Traynor YCV80 212 Combo

Here we have a YCV80 made in 2004. features have been covered by other people, so i wont go into that.

this amp is 80W of tone! 212 with celestions, 2 seperate channels with seperate EQ (thank god!), reverb, boost and master volume. if you need anything more, go buy your bogner already.

the extra functions on the clean channel help a lot to give it a very fat and present tone for chord work etc. the distortion does in fact cover anything from light overdrive to metal, it just takes some tweaking.

my only complaint here is that the reverb is not footswitchable. i wonder what they were thinking, but oh well - every room has reverb.

I bet most people look at this amp and go "lovely classic rock machine you have there!" at this point, i give them the finger and proceed to play something like lamb of god etc etc. note: i play a gibson les paul studio stock into my 80.

to make this amp cover all bases, you have to understand that the EQ changes as you crank the master, and that preamp gain and poweramp gain are two completely different things. i can get perfectly clean chords from my neck pickup on a gibbo LP studio at master 7, and if i want that clean breakup then its to the bridge pickup. the channel volume on 2 keeps things going.

these amps CAN AND WILL DO high gain metal. dont believe me? get one,and try: gain 8, volume 6.5, treble 6.5, bass 4, mids 4, scoop on, boost off, MV 7. stand back and be amazed! with metal, its not all gain, its how you play the guitar.

as for other musical styles, you can set the clean up to do funk, jazz, blues, anything. distortion, roll back on the gain to go to classic rock or blues overdrive. I have my metal EQ settings on my OD channel, and by simply rolling back the gain i go from lamb of god to AC/DC tone.

volume plays a big part in how the EQ will respond, so fool around with that.

this amp has only done anything wierd twice in the two years i've owned it, and it solved the problem itself (whatever that problem was).

i've accidentally nudged a few walls with it, and other then some scratches in the tolex it gigged/rehearsed perfectly fine.

apparently some guy dropped an old traynor off the back of his truck (well it fell out off the tailgate), and it worked perfectly fine. i think my amp is going to hold up for many years to come.

i've emailed traynor concerning mods and where those damn preamp tubes are, and they've been quick and helpful.

2 year even if you break it warranty, cant say i have any complaints!

for the price, you just cant beat this amp for what you get. tone for any style, 2 channels, reverb, a footswitch, a solo boost, master volume, 212 setup... its one of the best combos out there (especially for the price). this thing has held its own w/ marshall and mesa halfstacks, people say "that thing sounds pretty good" and i tell them what it is. i take my tone very seriously, and this amp delivers.

my ONLY complaint about any YCV amp is the lack of 'verb on the footswitch. with the new YCS, they still dont have it - baffles me.

this amp rocks with the best of them, and rocks hard. handles what you throw at it, and then throws YOU. i'd highly recommend it. i'd replace it if it were stolen.

find one used and you've just hit the bang-for-buck jackpot.

PS: if you want to hear this amp in action, check out: www.purevolume.com/deathcharge or www.soundclick.com/thebuddaproject

2005 model and has everything I need in an amp. I only use a touch of delay through the effects loop (Alesis Midiverb III). Reverb on 2-3 and that's it.

Has a headphone jack, master volume, parallel and series effects loop, speaker disconnect button and a standard plug in for the speakers so you can use it as a head if you want.

Playing a 2005 PRS Custom 24 and 1991 Strat Plus Deluxe.

I'm into Robben Ford type stuff and clean country sounds too.

I put in JJ's and junked the Celestion 70/80's for a pair of Weber handmade California Ceramics $90 each (http://www.tedweber.com/) and the difference was huge. I had to wait a month for the speakers but it turned a lifeless amp into the sweetest amp. I can get perfect Robben Ford tones now. My PRS sounds like a Tele if I want it to which I couldn't do before. This thing has harmonics all over the place which just weren't there with the original speakers. My clean headroom went up by quite a bit with the new speakers which I like. The amp sounds more Fender than a Fender now.

