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50w-100w Valve Owners Thread

#641
jumbodbassman said:
B25b was 55watt with 2 15 cts speakers. Same head as the b15s . Sounded very similar to my 72 v4...
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A little different than the B15S, it was kind of like the B15S preamp (in that it has a 12AX7 for input gain/tone stack) into the B18N power amp (7199 PI, 7027A power, tube rectified). Fun amps though. Definitely have that 70s ampeg tone. The big difference between these and the modern amps/V series is the lack of midrange control on the B25.

Here's my B25B and two V4s. SVT is in the case, figured it's not really welcome here

LmllJJ2.png
 
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#645
Willy-D said:
My Traynor Bass Mate in all its 3-chicken head knob glory. Has a pair of EL84's run hot in AB1, so likely right at 25 watts. I know it doesnt trail my AB165 Bassman that much in headroom. Loud and clean enough for lounge or quiet club work.View attachment 949340
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Well there's a co-inkydink. I'm running my 1969 YBA-1A right now. Into a BF Retro Two10 though. Love the old Traynors.
 
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#646
Lowendtech said:
Well there's a co-inkydink. I'm running my 1969 YBA-1A right now. Into a BF Retro Two10 though. Love the old Traynors.
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Likewise...I've been getting a lot of use out of my '73 Traynor YBA-1, mostly it's been sittin' on a rear ported 4-10 Crate cab which sounds surprisingly great! Who'da thunk?

But the same head handles the 6 string (lead) incredibly well through a 4-12 MusicMan cab.

Now loaded with chicken heads, it's one of my favorite amps!
20151101_004402_zpsgagi8wyy.jpg
 
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#648
Now loaded with chicken heads, it's one of my favorite amps!
20151101_004402_zpsgagi8wyy.jpg
vistacruiser,
Your pic illustrates why I love these things. Stupid simple to work on. Traynor also seems to have run all his stuff hotter than a lot of his competition. My little head absolutely screams on a six string sitting on a cab with 12s.
... wish I had the BassMaster too.
 
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#650
Willy-D said:
vistacruiser,
Your pic illustrates why I love these things. Stupid simple to work on. Traynor also seems to have run all his stuff hotter than a lot of his competition. My little head absolutely screams on a six string sitting on a cab with 12s.
... wish I had the BassMaster too.
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Willy, one of the coolest things about the BassMaster is the two channels and the interaction between the vol. pots. The inputs are voiced differently for bass and guitar, but also, turning up the channel you're not using, adds warmth and dirty saturation without raising the level. Nice, huh?
 
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#651
vistacruiser said:
Willy, one of the coolest things about the BassMaster is the two channels and the interaction between the vol. pots. The inputs are voiced differently for bass and guitar, but also, turning up the channel you're not using, adds warmth and dirty saturation without raising the level. Nice, huh?
Click to expand...

I'll have to root through my schematics and stare at that. Soldered on enough Fenders that I am fairly literate with them, but other makes do I see opened only infrequent at best. Does sound cool though, yes.
 
#652
Willy-D said:
I'll have to root through my schematics and stare at that. Soldered on enough Fenders that I am fairly literate with them, but other makes do I see opened only infrequent at best. Does sound cool though, yes.
Click to expand...

Here is a better "gut shot" of the Traynor YBA-1. The inputs and volume pots are on the right side of this pic.
This was taken prior to swapping the 500k linear taper vol pots for audio taper, the grounded line cord update and of course the Creme colored mini chicken head knobs.

I'm much happier with the audio taper pots. Before, the amp got loud at around 2, now it's more like 5-6 before she's there. So much easier to control at low volume.
20151101_003934_zpsjlcsgqiq.jpg
 
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#655
Willy-D said:
A'nudder of my antiques
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A 1966 model I presume..? Looks very nice! Hows it sound? Any mods done?

My best bud who plays the guitar scored a super deal on a 1968 Silver-face Bassman head in rather sad shape. We had to install some 6l6gc's just to find out if it worked, and it did. Without further testing he turned it over to me for "what ever it needs". I am still an amateur but very interested and willing to do my homework when it comes to tube amp servicing. (And lord knows I work cheap)

We decided it would be fun to "black-face" the circuit since the head was a little rough anyway. Many changes were made in power amp section to modify the peculiar AC 5-68 circuit into an accurate reproduction of Leo's AA 8-64 Bassman, we left the pre as is.
Sounds super clean with guitar even cranked! Thinking now it would be nice to add a switch on the back to go from fixed to cathode bias.
 
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#656
vistacruiser said:
A 1966 model I presume..? Looks very nice! Hows it sound? Any mods done?
Click to expand...

1966 yes
No mods other than disabling the ground switch and going grounded pigtail. it's a stocker. Has had some repairs: new filter caps and I had a nasty pop-found a cold joint on a ground lug.

Runs clean (and bright) until it clips. It is small club'able with a 2-15 (have the original). Anything less and it doesn't really move enough air, unless you have a very light drummer.
I play some 6-string and this is a great rhythm head. The 2-15 cab will blow the dust off your pants playing barre chord rhythm.

Yes-solder on these myself too. Only training I had was 2 years of electronics in high school. Learned a lot. The rest I read on and muddled through. No expert, but I've played with these off and on for about 30 years or so.
 
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#660
Another of the toys. Long ago I built this puppy starting with an old PA head (think I started with a Bogen). 2-6L6GC's & 480v, so figure 50'ish watts. Actually has more clean headroom than the old Fender Bassman (50), and less mid-range honk, so it sounds better for bass.

Pulled it out of the basement and cleaned the pots (haven't run it in a couple of decades). Nice, warm, round and surprisingly ballsy with an EB-0 plugged into it. The cab? Not my finest but it holds it.
IMG_20161127_201541.jpg
 
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