Caveat right off the top. I'm one of Traynor's biggest fans. I also own the Traynor SB115, Yorkville (same as Traynor) XS400H and XS800H heads, TC210 and TC115 NEO cabs, and until this afternoon owned a Traynor YBA200-2. I have also owned many Yorkville cabs at one time or another (XC410, XC210, XC115, XC808).
I have owned other makes of amps and have played through pretty much every brand of amp at festivals where the backline is provided or at rental rehearsal rooms. I always hated the "blue fur" Yorkville models to be perfectly honest, but from the XS series heads on forward, I've been very happy with everything Traynor.
So you can take that in one of two ways ... I was going to love the SB500H no matter what, or the bar was set so high that the SB500H wouldn't be able to meet the high expectations.
I was prepared for the latter ... I had the funds to go completely the opposite way and get a full size Traynor DB 800H to replace my very dependable but very aged Yorkville XS800H. With my two 8-ohm cabs totalling 800W, I was unsure whether this tiny little amp (did I mention it weighs 3.5 pounds??) was going to have the guts to keep up. This is my first experience with a micro head of any make.
However, I have been regularly gigging with the SB115 combo for a few months now and I just love that thing. A 200W magic box as far as I'm concerned. So when the SB500H was announced, I knew I was getting it as soon as it was off the trucks and that was literally the case here. Long & McQuade just took shipment of the amps for the first time today. I was there with my $540 ($470 + tax) as fast as I could go without endangering lives.
So I've been home about 90 minutes, using the amp for just 45 minutes to this point. Still faces the crucially important band setting test. With that said, I've had enough "sounds awesome at home, not so awesome with the band" moments to better predict how it will sound at an actual gig.
So as a comparison, I'll start with the SB115 combo that is now my #1 gigging amp.
The SB115 (200W) is a VERY warm bassy amp, but I don't find it muddy at all. It can be heard through a full band mix with ease. Just very deep, with more bass than I ever expected from a lightweight combo (31 pounds). Depending on the room I'm in, I typically have the bass flat, both mids at 2 o'clock, and treble could be anywhere between noon and 2. I have NO use for Low Expander (a variation of scoop) on this amp at all. Always off. In a full band setting (two guitars, keys, pedal steel and hard hitting drummer) I have the gain at about 10 o'clock and volume at 60%. With PA support, I hear myself on stage better than I ever had. Love what I'm hearing. I also keep the amp on a stand angled up towards my head. Last Friday I played a fairly decent sized club with no PA support. I kept pretty much the same settings and volume. I sensed I was getting heard out front and my wife captured a bit of video from the show on her iPhone with that tiny phone mic and I was very happy to hear the bass coming through the way I had hoped.
Now the Traynor SB500H (500W) seems to be a totally different amp altogether. Same controls and everything, but tonally very different. I'm assuming that mostly has to do with the cabs - in this case Traynor 210 and 115 NEOs but I’m not entirely sure.
As far as using a 500W head with cabs that are 400W each (8 ohms) ... no problems here. I never understood the whole cab matching thing and I know many TBers would be aghast with my rig ... combining a 210 with a 115 and an amp that has a wattage rating lower than my cabs. Hey, it works for me! The cabs sound great together with 400W, 500W and 800W heads.
But I digress ...
Everything flat, the SB500H sounds GREAT, but bright and cutting. Not shrill or brittle bright - just brighter than I was expecting after using the SB115 regularly. With the 500H, I'm definitely going to be using the Low Expander to "warm" things up a little. Also, it will pump out more volume than I ever need - no issues there. But at 500W, it is not as loud as my 400W Yorkville XS400H. I'm no technician but do realize that wattage as a predictor of volume can be a fallacy. Either way, no concerns volume wise at all.
