Traynor YCV80 212 Combo

i think it was made in 2002, very versatile it has 2 channels with a boost on channel 1 for more gain,like a 3rd channel, celestion speakers, effects loop, head phone jack, i use this amp for gigs and for practicing, it has 80 watts of tube power, enough for me, self biasing for differant tubes, scoop swith on channel 1 and brightness and expander on channel 2,i wish it had a resonance swith for tighter bass sound for speakers but its ok without

i play 80s rock with some blues in there, im using a texas special strat, wich i totally modified it, it now has noisless pickups in the neck and middle positions and seymour duncan custom custom humbucker in the bridge, with the locking keys and lsr roller nut and the fender floyd trem, stays in tune great and sounds amazing through this amp. can we say brown sound all the way..i played aint talking bout love through this amp and sounds just like evh, some say this amp is a cross between a fender and a marshall i agree,you get fender clean and marshall distortion all in one, not noisy at all with dc fillaments, great variety of sounds, ac/dc type stuff to evh sounds, scoop sounds good for scooped mids distortion, great clean channel to, sounds a amazing guitar, as good as a fender

when i got the amp the sound was going in and out, i tightened the power tubes and it works great now, probably loosened when shipped, has a grid to protect speaker
built like a tank good warranty

never had trouble
good warranty 2/10 transferible

ive been playing for 15 years, ive had peavey, fender,crate,amps most versatile tube amp ive had.great deal all the way around

I'm using this with a custome tele with dimarzzio pic-ups. I use the clean channel with everything wide and controll the tione from my guitar. This is like a fender bass man I played a few years back. But BETTER.

The definition is awsome. I'm all about the midrange, pick noise, and percussive mutes harmonics and stuff like that. This is the "ONE"

Can comment on distortion yet.

I assume it will last like the old Traynors. There were some assembly problems, things that needed to be tightened. the company did all this for free and did a 12 point inspection. Gives my the illusion a having a "hand wired" amp. Too bad they didn't do it at the point of assembly!

They are very eager to establish them selves in the music world. Think totall opposite of Fender or Roland.

For a working class, always broke, purist this is the best cheapest deal going. I would buy another for sure! Only down side is there's a 50/50 chance you'll have to send it back to get it tightened up. SO as long as it don't kill you by falling apart as you're loading it into a truck......

This is in regards to the review the G&L ASAT guy wrote below. How he could find the gain channel thin is a mystery to me. I have one of these amps as well, and I would say that the overdrive/distortion knocks the socks off just about everything under $1000. Even with the shite tubes that this is shipped with, I had no problem dialing in the tones that I like.

Here is some helpful advice to the nitwit who said it sucks:

1. The boost and scoop buttons are for channel 1, the GAIN channel, not channel 2 (clean). The clean channel has a bright switch and an expander switch.

2. Get rid of those cheap Sovtek Tubes, especially the preamp ones. They are about the worst on the market right now. I experimented with some NOS and current production tubes and found that a Groove Tubes 12AX7-C in the first gain stage and Electro-Harmonix 12AX7's in the second and third make for a very fat and powerful modern combination. I threw in some RCA 7025's for kicks and I was in vintage heaven although I am saving those guys for a special occasion, spcially at $50 a pop. I also replaced those crap Sovtek power tubes with some Svetlana 6L6GC's. Everyone says that the Svetlanas are the way to go, and I will agree with them to an extent. The fact of the matter is, if you can get your hands on good quality NOS 6L6GC's or compatible, go for it. They are worth the extra money when you have that sucker cranked loud. With these upgrades, (less than $100), this amp sounds like it cost about twice as much money.

Sounds great, clean and dirty.

Owned it for 3 months so far. No problems.

I have emailed yorkville with a few questions and they have gotten back to me within 24-48 hours on each occasion with helpful information.

You won't find anything as versatile as this for under $1000. Sure there are amps that can do better cleans, (i.e. Blues Deville) as well as amps that can push out more gain (Peavey XXX series), in the same price range, but these are one trick pony's and don't have 80 watts backing them up. Also, when I say better, I don't mean yards, I mean inches. I'm a working musician and I need to cover a lot of different sounds. This amp dishes out tones from the 50's through the current trend of high gain scooped distortion and everything in between. Do yourself a favor and throw in some quality tubes before you make up your mind about how this amp sounds.

