Traynor YBA200-2 vs YBA300 vs ???

[godblender]

Ok, so I'm definitely interested in going all tube but have a few caveats with regards to which amp I'll ultimately decide upon. Basically I need something that's light(er) weight (I can't haul an 80lb SVT otherwise I would) and has a good amount of clean headroom available. I run a lot of effects, particularly dirt, so I'm not as concerned with the tube breakup at moderate levels.

The YBA-2 seemed a very good option but the general consensus seems to be that the headroom available is limited. Now I have read that an exchange of the pre tubes can remedy this to some degree, but I still don't know how much that would help. At 200W it seems to fit my needs volume wise, but if I can't somehow coax more clean output from it then it's not a viable option.

The YBA300 has plenty of clean headroom, but it would probably be overkill volume wise and weighs a bit more (still pretty good at 51lbs.) Plus it costs about $500-600 more. The additional price isn't a huge concern if it really is the much better option for what I need.

If anyone who owns or has owned the YBA200-2 could chime in with regards to the headroom concern, and whether or not a swap of tubes could help significantly, that would be awesome. I've also emailed Traynor with this question. Very few clips exist of either the 200 or 300 so I'm also interested in any tonal differences between the two. Clips of your own would be great.

Apart from these two heads, any other suggestions for a 40-55 lb tube head with good headroom? The Peavey VB2 has gotten great reviews, but it's starting to get heavier then I'd like. The new Fender Bassman Pro 100t looks nice, but 100 watts probably isn't enough. I'd love to give the Reeves Custom 225 a go...but yeah, $2500 isn't an option.

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

[big evil robot]

I currently use the YBA-200 as my secondary amp, and I love how quick it breaks up into nice snarly tube grit. The lack of headroom isn't that much of a problem, if you're gentle with the EQ (keep things dialed back to 5 or lower) and don't push the pre-amp too hard, it will stay pretty clean and pretty loud.
You could probably swap out the 6550s for kt-88s or something that may break up a little quick for an even more aggressive sound. I've been considering a pre-amp tube swap to help with a little more clean from the front end.

The 300 is a totally different beast. After test driving it at a couple of practices, I really felt that it almost had too much clean head-room available. It's loud, ungodly loud, it's neighbour killing loud. I also found that it still wouldn't break up very quickly with additional gain stages before it's pre-amp (aguilar tone hammer with AGS circuit engaged and drive at 3/4) it was still much much cleaner than my AG500 or the YBA200, however it still sounded really really good. Tonally, it's very full and rounded, where the YBA-200 leans towards a high-mid tone to my ears.

The controls for the YBA-200 generally annoy me, most models I've seen have loose feeling pots that feel kind of "cheap", not an issue with the 300. The 300 felt like a better built amp to me, and it has a speakon output.
And this may sound like a pithy complaint about the 200, but the fact that it only runs two 1/4" outs bugs the crap out of me, and that the 300 only has 1 speakon out, but can drop to 2ohms seems weird. I would've liked to have seen two speakon outputs so I could run two 412 cabs @ 2ohms.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by godblender

Ok, so I'm definitely interested in going all tube but have a few caveats with regards to which amp I'll ultimately decide upon. Basically I need something that's light(er) weight (I can't haul an 80lb SVT otherwise I would) and has a good amount of clean headroom available. I run a lot of effects, particularly dirt, so I'm not as concerned with the tube breakup at moderate levels.

The YBA-2 seemed a very good option but the general consensus seems to be that the headroom available is limited. Now I have read that an exchange of the pre tubes can remedy this to some degree, but I still don't know how much that would help. At 200W it seems to fit my needs volume wise, but if I can't somehow coax more clean output from it then it's not a viable option.

The YBA300 has plenty of clean headroom, but it would probably be overkill volume wise and weighs a bit more (still pretty good at 51lbs.) Plus it costs about $500-600 more. The additional price isn't a huge concern if it really is the much better option for what I need.

If anyone who owns or has owned the YBA200-2 could chime in with regards to the headroom concern, and whether or not a swap of tubes could help significantly, that would be awesome. I've also emailed Traynor with this question. Very few clips exist of either the 200 or 300 so I'm also interested in any tonal differences between the two. Clips of your own would be great.