The gain channel is sweet. The distortion was greatly improved also because of the harmonics and clearness. Not a metal amp without some kind of pedal. I'm only saying it because before it didn't have the low end but with the new high powered Webers it will do metal with the proper pedals. I dimed it and the speakers handle the 80 watts with ease with the bass dimed and palm muting the bass strings.

I've heard complaints that the reverb isn't good and that's true if you keep your master volume low. It's directly hooked to that so I keep mine at about 7 which keeps the noise low and the reverb works great at that level.

On the distortion channel I engage the scoop function which drops the mids. But instead of leaving it hollow sounding I dime it and it brings the tones into perfect balance. With scoop off it's too midrangy for me. So in essence the scoop function takes the mids from very thin to good balance. If you want more mids disengage the scoop.

The clean channel is the best I've ever heard. But again the new speakers are the reason. Before it was ok at best.

The amp looks very well built and I examined it closely when installing the new tubes. I have all the confidence that it will last a long long time.

The 2 year Unlimited Warranty is pretty much a testament as to the quality of the amp. I e-mailed Traynor several times and have always gotten a reply within 20 minutes or so during regular business hours. Very helpful and I was given a local repair facility should the need arise.

I'm 57 years old and have been playing since I was a Junior in High School. I'd replace this amp and do the mods again if I lost it.

I wish this amp came in a head version because it's a pretty weighty monster (68lbs with the new speakers, 65 lbs stock). I installed casters to ease the movement of it.

I wish the boost was adjustable like Fenders are.

Based on the reviews and price I decided on this amp. I have owned Fenders and to me the price to quality isn't there thus I decided to give Traynor a try and glad I did. I was interested in the Fender Blues DeVille 2x12 but there is no comparison in my opinion after playing it at Guitar Center.

I bought mine on EBay new so for the money I saved I was able to upgrade my amp and get exactly what I wanted.

When I started researching to buy an amp, I read all the reviews here. I ended up purchasing the YCV80. Ultimately, I'm pleased, but I reached that point by doing things different than most. First, I should say I'm playing a Tele with single coils and that may result in some of my problems. I haven't had a chance to try it with other guitars.

But I switched out the tubes with JJ tubes from Eurotubes as suggested by some, and that made things warmer, but it still was too bright for my taste, despite backing off the treble (I tried most of the adjustments recommended in these reviews). Then I recently replaced one of the 70/80s with a ToneTubby hemp cone. I really didn't experience the increase in bass that some people described, but it increased presence, warmed things up, and it breaks up a little earlier.

What really worked for me was to stop using the preamp entirely. I have a Vox Tonelab SE which has a built in tube and simulates vintage amps. I now run it through the effects return loop. I get a nice, warm, fat clean sound, and I can get a nice balanced dirty sound too. I can take the same settings and run the Tonelab through the preamp (which is manufacturer's recommendation) and the sound gets tinny.

I've done this A/B test with a Marshall 9001 preamp I have as well, with the same results: Run it through the effects, sounds great. Run it through the preamp, sounds bad.

So, I don't think any amount of tweaking will get that preamp to sound as good as other preamps. Now I like the remaining 70/80 I have. It's neutral compared to other speakers but sounds really good, even next to the ToneTubby

Look at the other reviews

I have used several different guitars with this amp. Esp EC100qm, Epi Les Paul Standard Plus, and BC Rich NJ Classic Bich. I have not used a single coil on it but the sound from the humbuckers are just soooo meaty!

I play alot of different types of music. As of right now, i am on a blues kick. This amp's clean channel fits the blues sooo well. Reminds me of a clean Hendrix sound. If you tweak it enough, you can also get a twangy southern sound. For the dirty side, well, once again, it is meaty! With the boost off and both pu's in use, you can easily get a Santanaish type of sound, just great. Now, on the other hand, the boost really makes it ballsy. From prog to death to early 80's metal, this channel cover everything.