Brand new, just played it in the store. Impressive features: Scoop and boost make the great clean channel sound even better. Poor features: Cheap knobs and buttons. I had never seen a Traynor up close, but assumed that they were well constructed... not the case. The distortion channel was really crappy and thin as tin, if you ask me it shouldn't even have one. But it does and it's a feature and if you're into that kind of sound, go for it.

I played a G&L ASAT through it, which is an amazing guitar. Like I said above the clean channel is great! The scoop was really impressive. When it was not in use, the ASAT had a ruthless honky-tonk spank to it, which I like a lot. But when I turned it on, it just made it sound smooth like butter, it thickened it up a lot. Very useful parameter...good variety

And once again, the distortion channel was just not good. I compare it to my old Crate. You can, however get a pretty good sound out of the clean by boosting the gain, but in general it's just not what I was looking for in the distortion category

Don't know, but I didn't get a good feeling from the knobs and buttons.

Don't know, but everything I've ever heard about Yorkville is good.

I've been playing for a while now. I have a six piece jam/rock/blues band. I'm a huge fan of Stevie Ray, and I don't think he would approve of the lead channel. That can probably be taken care of with a few good pedals.

It wasn't impressive enough to buy, but it would be a great beginner amp or something to build on with the right effects. I almost bought one off of ebay without having played it, which would have been dumb. Play one and see what you think.

Im not gonna rehash it, but very nice.

The clean is amazing! Im not out there for sparkle, I get off on classical acoustic sounding cleans. Warm, smooth and quiet. Very detailed sounding.
Im not going to say how I achieve my distorted sound, but I will say this: If you know how to stroke this baby, you soon have one hell of a beast when it comes to downright, unholy distortion. I will admit that I use an external source for the actual distortion, but this is the only amp Ive ever played that made it sound this fucking good. I can play Unas Slayer of the Gods by Nile one second, Niccolo Paginini's 5th Caprice the next, and fly right into Steve Vai's For the Love of God with MINOR tweaks of a knob or two! Of course the Steve Vai impersonation doest have enough mids to nail it dead on, but they are the best mids Ive ever heard. Vai's amp, the Legacy has unbelievable mids in the upmost registers, but it gets real muddy on the low. This amp doesnt at all. Plys it's God damned loud.
The reverb isn't "32 bit floating algorithm digi-shit" It's the real spring that the experienced love. Plus, to whoever complained about the springs noise; "You truly have no idea what you're playing with".
If you're looking for washed out 60's surf reverb, it doesnt go that far. But it goes far enough for all else. And it's a big fuckin' tank which really gives it an open sound, not as cluttered sounding as other reverbs.
Ive compared it to Marshalls (JCM2000s, TSL1000s, Plexis), Voxs, Line 6 *shudder*, Laney, Peavey and crate mostly. Blew them all away. Although I must commend on a Marshall 3x10 combo I played for a very good satch tone, but it didnt do what this amp does. I know somebody that owns a Peavey XXX half-stack, which is sad considering his head alone was like $1200 and doesnt sound near as good as my $750 Traynor which can add on a cab for $249 and be just as big! Plus it's about as loud as a corpse at all times
LMFAO!

Ive had it for 2 months, not a problem. Seems very durable. The Grille is durable, it survived a hard kick from a steel-toed military combat boot with so much as a dent only viewable in the right light at the right angle! Even if it does break in a year, its got a 2 and 10 warranty, holy shit! Traynor's confidence in the amp alone should say something!
One more thing, I read everyone's complains about screws being loose. Well they must have fixed it because when I went to replace a tube (read Customer Support), I nearly killed my self trying to unscrew the back, LOL.
All hail Traynor!

Ive contacted them a few times and they were VERY cool. Check this out: I got mine off of Musicians Friend, and when I received it, it did nothing. No sound, no nothing. So I called them up and the tech told me to plug into the FX loop return and try. It worked, but with little volume. I told him it worked, and he replied:
"You're middle pre-amp tube is cracked, call Musician's Friend and one will be sent to you immediately."
He was dead on, it was the middle pre-amp tube. He even knew which one broke! Now thats fuckin tech support, took about 10 second for this guy to figure it out.

Versatile, loud, tough. Nuf' said

New 2003 (got it new in box). Its great for blues and rock music. Clean and drive channels with a boost on the drive. Separate treble, bass, and middle controls for clean and drive channels. Plus a "scoop" switch on the drive channel and "expander" on the clean. No amp cover included which sucks. A reverb on/off option would have been great. It does have some cool features on the back like; speakers off, headphones, direct out (like a miked cab), fx loop, etc..

