Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster II

ryognbass · #1 10-05-2011, 10:38 PM

Hi all,
I have the opportunity to acquire a traynor YBA-1 bassmaster II head from a friend. I have a few concerns about it with my setup though...

the head is marked to be run only at 8 ohms, however I have heard of players running them at 4 ohms to no ill effect. ould anyone comment on the feasibility of this, as I would be running it with my 4 ohm 2x15 sunn.

furthermore, do these amps have a good sound, or is the tone thin at times?

thanks in advance for your help!

will33 · #2 10-05-2011, 11:52 PM

It's perfectly fine to run a real tube amp at an impedance lower than it says, like running a 4ohm cab on that Traynor. It's higher you shouldn't do.

It's the opposite of solidstate amps.

Solidstate = higher impedance is ok, lower is not.

Tube amp = lower impedance is ok, higher is not.

This means real tube amps meaning they have tube power sections. Something with tubes in the preamp but has a solidstate power section counts as a solidstate amp.

okcrum · #3 10-06-2011, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

Tube amp = lower impedance is ok, higher is not.

That's the rule because it's easy to remember, not because it's true.

BassmanPaul · #4 10-06-2011, 08:54 AM

It is always better to match the output impedance of the head to the cabinet. Especially in a bass amp. Remember the amp is only around 50W so it won't get that loud.

Randall · #5 10-06-2011, 09:37 AM

Mine has a real old school tubey tone. Not super loud but very nice for the money. I do need to take it in for a service just because of its age though.

bplayer1 · #6 10-06-2011, 09:54 AM

You should always avoid putting a lower impedance cab on a higher impedance tube amp. Example 4 0hm cab into an 8 ohm tube amp. This will put additonal stress on the transformers.

The amp your talking about has actually been noted for being a great guitar amp to convert. It will be quite shy of headroom as a bass amp.

solodb · #7 10-06-2011, 09:59 AM

I have a Bassmaster Mk2 and it runs happily at 4 ohms all night long, or 8 ohms, it doesn't care ; this is a very robust amp, probably the most bulletproof amp I've ever owned. All the Traynor stuff is the same way as they were designed to endure years of rental abuse. It is a very loud amp as well. Much more powerfully clean than my Ampeg V4B, ST, or the Fender Superbassman I play at rehearsals. If I could change anything about it , I would wish for more tonal variance. The Ampeg tone is in my head from way back - smooth, round and vintage. The bassmaster sounds very clear but almost brittle unless I roll off treble on my bass.

droskobass · #8 10-06-2011, 10:14 AM

Traynors rock, note there is a big difference between the 50 watt YBA1, and the80 watt YBA1A- MkII, The YBA1 is a Bassman/ Plexi clone, its a bass amp that sounds amazing for guitar, the YBA1A-MKII has a fan and bigger transformers to give you more output power.

technically matching impedance is always best, but I wouldn't hesitate to run a traynor at 4 ohms.

The most amazing bass tone is a Traynor YAB-3 (125 watts clean 200 watts peak) into a 4x10... the yba1's are great studio and smaller club heads, but a 2x15 may be just waht the doctor ordered...

**jbybj** · #9 10-06-2011, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solodb

I have a Bassmaster Mk2 and it runs happily at 4 ohms all night long, or 8 ohms, it doesn't care ; this is a very robust amp, probably the most bulletproof amp I've ever owned. All the Traynor stuff is the same way as they were designed to endure years of rental abuse. It is a very loud amp as well. Much more powerfully clean than my Ampeg V4B, ST, or the Fender Superbassman I play at rehearsals. If I could change anything about it , I would wish for more tonal variance. The Ampeg tone is in my head from way back - smooth, round and vintage. The bassmaster sounds very clear but almost brittle unless I roll off treble on my bass.

Yep^ To clarify some earlier misstatements. The Mark II, puts out between 80-90 watts. With and efficient 2x15, it will get CRAZY loud, CLEAN loud. When was running my YBA-1A mark II through two EVM-15L's, with a heavy handed rock drummer, a tele and a Marshall half stack, and a les Paul through a Fender twin, it never went higher than 4 on the volume knob. I was bummed that I couldn't take advantage of the great breakup, because is was just too loud to do so.

