Traynor YCV50 112 Combo

I ordered this Amp site unseen from Ballonheads music . July 2005. This amp meets all the musical styles I play. The tone is incredible on all 3 channels. I am a seasoned veteran club musician, I play mainly blues, classic rock, and jazz . This amp fits the bill completely I also have the matching 112 ext. cab.

I play a Fender Stratocaster Elite for playing Blues and rock. A Yamaha Sa 2000 for jazz. I also have A Tokai Prs model and a Indie aniversary model Prs. All of these Guitars sound awesome thru this amp. As I said earlier this amp fits all of the stlyes I play to a T. The one thing I do use to enhance the tone is I use a Digital delay in the effects loop to get a more melodic lead tone. This amp is ultra quit even on the boost channel. The clean channel gives you amazing tone s for jazz. I would say that this is not a heavy metal amp. but it has killer distortion

I have had this amp since July 2005 I replaced all the tubes this year in it with Electro Harminex Ax7s and Mesa EL34s . This amp is the most reliable amp I have owned.

I have talked with Traynor about recommendations and they were very helpfulMine is out of warranty now but they have an incredible 2 year warranty

I have been playing for 43 yrs. I have owned several amps from an Old Music Man 210 130 to A rack mount set up with a Hafler Triple Giaint

2006 traynor ycv50. the amp is probably too versatile; too many knobs confuse us. stock, it is way too loud for the styles of music we play. our style is rockabilly/british invasion/psychobilly/country/surf/punk. we solved that problem by obtaining THD yellowjackets. now the clean channel is to die for, the distortion channel is aggressive as hell at gig volumes. there are 3 channels to it, but we only use the clean and mild overdrive channel. the boost is too gainy for our tastes. theres an effects loop we never use, an extension speaker jack hidden in the back of the amp that we connect the matching 1-12 cabinet to, which really opens it up! we play live an average of 2-3 times a week, and this, even at the reduced 20 or so watts, is a ton of power for us!

we play a gretsch tenessee rose with tv joneses, a rickenbacker 330 with high gain pickups and a bigsby, various guitars our friends let us use, it suits our style very well. playing rockabilly/british invasion/surf/punk/country, this suits our style to a tee once we started using the yellowjackets, since before that, it was too loud, bassy and distorted, but in a very tasteful manner, a la early marshalls. now its got much more of a chimy flavor, which sounds great live accompanied by a good bass player and drummer, and occasionally a second guitarist. the amp isnt noisy at all with the original tubes, but a little bit (not annoyingly so) with the yellojackets. this amp goes from almost totally clean to extremely distorted, but for us, neither of those tones works. we like either somewhat clean (a la early george harrison/hank marvin/scotty moore to somewhat distorted a la paul roman from the quakes/billy zoom/sasquatch/early clash. theres not too much variety, but the amp makes a guitar sound like a guitar! the clean channel is definately distorted at high volumes, but we wouldnt have it any other way! when a guitar sounds too clean, but becomes just as unplesant as it being too distorted. this amp, depending on how its set can get pretty brutal distortion, but you can easily clean that up! we give it a 9, cause we also posess a british vox ac15 that is amazing, but we dont gig with because its not very reliable! the traynor has 90% of the tone and is 300% more reliable!

this amp is apparently built like a tank. the original tubes the amp came with were not good, as they were rattling, but they were replaced by newer original tubes, asnd they hold up. now that we have the yellowjackets, the tubes have a shorter life, but we always have backups because of this, plus the original ones that we keep just in case. we gig without a backup because the other bands will let us use their amps if ours breaks down! thank god this amp hasnt broken down! we always take good care of our gear, and always have back up tubes in case one goes!

never dealt with traynor, but hear good things about them. only tried to get it repaired once, at our regular shop that we get everything, and repair everything at, and they replaced the tubes like nobody's business. there is a 2 year warranty that if anything goes wrong with it, they replace it at no cost to us! what an awesome deal!

