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the Traynor YBA-200 thread
- Thread starter him666
- Start date
I am thinking about going with one of these badboys... I currently push a Harkte head at about 2 o clock. It serves me well but I dont care for the tone, and I have to ease of the pre since it distorts easily. I want a tube half stack for college and have a avatar 4x10 neo, 4 ohms. How do you think a YBA200 would sound with that setup, and does it put out a generous amount of wattage?
Gotta try one of these. There's one used at the local bass store but I haven't been able to get away from the kids to give it a proper go. One quick try sounded very promising. Then of course I'll have to start looking for a new cab. 
Hope the tax return is good.
Hope the tax return is good.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,936
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
This seems like an appropriate place to post this pic of the rig I used this past weekend. I had toyed around with the YBA200 and the Phil Jones cabs at home and was really surprised by how well they worked together. On the gig, though, the Traynor really shined driving these cabs. Normally, I feel that PJB cabs like lots of SS watts, but man, do they respond to tube amps! 
This rig was hella loud (no PA support) and sounded phenomenal. We're talking a low B monster rig here! 
This rig was hella loud (no PA support) and sounded phenomenal. We're talking a low B monster rig here! 
I use a Sunn 215, the speakers have been replaced with Celestions. The match with the Traynor is perfect old-school overdrive...
i just got mine and it sounds ah-mazing. tube swapped the preamp with 12at7's and this baby gets loud with just a hint of overdriven sweetness. and when i need more overdrive, my fulltone bassdrive seems like it was made for this amp. it seriously sounds so good
Tom - can you describe the differences between the PJB rig and the NV610 - driven by the YBA200?
Haven't heard any PJB stuff so far. How do the mids stack up to the NV610?
Also, I like the tilt-back feature of the top cab - I'm guessing this gives a nice mid punch as a "monitor" when gigging?
Thanks a lot Tom,
-Mike
Haven't heard any PJB stuff so far. How do the mids stack up to the NV610?
Also, I like the tilt-back feature of the top cab - I'm guessing this gives a nice mid punch as a "monitor" when gigging?
Thanks a lot Tom,
-Mike
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,936
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
The PJB cabs have a frequency range akin to that of tweeter'd cabs. They go as high as you'd ever want. The NV610 is, as it's name implies, a 'new vintage' sounding cab. Yes, those 10's go higher than most, and it does have a lot of high end information for a (non-PJB) cab without a tweeter, but it definitely has more of a vintage vibe to it. The Phil Jones cabs probably go deeper in the lows, but the NV610 has a nice meaty low midrange to it (but still articulate), so you certainly don't feel like you're missing low end with the Berg. I'd say the PJB cabs are more 'full-range, bottom to top clarity', and the NV610 is more 'punchy, vintage tone, but with more articulation/definition.' Please note, those PJB cabs are not at all thin sounding (which sometimes is the case when something sounds so clear), especially with tube power.
Balanced mids on the PJB cabs, punchy mids on the Berg.
Well, it's just to help get the sound up to ear level. The midrange is full, yet clear. I don't hear any notable hump (or valley), and I am not sure that I would call it 'punchy', but it certainly hits like a ton of bricks (but hits you evenly, from top to bottom) with a tube head!
- Dec 13, 2006
- 206
- 1
- Disclosures
- East Coast Sales Coordinator - Crafter Guitars
So I think Traynor would be perfect for me. It's pretty cheap, not too heavy and tubey. It's just that I have no idea what cab to pair it with. I live in Finland, and there's no way to get my hands to cabs like Sunn, MusicMan or stuff like that. I would get bergantino NV610, but I highly doubt I see those around here anytime soon. So I narrowed it down to few alternatives..
1) Ampeg HLF610 (I can't really carry 810 around)
2) Eden (some 4x10)
3) Something else? What?
All help is appreciated.
1) Ampeg HLF610 (I can't really carry 810 around)
2) Eden (some 4x10)
3) Something else? What?
All help is appreciated.
So I think Traynor would be perfect for me. It's pretty cheap, not too heavy and tubey. It's just that I have no idea what cab to pair it with. I live in Finland, and there's no way to get my hands to cabs like Sunn, MusicMan or stuff like that. I would get bergantino NV610, but I highly doubt I see those around here anytime soon. So I narrowed it down to few alternatives..
