Traynor YBA300....their Customer Service....and my frustration!

[tdbernard]

Originally Posted by Baird6869

+1.

In Canada, Long & McQuade would likely replace it in 5 min (L&M owns Traynor/Yorkville).

Luckily I live 15 minutes from the Yorkville Sound head office.

That seems like it would be handy!

So the new YBA300 will be here shortly...I'm pretty anxious to plug in and test it out. Looking forward to going back on my previous comments, don't let me down Traynor!

[MrPierre]

Originally Posted by Baird6869

In Canada, Long & McQuade would likely replace it in 5 min (L&M owns Traynor/Yorkville).

Actually, nope.

My YBA200-2 almost caught on fire because of a Bias/Tube malfunction 2 weeks ago. It was not even 3 month old and my local L&M (the only one in quebec it seem) still had to send it to repair in Ontario.

[tdbernard]

Well I played my new yba300 at a gig this past weekend and it sounded and functioned perfectly.

I noticed a slight difference out of the box with this head compared to my first one. Three of the power tubes are slightly shorter than the rest. Not that I am worried about that, just thought maybe they made some changes. Regardless though, it sounded amazing and I am definitely a satisfied Traynor customer! Thanks to them for making good!

[BassmanPaul]

Glad you got it sorted.

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by Thornton Davis

This is correct. Understand that the amps output will drop to approx 250 watts RMS with an 8 ohm load.

TD

That's very interesting as the cabinet is the wrong impedance for the tube amp by exactly 100% the most damaging direction.
Why would traynor offer any warranty on the output tubes or indeed the output transformer now you have admitted to doubling the voltage that the transformers insulation is designed to resist.
Yes Ampeg SVT's are rugged enough to deal with eight ohms for a bit but this is certainly not recommended by anybody who knows how a tube amp works.
You are probably right about the 50 watts lost but the energy has been made its just not been transferred to the loudspeakers so where do you think this mismatch heat builds up?.
If the impedance is too high the current won't pull the voltage down to the right levels.

[tdbernard]

So I need to find me a four ohm cab?

If you all think using an 8 ohm cab with this head could damage it, I'll start looking for a cab. I have always went that direction in ohms loads, I was always told it was fine.... But also told to never go too low in ohms. Example: 2 ohm load on a 4 ohm stable amp. Never dreamed the other direction would cause a problem??

For the record though, my old head had most likely been dropped in transit.. There was damage to the box that I had overlooked during my first un-boxing. Then, when I received my head back from repair, there was massive damage to the box and two Styrofoam corners were smashed into little pieces. I would guess my issues were caused by shipping.

[bb5000]

Originally Posted by tdbernard

So I need to find me a four ohm cab?

If you all think using an 8 ohm cab with this head could damage it, I'll start looking for a cab. I have always went that direction in ohms loads, I was always told it was fine.... But also told to never go too low in ohms. Example: 2 ohm load on a 4 ohm stable amp. Never dreamed the other direction would cause a problem??

For the record though, my old head had most likely been dropped in transit.. There was damage to the box that I had overlooked during my first un-boxing. Then, when I received my head back from repair, there was massive damage to the box and two Styrofoam corners were smashed into little pieces. I would guess my issues were caused by shipping.

With a tube amp, too high impedance is more dangerous as opposed to SS amp where you shouldn't have too low impedance.

[Alex1984]

Too low an impedance on solid-state power amps result in too high a current draw, which causes heat to build up, faster than it can dissipate. On tube amps, I think the high impedance results in a large voltage drop across the load which strains the transformer.

[Alex1984]

If I remember correctly though, Traynor did say it's safe to run 8 ohms with this amp, and if you want to make sure that it's 100% safe, there's a jumper in there that you can get a tech to switch to make it 4/8 ohm rather than 2/4 ohm.

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by tdbernard

So I need to find me a four ohm cab?

If you all think using an 8 ohm cab with this head could damage it, I'll start looking for a cab. I have always went that direction in ohms loads, I was always told it was fine.... But also told to never go too low in ohms. Example: 2 ohm load on a 4 ohm stable amp. Never dreamed the other direction would cause a problem??

For the record though, my old head had most likely been dropped in transit.. There was damage to the box that I had overlooked during my first un-boxing. Then, when I received my head back from repair, there was massive damage to the box and two Styrofoam corners were smashed into little pieces. I would guess my issues were caused by shipping.

Valve amps are the total opposite to transistor amps, impedance load wise, it is quite common for Valve amps to have switched output jacks
So if you forget to connect a cabinet or load, the switch shorts the output socket to 0 ohms to protect the amplifier from total destruction into infinity ohms which would happen in seconds playing at any gain.
So on a transistor amp you have a minimum recommended ohms, the load that the amp produces its maximum power at.
In effect your tube amplifier is presenting a transformer tap that
is the maximum ohms the amp can safely handle.
Also sometimes if you get it wrong, you can seriously endanger your life as follows:
last week a "know it all" young music tech student booked a rehearsal in my facility, was provided with an all tube amp rig all warmed up and standby off (I leave the amp with the standby off, gain down because the local University is only in its second year of existence, so no music tech students in my experience have yet fully grasped the function of a standby switch) but unknown to me, he wanted to test his transistor micro amp in via my old school cabinet and simply, without being polite enough to ask my advice or permission, unplugged my cab and plugged the lead into his pathetic little excuse for an amp, leaving my beautiful vintage tube amp that, does not have auto shorting output jacks because its old and British and therefore requires less idiot proofing in the design, unloaded! for the 4 hour period of the rehearsal.
The only thing that saved its life and incidentally his, was that there was nothing In the input.
Remember, "Violence is never the answer" but often makes for a very satisfying beginning.

[Thornton Davis]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

That's very interesting as the cabinet is the wrong impedance for the tube amp by exactly 100% the most damaging direction.
Why would traynor offer any warranty on the output tubes or indeed the output transformer now you have admitted to doubling the voltage that the transformers insulation is designed to resist.
Yes Ampeg SVT's are rugged enough to deal with eight ohms for a bit but this is certainly not recommended by anybody who knows how a tube amp works.
You are probably right about the 50 watts lost but the energy has been made its just not been transferred to the loudspeakers so where do you think this mismatch heat builds up?.
If the impedance is too high the current won't pull the voltage down to the right levels.

If you've got the time, I suggest that you wade through the original YBA300 thread especially page 27. It will answer all.

Traynor YBA300

TD