulator" Over-Drive...don't laugh! Only 25 bucks but it's vary quiet, and works well for subtle breakup. Then at end of that chain I use a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster cranked about half way...this makes this amp sing. I leave it on all the time. It will push the Power Tubes w/out changin the tone. I also use a Full Tone Full Drive II...this works good but the Radial Tone Bone is the Bomb!!! w/ In conjunction w/ the S.D. Pickup Booster it's amazing.

Any one having done a Mod? Love to know what you did.

So far vary reliable. Only thing that has happened is the nuts keeping the jacks for the effects loop vibrated loose and fell off. That's no bif deal. Tubes hard to get to...but on the other hand well protected.

Haven't needed it

So far been a great amp. I've had Fenders...Boogies...well this amp for the money I paid is awesome. I read about it in Guitar Player...they gave it an Editor's Pick of 5...they go 1-5. Never played it, just bought it off Mus. Freind. How good is that. If I keep this amp there are mods in the future.

Just taken delivery of this little 2 channel 40w monster(ette). Not a flawless piece of kit, but loud, solid and at times simply gorgeous! global volume control would be nice from an ease of use point of view, but then we need to get those valves cookin' don't we?

Sound wise this is tricky. On best behaviour it sounds superb. In clean mode (a bit hissy but nothing too scary) it can sound glass-like, ultra sensitive, responsive, warm and balanced in a way that wees all over the fender equivalent and sounds fairly near some decent "boutique amps" and certainly doesn't disgrace itself against the ubiquitous Twin which we also use (in fact i think I prefer it).

It seems to work wonderfully with my washburn semi which has been tweaked with some seymore duncan alnicos. The overdriven channel is however "sat on" lacking punch and definition and tricky to get sounding anything other than crappy. This oddly is not true when you kick in the boost switch at which point you get smooth, creamy, singing distortion which brings the amp back to life, once again being responsive and deep. Oddly despite other reviewers comments, i can't get it to crunch nicely, the guitar is as blues crunch orientated as you like but the amp seems to break up in a very civilised way lacking that bit of edgey ballsiness that you need- not one for metal. I recommend getting pedals to generate the sounds you are after because it is not a complete solution, but then this is true of all good amps. It has a certain character, and a community of people with suggestions on tweaking it. It not only shows up some its fairly illustrious competitors, but at this price point proves that amp modelling is dumb, crass and pointless. Really tasty genuine tube amps are now available to the masses. Worth trying other valves/extention cab.

Bare with me here- this amp is like a german car. It is superbly engineered and finished, but maybe not totally reliable. It will probably outlast most people/buildings but is inclined to chuck in the odd gremlin. There are reported probs with effects loop, hissing clean channel and hot valves in enclosed space means reduced tube life but that probably won't damage the PCB- The engineers are smarter than that. I will use this amp without backup until it gives me reason not to. It is certainly very solidly put together and uses some good components.

Very fast off the mark with assistance and highly personable and friendly with it- no corporate cow poo here. The warranty is excellent. Who else offers circuit diagrams and suggested tweaks with mid-priced amps these days?

As a musician of many years who has been through a lot of kit I can honestly say that I am totally chuffed to bits with this amp. It is not perfect but it does have that special something which makes you love it. Its more versatile and reliable than the vintage fender workhorses. It sounds better than the hotrods and equivalents. If you could get it to crunch a bit more and sound a bit fuller on the distortion channel you would have one hell of a piece of kit on your hands. As it is though, if someone nicked it i'd track them down and do something very nasty to them! The icing on the cake- it is the same colour as red wine- delicious!

I bought this amp and it was used, it was already a year and a half old BUT, it totaly kicks ass. It is versatile enough for any style of music, trust me. It has 2 channels and the overdrive channel has a boost button that really kicks the drive up nicely, but be careful, if you crank the gain it can get a little farty or muddy with the boost on. The reverb leaves a little to be disired but a least it has reverb. The one thing it does'nt have is a master volume and I would really like to have one but it sounds great without. I'll give it an 8 because the reverb is'nt the best and it does'nt have a master volume, but everything else is a 10.

