Traynor YBA200 Tweaks & Observations

[gfab333]

I'm interested in getting a YBA200 with the matching cab. However, the fact that it may be underpowered is kind of pushing me towards another amp (Fender Bassman 300).

I borrowed a friend's yba200 for a loud blues rock gig and had a similar concern about volume and headroom. This head is loud! Even during the loudest set of the night, I felt that the yba200 had a lot more volume and headroom in reserve. I've forgotten where the volume settings were, but they weren't even up to 12 o'clock. I usually use a eden wt-550 or gk 1001rb II for you info. great tube style tone, and the resonance control is pretty cool (adjusts speaker damping to flabby loose or tight punchy).

 

[Spector_Ray]

You really tweaked my interest with that rumour so I emailed Yorkville. They were kind enough to respond right away.

Apparently, a 400 watt all-tube is NOT in the works. Too bad.

Hopefully not YET. When Peavey's new VB-3 comes out, Traynor may want to look into it if there proves to be a market. I think they'd be the ones to produce an affordable all-tube high power bass head. They really cracked the market open with the YBA200. If you build it, they will come.

 

[Hawkeye]

Hopefully not YET. When Peavey's new VB-3 comes out, Traynor may want to look into it if there proves to be a market. I think they'd be the ones to produce an affordable all-tube high power bass head. They really cracked the market open with the YBA200. If you build it, they will come.

Horsepower is seductive, and I would have serious GAS if they came out with a more powerful tube head, but I have to admit the YBA200 has more than enough for what I need it for: Praise & Worship band and a Jazz ensemble.

 

[Voltaren]

I just don't get it, how many amps on the market have to be modified from initial purchase to achieve reasonable volume without distorting?

What are most threads on this amp about? yep, lack of volume, distorting.

Do Traynor sell this amp with the same tubes now as they did when they first manufactured them? YES.

I am sure Traynor are aware what the biggest complaint about this amp is, so why do they persist, makes me wonder about their care factor.

I am an owner of one of these amps and have gigged with it for quite awhile, the honeymoon is well and truly over.

I offer this thread to add balance and perspective to any prospective buyers. It is not all good.

 

[Hawkeye]

I just don't get it, how many amps on the market have to be modified from initial purchase to achieve reasonable volume without distorting?

What are most threads on this amp about? yep, lack of volume, distorting.

Do Traynor sell this amp with the same tubes now as they did when they first manufactured them? YES.

I am sure Traynor are aware what the biggest complaint about this amp is, so why do they persist, makes me wonder about their care factor.

I am an owner of one of these amps and have gigged with it for quite awhile, the honeymoon is well and truly over.

I offer this thread to add balance and perspective to any prospective buyers. It is not all good.

My take on this is they have left it exactly the way it was originally introduced because that's the sound that many guys like (the pseudo SVT over-driven and distorted bass sound). It's nice to know that if you prefer a sound with more clean gain, you can swap tubes and achieve that. That's sort of the whole idea of an all-tube amp. Tube rolling can help you dial in the sound to your liking. I've done the same thing with my high-end audiophile tube preamp in my stereo system. I liked the sound right out of the box but liked it even more when I installed some NOS Mullards.

When I had an Ampeg SVT III Pro I changed out the 5 tubes in the preamp to get a different sound. It wasn't that the manufacturer made an error in the specification. I had an opportunity to dial in the sound I wanted and so I did. I didn't complain about their tube selection, I did something about it.

The YBA 200 is the same deal. It provides a platform that players can use to obtain a range of tones and distortion characteristics depending on their requirements.

I know that Yorkville is a very consumer-oriented company and they have probably left the unit exactly the way it is for a reason, and that's because the current design provides a wide latitude for tonal shaping to suit individual tastes.

In my situation, playing with a loud drummer and a guitarist using a big and loud Peavey tube combo I have never had to play loud enough to even get the head to hint at distorting and I'm still using the original tubes.

It depends on the situation, and for your situation, maybe a 200 watt YBA200 isn't the best fit, but I would refrain from saying that they are unreponsive or somehow passing off a half-finished or defective design just because it isn't your tonal cup-of-tea.

 

[peter G]

It depends on the situation, and for your situation, maybe a 200 watt YBA200 isn't the best fit, but I would refrain from saying that they are unreponsive or somehow passing off a half-finished or defective design just because it isn't your tonal cup-of-tea.

+1

 

[bassbmx]

I ordered a 12AT7 a while back but haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I might put it in the amp today in the first position. We've got a gig tonight so I want to try it out for a while first.

One thing I've found is that my YBA200 sounds a lot nicer with my passive Jazz than myactive L-2000, even with the G&L running into the -6db input. It could just be that the Jazz would sound nicer through anything but I have a feeling that the YBA200 sounds better with passive basses.