1) Ampeg HLF610 (I can't really carry 810 around)
2) Eden (some 4x10)
3) Something else? What?
All help is appreciated.
i'd go with the 6x10.
Tom
I've been running a pair of EA CxL-112L's with my YBA-200, and frankly I have been rather unhappy with them. There seems to be a very narrow power band between "loud enough" and "crapping out". This is with the gain and master at about 12. If my drummer gets excited, I can practically feel the cones straining as I react, and if I react too much or hit the front end with too much juice (from a pair of stacked overdrives - an EBS Multidrive and a Fulltone Bassdrive, all with fairly low drive settings) it will respond by sounding bad and if I go too far actually crapping right out. Right now I actually don't use the overdrives with this, as I now split my signal to a 1978 Hiwatt DR103 half stack which gets the overdrives and the other half goes through an Aphex 1402 Aural Exciter/Big Bottom and then to the Traynor/EA rig. That pedal can sometimes be too much for the EA's when the volume is up, but it's remarkable at lower volumes. It can make the EA's sound quite a bit fuller, but you can easily make the cones mush out in strange, out of phase way (unsurprising given that an out of phase operation is integral to the Big Bottom processing). Apart from this, it seems far too easy to make the cones overexcurse. Even straight into the rig with a passive Jazz, I can only have the gain and master up to about 12 o'clock. Beyond that the cones start to misbehave and will quite easily overexcurse if I hammer a loud note through the rig. And for some reason, I am just surprised at how damn quiet this rig is at the 12 o'clock level. The Hiwatt has to be set at about 12:00 on the input and 8:30 or at most 8:45 on the master (that would translate to about 2 or 3 out of 10) - anything more will totally drown out the Traynor. And this is a 100w amp with a 4x12 guitar cab! My question to you is: does this seem to you to be the performance I should expect from the EA's or are they indeed pooched and I'm just too stupid to know it. Are they just a totally useless thing to keep using with my Traynor (I had them already when I finally ditched my piece of **** SWR 350x for the YBA.)? They sound beautiful up to the halfway mark but that is often just enough to be heard over my drummer and a 50w Marshall, and not enough when the get excited. Basically a super narrow power band with bugger all headroom. It is very frustrating. The matching cab seems a lot louder but I have yet to A/B them. Should I trade them in for one or even two of the Traynor matching cabs? Or possibly one of the matching 2x10/1x15's and one 8x8? L&M are usually pretty good to me so I might well be able to trade two of these CxL's for a new Traynor 2x10/1x15 straight up. Would this be worth doing in your opinion? Would I need a second cab for the requisite headroom and power? I know this is a pile of questions but if you could manage to answer some of them it would help me make a difficult decision. Trading two "boutique" cabs for a single Yorkville product seems kind of like a ripoff. The Traynor cab is about $850 CDN without tax. I paid $750 ea for the EA's. L&M can get maybe $500 ea for them and they say they'll give me 80% value for trade ins on their stuff (eg Yorkville Traynor Apex ART etc.). So what should I do? Are these cabs inadaquate for my rig? Should I trade them in, assuming that Long and McQuade think they are OK? Any advice appreciated.