Like I said before, this amp has every kind of sound you could want in it, you just gotta play with it a bit. To describe the clean channel I start like this. The morning of the day I bought the amp I went and bought a Fender Highway One Telecaster and I played it through a Fender Deluxe Reverb and man I thought it was one of the best clean sounds I had ever heard. The only one I had heard that was better was a Tele Deluxe Plus through a Fender Vibro King from the Fender Custom Shop. So with that said, this amp sounded better then the deluxe reverb with my Tele. It totaly screams with clarity when I use my Les Paul and I don't have the time to even get started on how good it sounded with my American Standard Strat, Jimi would've used one of these amps. I play hard, modern rock (Breaking Benjamins type stuff) and classic rock and the blues for fun and it suits me just fine, mind you I only use this for my clean sound and for a little bit of a gainy clean, for distortion I use my Marshall JCM 800 1x12 combo. No complaints at all this amp strives for perfection, mind you I should let you know that the original Sovtek tubes were all switched for JJ's. I'll never use anything else again but JJ's.

No problems, runs great, sounds great and its built like a tank. I am skeptical about tube amps so I always have a backup set of tubes but not a backup amp but, I can't see this amp failing for a long time.

It has a 2 year eve if you broke it waranty! Enough said.

This is probably the lowest priced amp in it's class and they could probably sell them for more then the competition sells there's for. I have been playing for 14 years and think I at least know a little bit about this stuff. I play it with a Fender American Standard Strat, Fender Highway One Tele and a Gibson Les Paul Swamp Ash Studio, a good selection of guitars and sounds. I tried Fenders (blues deville, hot rod de ville , hot rod deluxe and even a blues junior) for the sound I wanted and I was'nt half as satisfied with Fender as I was when I heard this beauty. I'll put it to you this way, as soon as I bought it I got insurance on it, in case it gets stolen or damaged, so I can get the money to get a new one. I love everything about it and hate nothing. I espescially love the look of it, with the brown tolex and the gold grill cloth. If you are a tube amp person this is a must have, actually any of the Traynor YC series for that matter, and if you are not you're an idiot. BUY THIS AMP!

2 Foot-switchable channels, series FX-loop, shared-presence & reverb.

the stock tubes (sovtek 3 12ax7 & 2 5881) sounds ok but i noticed that it breaks up so easily. both channels gave very usable sounds, especially the clean. there is a "brightness" switch on the clean channel that is quite nice on low volumes, but as the volume goes up, i find that the sound becomes sterile & harsh. the dirty channel has a boost switch. it's a little bit too loud for my taste once enganged.

like many others, i did invest on some tubes for both preamp (v1 & v2), phase inverter (v3) and the power tubes. so be prepared to spend another $100 for this. is it worth it? simple answer: if you want a better sound than the stock, yes! i didn't really notice much difference at first. Not until I put the old tubes back. There is a lot of difference, the distortion is a lot cremier and the clean just sparkles. oh yeah, the hiss on the clean channel is virtually gone.

here's what i use as an fyi ...

v1/v2 - TungSol 12ax7 (re-issue)
v3 - JJ ECC83-S (balanced)
power - JJ 6l6GC (matched)

my simple setup is:
LesPaul Studio -> TU2 -> SD SFX-03 -> YCV40 -> (send) DG-STOMP (return)

the DG acts as my master volume. too bad this amp did not come with that. but not an issue, the amp still sounds good even at low volumes.

btw, for those people complaining about the bottom-end, they are partially right. the clean does have the "oomph", but not so much the other channel. however, there is good news. i tried hooking up an Mesa closed-back 1x12 cab, and let me tell you, it's like magic.

unfortunately, you have to spend a lot of money to get the best out of this puppy. you might end up spending as much money as buying a named-brand amps. hence, not a perfect score.

seems stable. but i'm worried about the heat on top of the amp. since it's a PCB amp, it might break one day. there was a little bit of a hiss when i replace the tubes. but after swapping them out, the hiss is gone.

i tried contacting them via email about the hiss on the clean channel. the first email bounced-back and the other, i don't know if they received it. never heard back yet. warranty seems super. 2-year on anything even if you break it and 10 years on the cab. can't beat that!

i mainly play in a christian praise/worship band. we do cover a lot of genre and this amp seems capable of coping. i originally purchased this amp to amplify my PODXTL and as a backup. It ended up that my XTL is now collecting dust as backup! i'll probably look into buying something else if it ever breaks, not because i don't like it. just to have a fresh new sound! this amp seems a keeper if treated well, though! i'm not worried.

