help troubleshoot my traynor / avatar rig

[snoopz]

Just put together a new rig and its not working so great:
Fender Jaguar - Traynor Yba-1a (90 watts, 8 ohms) - Avatar B212 (500 watt capacity).

Here's the problem - if I turn the Traynor above volume 2 (or play hard with a pick) it immediately starts distorting and sounds absolutely horrible. Is this 'clipping' or 'farting-out'? Is it the head or the cab?

I tried running the Traynor just through an Ampeg 1 x 15" (8 ohm) and the distortion improved a bit. I ran an Acoustic 320 through the Avatar and the cab sounded a little bit better. I've run the Traynor through an Ampeg 410 (a 4 ohm cab) at low volume (3-4) and it sounds great.

Help! Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
I feel like I've tried a number of combos with this head and cab and can't isolate the problem. I am playing loud 70s punk stuff with a pick.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

What are your EQ settings? If you boost bass heavily, any cab will fart out.

 

[B-string]

Is the Avatar cab 4 or 8 ohms? My first thought is either rectifier tube (if your model uses one) or other weak tubes (more than likely output tubes being affected by the different inductive loads).

 

[snoopz]

Is the Avatar cab 4 or 8 ohms? My first thought is either rectifier tube (if your model uses one) or other weak tubes (more than likely output tubes being affected by the different inductive loads).

Avatar cab is 8 ohms.

 

[snoopz]

What are your EQ settings? If you boost bass heavily, any cab will fart out.

Running everything at 12 o'clock to try to isolate out the problem. No luck.

 

[B-string]

Can you try the 115 8 ohm cab and the 212 at the same time? Starting to sound more like weak output tubes (or output transformer) as it performs better with the 4 ohm load.

 

[snoopz]

Can you try the 115 8 ohm cab and the 212 at the same time? Starting to sound more like weak output tubes (or output transformer) as it performs better with the 4 ohm load.

I'll give it a try and report back - but if I run 2 8 ohm cabs, then I'm at 4 ohms and want to avoid mismatching the loads for any length of time, right?

 

[B-string]

You are correct. Just for a short amount of time.

 

[B-string]

If it performs better to the combined 4 ohm load, STOP using the amp till you can get new output tubes and have it properly biased! They claim to be getting a lot of power from two 6CA7's so I would imagine those tubes are running close to their breaking point. If one shorts out it may very well toast the output trans. and that will be very expensive and maybe hard to find. Make sure your fan is always working as well. This amp should not be serviced by the average tech.

 

[snoopz]

Bump. For more opinions.

 

[Loudthud]

Are you using the Bright channel or the Bass channel? Are you using the high sensitivity jack or the low sensitivity jack? A properly working YBA-1A will distort on 2 when playing through the Bright channel and using the high sensitivity input. And you will go through a set of output tubes every 6 months. If the tubes haven't been changed in a while, the amp needs to go to a tech for new tubes and a checkup. There are other problems that these amps can have that only a tech can detect/correct.

 

[snoopz]

Are you using the Bright channel or the Bass channel? Are you using the high sensitivity jack or the low sensitivity jack? A properly working YBA-1A will distort on 2 when playing through the Bright channel and using the high sensitivity input. And you will go through a set of output tubes every 6 months. If the tubes haven't been changed in a while, the amp needs to go to a tech for new tubes and a checkup. There are other problems that these amps can have that only a tech can detect/correct.

The left vertical inputs are the bright channel, right vertical inputs are the bass channel, top horizontal inputs would be high sensitivity, and bottom horizontal inputs would be low sensitivity - right?

Anyways, even through the bass/low sensitivity channel I am getting terrible distortion around 4 (and sometimes 2 if striking the strings with a pick).

 

[snoopz]

Thanks for everybody's input, took the Traynor to the shop and here's what was wrong:
- output tubes were biased extremely cold, had them re-biased
- bad preamp filter capacitor, needed replacement
Amp works great now!

 

[B-string]

Thanks for everybody's input, took the Traynor to the shop and here's what was wrong:
- output tubes were biased extremely cold, had them re-biased
- bad preamp filter capacitor, needed replacement
Amp works great now!

Awesome! While you have to pay some for his time, a good amp tech is your friend.
Post the contact info in the sticky "Good Amp Techs" so others in your area can find them.