Very focused tight tone. I couldn’t make it sound muddy no matter what I did. With my Yorkville XS400H or 800H, my tone could get a little too “boomy” on occasion. I’m finding the SB500H to have a full bottom end, but like my comment about mud, I’m not sure “boomy” is possible with my setup. “Balanced” – that’s the word. String to string balance was a noticeable improvement as I’m used to having to lay back a bit when hitting my E string. I don't get that E-strong boom with this amp. Not sure what the secret is there … the amp doesn’t have a built in compressor or anything, and I’m thinking I won’t need my compressor pedal when using this set up. I’m giving credit to the amp over the cabs since I’ve used the cabs with other heads. The 500H is a very unique animal in my experience.
Tone controls have a very wide range too – again I’m no technician and I wouldn’t understand the frequency specs if I actually read them, but adjusting each control from, say, noon to one o’clock makes a noticeable difference.
Between my two most recent amp purchases, the SB115 combo and the SB500H head, the SB115 combo is still going to be coming with me on the majority of gigs. It awesome that the 500H is only 3.5 pounds, and I have NEO cabs … but the 31 pound combo is still more convenient to transport and has power to spare for most of the gigs I do (mostly with PA support).
However, for $470 and in search for a new head after selling my Traynor YBA200-2 (I much prefer solid-state amps) the SB500H is a hands-down winner in my books.
Edit #1: The apparent increased loudness from the XS400H vs the SB500H was an apparent trick to my ears. I realized I never use the scoop control on the XS400H, but had the Low Expander (to me, it's a scoop) on the SB500H. The adjustment in reducing the mids caused me to perceive a lower volume. I turned the amp back on, turned the Low Expander control off without adjusting any thing else ... hello more loudness!
Edit #2: I failed to mention build quality. Traynor has a reputation of building gear that you could toss off the top of a skyscraper and it would only incur cosmetic damage. Time will tell, but the SB500H is all metal, has brackets so that if for some reason you dropped it face first, the controls would never touch the ground. It may not survive a fall off a skyscraper, but it surely would if some drunk knocked it off the top of your cab.
Edit #3: Tone / frequency specs:
Treble: 8kHz
Hi-Mid: 1kHz
Lo-Mid: 400Hz
Bass: 50Hz
Low Expander: 40Hz boost, 550Hz cut, 10kHz cut
Picture time!! ...
I have owned other makes of amps and have played through pretty much every brand of amp at festivals where the backline is provided or at rental rehearsal rooms. I always hated the "blue fur" Yorkville models to be perfectly honest, but from the XS series heads on forward, I've been very happy with everything Traynor.
So you can take that in one of two ways ... I was going to love the SB500H no matter what, or the bar was set so high that the SB500H wouldn't be able to meet the high expectations.
I was prepared for the latter ... I had the funds to go completely the opposite way and get a full size Traynor DB 800H to replace my very dependable but very aged Yorkville XS800H. With my two 8-ohm cabs totalling 800W, I was unsure whether this tiny little amp (did I mention it weighs 3.5 pounds??) was going to have the guts to keep up. This is my first experience with a micro head of any make.
However, I have been regularly gigging with the SB115 combo for a few months now and I just love that thing. A 200W magic box as far as I'm concerned. So when the SB500H was announced, I knew I was getting it as soon as it was off the trucks and that was literally the case here. Long & McQuade just took shipment of the amps for the first time today. I was there with my $540 ($470 + tax) as fast as I could go without endangering lives.
So I've been home about 90 minutes, using the amp for just 45 minutes to this point. Still faces the crucially important band setting test. With that said, I've had enough "sounds awesome at home, not so awesome with the band" moments to better predict how it will sound at an actual gig.
So as a comparison, I'll start with the SB115 combo that is now my #1 gigging amp.