Made 2004-2005. Very versatile amp for most music I play which includes hard rock - rock - blues. Remember, an amp is only versatile if its sounds are usable, and almost every sound this amp makes is usable. Two channels, switchable clean and dirty with a bright switch on clean channel and a boost on dirty. Series effects loop, no headphone jack. There are only a few minor things that I wish this amp had - a speaker simulated headphone jack like on other traynor YCV models, a parallel effects loop, an adjustable boost level, and switchable reverb, none of them dealbreakers. I use all the features that the amp provides. So far I have only used this amp at home in an apartment - so frankly it is way too powerful for me even with a THD hotplate. However, it does sound pretty good at low volumes, and I wanted an amp that I could gig with so I compromised. This amp is "mostly tube", meaning that power and pre amp are tube, but that some solid state components do enter the signal path . . .it sounds and plays like a tube amp to me.

This amp can make a lot of usable sounds - in this sense it is a hundred times more versatile than a digital modeling amp. That said, its probably not the best amp for metal - but it can probably cover almost all other popular music styles and can do a decent metal impression with boost engaged. The clean channel gives a decent amount of headroom and distorts nicely when pushed. The distortion is great for most rock - you can actually tell the difference between most chord variants and the amp responds well to pick attack. Also the distortion (and clean) channel's character really changes with different guitars and pickup types. With high output humbuckers and boost engaged this amp can get into very hard rock/metal territory, although probably isn't the best option if that is your primary style. I am using this amp with a PRS custom 24 and a MIM strat. With the PRS and this amp you can cover a lot of ground - searing distorted riffs on the high output bridge pickup, bluesy grit on the "in-between" pickup positions, and smooth jazzy sounds with the neck pickup. The clean channel always sounds great, but on some settings I can never quite dial in the perfect distorted tone Also, despite the PRS versatility, single coils probably complement the clean channel best. The amp is not noisy, especially with the noise reduction on my hotplate.

I havn't used this amp hard so i dont know. It is two channel and PCB construction - so there are more parts to break and it is harder to repair - but the overall build quality is very nice.

2 year even if you break it warranty seems good

Been playing around 12 years. This amp and my two guitars are all I currently own. I have also owned an old yamaha solid state combo, a line 6 combo and an Ampeg V4 head/marshall 212 stack. The line 6 was a nice lightweight/versatile amp, but very stale and uninspiring. I used the Ampeg extensively when I used to gig/play in a band. The Ampeg was the loudest amp I have ever heard, but only did one thing well - loud and clean. The Traynor is a perfect compromise, providing punchy tube sound, but also a lot of versatility. I just wish I had bought an amp like this years ago - who needs a stack anymore - mics and PA's have been around for a while people! Just about the only thing I hate about this amp is that it has PCB mounted knobs and tube sockets, and the control knobs turn too easy and look cheap. I compared this to similar amps in the price range(ie Fender HRD) as well as the THD univalve. The Fender's distortion wasn't as nice, and it lacked independent EQ's which I like. The Univalve+speakers was a little too spendy, and based on reviews I was concerned about clean headroom in a gigging situation. I give it a 9, because although it is not a perfect amp, it is one of the best of its type in this price range.

Features have all been stated pretty well. I wont waste your time here.

I used a Epiphone Les Paul Custom all stock and an American Std. Fender Strat with Lace senser pickups. I play all types of music except Metal. Amp ran rather quiet with or without pedals in the line.

Now for the bad news. This amp was EXTREMELY bright. I think its the cab that it comes in. very small and thin. It could NOT be brought down to less than ear piercing even with the bass maxed and the treble on 1. Cleans were good at a lower volume but once cranked it was just to sterile and thin and trebely for my taste. I thought maybe it was my ears until I brought it to rehersal and everyone agreed, it was horridly trebely. The gain is ok but even at that theres just NO bottom on this amp.

