Traynor YBA-1A users here?

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Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Pacafeliz » Sat Jun 21, 2014 6:58 am

there's one of these for sale locally, apparently it's a bass amp and rated at 90w. i prefer bass amps and cabs for my guitar sounds.
this would be perfect size-wise with my old sunn 4x10 instead of hauling around the big ones.

anyone here have experience with these heads? or any other vintage traynor?

it's priced around $350 which seems decent enough.

thanks!

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by mcjt » Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:34 am

The 1a is a great amp! I have a yba2a amp and I love it!

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Ex Lion Tamer » Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:27 am

I have an early YBA-1: it sounds a lot like an old plexi! 350 bucks is a good price for one. Those old Traynors sound good, they're simple and easy to maintain. They're loud as hell too, and very tough. They're very good guitar amps and because they're so simple and easy to work in, a lot of people have used as mod platforms. A typical mod involves swapping out the 4M volume pots for 1M, and a resistor switch.

Oh, and make sure you bridge the channels, they sound best that way.
Last edited by Ex Lion Tamer on Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Ex Lion Tamer » Sat Jun 21, 2014 8:35 am

YBA-1as have a cooling fan mounted inside. Does yours have that?

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Langwich » Sun Jun 22, 2014 7:17 am

$350 sounds like a steal, regardless of the condition, and especially if it works. The parts alone I think are worth $350.

What's the difference between the different YBA-1s? I have one but I don't have easy access to it as it is buried under some other stuff. I fired it up once and it worked, and haven't really played it since. It has the flip top but I don't recall a fan.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by al30 » Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:03 am

Traynor's are some of the best deals on vintage amps out there. Built like tanks and loaded with mustard caps. That sounds like a great deal on one. My guitar player has a mid 70's YBA - can't remember if it's a 1 or a 1A but it's a beast. Easy to work on too.


AL

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Ticker » Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:07 am

Langwich wrote:What's the difference between the different YBA-1s
1A has double the power of a 1. They were built for the rental market, tough as nails. I've got a beat-up YVM-1 I'd like to mod. If I saw a YBA 1 or 1a locally for that price I'd buy it.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by StevenO » Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:01 am

Here's Alan Sparhawk with his Traynor amp:

http://youtu.be/je1tH71Lviw

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by dropthebeat » Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:24 am

Traynors are great. I have a YBA-1A, a YVM-1, two YRM-1s and a YGM-4.
Friend/bandmate plays a YGL-3 and in his family there's a YBA-2A, YGM-3, YBA-1, and a YBA-3.
The 1A is my favourite. Thunderous. Not as much headroom as you'd maybe expect, but louder than you'd ever need, if you don't mind a little grit.
Love mine. Would buy another for $350 in a heartbeat.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Chip Korea » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:57 pm

I might as well ressurect this thread. Not had a chance to plug it in yet but I seem to have acquired -

1973 Traynor YBA-1A - a bit battered but just serviced. No idea what mods if any have been done but nothing obvious.

1973 Traynor YF-12 Cab. 4x12. Like the head it's lost the Traynor badge. No grill cloth, just a metal grill. A bit battered but fully working, no idea what the speakers are yet but I suspect bang average originals. The catalogue is adamant it's a guitar cab and not for bass.

Bought it mainly because I think I can resell without losing money and it does loud and clean pretty damn well from what I've read. Face melting properties a bonus.

"Not as much headroom as you'd maybe expect, but louder than you'd ever need, if you don't mind a little grit." Sounds alright!

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Chip Korea » Mon Mar 26, 2018 11:55 am

I live in a house with dreadful sound-proofing. I fired up the YBA-1A today for the first time, in my integral garage. My (terraced) house has two floors above and my cousin said the top floor where he was sat was vibrating. Spoke to the neighbour afterwards and reassured him that the two minutes of noise he got today was a one-off.

So hard to judge an amp based on two minutes with a Mustang and a Raygun FX Super FuzzBender, but my initial impressions are VERY good.

Clean it's so bright without being at all piercing... then breaking up it seemed to rumble with a real ferocity yet, again, without being nasty. Seriously, my gut feel is this could be the perfect amp for me. Beautiful old Fender cleans, only less harsh treble. Loud.

Fuck knows how I'm gonna get on with it long term, and at the minute I really don't need this amp (I'm a home player who already has a Blues Deville 410.) But I think I might be in love.

Next jobs - find out what the speakers are (I suspect original but have no idea) and see if I can work out whether the head's been modded.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Chip Korea » Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:17 am

I have looked in a bit more detail. It has been fitted with JJ E34L tubes. The cabinet is 4 Ohm with 4 speakers... all they say is "23-12B11-2" on the reverse of the cone. Any idea what the speakers are?

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Also, I'm trying to get my head around ohms (this is my first head). The output is supposed to be 8 ohm from main output or 2 x 4 ohm if both outputs are used. This does mean that a 8ohm cab would be best if using one cab, and two 4ohm cabs if using two? 16 ohm by itself would be OK, [or two 8s, or 8 and 4, or even two 16s would work if using two cabs]?

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Horsefeather » Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:56 am

The speaker jacks on the head are wired in parallel so ideally you'd want a single 8 ohm cabinet or two 16 ohm cabinets. Everyone always says Traynors aren't affected by impedance mismatches, though, so running it at 4 ohms seems to be feasible if not ideal.

Running two 4 ohm cabinets would be pretty bold though, at 1/4 the impedance the transformer is designed for.

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by Embenny » Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:01 am

The YBA-1A is a hell of an amp. If it's in good working order, jump on it!

Vintage Traynors are some of the last true hidden gems of the vintage amp world. PTP, Canadian-made (;D), fantastic-sounding and reliable amps.

The 1A is one of the highest powered Traynors of its era. They made more low-wattage models than high-wattage ones, so if that's your speed, jump on it!

Whoops, just noticed I was replying to an OP from 2014...

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Re: Traynor YBA-1A users here?

Post by horseblanket » Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:14 pm

I have a YBA1 and a YRM1 and wouldn't sell them for anything.

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