This is a 80 watt tube amp. If you buy this amp thinking it will not be noisy at even low volumes, you are going to get a rude awakening. Eventhough not as bad as some other tube amps, (Peavey, Crate, Some Marshall) it is still bad.

Try to leave the master volume near ten, because then you will get the best clean sounds on all channels. Just a great amp for the money.

This is a tube amp. Do not drop this amp. Tubes are fragile and will break on impact. But i would definetly bring this to any show without a back up.

Unlike some of the other reviews, i have not have problems with the chassis. But i do not use the reverb, so no help on that one.

Never needed them.

i have been playing for about 4 years now. I have been through a Marshall s/s half stack, Fender combos, and one crappy VOX. This has been the best amp ever for the money. But, I am still looking around for somting, there is always new technology, and ebay always has em cheap. But overall, this amp is about 700 bucks new, about the price of a high end Marshall s/s, but the Traynor is better.

Absolutley hated it when I first purchased it because of the time it took to tweak the amp with my effects board. So much so that I actually took it back and my salesman talked me into giving it one more chance. After doing so and a lot more tweaking, now I absolutely love it......can't play without it. Every gig I play my sound becomes a topic. My group opened for a major recording artist and their guitarist heard my amp and borrowed it for their set (mic'd and tweaked of course). I also use an external speaker which gives a better balanced sound when mic'd. I give it a 9 because it was hell to tweak but it was worth it!

I play a Kramer American with 2 stacked and a dual humbucker and use a Boss GT 5 for effects with the YCV 80. I play a clean effects laiden sound therefore I don't like hum and noise. I mostly use the clean channel and the amp is low noise and clean.

Once tweaked very reliable

20 years. Fender Strat, Jackson Flying V.
After understanding its make up, I would buy it again
love the sound, I hate the time it took to tweak it with my effects board.
I compared it with, Marshall and Fender.
Cleaner than the Marshall and cheaper than the Fender

It's a fairly straightforward amplifier without a lot of bells and whistles to speak of; I've never cared all that much for amps with a lot of onboard effects and whatnot though...it's a personal preference. That said, there are a few points I should mention; the clean channel is equipped with 'bright' and 'expander' switches, both of which I like (especially the expander), although, wishfully thinking, I would prefer to have some parametric control. The overdrive channel also has two switches, 'scoop' (which I never use because I like midrange) and 'boost'. Again, it would be nice to have an extra knob or two for those, but it doesn't really bother me.
I find a few things curious about the effects loop--firstly, the effects loop is in parallel to the dry signal rather than in series, so the dry signal and wet signal are output together. That's terrific for time-based effects like delays and chorus; however I use a Boss GT-5 processor for most of my effects (including certain dynamic effects or EQ, depending on who I'm playing with), and having the amp's natural sound coming through as well kind of undermines that. I've gotten things pretty well balanced, but it's the result of a lot of tweaking I'd prefer to have avoided; but I'm not really complaining, as it's more an issue of my preference of signal chain than anything else.
Secondly, the effects send and return both have a volume control, which I suppose is useful to have (particularly since the effects loop is in parallel), but it's two more gain stages than I really want. Ah well.

In spite of niggling technical concerns (many of which are a matter of preference, as I said), I'm extremely pleased with this amplifier. I've owned it for a hair under a year, and I have played with it on stage, in the studio, and untold hours in my room. In fact, I haven't used my old amp once since I got this one.
In particular it records absolutely beautifully; I've cut an EP using this amp for all the electric guitar parts, and started work on another recording likewise.

My main guitar is a Jackson superstrat of indeterminate model with a humbucker in the bridge position and two excessively dark stacked single-coil pickups. On occasion I also play a cheapo Strat clone (as well as a handful of others, but those are typically for specific applications--alternate tunings, a 12-string...that sort of thing).
I'm a real whore of a musician; my main gig is playing guitar (among other instruments) with a female singer in more or less of a pop format reminiscent of U2, or Tori Amos, or whomever. I've also recently been playing really extreme jazz fusion with a group of guys from my school; I've played with blues bands, experimental rock bands, punk bands, &c, and I've done a fair amound of session work for a bunch of disparate artists. On my own, I like to play complex instrumental music similar to Rush or King Crimson. This amplifier suits me for everything I play (I should mention that I'm not particularly interested in copping anyone's sound precisely, although my tone is somewhat similar to Alex Lifeson's in the early 80's). But nevertheless, I can get nearly any sound I please with some amount of twiddling the knobs around.