weve been playing professionally since the tender age of 15. weve owned tons and tons of gear over the years. hmm, amps.....vox ac 15 (our baby)ampeg reverborocket, peavey classic 30, marshall 4x10 cabinet, fender twin reverb (1977) pro reverb (1979 and 1980) blues junior (1993) crate vc508 anniversary and vc30, laney accoustic 50 watt, peavey artist 100 watt, many others that lasted one gig, and they just werent up to par. if this were lost or stolen, we would get another one, definately going right to the yellowjackets, though! we love how it keeps guitars sounding like guitars, at normal volumes with teh yellowjackets. we wish there was a tremolo circut in it, like the old 70's traynor heads! it comapres to any mudbomb marshall favorably, nothing on the vox for tone, any of the others weve used wont hold a candle to it. we chose this one because we always wanted the brittish amp sound, but reliable for gigging, and this has both of the sounds

Incredibley versatile. two channels capable of clean, dirty clean or heavy crunch, heavy overdrive. Reverb, effects loop. Everything you need to gig or rehearse. I wish it had a volume boost for live use to punch up a solo. It does have a gain boost, which is awesome. A boost in line with the amp will just add compression and more gain, unless you have a lot more headroom. I'll have to use a clean boost in the effects loop. It'd be nice if the company thought of that.

Strats and Les Pauls. The amp can play any tone very well. I ab'd it with my buddys Deluxe Reverb, and the clean is just as shimmery and the verb is very lush. I also owned a few combos like a Marshall Jubilee and a Budda Superdrive. This thing is thicker than the Marshall and less fuzzy sounding on the drive. The clean, well, the Marshall didn't have a clean! The Budda is so organic and smooth. this amp is more Marshall. Surprisingly, we had a very Brian May like tone coming out of it. I can only get that with an additional EQ from the Budda. I notice someone else mentioned Brian May below. It's freaky but this amp has a great, buzz free lead tone.

The boost feature adds tons of gain and low end chunk. Surprising for a 1x12. The amp reminds me of a JCM 800 kinda tone and then with the boost it sounds like you add an overdrive pedal to it. Great thick tone and NO other pedals needed for gain. Absolutely no fizz/fuzz to the tone. Pure balls and very tight. Very responsive to playing from muting techniques to hybrid chicken picks/snapping breakup. Cleans up well with your touch when on dirty ch.

The only thing I can think of negatively is it does have a little boxiness to it at low volumes. Every 1x12 combo I've had, has that. But then add a V30 and it's really got that nasal, boxy tone. Really comes alive at louder volumes and loses that boxiness that most combos have. Kills through a closed back cab. I like the clean a bit less, but the overdrive is awesome.

Still, for this sound and the price I rarely do, but I have to give it top dawg.

Reliability? It's new and I need to use it out on some gigs and what not to tell. But the switches and knobs feel pretty cheap. Very "toyish" and feel like they won't last. I'd gladly pay an extra $100 for better quality parts for this thing. Hell, the price would still be cheap for as good as it is. Because they feel so fragile, gotta a knock off a few.

Also, I've read a few people have tried them out and say they didn't have enough gain or distortion, only to try another, and be amazed at the difference. Maybe there is some inconsistency due to the tubes or build.? But they have immense gain, and it's all usable.

I've owned plenty from all the big dogs. VHTs and Soldanos to old Fenders and Marshalls. Lots of great amps, all of them. But this amp just sounds like whatever you want it to with conviction. A Fendery clean and a Marshally dirt in a $600 amp??!!! I've spent three times as much on amps, and they couldn't do that. It's such a great feeling to spend so little and get back so much.

I tried it because I kept reading how Marshally the dirty tones were but not fizzy. Many amps today all have a fizzy quality that I just don't like. This amp is very rich sounding, and if they put Marshall or Mesa on the front of it, it'd sell all day long for over a grand.

2 EL34s and 3 12AX7s. It`s got just about everyting I need with the effects loop and speaker out. I do wish it didn`t have the master volume and just a jusr a spearate volume for each channel , which it does but I could do without the master volume.