Didnt have any issues with it and seemed to be something that would laste, though I didnt keep it long enough to find out.

Didnt need to ask them anything. Didnt use it.

I have been playing guitar for 28 years, Played through Marshalls, Fenders, Peaveys, Mesa's, Crate and a few others. Mostly all tube amps. If it was stolen I would thank the guy that took it. This amp may be fine ran through an extention cab, maybe that would be a way to give it the bottom it SOOOooo lacked. I gigged with it 2 times, miched and non Mich'ed, didnt matter. It was just a BAD sound.

This is a 40 watt 6l6 amp made in 2004. Fantastic clean channel, good overdrive channel. This amp works great for reggae, ska, funk, classic rock, etc . . . pretty much everything that I can throw at it. Has 2 channels, boost on the gain channel, bright switch on the clean channel. Effects loop, speaker out, and reverb are about all that I wanted from an amp. I use this amp to play at home, jam with friends and on occasional gigs. 40 watts is plenty of power to play out, but can be tamed enough for home practise too.

I use an ES-335 with paf-style pickups (Seth Lover Bridge, and '59 Neck). This amp sounds fantastic clean. I compared it to several fender amps (Deluxe Reissue, Vibrolux, Hot Rod Deluxe) and the Traynor really surprised me. It definately has that Fender style sparkly clean sound . . . Cleans are good and strong right up to gigging volumes (although I bought the extension cab and have been using it with that - it's probably a little quieter on it's own). On the lead channel I usually leave the overdrive set to just past the point of breaking up, so that I can roll back on my guitar's volume knob and clean it up a bit. Again I was surprised, this amp sounds sort of like an overdriven bassman - a little fendery, a little marshally. When the gain is cranked up you can get some nice AC/DC style sounds, but to do heavy metal you would probably need a pedal. About my only complaint is that at very low volumes the amp has a slight but noticable hiss on the clean channel. When you turn the volume up to 1 or above, you won't notice it, but if you're practicing very quietly it might bug you. The gain channel is dead silent at all volumes. One other thing - This amp loves pedals! There are a lot of Pink Floyd/Radiohead/Cure sounds that can be coaxed from this amp . . . and the effects loop isn't noisy at all.

The tubes heat up quite a bit in the back of the amp, but that's normal. It would be nice if there was a built in fan blowing directly on the tubes to extend their life, but that's a minor gripe. Nothing has gone wrong thus far . . .

I've sent off a few emails to yorkville sound and always had very quick responses. They're a good company to deal with. The two year warrenty is also pretty decent.

I've been playing for about 6 years. If stolen or lost, I would definately buy this amp again. I don't hate anything about this amp . . . maybe a master volume would be nice (so that you don't have to keep changing settings around when changing volume), and knobs that are a little harder to turn would also be good (you have to memorize settings because the knobs move very easily). This amp definately holds its own against the fender, marshall, and kustom amps that I tested it against. Definately a good buy.

Has everything I need from an amp. I love the auto-bias feature. Other features are already mentioned below.

I love the way this amp sounds. My setup goes Schecter C1->Boss GT8->DBX 215 EQ-> Traynor. The clean channel is beautiful (it can have a little too much treble at times, but just turn down the treble knob), and the distorion is nice. I did change the tubes to JJ's (which helped beef up the distortion slightly), but I also use my DBX EQ unit for tailoring the distortion channel to my sound.

If you want to hear the sound I'm getting from this amp, check out some song samples from my band's site http://daysdrive.com/music.htm The song "You're a Hypocrite" is a good example. The guitar was recorded using a Shure Beta 57a placed directly in the center of the speaker, about half an inch from the amp.

Overall, the amp is not noisy, and it can handle almost any style you want to play (except for metal).

P.S. I highly recommend the matching extension cab. It really opens up the amp. Without it, the amp can sound a little thin; however, once the cab is added, the sound really gets full.

Haven't had any problems with it. I use it without a backup.

I've been playing guitar for ten years, and this amp ended my relentless search for a good amp. After driving myself crazy looking at Mesas, Fenders, Marshalls, vintage stuff, and others, I quickly fell for this amp. It looks and sounds great...is easy to transport...is auto-biasing...and is very affordable.