The reason the mark II weighs so much, (over 60lbs?) is because the Hammond transformers are way overkill, and huge. I've run a couple of different Bassmasters at 4 ohms, for decades.

But what is undeniably the best thing about these amps, is the tone. They exhibit all the good things about tube amps that you've ever read about; responsive to playing attack, big, round, juicy sound. Loud, great overdrive. And Traynors are historically undervalued, IMO, so you get tremendous bang for your buck. GET IT! If it doesn't knock your socks off, it just needs a tune up, or new tubes. When properly tweaked, Bassmasters, especially the mark II's, kill.

okcrum · #10 10-06-2011, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

It is always better to match the output impedance of the head to the cabinet. Especially in a bass amp. Remember the amp is only around 50W so it won't get that loud.

True, but within 2:1 either way on load impedance, you won't hurt this amp or any other quality bass amp. Junk designs are what keeps the legend going.

ryognbass · #11 10-06-2011, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbybj

Yep^ To clarify some earlier misstatements. The Mark II, puts out between 80-90 watts. With and efficient 2x15, it will get CRAZY loud, CLEAN loud. When was running my YBA-1A mark II through two EVM-15L's, with a heavy handed rock drummer, a tele and a Marshall half stack, and a les Paul through a Fender twin, it never went higher than 4 on the volume knob. I was bummed that I couldn't take advantage of the great breakup, because is was just too loud to do so.

The reason the mark II weighs so much, (over 60lbs?) is because the Hammond transformers are way overkill, and huge. I've run a couple of different Bassmasters at 4 ohms, for decades.

But what is undeniably the best thing about these amps, is the tone. They exhibit all the good things about tube amps that you've ever read about; responsive to playing attack, big, round, juicy sound. Loud, great overdrive. And Traynors are historically undervalued, IMO, so you get tremendous bang for your buck. GET IT! If it doesn't knock your socks off, it just needs a tune up, or new tubes. When properly tweaked, Bassmasters, especially the mark II's, kill.

I think that this, and all the other info in the thread, have certainly swayed my opinion here, so I'm going to go for it!

for those who have experienced it, what would you compare the tone to? I just need a huge, warm, lower-midrange heavy, tubey-gooey tone

will33 · #12 10-06-2011, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okcrum

True, but within 2:1 either way on load impedance, you won't hurt this amp or any other quality bass amp. Junk designs are what keeps the legend going.

I was going to say.....

I've run old fenders countless times on a 2:1 upward mismatch, no problem. I don't know however if any old tube amp is that robust or not. Seems to me best policy is to err on the low side if you can't match.

Rocker47 · #13 10-06-2011, 04:26 PM

I have both a YBA-1(45 watts) and a YBA-3(120ish watts). Both sound really great. I just had the YBA-3 in for a complete tune up. They are both warm sounding amps. I actually paired my YBA-3 with two new Traynor cabs. To be completely honest I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be for volume and tone. I would lose my really nice warm tone at a lower volume than I expected. My cabs were both 8ohm so my load was 4ohm, of course. My schematic states an 8ohm load. I believe that this was to run the BIG B cabs that were 16ohms I think. Anyway, they are great tube amps, sound delicious and worth every cent. If you have the 80watt YBA-1 mark II you will be more than happy! Get it and never get rid of it!

ryognbass · #14 10-06-2011, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocker47

I have both a YBA-1(45 watts) and a YBA-3(120ish watts). Both sound really great. I just had the YBA-3 in for a complete tune up. They are both warm sounding amps. I actually paired my YBA-3 with two new Traynor cabs. To be completely honest I wasn't as happy as I thought I would be for volume and tone. I would lose my really nice warm tone at a lower volume than I expected. My cabs were both 8ohm so my load was 4ohm, of course. My schematic states an 8ohm load. I believe that this was to run the BIG B cabs that were 16ohms I think. Anyway, they are great tube amps, sound delicious and worth every cent. If you have the 80watt YBA-1 mark II you will be more than happy! Get it and never get rid of it!

That is my plan! Ironically, I'll be trading off my traynor 610 for it

hopefully all of these great bits of info hold true, and I might have a real winner on my hands