Well I`ll start off by saying the distortion channel was unusable for me , I was very dissapointed in the it. The boost switch made it a little meatier but still no dice. However if you back down the gain a bit and use your neck or neck/bridge pickups you can get a very nice gritty blues tone which works great. The clean channel is very nice and chimey and has a bright switch that I don`t use. So I`ve got two great tones , a little dirt and some very satisfying cleans but what about my Marshall type gain! I decide to run a Tonebone Hot British through the clean channel , distortion/overdrive issues solved. So now I have three very useable tones out of this amp. The Celestion Vintage 30 is a great speaker to come stock in a amp but I`m gonna change it out for a Greenback. Still , I tought the distortion channel lacked and was very dissapointed by it.

Hmmm , the plastic standby switch looks a little shakey so I guess time will tell. I`ll problably just use this amp in my house for jammimg so it should be reliable enough for that , I hope!

Never dealt with them. But I was able to find the amp locally and it`s got a killer warrantiy so I`ll give it high marks for that.

I`ve got 2 hot rodded Strats with Seymour Duncan 59 and Genesis Mr Browney pickups at the bridge. I like to play hard rock and some blues.I was basically trying to find an EL34 amp so I could sound like Van Halen. I know only Van Halen is sound like Van Halen. I have heard amps with far better distortion channels(Budda,Peavey,Marshall) and If I could do it all over again I`d probably find a way to get a Budda Superdrive 18. That said, for $600 the Traynor is a great deal and the cleans are some of the best I`ve heard in amp at this price range. With the Tonebone Hot British it bites really hard.

a 2005 amp, part of limited production run.
50 watt, all valve, with EL34s in the power section and 12ax7s in the preamp. 2 speaker outputs on the underbelly of chasis, one of the outs is used for the built in celestion vintage 30 cone, protective metal grill under front cloth to protect cone.
accutronics 'verb
auto-biasing circuitry for valves, and a DC filament supply for preamp valves to reduce hum.
2 channels, clean and dirt. dirt channel has a MASSIVE lead boost.
footswitch - toggles channel and lead boost capabilities.
dirt - gain, volume, boost (switch only), low, mid, high eq's
clean - volume, low, mid and high eq's
master - volume, reverb
fx loop
when amp is powered on, jewel LED is yellow, indicatiing in standby. toggle standby switch, and jewel turns red! Nice touch.
all plywood cab, very cool looking blue tolex, black cloth and chromed wings. It's a heavy bugger though.

I just wanted a GREAT EL34 valve amp, without getting my pants dropped on price. All I need are a great clean and great dirt tones, a boost would be nice, as with a hint of reverb. post preamp FX loop is mandatory. I play a lot of styles, funk, pop, hard rock, ska-jazz. I wanted something that could also drive a speaker cab and have enough oompf to cut thru a live band. This amp basically did not leave me wanting for features. It is versatile enough to cover what I need from an amp, the rest is in my fingers, and want that translated accurately.

Only thing missing would be:
-trims for the fx loop. these are dependant on the per channel volume settings. The manual says -10dBu, but thankfully the only effects I use have gain trims on them.
-a 2x12 version
-a head only version and a matching cab with 4 greenbacks or vintage30s.

I use a Ibanez SZ MH with duncan pups with this thing as my main setup. I stick a homebrew phase90 clone inbetween the geet and input. Sometimes I stick my modd'd crybaby as well. In the FX loop, I use a rockman stereo echo. I have run other axes into it, but keep going back to the SZ.