Burgess
I've been running a pair of EA CxL-112L's with my YBA-200, and frankly I have been rather unhappy with them. There seems to be a very narrow power band between "loud enough" and "crapping out". This is with the gain and master at about 12. If my drummer gets excited, I can practically feel the cones straining as I react, and if I react too much or hit the front end with too much juice (from a pair of stacked overdrives - an EBS Multidrive and a Fulltone Bassdrive, all with fairly low drive settings) it will respond by sounding bad and if I go too far actually crapping right out. Right now I actually don't use the overdrives with this, as I now split my signal to a 1978 Hiwatt DR103 half stack which gets the overdrives and the other half goes through an Aphex 1402 Aural Exciter/Big Bottom and then to the Traynor/EA rig. That pedal can sometimes be too much for the EA's when the volume is up, but it's remarkable at lower volumes. It can make the EA's sound quite a bit fuller, but you can easily make the cones mush out in strange, out of phase way (unsurprising given that an out of phase operation is integral to the Big Bottom processing). Apart from this, it seems far too easy to make the cones overexcurse. Even straight into the rig with a passive Jazz, I can only have the gain and master up to about 12 o'clock. Beyond that the cones start to misbehave and will quite easily overexcurse if I hammer a loud note through the rig. And for some reason, I am just surprised at how damn quiet this rig is at the 12 o'clock level. The Hiwatt has to be set at about 12:00 on the input and 8:30 or at most 8:45 on the master (that would translate to about 2 or 3 out of 10) - anything more will totally drown out the Traynor. And this is a 100w amp with a 4x12 guitar cab! My question to you is: does this seem to you to be the performance I should expect from the EA's or are they indeed pooched and I'm just too stupid to know it. Are they just a totally useless thing to keep using with my Traynor (I had them already when I finally ditched my piece of **** SWR 350x for the YBA.)? They sound beautiful up to the halfway mark but that is often just enough to be heard over my drummer and a 50w Marshall, and not enough when the get excited. Basically a super narrow power band with bugger all headroom. It is very frustrating. The matching cab seems a lot louder but I have yet to A/B them. Should I trade them in for one or even two of the Traynor matching cabs? Or possibly one of the matching 2x10/1x15's and one 8x8? L&M are usually pretty good to me so I might well be able to trade two of these CxL's for a new Traynor 2x10/1x15 straight up. Would this be worth doing in your opinion? Would I need a second cab for the requisite headroom and power? I know this is a pile of questions but if you could manage to answer some of them it would help me make a difficult decision. Trading two "boutique" cabs for a single Yorkville product seems kind of like a ripoff. The Traynor cab is about $850 CDN without tax. I paid $750 ea for the EA's. L&M can get maybe $500 ea for them and they say they'll give me 80% value for trade ins on their stuff (eg Yorkville Traynor Apex ART etc.). So what should I do? Are these cabs inadaquate for my rig? Should I trade them in, assuming that Long and McQuade think they are OK? Any advice appreciated.
Burgess
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,936
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Burgess:
IME/IMHO, the CxL-112 is one of those cabs that just does not respond well to the higher cone excursion and lower damping factor (and other characteristics) of tube power sections. FWIW, I also include most ported/vented cabs in that category, particularly those that are designed to be very full range, dynamic cabs. They may sound great with SS power (and the CxL-112 does indeed sound great with SS power), but not so great with tubes. FWIW, I don't really like any of my other vented/ported 1x12's with tube power, with the exception of the Wizzy and M-line Wizzy.
Tom.
Edit:
I should add that some cabs that I have found to work great with tube power include: Berg NV series, Sadowsky SA210 and SA410, EA NM-410 and the Wizzy's, Acme cabs, older Trace Elliot cabs, Orange cabs, Ernie Ball Music Man Audiophile cabs, Accugroove Whappo, Jr., some custom Dr. Bass cabs I used to own (and maybe I am missing some others)...
IME/IMHO, the CxL-112 is one of those cabs that just does not respond well to the higher cone excursion and lower damping factor (and other characteristics) of tube power sections. FWIW, I also include most ported/vented cabs in that category, particularly those that are designed to be very full range, dynamic cabs. They may sound great with SS power (and the CxL-112 does indeed sound great with SS power), but not so great with tubes. FWIW, I don't really like any of my other vented/ported 1x12's with tube power, with the exception of the Wizzy and M-line Wizzy.
Tom.
Edit:
I should add that some cabs that I have found to work great with tube power include: Berg NV series, Sadowsky SA210 and SA410, EA NM-410 and the Wizzy's, Acme cabs, older Trace Elliot cabs, Orange cabs, Ernie Ball Music Man Audiophile cabs, Accugroove Whappo, Jr., some custom Dr. Bass cabs I used to own (and maybe I am missing some others)...
Hey Tom,
Just a public thanks for answering several of my questions since I've been cruising TB. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your substantial experience....
-Mike
Just a public thanks for answering several of my questions since I've been cruising TB. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your substantial experience....
-Mike
Does anyone know the approximate frequency cuttoffs of the eq controls, the mid control at least, and at either end of the range control?
