Am I crazy - Traynor YBA-1 through 4 by 10 cab

gordon sims · #1 08-04-2011, 01:26 PM

I've got a Mike Dirnt Signature Precision bass which I've been playing through a borrowed GK 800RB with a 4 by 10 cab.

My band plays mostly 60s and 70s rock and soul covers. We play small clubs (around 100 to 150 people max). Our line up varies from song to song, but generally we have:

- One lead vocalist
- many of our songs have two or three other singers doing back-up and harmonies
- one lead guitarist and about half our songs have also have one rhythm guitar;
- half our songs also have keyboard;
- and we have a three-piece horn section that plays on about six songs.

I like the 800 RB for its versatility and the way cuts through the mix. I rarely have to play any louder than I do during practice and the bass cuts through all those other instruments with ease.

But I really want a nice vintage tone.

So I am considering buying a Traynor YBA-1 to play through my 4 by 10 cab.

Is this a bad idea? Does it have enough power - keeping in mind I don't want too much growl (don't get me wrong, I like growl, but not for this type of band with so many other instruments).

I've been reading up about it online, including posts on this website. I know it is more often used as a guitar amp nowadays and a lot of people say it no more than a practice amp.

Would appreciate your input.

DaZombieWoof · #2 08-04-2011, 01:32 PM

Those amps are wonderful. Tone is great. You will face headroom issues I suspect. They are sort of like a mix of 2/3 HiWatt and 1/3 Marshall built to survive demented monkeys as roadies.

gordon sims · #3 08-04-2011, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaZombieWoof

You will face headroom issues I suspect.

Thanks for the reply. But does this mean that it is going to distort as soon as I try to get it loud enough to be heard?

RickenTalker · #4 08-04-2011, 01:45 PM

The traynor should be good through a 410s. I have a Traynor 810s cab that kicks ass

DD_BigBottom · #5 08-04-2011, 02:00 PM

I don't think you're crazy at all. The YBA-1 is great old tube amp that many compare to the Marshall 50 watt plexi or original Fender Bassman amp.

Keep in mind that it is a 50 watt 2-output tube amplifier that a lot of folks use for guitar. What people like so much about these types of amps is the distortion characteristics of the amp. How much "growl" you can expect to get all depends on how loud you need to play. The amp will probably get plenty loud but with a lot of distortion. It will probably sound real nice though. I imagine a John Entwistle "Live at Leeds" kind of sound.

Bottom line is you need to check it out through your speakers and see if is going to work for you. Loud clean bass requires a lot more power.

BassmanPaul · #6 08-04-2011, 02:23 PM

If you can get by with 50W you are good to go. Remember that you'll be dropping your available power by 5/6 and that's a significant change.

Din Of Win · #7 08-04-2011, 02:32 PM

Haha... you're rocking almost the inverse setup as me... i use a Traynor YBA-3cs, and a GK 400rb.

You shooooould be okay. Just realize you might be rocking a fairly overdriven tone given the amount you'll have to crank to be audible. Buuut, for 70's rock, that's not a bad thing. You may want to bring both heads to a gig. You'll only really need the inconvenience once and you'll know if the YBA-1 is sufficient enough for your needs...

ko stradivarius · #8 08-04-2011, 02:41 PM

Personally I think you'll be ok. But a big consideration is what tubes you have in it and how fast they start to break up. Give it a shot. If you don't like it sell it to me since I f'd mine up trying to mod it.

canadian_man_44 · #9 08-04-2011, 03:11 PM

I plugged my 1968(or so) Traynor YBA-1 tube head into a Marshall 4 by 10 and had no problems at all. Turning the volume up past 1/3 was too loud for the stage but I am running an active bass so that would probably account for some of it. I also use my amp only for a stage monitor and DI into the system. Anyway, 1/3 volume made the drums and the drummers head rattle so it was great. No distortion at all until I got to abe 3/4 volume....but that would have been too loud anyway.

Edit: Sorry. Mine is the YBA-1A which has 90 watts of power. My old head was a YBA-1 I was running through a 1 by 15....which was lots loud enough for a P&W monitor but it's been so long I don't remember what the tone or distortion was like at higher volume.