I was after that kinda-plexi-ish tone. Distorted, yet somehow still have definition and articulation, and with plenty of natural valve sustain/compression. I also wanted a chimey clean with just a hint of dirt. After trying out various amps over the years, not many of the new amps have come close to the magic of my old Marshall SuperLead (which got lifted after a gig). I've tried Mesa, Marshalls, Soldano, even Line6. Only the Soldano got that crunch and sustain that I liked, but is WAY over priced and frankly it's a dirt only amp... until a buddy came over to my house with his "BLUE." I teased him, remembering Traynor as being something of a budget amp from my highschool days. I shut up when he plugged it into one of my 412s, and strummed a chord on the dirt channel. My jaw dropped. I yanked his patchcord out of the input, and plugged SZ in, and then my rockman echo into the loop and phase90 in front.
The Blue by itself, without the cab, is kinda weaker sounding, much more midrangy with a hint of boxiness. Not a bad sound (it's a open back combo for cryin out loud!). With the gain flat out (but no boost) it sounds almost BrianMay-ish, depending on the guitar being used. The dirt also has a bit less low-end flab than an overdriven vox or plexi as well. You know it when you chug a palm muted low G on a cranked superlead and it kinda futzes or mushes a bit, for lack of a better description. Mesa's do this as well... Very spongey. Seems there is a input hipass filter on this gain circuit, which is what May did with his treble booster, although in a more extreme amount, and takes out some of that futzy-spongey bass. I'd say what the Traynor engineers came up with was a GREAT balance on this hipass filter. It doesn't futz, but still has balls.
The clean channel is remarkable, exactly what I want. Fender-ish, but with just a hint of growl when the amp is opened up. I don't like perfect clean for playing clean bits. ;) There are a few times when I do need that, in which case I have solid state amps and various other gear and methods for getting perfect, compressed clean tones.
The tone controls are NOT overwhelming in their ability. I would think a nice modern amp like this should have a bit more sculpting ability. On the dirt channel, again depending on the guitar, I drop the mids to about 1/3, and I still have plenty of meat in the mids to cut thru. I then put the lows maxed out and high around 2/3, depending on the volume, as a loud amp produces a lot of high end and cut accordingly. Most of this is the same for the clean channel too.
Now the dirt boost... WHOA!!!! This thing sends the gain up by a huge amount, and also boosts the low end a LOT and cuts a tad off the high, perfect for lead if you have a nice crunchy dirt setting. The actual break up of the dirt is very smooth, with a very natural compression. Sqwuaks and harmonics are easily generated. Even at moderate gain settings there is a lot of sustain. With the gain maxed out sans boost, I can get a very nice EVH 78 tone. I don't really need the gain boost at all. When I do turn on the boost, it's like a roaring dragon, there is almost too much gain for my liking, but it gives an huge increase in sustain while loosing some of the natural clarity. But that is fair for how much gain is there, and for soloing is awesome, even if I don't normally use it. Also, the boost, unlike some amps, doesn't dump a bunch of bees in behind the speaker cloth. If there is one quality that I MUST emphasize about this amp, is the lack of fizzy fizz.

The articulation of the gain is fantastic. I can do complex chords and the notes ring thru. Yet I still have enough sustain for lead work and the tone doe

Traynor, that's cannuck for tougher than a coffin nail.

I've been playing more than 17 years now, and I've seen many a thing go up in smoke. I kinda know what to look for and from whom.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but I have already gigged with it at an outdoor event, and it went over great. no backup was called into service.

The auto biasing makes life easier for me. One last thing to worry about and that is actually a real bonus. This amp seems like a mercedes deisel engine, not the sexiest of things, but it'll run great, and last and last and last... and it's got the good kind of 'thud' heavy.

Before hunting down one of the last of these guys in a store, I emailed Yorkville to find out a couple of specifics about the amp, and if they are planning on doing a head-only version. They got back to me the next morning and answered all my questions.

As I am Toronto based, the Yorkville repair depot is just across town and if I ever have a problem I can take it directly there. 2 Years unltd warratny is cool too. Not many companies would do that these days.

Love the tone from this guy. Also LOVED the price. Would I buy it again, only if they made a head version and updated the eq power in it. But if I were pressed to pick something in a store as a replacement, then ya, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. AWESOME VINTAGE TONE AND EXCELLENT VALUE!!! (Canada is a country of skinflint consumers. :)

The gain is clear and punchy, with oodles of sustain. The clean is chimey and dynamic.
With my phase90 in front, I get that awesome swirl and the echo gives the right amount of grease for my tonal heaven.

