NAD Traynor YGM3

[adamrobertt]

I definitely liked mine a lot more with an open back. I made some panels out of plywood and spray painted them black so that the speaker would still be mostly protected but with the open back sound. I also replaced the stock speaker in mine (which was an unbranded piece of junk anyway) because it was blown. Put in a Weber Silver Bell with a hemp cone to tame some of the brightness.

I also recommend clipping the bright cap, that's another mod I did. Really cuts down on the brightness. Although mine didn't have a "bright" switch, so maybe you don't have to do that one.

[JCH519]

You're lucky you have a Jensen reissue speaker in there and not one of those horrible Marsland speakers. That being said, there are people who say they like Marslands but those people probably don't play very loud or they are looking for grit. They're inefficient speakers so when you crank the amp they cause some harsh speaker distortion. I had to put up with a bass player who used a YBA-1 with the original 4x10 with original Marslands (it sounded a bit crunchy at times).

I like those Jensen reissue speakers.

I'm a fan of Traynor amps, but you used to be able to find them for so cheap around here so it's hard for me to shell out the cash for one these days.

Enjoy the new (to you) amp.

[MechaBulletBill]

Right so it's been with the tech a week, I know it was third in the queue of jobs he had to do so I'm glad he's got to work on it as quickly as he has.

The night before I took it in, it started popping really badly so I switched it off right away and haven't myself plugged it in since. Diagnosis is pretty dire, cap job, some burnt out resistors, blown power tube (but it was so loud???) and the Phillips preamp valves, while working, are drawing too much current and need replacing. It also had a death cap ready to zap me or start a fire any minute. I can't believe it's as bad as it sounds over the phone, but something drastic probably happened inside last week when I last had it on. So far it's 180 in parts and labour (mainly labour) to get it working reliably, and I've gone for top spec caps to get the most life out of it moving forward and he's gonna stick an adjustable bias circuit in there. I figured that it's best to pay out now to have it as faultless as possible for as long as possible so I never have to give Jon the tech this much money again!

There's some consolation in the fact that he seems to bloody love this amp and wants to hear it at its best. Fingers crossed the transformers are fine coz that'd really suck.

[al30]

That's not that bad. It's just standard maintenance on old tube amps. It happens. You're transformers are likely just fine. The good news is it's easy to work on and once it's in top shape it'll be good for a long while (except new EL84's - they don't last too long). That's a solid amp.

AL

[MechaBulletBill]

new EL84's - they don't last too long

Well, I'm not a touring musician so as long as the new one he's matching to the old one lasts long enough for the sting of all this maintenance to heal then I might splash out on getting more mojo valves with the stronger tone pixies inside. That might sound cynical but make no mistake, this amp sounded truly magnificent with a complete squad of old Phillips glass, before it went to Jimmy.

[MechaBulletBill]

If the amp hadn't been symptomless in the build up to all these burnt out resistors and "I can't believe it was this loud with one output valve running", I wouldn't be so shocked by the extent and cost of the repairs. But I suppose it's really like going to the dentist - expensive, but worse if you don't.

[MechaBulletBill]

Ok, the cost of the repairs stings a bit, but it sounds incredible and is pretty much gonna last forever now. I sprung for top spec caps and, when I mentioned about preferring it open-backed, Jon revealed a tolexed piece of wood that fit the back perfectly.



I'm very, very happy with it.

The only thing I noticed since getting it home is that, with my all stock MIJ Mustang, there's occasional popping sounds coming through the amp which (my amateur brain) thinks could be static discharging from the bridge of the Mustang because I know for a fact that it isn't properly grounded. It doesn't make the sound with my LP copy (which was rewired last year by a good luthier). Does that sound plausible?