Has anyone played BKP's through a Traynor YCS50?

[CodeName]

I plan to save up for a YCS90-- http://www.proaudiostar.com/servlet/the-722/Traynor-YCS90/Detail

And here is the youtube review of the single speaker 50 watts version-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=237YGHKiV9c

Has anyone on here ever played through one of these with a BKP? I've heard nothing but rave reviews of these underdog amps. Made in Canada and all tube.

[Fikealox]

I played through a Traynor last year for few hours on several occassions. It was a different model (a YCV50), but on the strength of that fairly limited experience with that brilliant amp I have no hesitation recommending Traynor products. Taste in tone is variable, of course, but quality is quality; and Traynors are quality. (Actually, I just ordered a new amp, and have no idea why I didn't even think of Traynor >.<)

[Matt77]

I have played my feline lion through a Traynor a few times. It had mules at the time
I can't remember the model name but it's quite an old combo. I think it had 2 EL84s with reverb.
It was quite bright and low gain but seemed good if not great. Potentially great for the price
The guy who owns it liked it more than his Mesa Nomad.

[Keven]

My Main amp is the YCS100H2. i play a 7 string with a black dog and mule set. sounds terrific. I have it matched the with the appropriate 4x12 V30 cab

the amps are great, the YCS50 is cool also, not my cup of tea because of the 6l6 instead of the el34's in the head version, but it has a great tone quality and really takes pedals well, though even the 15w mode can be quite loud, which is why i prefered the head with the el34's... the low volume drive was pretty playable, and the 'brit' mode on the clean tone definitely crunches alot better. I'm a traynor stockist at my shop so i got the chance to try all three of them. we currently have the 50w head and the 50w combo in stock. both are great amps but with very different flavors.

same goes for the ycs90 and the ycs100. it's once again el34 vs 6l6

the cool thing is on the ycs100 you can change from el34 to 6l6 with no problem. they didn't add this feature on the combos :(

[CodeName]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Yeah, you don't see too many of these amps used at live shows too much. Not using mdf (a mixture of dust particles and chemical bonding glue) wood for the cab was a smart move.

same goes for the ycs90 and the ycs100. it's once again el34 vs 6l6

the cool thing is on the ycs100 you can change from el34 to 6l6 with no problem. they didn't add this feature on the combos :(

Man, you're lucky to own a shop carrying these amps. I'm going for the combo because it's easier to lug around for shows, and I'm small fry still. It's not like I'm playing stadiums. I also read somewhere that the sound technicians don't really like setting up a touring amp rig-- the cabs with the four speakers in them. But I don't understand why. Maybe the output of a half stack is too loud for most live venues?

[Keven]

actually i don't own the shop, just the GM. when i see the owner running around like a headless chicken... i'm quite happy with my position....

and i guess it's because most half-stacks owner are too focused on raw power and forget that the tech's goal is the make an even sound. a half-stack isn't louder than a combo, it just moves more air. 50watts is still 50 watts. Personally i run my ycs100 at low power (30 watts) and even then removed two tubes so it runs at around 15-18 watts. helluva nice crunch however! and we play twin guitar heavy metal.

 power is great when you need alot of clean headroom, but if your main goal is playing distorted, go with a 50 watter instead of a 100 watt. the clean will still be pretty loud, and the distortion will sound great at sane volumes!

Russian Birch is a great cabinet wood. one thing though, it's heavy as $%&#! i can carry my bandmate's peavey cab alone, but need help for mine, haha! (not that bad, but still pretty heavy compared to mdf, sounds great however!)

[blue]

Traynor amps, eh?  hmm, you'll see a new thread, maybe tonight ;)

[CodeName]

power is great when you need alot of clean headroom, but if your main goal is playing distorted, go with a 50 watter instead of a 100 watt. the clean will still be pretty loud, and the distortion will sound great at sane volumes!

Thanks, Keven. I opted for the YCS90 over the YCS50 mainly due to the second speaker to push more air, but I'll look into that. Maybe hit some local stores here that carry them and test both out.

[CodeName]

Traynor amps, eh?  hmm, you'll see a new thread, maybe tonight ;)

Looking forward to it :)

[BBZGuitars]

Has anyone on here ever played through one of these with a BKP? I've heard nothing but rave reviews of these underdog amps. Made in Canada and all tube.

Okay so this post is a couple of months old... However, we have both the YCS50 Combo and YCS90 Combo in stock and have used BKP loaded guitars through them both... They sound great together. Personally I use a YCV50BLUE, BTW.
Check them out on our website at www.bbzguitars.co.uk.

The YCS90 has 2 x 12" Celestion Neo speakers, so is lighter than the YCS50 (1 x 12" Vintage30 Celestion).

[HTH AMPS]

here's a review by Guitar Player Magazine, plus a picture of the guts...  http://www.traynoramps.com/press/reviews/gp-ycs50-feb09.pdf

sounds good, quality looks along the lines of most sub-£500 valve gear.  i.e. pcb-mounted valve bases and lots of ribbon connectors.  I think that build quality and reliability will always be the problem with this kind of construction.

probably a great studio/rehearsal/home amp, but I'd never be happy trusting this as my main gigging amp - too many compromises.

[BBZGuitars]

Traynor amps are known for being extremely robust. Look them up on Wikipedia for more info.
I have been using them since the 70s for live work. I chose my current one, the YCV50Blue because it's cathode biased and should you throw a valve, you can just stick a new (EL34) one in without matching or anything. They do put Sovtek valves in at manufacture, which are okay, but I would personally put something better in.
I use Traynor for home/ recording/ rehearsal and live work. They all come with Celestion speakers as standard (Vintage 30s or G12M Greenbacks). They're not sub £500 amps unless you find one used, that is.

[HTH AMPS]

Traynor amps are known for being extremely robust. Look them up on Wikipedia for more info.
I have been using them since the 70s for live work. I chose my current one, the YCV50Blue because it's cathode biased and should you throw a valve, you can just stick a new (EL34) one in without matching or anything. They do put Sovtek valves in at manufacture, which are okay, but I would personally put something better in.
I use Traynor for home/ recording/ rehearsal and live work. They all come with Celestion speakers as standard (Vintage 30s or G12M Greenbacks). They're not sub £500 amps unless you find one used, that is.

I'm aware of Traynor amps' history and the old ones are well built.  However, the new amps bear no resemblance to the old amps (just like modern Marshalls bear no resemblance to a plexi in terms of construction).

As for them being sub-£500 amps, I never said they were, I said that the construction was along the lines of most amps in that price range.

[MisterMuncher]

I've played a Traynor, unsure of model, it was a 50 watter, with BKP P-90's before. In the same shop, I tried a Peavey ValveKing and a Randall 50 watt valve combo. The Traynor pretty much dumped all over them, although it may just have been a better fit for my style of playing. Beautiful breakup tone on it, pretty near what I get on my Laney VC-30 running clean at about 80% volume, but more controllable and available lower in volume. It just lacked that last bit of touch sensitivity the Laney has, which is no real disgrace, as, pound for pound, I'm of the opinion the clean channel on a VC-30 takes some beating (though mine has nice NOS Valves and a couple of really tasty old EVM speakers, broken in well on a Fender Twin).