**jbybj** · #10 08-04-2011, 03:19 PM

Traynor Bassmasters are AWESOME, if you want a little more headroom, get a YBA-1A, AKA Bassmaster mark II. They put out 80-90 watts, same pungent, chest thumping, tone.
Also consider that the YBA-1 ain't afraid of 4 ohms. If you need more clean volume, hook up another cab.

Farfetched · #11 08-04-2011, 03:29 PM

+1 on the 1a mkII.

Alex1984 · #12 08-04-2011, 05:20 PM

Also, I think the YBA-1 is 8/16 ohm, you might want to check that. I'd personally opt for the YBA-1A @ 90W.

craig.p · #13 08-04-2011, 07:01 PM

Wow. I carried one of those as a spare for five years almost everywhere I went. Never wound up needing it, but I'd fire it up once in a while just to make sure it still worked. It was awful. Lots of mids, and no power to speak of down in the bass region. Tone controls were weak, too. Yes, the tubes were fine. I let our lead player borrow it one night after he spilled beer into his Marshall head. He was equally unimpressed. Traynor has made and still makes lots of good stuff, but this wasn't one of their better efforts, IMO.

jmlee · #14 08-04-2011, 07:27 PM

I played through the Bassmaster II (YBA-1A) for years back in the day when such things were new. Mostly used a Traynor 215 cab. My recollections of that era are fuzzy but I do remember being unimpressed. The Traynor Custom Special and its big brother were the rigs that really impressed and I lusted after one of those with the matching 810. Here's a useful link meantime.

Vintage Traynor Bass Amps

P.S. If a speaker cable failed on the YBA-1A the output tubes would arc and there was a hell of a burned Bakelite smell. We'd fix the cable, pull the output tubes and scrape the carbon out of the arced area between pins, then put the tubes back in and Bob's your uncle. Traynor gear was and is *very* rugged.

Corey Y · #15 08-04-2011, 08:43 PM

You'll be fine with that setup, volume wise. The Traynor YBA-1 is a lot louder than the output figures people recite. I have tube and solid state amps with much higher output ratings and I never need them for greater volume. Whether the tone is to your taste is another matter. I use an 810, but an efficient 410 should be plenty loud.

Fishheadjoe · #16 08-05-2011, 07:32 AM

I have a 1968 YBA-1 and I have plugged it into my Berg AE410and frankly, there is not enough power coming from the head to compete with a drummer, much less a semi-loud guitarist.
If I recall correctly, the head is rated at 45 watts... yah. they are tube watts, but there are not enough enough of them to really move alot of air.
Fishheadjoe

gordon sims · #17 08-08-2011, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ko stradivarius

Personally I think you'll be ok. But a big consideration is what tubes you have in it and how fast they start to break up. Give it a shot. If you don't like it sell it to me since I f'd mine up trying to mod it.

Thanks for all of the input everyone! I decided to pick it up since it is in good shape and reasonable price. If I don't like it, I pretty sure there won't be much problem turning it around (maybe even take Stradivarius up on his offer).

I'll try it out and report back.

jastacey · #18 08-08-2011, 06:40 PM

You'll find when you push that YBA-1 it will break-up pretty soon .... 45 watts is really not enough power when your playing with a drummer and guitarist, if you play in a room larger that your practice room you'll notice the amps short comings ... IMHO .... if you run across a YBA-3 .... that's the amp to get for bass

chadds · #19 08-08-2011, 07:14 PM

I loved the YBA-1A through 2x15 Ampeg B-25. It was all the amp the Fender Showman and of course Bassman weren't.

I did say to a Canadian musician once that I had trouble getting any tone out of a Traynor. He said, "What tone?"

Everyone's mileage does vary!

HT Paul · #20 08-08-2011, 07:45 PM

I've got an old YBA-3 that I converted from combo to head once the cab started to crumble, damn particle board. I run that through a Genz Benz 1x15 and love the tone for electric bass, not quite as good with a piezzo powered upright with no preamp. Two things, play with the preamp tubes, I think I finally went with 12ay7 in the V1 for more clean headroom, but experiment. Secondly, consider getting a DI you can split your signal to for times you may want to run into the PA, it will come in handy.