I am playing my USA Strats with this amp. It works pretty well for my style. The reverb isn't all that great though, Fender does a better job at that. It has nice cleans and the dist in drive mode goes from subtle blues overdrive to full on metal. The bass control on the drive channel is too subtle I think its the CHEAP POTS.

Seems good, too soon to say.

The warranty is great! Haven't used it yet.

I got this amp because I wanted something different than my Fender Hot Rod DeVille. I guess I was just bored with the DeVille. I am happier with this amp. But they are both great amps. GREAT BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WITH TRAYNOR!

This is a 2003 model. I specifically bought this amp to replace my 1974 Twin Reverb. The Twin was a one trick pony that needed overdrive pedals and a lot of TLC. The Traynor is 10 times more flexible at half the price and has just as much vibe. The only thing I wish it has was more power, other than that it has everything.

For a flat out tube amp with 2 channels, I give it an 8 for features.

Guitars: 1995 Ibanez S470, 2003 Carvin H2...

The amp has one heck of an overdrive channel. The boost on that channel is very saturated and excellent for leads. The clean channel is not glossy and when pushed hard begins to break up. I like the clean channel breaking up though.

This is a very good sounding amp. A lot of people say Traynor is the "Marshall" of Canada. I can definately see that. For $600 it is THE BEST.

Very reliable. Auto-bias so you can mix and match tubes on the gig. No re-biasing. The cabinet is solid. The steel mesh protecting the speakers is an excellent idea. The only thing I don't like is the control pots. They are cheapo, but I have not had a problem with them yet. I think they will be the first thing to cause a problem.

A very reliable amp. Easy to service.

Have not called them. The dealer was excellent though.

This is the best value for an all tube amp on the market today. If you like combo amps, want a solid, professional sound and are a bargin hunter, look no further. This thing is solid and sounds excellent.

Comparison? Much better overdrive and flexiblity than a Twin Reverb. Much better built than any Crate of comparible price. You can't touch an all tube Marshall for $600 and that is the only thing comparible.

If I lost this amp, I would buy another one. You do not need overdrive pedals with this amp. Just plug in an go...

Reviewing a new 2003 Traynor Custom Valve 80, YCV80, 2x12 all-tube combo amp.

This amp is extremely versatile! That's the first thing I have to say about it. I am really surprised I can get both ends of the spectrum at such quality in one unit. 2 Channels of course, but the boost footswitch acts like a 3rd channel, giving "just enough" more (perfect in fact.) SCOOP switch is IMO one of the key differences from the YCV40. The scoop takes my Les Paul to where I need it to go, more saturation and a heavier distortion sound. I think without it I would be searching for a distortion pedal. EXPANDER switch on the clean channel is very useful, acting like an EQ plus flat chorus. There is also a BRIGHT switch that does just that, but I haven't seen a need for it yet. It would be helpful if those were on the footswitch, but hey I can see why they didn't do that. Effects loop has pre and post trim, which if you use this would be very helpful. I'm running my effects in line between the guitar and amp input right now. I have noticed some significant noise when I had effects running through this path and I bypassed the unit. Someone else mentioned this as well, so it's probably a note taker. But I imagine this can be leveled out with all the level options (Pre on amp, unit itself, post on amp). I just didn't get there before I decided it was better to run it in line. 80 watts seems like plenty of power for me. I play in a 3 piece, drummer and other guitarist, with a 1000W PA. I set it on about 3 or 4. Standy switch hardly a feature, but very useful and tube-friendly. XLR output straight to a PA that sounds pretty darn good to me. "Speaker simulation" of some sort and I've seen no need to try a mic so far.

My gear is a 2002 Epiphone Les Paul Custom (cherry flame), custom built Strat with Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups (the same ones on SRV's signature guitar). Also using a BOSS ME-33 multiFX unit sometimes for effects. I play a lot of SRV style and the amp definitely gets me there. As much as I love playing the blues, I also love the heavy chords, chunk, and singing leads of my Les Paul. Again, this amp will go there, but if this is your complete sound I'm sure another amp would do better. I cranked everything and chunking low chords at volume and the amp was starting to fart out, so I just dialed the bass back a bit. But it was there and sounding great! Remember it's the versatility in this baby that your getting. Very good at both ends, but probably not "the best." The heavy distortion does sound very good. Full gain plus SCOOP plus the BOOST will rock the house!!!! Low noise in the amp overall, clean channel is awesome. So far I have been cranking the master volume to drive the tubes hard, then turning the channel volumes down low to taste. Seems to get better voicing and clarity as well as tube tone. Just a tiny bit muddier the opposite way. When I play the Les Paul, I always turn on the SCOOP. For the Strat you'll want that off for sure. When I need a little chorus-like tone, I'll flip on the EXPANDER with the Strat.