As for my complaints, the amp is somewhat noisy, but my use of fairly heavy compression is partly to blame. It's particularly apparent in the overdrive channel's boost setting, which I should mention is slightly fuzzier than I'd like--I'm comfortable with the gain set at about 6; it may be more or less apparent with different gain settings--but I still think it's brilliant for solos or, to a lesser extent, for heavy rhythm work. It would be nice if that were on a separate channel alltogether but, hey...
The clean channel is extremely bright; it complements Fender-ish tones quite nicely with brightness and expansion turned off (which tend to make such instruments sound shrill and hollow, respectively); I haven't quite found a clean tone with my Jackson that really excites me, but engaging the expander does add a really nice character to it. I'm sort of on the fence about the clean channel, really...I think it's probably not for everybody, but one's choice of instrument is, of course, at least as big a factor as the character of the amp.
My biggest complaint has to do with the EQ's. They work, but they're pretty mediocre. I have not bothered to really figure out what it is about them that I don't care fore, but they just don't strike me as being very 'musical'. It is a much bigger issue for me with the clean channel than with the overdrive channel (on either gain setting).

That said, I think that it is a terrific-sounding amplifier all around. I can get some very nice clean tones out of it (albeit sometimes requiring a bit of experimentation), and the overdrive channel sounds excellent. Without the boost setting engaged, the dynamics of my playing honestly come through better than any amp I've played through to date (including heavyweights such as high-end Marshalls and vintage Fenders); complex chord voicings, except for the very most dissonant, sound beautifully; and in general the tone is very clear and bright and warm. With the boost engaged, the tone is significantly compressed and fuzzed-out, which tends to squash picking dynamics and obscure complex chords somewhat; but as I said, for solos, especially with long, sustained notes, as well as simpler rhythm styles based on power chords, octaves, and triads, it sounds superb. With the scoop switch engaged, it produces a good 'metal' sound, but I really never play with it on.

I'm inclined to give it high marks as it's never given me any trouble yet, but I don't feel I've had it long enough to really get a meaningful sense of that.
Seems sturdy enough. But I do try to take care of it.

I have not had to deal with them.

I've been playing guitar for around nine, nine and a half years or so; I own a variety of guitars, a fretless J-bass, and a handful of keyboards. Prior to buying this amplifier, I have principly played through Peavy (eh.) and Fender amplifiers, although I've also played through the occasional Marshall or Crate (ick.) or what-have-you. If my amp were lost or stolen (god forbid), I'm quite sure I'd buy another--I'm convinced it's the very finest tube amp available for under $1000.
Like I said, I'm not crazy about the EQ's and some of the electronics aren't the way *I* would have wired them; but it's certainly nothing that really bothers me, and the tone and feel of the amp absolutely mitigate such inconsequential concerns.

Everything has been said already.

I use both Strats and Les Pauls and they both sound great (with a bit of tweaking, of course). Being used, the Clean channel seems to have seen better days. Turned up too loudly without balencing the settings gives a bad imitation of a Rockabilly sound. Folks have said the amp is too bright, I say it is not bright enough. The Bright switch does aboslutely nothing and the Expander switch does worse than that. The Clean side of the amp (with all settings dimed; including Master Volume) gives a good Hendrix cranked-non-master-volume-Marshall. The Dirty side (with settings actually tweaked and adjusted) lends itself easily to early-1970s-live-Jimmy Page-Marshall sounds. Basically, a good Marshall sound for cheap.

