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Traynor YBA200 NIGHTMARE... advice needed (dial-up beware)

#81
Eilif said:
Sorry to hear about that. It sounds like the impact that your amp recieved may have turned it into a permenant Lemon. I wonder what the chances are that Traynor would exchange it for a new amp or a refurb?

I'm still hoping for the best, though this experience and the experiences of others on this thread has really impressed upon me the benefits of waranties and really "running the numbers" when purchasing a used amp.

For those considering purchaing a used YBA-200 figures for mine:
$476 shipped for used YBA-200 from Ebay
$175 full retube kit from Eurotubes ( I don't recall the shipping fee)
$25 shipping to Traynor when it blew
$149 repair charge for upgrade to 200-2 specs, biasing, and shipping (really not a bad deal for the work done)
$825 Total

That's right, I could have a new YBA 200-2, and new set of preamp tubes (and a two year unconditional warranty) for almost exactly the what I've spent so far. I guess that when it comes to tube amps, it only pays to buy used when you are purchasing a high end amp, or getting a really spectacular deal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and also keep in mind that I purchased mine brand new. :mad:
 
#82
My Saga concludes?
I returned to work today after a week long vacation, and discovered that my YBA 200 was back from being repaired, upgraded to 200-2 specs, and biased for the KT88's I sent with it.

A few observations.
-It came to me in a much better box and packaging than the packaging I had sent it in. I will definatley be saving the packaging in case I have to mail this or any other large amplifier.

-I had sent it with a set of JJ KT88's. The amp was returned with the KT88's in their boxes, and the boxes packed inside the amp cavity with the rest of the cavity filled with bubble wrap and brown paper! Perhaps they saw the pictures posted on this thread of broken tubes?

-I had not requested it, and they did not mention it when they laid out charges, but they changed out the phase inverter JJ ECC82 (12AU7) with an electro harmonix version, and sent me the JJ tube in the EH box. I'm not sure if it is broken or just not "spec" but it was a nice touch.

So how'd it all turn out....

I installed the tubes per Eurotubes instructions (contact cleaner, etc.), hooked it up to my carving 8x10 and fired it up. There was one ominous pop when I finally got up the nerve to flip off the standby switch. I turned up my bass, plucked a string and then...NOTHING!!!

Then I realized I had plugged my instrument into the Tuner Output and I adjusted the cable accordingly.

It sounded wonderfull! Deep, full, loud, and quite clear (not perfectly clear, it's still a tube amp after all). With the Eurotubes Low Gain kit ("JJ KT88's for power but with two ECC81's ( 12AT7's )to replace the 12AX7's..." ) It sounds really full, and I can actually crank it past 5 without getting all that annoying (IMHO) disortion. The tone is much deeper and clearer than it ever was with the 6550's, even markedly better than when I ran 6550's with an ECC81 in the V1 position.

They seem to have biased the amp well, though I have no real way of knowing at this point. One of the power tubes had an "e" written on it on a piece of tape. I'm not sure why, but evidently they did at least take the tubes out of their boxes, presumably to bias it.

The bass I played through it was my Darkstarred T-40. It's a very versatile bass, so I was able to try out my usually woofy tone, and various spankier tones that aren't usually my preference. The amp sounded good for all of them. I find myself running High, Mid and Range at 5, with Low at 6. Resonance seems to be pretty useless, and I run it at 0, but I actually do like the Scoop knob now and then to "warm" up the sound. It definately gets the good warm tube sound that I was looking to achieve for playing with my current (country) band.

Overall, I'm pretty happy. I've spent more than I should have on this amp (see my earlier post for the figures), and I think the original fixed bias design of the 200 model is flawed, but I got:
-repair
-spec upgrade
-ECC82
-bias
-and return shipping
for $149, so I believe Traynor definately did right by me.

Only time will tell regarding the future reliability, but I am happy with the amp now and with the way Traynor treated me. It's not a vintage Ampeg (not that I could afford one anyway), but it sounds great, and barring any future unreliability I'll be holding on to this amp for at least a few years.

Thanks Traynor and Eurotubes, both of whom helped me out and gave me personal attention through this trying process.
 
#85
RevGroove said:
slowburnaz, I'm not sure what to say, if I was in your shoes, I'd feel pretty steamed too...where did you buy it?
Click to expand...

I bought it online, from a company that is now out of business.