Zero problems. With the warranty, reliability is not even a concern. Some complain of loose screws and such, nothing doing here. I checked and they are tight. Thing is built like a tank.

Warranty is 2 years full coverage, no matter what happens to it, no matter where you bought it, no excuses refused! How can you beat that??? Plus 8 additional years on the amp.

In my amp search, I needed something that worked well for Strat blues as well as heavy distortion Les Paul leads and chords. Obviously this is a tough order to fill, which is why I hadn't purchased anything. I don't plan on stocking an arsenal of amps for different musical situations. Then I came upon the YCV80 and liked what I heard. In short, the YCV80 is an extremely versatile combo that gives you high quality tube tones at both ends of the blues/heavy spectrum. It's a miracle! :-) And what an incredible value. I would definitely replace it if stolen. I've been playing guitar for 20 years and have a deep musical background. I also thought about a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and similar models, heard lots complaining of shotty quality in new models. That also would leave me hanging on the heavy end. Considered the Marshall AVT50, which would leave me short on the blues. Strongly considered the YCV40, the little brother of my 80. This is probably the most useful thing I can offer in this review, because I bet if you're looking to buy, you're probably trying to decide between the 40 and 80 ;-) I haven't played a 40, but I imagine it's like my 80 without the SCOOP and EXPANDER. I would think when you remove those, you're sounding like a 40. But these are very "key features" to the versatility. The SCOOP alone is worth the difference in price if you've got a Les Paul or humbucker guitar, because without it you don't quite get those full heavy saturated tones. You would need a pedal for more overdrive. The expander I'm sure you could "live without," but damn it sounds so good with a Strat. You won't be sorry there. For the 40 vs. 80 debate, if you are a player who plays a little bit of everything (and aren't we all), then I highly recommend not only this amp, but bumping up to the 80 over the 40. If I had to, I could play a diverse gig with no additional effects at all! You definitely get your money's worth for that extra $125.

2002 Yorkville Traynor YCV80 212. Rock, blues, country, gets fairly close to metal. 2 channels. The 1st has gain/volume/equalizer plus boost and scoop buttons. The 2nd has volume/equalizer plus brightness and expander buttons. Then a master volume and accutronics reverb. Awesome features: effects loop, headphone jack, speaker extension, XLR line out, speaker defeat button. Footswitch controls channel switching and lead boost for 1st channel. 80 watts (oh it gets loud). Automatic tube biasing.

With a strat, its kick ass. It really brings out the single coils. I love the boost for the gain channel. The scoop adds more bottoms, almost a Marshall-Fender switch, but not really. This amp has a flavor of its own. The clean is a little sparkly and breaks up at high volumes, a dirty sound I like. Not Fender clean but close. Probably more a 8.5 but for the price this thing's awesome.

Springs do rattle a bit at high volume (if you want spring reverb, the rattle comes with it). One slight tear in tolex. Solidly built.

2 year unconditional, 10 year regular warranty.

For the $, this thing kicks every other tube amp out there. I think I'm gonna put better tubes in eventually (Sovteks aren't that great). If stolen, I would consider buying another.

This amp has all of the features that I wanted except a tube vibrato or tremelo. The clean channel has an expander switch which really livens up the sound of my les paul, and a bright switch which really brings it out of the duldrums. The amp is definitely suited for rock/blue/country/jazz, but not chugging metal even though it features a boost switch on the drive channel that smokes, and a scoop switch, it doesn't reach numetal chunk.

I'm currently using a Les Paul Studio with stock pickups. I play on a contemporary Christian Worship team that is rock, blues, jazz flavored. This amp is incredibly quiet, no noticable humming or buzzing even with the gain cranked. The clean channel will break up some at high volumes, low volume on master, but that is better left to the drive channel. The boost switch really kicks the mule when you want to change the dynamics of what you're playing.

The amp comes with a two year unconditional transferable warranty. I haven't had it long enough to really speak from personal experience.

two year unconditional transferable warranty, never had to have it serviced

I've been playing for about 17 years, have a Gibson Les Paul Studio, Gibson ES 135 with P-100s, a PRS Soapbar McCarty, a Vox AC-15, various pedals etc... This is the amp I've been looking for, I would definitely replace it for the money I consider it an exceptional value.