This amp could be ranked with Marshalls in the halls of road-worthy amps. Every other amp I've owned (Peavey Envoy 110, Pignose G40V, early 1970s Fender Bassman 10) has succumbed to different problems, but this amp is still going strong. I would take this amp as my main squeeze.

N/A

I've been playing for five years and own two Strats (one reversed), a Les Paul, a Jimi Hendrix Wah, and a Fuzz Face. This amp nails Blues, Jazz, and any type of rock (the Boost switch makes sure of that). This is the best amp, tone-wise, in its price range. If you are looking for a good tube Fender or Marshall, try this one next to it, and let your ears guide you.

2004 model. Loaded with features, but I just basically use the two channels and occasionally the boost on the distortion channel--sometimes it's a good boost balance, others it's way too over the top. Like another reviewer stated, it seems to be tied in with the seperate volume pots, I'm still not sure if it's the Master, the channel gain or the channel volume. The other tone sculpting features I don't find musically useful--especially when preforming live, I don't have the time to tweak things on the fly. I play a variety of styles--blues, rock and pop--and primarily use a Les Paul Classic with Duncan Antiquities at home, at jams, at pick-up gigs and every week for contemporary praise and worship at church. I find the clean channel to be a great basis for my rather busy pedal board, and the dirty channel to be very good (after mods) at classic rock crunch and Bluesbreaker Clapton blues.

O.K....here's the poop. When I first got this amp, I couldn't get over how bad the speakers sounded--weak, sterile, boxey, so I decided to swap out for a pair of Greenbacks. That improved things, but not nearly as much as an earlier review has stated (i.e. it's not a "300%" improvement, more like a 50% one). The reason I chose the Greenbacks and not the Vintage 30s is that the HIGH END on both channels of this amp is MURDEROUS, and I wanted to avoid any speaker that could have problems sometimes with harsh highs.
Anyway, I don't understand Traynor's voicing of this amp--I have to choke the treble down to btw 1.0-1.5 on the gain channel and to 3 on the clean channel, otherwise this thing sounds synthetic, thin and harsh. In addition, I don't know what frequencies that the mid pots control, but I swear the spectrum covers roughly what most amps' TREBLE controls cover--I mean this amp is voiced waaaay bright!! I typically like the lower and middle range of the mids to be covered--especially for the gain channel. For the most part though, I CAN get a good musical sound out of both channels--apart from the lack of that part of the mid range frequencies that any other amp I've played through/owned has had.
Another beef--Traynor included some kind of solid state "tube rectifier emulation circuit" in this amp to immitate tube sag--This is the same type of circuit which Roland put in their solid state "Blues Cube" amplifiers--I know, I had one. The only thing that this circuit manages to do is muddy the signal, especially if you engage the "scoop" switch.
One more beef--there is a bit of an issue with the bass level balance between both channels--the clean having considerably more low end than the dirty channel. Part of this comes from the Fender (clean)/Marshall(dirty) design of each channel--classic Marshalls didn't have as much low end as Fenders but emphasized the mid range more (that is, without a closed back cab). When I made the speaker swap, things balanced out a bit more...BUT...here's what really breathed new life into this amp and has resulted in my not dumping it:
I changed the tubes to JJ's--a full set of preamp and power amp tubes!!! I talked to the guy at Eurotubes, who has different types of tube "kits" that you can swap out with the stock (shiite) tubes, depending on the sound your after. I decided on the "Blues" kit which has a lower gain for v2--this took away a lot of the stupid emulated rectifier mud (unless you use the scoop switch)on the dirty channel. These new tubes really tightened up the bass response in both channels, smoothed out the high end harshness (except if I turn up the treble beyond what I stated above, it still turns into a synthetic ice pick) gave it more warmth and richer harmonics and more musical clarity on the gain channel and warmed up the clean channel. Heck, even the reverb sounds better--not as clangy and 'strangled' sounding--it actually reminds me of a Fender now. This really did improve things a lot!!! Just so you know, now the gain channel can do an almost spot-on Bluesbreaker Clapton tone!!
Another trick you can do is pull the two outer 6l6s which cuts the power in half (to 40 watts) and warms things up a tad more.
Anyway, the circuitry is what it is and could stand some improved voicing--and some better tubes and speakers stock!! The sound with my upgrades is about an 8.75 (a B+), but for stock, a 7 (which is a c-/d+)