Eilif said:
A few observations.
-It came to me in a much better box and packaging than the packaging I had sent it in. I will definatley be saving the packaging in case I have to mail this or any other large amplifier.

-I had sent it with a set of JJ KT88's. The amp was returned with the KT88's in their boxes, and the boxes packed inside the amp cavity with the rest of the cavity filled with bubble wrap and brown paper! Perhaps they saw the pictures posted on this thread of broken tubes?
Click to expand...

Eilif:
That's kinda funny. I had actually asked for them to ship my amp without the tubes installed. Mine came with them installed. When PMing Ben Clarke about that fact that my amp is still broken, he mentioned that he looked in the box and saw the tubes in their boxes.

Turns out he was probably looking in yours, not mine.




At this point, I guess I'm waiting to hear from Ben Clarke or some other Traynor support person. Ben said that in this case, Traynor's policy is to pay for shipping both ways. I haven't heard back on that, but gave Ben my email address to send the UPS slips to.
 
#86
Man It's strange(and I'm sorry) to hear of the problems your having with your amps. I've been running mine steady for 14 mo. now thru a Bergantino NV 425. I'm running the stock pre and power tube without a glitch. I have noticed that these amps seem to be very cab sensitive, thru my berg and Fender Bassman100 cabs this amp has great creamy lows and midrange punch, thru my Aguilar GS410 tinny shrill ugly tone(even with the tweeter atinuator all the way down). The berg and Fender are sealed cabs while the Aggi is ported. I wouldn't change a thing on this amp and couldn't be happier with the tone(even if it means lugging a bigger cab). Hope you guys can get the bugs worked out, for the $600 I paid for mine I wouln't give it up for any other tube amp at twice the price.
 
#87
Revgroove,
Thanks, I hope so too. I fired it up again just now. No odd pop after flipping off standby, but same great tone, so I'm feeling even better about the amp!

Slowburnaz,
That is funny, in a wierd way. When I spoke to them about the repair, I didn't mention anything about requesting the tubes not installed. Maybe they sent it that way because I sent them the tubes boxed? I assumed if they biased the amp the tubes would have to be installed or marked. However, since Eurotubes sent them as a matched "#30" set, perhaps it doesn't matter? So long as it sounds good, I'm not asking any more questions.

Upcoming Adventures of the YBA200 (v.2)
I'll be bringing it to the rehursal studio on wednesday where it will power the EDEN stack they have, and then the real test at a street festival gig next month. I'll keep you all informed.
 
#88
Bone said:
Man It's strange(and I'm sorry) to hear of the problems your having with your amps. I've been running mine steady for 14 mo. now thru a Bergantino NV 425. I'm running the stock pre and power tube without a glitch. I have noticed that these amps seem to be very cab sensitive, thru my berg and Fender Bassman100 cabs this amp has great creamy lows and midrange punch, thru my Aguilar GS410 tinny shrill ugly tone(even with the tweeter atinuator all the way down). The berg and Fender are sealed cabs while the Aggi is ported. I wouldn't change a thing on this amp and couldn't be happier with the tone(even if it means lugging a bigger cab). Hope you guys can get the bugs worked out, for the $600 I paid for mine I wouln't give it up for any other tube amp at twice the price.
Click to expand...
+1 I've had mine 2-1/2 years; still stock still working.
Maybe the lesson to be learned from this thread is buying used electrical equipment is a risk.
 
#90
Checking in as promised. I've had the repaird, revamped YBA-200 for a few weeks now, and I've taken it out to practice. At the practice studio it was put through a pair of Eden cabs, a 2x10 and 1x15. It did not sound bad, but it didn't sound great. These hi-fi, ported, tweetered cabs did not play well to the YBA's strengths (honestly they don't sound great through the Studios SVT2 either). Based on what has been said here, I should have seen this coming. Also, the YBA seemed to overwhelm the Edens, even though their power and ohm ratings were appropriate.

Continuing to practice at home, I've been playing it at fairly loud volumes through my 8x10 carvin which is ported, but has the tweeter turned off and I've been able to find some great tones. Currently I'm running everything at 5, except resonance at 0, and with scoop engaged and at 3.

I have an outdoor street festival coming up on the 13th, where I'll be playing it out through the carvin 8x10. I'll report back after that gig.
 
#91
Hi guys, nice to get all this info!