Brand new...just released in 2005.
Unfortunately I hear this is a 'Limited Edition' offering from Traynor...small production runs will make this little combo hard to find.
- 2 EL34's (Electro Harmonix) 50 watts output.
- 3 12ax7's (Sovtek).
- 1 12" 8 Ohm Vintage 30 speaker.
- 2 channels (clean/dirty) with a foot switchable gain boost on the dirty channel.
- Solid constuction (plywood), nice blue tolex covering, round chicken head knobs.
- 2 stomp footswitch (channel/lead boost)
- effects loop works nicely, very clean sounding.
- very nice sounding spring reverb (but use sparingly).
- Much easier to lug around than my other heavy, bulky 2x12 combos, but sounds just as 'full' or 'fuller' on stage than any 2x12 combo I've played.

I play funk, pop and hard rock...I gig alot. I needed a compact reliable amp that can cover alot of musical ground and also wasn't interested in lugging around heavy 4x12 cabs anymore.

Tried this combo at the music store with a Les Paul loaded with Gibson 59 pickups and my jaw hit the floor...I'd finally found my perfect little gigging combo! <cue the happy music>...

I've owned it a week, but have already played 4 gigs with it. The speaker (V30) has now softened a little and it keeps sounding better. It sounds just as 'full' or 'fuller' on stage than any 2x12 combo I've played. The dirty channel is my favorite 'over-the-top' smooth Marshall tone (no buzz), the clean is very nice...Fenderish. This amp has alot of gain, no boost pedal needed...seriously. It has a nice mid bite which let's you be heard well, but it isn't harsh. It keeps up fine with my hard hitting drummer.

I'm going to echo many of the other reviews here...This combo blows away many combos that cost much, much, more. Traynor got it soooo right with this offering. Best combo for the money I've ever had the pleasure of playing. In the 4 gigs I've used it, I've never had so many compliments, not just on my tone but my playing as well...this amp is really inspiring. The dirty channel actually sounds great with all the eq settings at 5.

I've owned several Traynors...great quality products.
This is what they are know for, by Pete Traynor's own desire to always make the best product for the dollar.

Top notch...several times they've responded the same day to my questions...even about old products they no longer make.

If you see one in a store, plug in a try it out...make sure you have money on you though, I doubt you'll be wanting to leave the store without it, seeing as it's in limited production.

This is a follow-up review. I recieved a replacement amp from Musician's Friend today. Great service from them, especially given that they match prices and offer free return shipping. As an added plus, they ship to APO boxes, which is great for the military. This amp had less assembly defects but...the front grill (metal mesh and grill cloth) was only partially attached. It snapped on easily enough because it is held in by the force of tension between the top and bottom cabinet grooves. Also, the reverb send and return leads are too short, causing them to bend at a 90 degree angle at both RCA plugs. Finally, there was a metal slug stuck to the speaker magnet. Don't know where it came from but it was a bit disturbing. However, electronically, it works perfectly and sounds fantastic, so I'm keeping it.

This is a basic tube amp. That said, it has all of the essential features and no useless features. The master volume on this model is a plus. I also like the gain boost feature, which provides a sufficient boost in gain and apparent volume for leads. Some complain that you can't switch the reverb through the foot pedal, however, I rarely (never) need to. I would much rather have the simple, LED lit, footswitch w/o a useless reverb switch. Great idea to have a metal grate hidden behind the grill cloth to protect the speaker from damage. The dark blue exterior is much nicer "in person" than is apprent from the web pics.

I use the amp with a Carvin SC90 (dual humbuckers) and an American Standard Telecaster. For a tube amp it is very quiet, even on high gain settings. It has a great clean channel, bright w/o being too sharp. With the master set above 8 or so it breaks up nicely when played hard. Nice chimey, swirly tube tone. The overdrive channel is especially good. Goes from crunch to fully saturated sustain. I can't imagine anyone would want any more gain from an amp. Having played and owned several tube amps including Carvins, Peaveys and Fenders, and several solid state amps including Line 6 modeling amps (which are pretty good)this has to be the best sounding amp I've every played. Very responsive, very musical. If there is a better sounding, off-the-shelf amp out the there, I haven't heard it.