The SB115 (200W) is a VERY warm bassy amp, but I don't find it muddy at all. It can be heard through a full band mix with ease. Just very deep, with more bass than I ever expected from a lightweight combo (31 pounds). Depending on the room I'm in, I typically have the bass flat, both mids at 2 o'clock, and treble could be anywhere between noon and 2. I have NO use for Low Expander (a variation of scoop) on this amp at all. Always off. In a full band setting (two guitars, keys, pedal steel and hard hitting drummer) I have the gain at about 10 o'clock and volume at 60%. With PA support, I hear myself on stage better than I ever had. Love what I'm hearing. I also keep the amp on a stand angled up towards my head. Last Friday I played a fairly decent sized club with no PA support. I kept pretty much the same settings and volume. I sensed I was getting heard out front and my wife captured a bit of video from the show on her iPhone with that tiny phone mic and I was very happy to hear the bass coming through the way I had hoped.
Now the Traynor SB500H (500W) seems to be a totally different amp altogether. Same controls and everything, but tonally very different. I'm assuming that mostly has to do with the cabs - in this case Traynor 210 and 115 NEOs but I’m not entirely sure.
As far as using a 500W head with cabs that are 400W each (8 ohms) ... no problems here. I never understood the whole cab matching thing and I know many TBers would be aghast with my rig ... combining a 210 with a 115 and an amp that has a wattage rating lower than my cabs. Hey, it works for me! The cabs sound great together with 400W, 500W and 800W heads.
But I digress ...
Everything flat, the SB500H sounds GREAT, but bright and cutting. Not shrill or brittle bright - just brighter than I was expecting after using the SB115 regularly. With the 500H, I'm definitely going to be using the Low Expander to "warm" things up a little. Also, it will pump out more volume than I ever need - no issues there. But at 500W, it is not as loud as my 400W Yorkville XS400H. I'm no technician but do realize that wattage as a predictor of volume can be a fallacy. Either way, no concerns volume wise at all.
Very focused tight tone. I couldn’t make it sound muddy no matter what I did. With my Yorkville XS400H or 800H, my tone could get a little too “boomy” on occasion. I’m finding the SB500H to have a full bottom end, but like my comment about mud, I’m not sure “boomy” is possible with my setup. “Balanced” – that’s the word. String to string balance was a noticeable improvement as I’m used to having to lay back a bit when hitting my E string. I don't get that E-strong boom with this amp. Not sure what the secret is there … the amp doesn’t have a built in compressor or anything, and I’m thinking I won’t need my compressor pedal when using this set up. I’m giving credit to the amp over the cabs since I’ve used the cabs with other heads. The 500H is a very unique animal in my experience.
Tone controls have a very wide range too – again I’m no technician and I wouldn’t understand the frequency specs if I actually read them, but adjusting each control from, say, noon to one o’clock makes a noticeable difference.
Between my two most recent amp purchases, the SB115 combo and the SB500H head, the SB115 combo is still going to be coming with me on the majority of gigs. It awesome that the 500H is only 3.5 pounds, and I have NEO cabs … but the 31 pound combo is still more convenient to transport and has power to spare for most of the gigs I do (mostly with PA support).
However, for $470 and in search for a new head after selling my Traynor YBA200-2 (I much prefer solid-state amps) the SB500H is a hands-down winner in my books.
Edit #1: The apparent increased loudness from the XS400H vs the SB500H was an apparent trick to my ears. I realized I never use the scoop control on the XS400H, but had the Low Expander (to me, it's a scoop) on the SB500H. The adjustment in reducing the mids caused me to perceive a lower volume. I turned the amp back on, turned the Low Expander control off without adjusting any thing else ... hello more loudness!
Edit #2: I failed to mention build quality. Traynor has a reputation of building gear that you could toss off the top of a skyscraper and it would only incur cosmetic damage. Time will tell, but the SB500H is all metal, has brackets so that if for some reason you dropped it face first, the controls would never touch the ground. It may not survive a fall off a skyscraper, but it surely would if some drunk knocked it off the top of your cab.
Edit #3: Tone / frequency specs:
Treble: 8kHz
Hi-Mid: 1kHz
Lo-Mid: 400Hz
Bass: 50Hz
Low Expander: 40Hz boost, 550Hz cut, 10kHz cut
Picture time!! ...
Last edited:
This thread could suddenly go in reverse, but I'm not too worried.