Apart from these two heads, any other suggestions for a 40-55 lb tube head with good headroom? The Peavey VB2 has gotten great reviews, but it's starting to get heavier then I'd like. The new Fender Bassman Pro 100t looks nice, but 100 watts probably isn't enough. I'd love to give the Reeves Custom 225 a go...but yeah, $2500 isn't an option.

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

I'm in the EXACT situation as you! At first I thought I must've posted a thread in my sleep or something until I realized there are people out there with similar problems. What kind of cab(s) have you thought about using with your (future) YBA200-2 or YBA300?

[rodl2005]

Depends on your volume needs of course. I really didn't have any volume concerns with the 200. I DID the pre amp tube swap for more clean headroom, but swapped back as I liked the tube od & it had enough volume anyway.
Sure it'll depend on ur cabs etc...
But even an SVT can struggle with clean headroom thru a small & inefficient cab

[godblender]

Great stuff, guys. Much thanks.

@big evil robot- your description of the "high mid" tone of the 200 put me off a bit as that is exactly what I'm NOT looking for. The 300 sounds like it would be, as least tonally, much more what I'd want. The volume of the 300 you describe sounds about right...it seems many people find that it just has too much for their purposes...although I do like to play loud, and in my current band the geetarist plays completely a**hole loud, so I'd probably need more volume anyways.

As far as cabs, I'd be investing in some more cones for a tube amp. I'd really like to pick up a Berg NV610...that's ideal. But I may also look into the new Barefaced 69er once it's released or some kind of 412 or 2x212 setup. I've already conceded that I'm going to have to go big with regards to the cab, which is fine. A great sounding set of speakers is never a bad thing.

@rodl2005- I know you said that a lack of volume wasn't an issue for you with the yba200, but after you switched the preamp tubes did you notice an increase in the amount of clean headroom you got? Also which tubes did you use?

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Baird6869]

I briefly owned a 200-2 and was very dissapointed at the headroom. Even with a Sadowsky (Berg) 410 cab in a medium room, I was pushing the head. Sounded great, just underpowered. Never changed the tubes though.....

Having said that, the 300 is a beast. Much louder IME and worth the extra $$$.

[Aussie Mark]

Originally Posted by godblender

@rodl2005- I know you said that a lack of volume wasn't an issue for you with the yba200, but after you switched the preamp tubes did you notice an increase in the amount of clean headroom you got? Also which tubes did you use?

I'm not Rod, nor do I play him in movies, but I did the preamp tube swap thing when I owned a YBA200. I replaced the 12AX7 tubes with a pair of 12AT7 tubes. Prior to doing that swap, I found that the YBA200 with the stock tubes had the same problem for me as the V4BH I owned before that - it broke up far too early to be useful at the volumes I was playing at.

The preamp tube swap to the lower gain 12AT7 tubes gave me a lot more usable clean headroom. But, I still struggled for volume in some venues vs 2 guitars, drums & keyboards.

So, I upgraded to the YBA300 and couldn't be happier. I prefer the simpler control layout over the YBA200, and it sound glorious through a big cab - an Epifani UL610, in my case.

Earlier in the thread someone was looking for YBA300 audio clips - there are a bunch at this review ....

Traynor YBA300*::*Bonedo

YBA300 -

Flat: http://www.bonedo.de/audio/1fcd89353...YBA300Flat.mp3

Flat with deep and bright engaged: http://www.bonedo.de/audio/1fcd89353...eep_Bright.mp3

Full gain: http://www.bonedo.de/audio/1fcd89353...00FullGain.mp3

YBA200 -

Flat: http://www.bonedo.de/audio/a634bf5c6...200_2_FLAT.mp3

Full gain: http://www.bonedo.de/audio/a634bf5c6...2_GAINFULL.mp3

[godblender]

Thanks, Mark.

The 300 sounds really great in those clips. I think that, at the very least, I've pretty much excluded the YBA200 from my short list after some further investigating. Now to find some good clips of the Peavey VB2...