The design is excellent, including plywood construction (which is why I picked it over a TSL 601), metal grate speaker protection, high quality knobs and input jacks. However, on the model I recieved, the chasis was mounted in the cabinet incorrectly. There were also a few flaws in the vinyl and the grill cloth was pulled slightly at an angle. I also have a few concerns about the reliability of the small grey switches that control channel switch and boost - time will tell on this. Corner protectors were black plastic, which is odd for such a nice overall package. I have ordered a replacement which hopefully will be defect free. I could probably live with these defects, but I plan on keeping the amp for a long time, so it needs to perfect. So, excellent design overall, high quality parts, but QC was lacking on this one sample.

Great. Excellent warranty 2 years everything, 10 years cabinet. Called the company in Canada about the defects and spoke with one of the corporate officers who was answering the phone. How cool is that?

I've been playing 15+ years. If this amp were lost or stolen I would replace it immediately. In my opinion, it is the perfect small tube combo combining great looks, high quality components and an incredible sound for a very reasonable price. I compared it to every tube combo costing less than $1500, and this one was the clear winner, regardless of price. If I had any suggestions for the company it would be:
1. Make sure you never cut corners on quality components. Most of us would rather pay slightly more for quality - just make sure you continue to point out that the components are quality (such as cabinet material and hardware).
2. Watch the quality control. A quality product deserves a quality, post-production inspection.

Two channel 50 watt EL34 combo with Celstion vintage 30. Boost on dirty channel only

I really don't review things because tone is so subjective that one man's dream is another man's nightmare. But this combo really blew me away. First I was not impressed when I first fired it up but when I hooked up one of my Boogie thiele ported cabs(loaded with English made vintage 30's). The combination of the open back and closed back turned this amp into a guitar players dream. Cleans were clear and bright but not spacky. Distortion was very 70's early 80's Marshall sounding with out the fizz. The only problem I had was I had to run the gain at 9, so I got a JJ's high gain retube kit from Eurotubes. I couldn't dream that this setup would sound any better but man!!!! it really smokes now. I only have to run the Gain at 6 and you can allmost throw my overdrives away because the boost works that well. But the best part was when I stuck my Barber Direct Drive in front of the Clean channel instant Robben Ford tone. And one more thing: no need for a overdrive pedal on the distortion channel, the Boost is that good.

As far as reliability gos I have only had the amp for a couple of weeks. It comes with a great warranty and Yorkville Sound has lots of service centers in my area.

I emailed the company with some questions and they responded right away. The also told me that the amp was self biasing and I didn't need to bias the power tubes when I changed the tubes.

I have been playing for 34 years. My main tone influences are Moore, Ford, Menekitti, Allman, Haynes, and Blackmore I have owned a ton of new and vintage equipment and started out with early 70's Marshalls and have owned Ampeg, Hiwatt, Sound City, Music Man, Carvin, and Bogner. Built racks during the 80's for a living. I use Les Paul and Strats. Just picked up a new Squire Esprit for my Robben Ford tone lust. My board consists of Barber Direct Drive, Ibanez TS-10 (Gary Moore Tone) , Analog Man ts808 vintage mod, Jaques Meistersinger chorus, Line6 delay modeler, and a ToneJam Sniper eq (best boost in the world). This amp gets all the sounds I need and more. My friends thought I was crazy when I sold my Bogner but now they are selling their boutique amps . If this were stolen I would buy another one right away. One thing. If you retube only do the preamp tubes (Eurotubes High gain) The power tubes are Electro Harmonix and I really can't tell the difference between the JJ's and the EH's. So save your self a few bucks. If you need a great sounding combo. go out and beg steel and bower to get one today.

The best tube combo on the market for the dough!!! Two channels w/footswitchable boost. Effects loop,reverb.

I use a 65 Strat w/EMG Pickups and a Les Paul Goldtop w/ Duncan JB and Distortion pickups..both guitars sound incredible through this amp..Great Fender type clean sound...Killer Marshall Hi gain tone in the overdrive channel!! Creamy tube lead sounds with tons of sustain.

Yorkville have the best warranty in the biz. Two years no matter what happens!!

Top Notch company

Been playing 25 years...the best amp for the money you can find....