Mechanically this amp has been just fine

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for many moons and if it were lost(?) or stolen I would probably use my insurance money for something else. I've had tons of gear--guitars, pedals, amps (mostly tube, but some solid state also). I HATE the bright voicing of this amp--that's really my main beef with it (oh and the stupid rectifier circuit) although I think the general concept of this amp is a good one (i.e. Marshall/Fender thing in one amp). They should really ship this with good tubes and speakers though--even if it costs more--HEY TRAYNOR--CALL BOB AT EUROTUBES, I'LL BET HE'D BE YOUR TUBE SUPPLIER AND MAYBE EVEN CUT YOU A DEAL FOR VOLUME.

no use reapeating what has already been said...

Im using a strat with "vintage single coils" into a keeley modified crybaby and then into the amp... my pedal board is soon to become larger. i play Jazz, blues, classic rock, ska, indie, alt. rock,grunge, punk and on the odd day country. The clean channel is absolutely perfect, its like a cross betwwen a twin reverb and an AC30 but so much smoother and fatter, its so nice, i rather play without dist or o/d. The only way you will get your clean to distort is if you have your master at 10 and your vol. past 7, and thats unbearable to my ear... to loud! The lead channel when unboosted has no balls, thats the only reason why it didn't get a 10 for sound quality, but when you turn the boost on, you have that marshallesque tones everybody wants. The difference betwwen the marshallesque tone everybody uses and this one is that this one is so much smoother... its like an old plexi but with more gain capacity. turn the gain down, play with the eq a little and you can get that perfect indie rock tone, boost the mids keep the gain around 4.5- 5 and youve gat that vintage plexi tone. turn up the gain around 7, you can get that late 80s early to mid 90s marshall tones. The boosted lead channel is simple amazing.. you can even get that nu metal sound... turn the gain up to close to 10, turn the mids all the way down and youve got a great metal tone also.

BUILT LIKE A TANK!!

never dealth with them...

If it were stolen or lost I would go directly to the music store and purchase the YCV80Q... with 410.. it seems to have better reviews.
Ive compared it with a Mashall JCM2000 TSL100 and for you Marshall fans out there... Marshall' quality is slowly decreasing... this amp smoked the marshall... and the traynor costs much less!

Don't get me wrong with my complaints here.
For the $ and a tube amp....buy it.Have had the amp for about a year.
It is/was pretty good from gigs.
Agreed with the other reviews that the clean channel is pretty nice.
The dirty channel is DIRTY.
Hard to get a good tone out of that side.
The boost seems to amplify things about twice as much, not a nice thing.
Seems to need a lot of tweaking to get the dirty channel to respond correctly.
I don't use the effects loop, just a hassle with setting the trims etc.
The speaker defeat switch, xlr out, and headphones jack are a great touch most of the other features I could do without.(eg swoop, boost)

I did replace the tubes with JJ Tubes and that helped and I choose tubes that break up fast.
I think......when I get some more time and money I will replace the speakers.
I have a feeling it will improve it drastically so I will hold on to it.
A friend of mine put an old 70s Fender amp on permanent loan with me so I recently have been playing that and my bucks will probably go to restoring that amp first.
Just has some fat lows and I love it.....though it could use some
maintenance.
The Traynor has been in the corner for a few months but still goes on gigs for a back up if needed.

Play mostly my American Strat through it.
Amp low end.
I can crank the low pot and still wish for more.
You can get some pretty distorted big hair butt rock stuff going if you want but those days are almost over for me unless I've had a few beers and feel like ripping.

No probs

Go ahead and get it for a good way to have a decent (not perfect) tube amp.