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by big evil robot

I currently use the YBA-200 as my secondary amp, and I love how quick it breaks up into nice snarly tube grit. The lack of headroom isn't that much of a problem, if you're gentle with the EQ (keep things dialed back to 5 or lower) and don't push the pre-amp too hard, it will stay pretty clean and pretty loud.
You could probably swap out the 6550s for kt-88s or something that may break up a little quick for an even more aggressive sound. I've been considering a pre-amp tube swap to help with a little more clean from the front end.

The 300 is a totally different beast. After test driving it at a couple of practices, I really felt that it almost had too much clean head-room available. It's loud, ungodly loud, it's neighbour killing loud. I also found that it still wouldn't break up very quickly with additional gain stages before it's pre-amp (aguilar tone hammer with AGS circuit engaged and drive at 3/4) it was still much much cleaner than my AG500 or the YBA200, however it still sounded really really good. Tonally, it's very full and rounded, where the YBA-200 leans towards a high-mid tone to my ears.

The controls for the YBA-200 generally annoy me, most models I've seen have loose feeling pots that feel kind of "cheap", not an issue with the 300. The 300 felt like a better built amp to me, and it has a speakon output.
And this may sound like a pithy complaint about the 200, but the fact that it only runs two 1/4" outs bugs the crap out of me, and that the 300 only has 1 speakon out, but can drop to 2ohms seems weird. I would've liked to have seen two speakon outputs so I could run two 412 cabs @ 2ohms.

+1 I'd say that my experience is pretty close to this, as well. I really like my YBA-200, but the YBA-300 has definitely impressed the heck out of me.

[rodl2005]

Same. If $$ & weight weren't an issue, I'd go for the YBA300 also.
As always, can never have too much headroom.
When I had the V4BH it did 90% of my gigs fine, lovely. But that other 10% it wasn't enough.
For me, the YBA200 was great volume wise for damn near EVERY gig. As others have said tho, the eq wasn't really to my liking, but again,I don't think I ever had a bad tone outta it.
But as the YBA300's only a few lbs heavier, with nicer eq(imo) & with the extra clean headroom, I'd sure go for it given the right price & time.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

+1 I'd say that my experience is pretty close to this, as well. I really like my YBA-200, but the YBA-300 has definitely impressed the heck out of me.

Any idea when Bass Gear Magazine reviews the YBA300? I remember reading from the original YBA300 thread that you got a unit from Traynor for testing.

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by Imaginos

Any idea when Bass Gear Magazine reviews the YBA300? I remember reading from the original YBA300 thread that you got a unit from Traynor for testing.

It is slated for issue #9 (late June print date, early July delivery), but it might get bumped up to issue #8 (late March print date, early April delivery).

[pbassnut]

I had a YBA-200 for a while. It had plenty of headroom for the blues gigs that I play. However, I wasn't overly impressed with how the EQ worked or the overall tone I could achieve with it. I was also disappointed that the "poweramp in" patch point was a mismatch with ALL of my tube preamps ... Alembic F-1X, Ampeg SVP CL, Ampeg SVP Pro, Trace Elliot V-Type and Aguilar DB659 ... all were noisy and thin sounding. I was hoping to have the option to use just the 4x6550 power section with my preamps, but it was not to be. Certainly, they were decent amps given the price and they were nice and lightweight for an all tube head ... I got mine 6 months old used for only $400. A buddy of mine bought it from me and retubed it with a quartet of KT88s and reported back that it didn't make a whole helluva lotta difference.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

It is slated for issue #9 (late June print date, early July delivery), but it might get bumped up to issue #8 (late March print date, early April delivery).

Awesome! Can't wait to hear what your verdict will be.

[blindrabbit]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

It is slated for issue #9 (late June print date, early July delivery), but it might get bumped up to issue #8 (late March print date, early April delivery).

Can't wait!

[rodl2005]

Me too! Great work again Tom.
Love the new issue.

[Daniel Piper]

My issue (and if you read the older yba200 threads - many others' issue too) with the yba200 was the tone stack. I found it really difficult to dial in a) low mid punch and b) a 'flatish' reference point.

Alot of stuff writen about this circa 2006/2007/2008 if you wanna go for a trawl.

yba300 all the way I reckon.

Dan