I just had my second total meltdown on my YBA200 and have suspected wrong speaker resistance or beer and ashes down the (rather impractical) top grille as reasons (not mine, I have to say), everything but a design issue with these consequences...

It would be really great to have that pdf about the conversion freely available. It's not on the Traynor site, that much I can say. I asked them to send that to me, but haven't heard anything yet (I'm in Germany, so shipping is not really an option).

DLEE, can you put that somewhere?
 
#94
TLW said:
I had a traynor amp as my first amp...god it was awful.

From that day on I have avoided touching anything Traynor.

I guess they call it traynor for a reason, trainer traynor trainer traynor.

Trains you not to like them
Click to expand...

Amusing! When I first came to Canada in '73 I too thought that Traynor were for beginners. However The original amps were built like tanks and were tested by being chucked down a flight of stairs onto a concrete floor. Using vastly conservatively rated Hammond transformers, the damn things were virtually indestructible! I have yet to see a Vintage Traynor with a bad transformer. Peter is the only designer I know of who used the EL34 correctly with its G3 connected to the negative bias supply. Makes for a much more stable output stage.

Paul
 
#95
TLW said:
I had a traynor amp as my first amp...god it was awful.

From that day on I have avoided touching anything Traynor.

I guess they call it traynor for a reason, trainer traynor trainer traynor.

Trains you not to like them
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the bad experience. Like many Canadian bass players (Canadian musicians in general) I've played Yorkville/Traynor most of my life and never had any issues.
 
#96
TLW said:
I had a traynor amp as my first amp...god it was awful.

From that day on I have avoided touching anything Traynor.

I guess they call it traynor for a reason, trainer traynor trainer traynor.

Trains you not to like them
Click to expand...


Rare exception to the rule...you should give one a try...NOT the YBA-200...maybe a DB800H...
 
#97
So after having been blown up 5 times in the 1 1/2 years I owned it, the pcb of my YBA-200 now is so damaged I don't find anyone to solder it anymore, and I'm actually totally fed up with it. The warranty isn't valid for me in Germany, so I'm essentially reduced to a smoldering block with a shiny switch. This design sure doesn't melt down gracefully, even if the original cause could well be the (allegedly tested and matched 240$ the quad) tubes. The build to V2 specs didn't change a thing about that, either.
I don't think I'll ever own a pcb design tube amp again...
 
#99
Sorry to hear you are still having problems, even after the switch to the -2 specs. After the first time my YBA200 went out, it was repaired under warranty where I purchased it. I bought a matched quad set of 6550WE tubes, hoping it would eliminate the "self biasing" problem. It went out again after 5 months and Traynor told me to return it to them.

Traynor recently did the conversion to the -2 specs, included a new set of KT88's, and shipped it back to me, which I think is outstanding service. My warranty will expire soon and I have played it for under an hour after getting it back. I hope the -2 conversion takes care of the problems I had.

It is unfortunate that these problems exist, as I think it is a well designed, affordable, light weight (for an all tube,) amp. No hum, sounds good through any of my cabs. I hope Traynor continues providing an all tube amp, despite the problems, I really like this amp.
 
#100
TLW said:
I had a traynor amp as my first amp...god it was awful.

From that day on I have avoided touching anything Traynor.

I guess they call it traynor for a reason, trainer traynor trainer traynor.

Trains you not to like them
Click to expand...

Funny story - my first amp was also a Traynor, I got it when I was 15 or 16, back in the mid 80s. I still have it and it still works great. The tolex isn't even scuffed, and I can assure you I didn't baby it over the last 20+ years. A 40 watt solid state cube, that I used for *metal* band rehearsals with a real drummer with two bass drums, as well as jazz and country gigs for a few years, up until two years ago when I started gigging with a rock band and definitely needed something bigger. I went to a GK 700RB-II, and am now considering trading it away for a used YBA-200-2.

Traynors are so-named for their creator, Pete Traynor. We used to have a saying: "there are watts, and then there are Traynor watts" meaning they were typically louder than spec. Legend also had it that they tested amp design by tossing them off the roof of the building, two stories, onto the paved parking lot. What designs survived and could still work were kept. Most of their models are still Canadian-made too, with the exceptions being the lower end combos. That makes them and Peavey - *not* Ampeg, IIRC - the two largest by volume tube amp manufacturers still manufacturing in North America. Peaveys have a similar reputation for ruggedness and solid performance, but I've always preferred the tone of a Traynor.
 

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