Joe

 

[Stuart O)))]

I know that this is an old thread, but I have followed it since I got my YBA 200 and YBX 1510. It is my first tube amp and I have been very happy with this setup. I have been experiencing this strange low end harmonic overdrive when hitting the low notes. I thought that it was a speaker going bad but I decided to re-tube first.

I went with the Stock Sovtek 6550WEs but I decided to try some JJ 5751 pre amp tubes. There are many entries in this thread that suggested lower gain pre-amps hight give this amp more headroom. I am not sure about that, but I would agree with the entries that the 5751's make the amp "more musical" "tighter and punchier" With the 5751's I have not lost any of the aggressive drive that I LOVE in this amp. Adding the 5751's made this great amp been better!

Still not sure about this strange low end harmonic overdrive when hitting the low notes, I think I have a bad speaker but I cannot put my finger on it.

 

[rodl2005]

Me too Stu. Been following it since I got my YBA200 also. I have changed the power tubes to JJ's but haven't tried swapping any pre amp tubes as yet. Might do soon.

 

[MIJ-VI]

I know that this is an old thread, but I have followed it since I got my YBA 200 and YBX 1510. It is my first tube amp and I have been very happy with this setup. I have been experiencing this strange low end harmonic overdrive when hitting the low notes. I thought that it was a speaker going bad but I decided to re-tube first.

I went with the Stock Sovtek 6550WEs but I decided to try some JJ 5751 pre amp tubes. There are many entries in this thread that suggested lower gain pre-amps hight give this amp more headroom. I am not sure about that, but I would agree with the entries that the 5751's make the amp "more musical" "tighter and punchier" With the 5751's I have not lost any of the aggressive drive that I LOVE in this amp. Adding the 5751's made this great amp been better!

Still not sure about this strange low end harmonic overdrive when hitting the low notes, I think I have a bad speaker but I cannot put my finger on it.

Hi Stuart.

If you start a thread on your YBA200's problem then it will likely attract the attention of TalkBass' tube techs.

Just be sure the thread's title indicates a problem with a YBA200 and includes the word 'help'.

(Please pardon me for being seemingly obvious, but I've seen a few ambiguously titled amp-help threads which went unanswered.)

 

[narcopolo]

about traynor i will say that when my 200 exploded a few weeks ago, the american customer service office was awful. i received a terse email telling me that the amp design is flawless and that's pretty much the end of that.
so i emailed the canadian office and they were amazing. all i had to pay for was shipping, and they retubed it with 88's and fixed the anti-biasing circuit (essentially upgrading it to the mark 2).
btw, i did NOT have a valid warranty, so this is pretty freaking cool of them.
the amp may not be perfect, but yorkville earned my loyalty.
as soon as i put something smooth in the pre section, we'll really be cookin' . . .

 

[RevGroove]

about traynor i will say that when my 200 exploded a few weeks ago, the american customer service office was awful. i received a terse email telling me that the amp design is flawless and that's pretty much the end of that.
so i emailed the canadian office and they were amazing. all i had to pay for was shipping, and they retubed it with 88's and fixed the anti-biasing circuit (essentially upgrading it to the mark 2).
btw, i did NOT have a valid warranty, so this is pretty freaking cool of them.
the amp may not be perfect, but yorkville earned my loyalty.
as soon as i put something smooth in the pre section, we'll really be cookin' . . .

Wow, I'm surprised at that...check your PM in a bit please!

 

[Osobass]

I love my original YBA-200. I just retubed it for the 2nd time. I've stuck with 6550s to be safe since it's still auto biasing. I did change the V1 from an "X" to a "T" several years back. I routinely run a 2x10 and 1x15 with the gain at 8 and master on 8. It drives the stage with plenty of round warm tone. I'm told that the front mix from the DI sounds good. What's not to love? If you want to pay 3x more for better looks get an Orange. If you need limitless tube power get an SVT or similar 300-400W offering.

 

[Shane Carter]

about traynor i will say that when my 200 exploded a few weeks ago, the american customer service office was awful. i received a terse email telling me that the amp design is flawless and that's pretty much the end of that.
so i emailed the canadian office and they were amazing. all i had to pay for was shipping, and they retubed it with 88's and fixed the anti-biasing circuit (essentially upgrading it to the mark 2).
btw, i did NOT have a valid warranty, so this is pretty freaking cool of them.
the amp may not be perfect, but yorkville earned my loyalty.

This was the same exact experience I had with mine. Around and around with a "customer service" person in the US. Mine was still under warranty the 2nd time it went bad. After I paid for a new matched quartet of power tubes and it went out, after less than 2 hours on the tubes, I sent it back. They did the -2 upgrade and it's been fine since, although I still don't have a lot of hours on it. I would buy Yorkville again, as I feel they did provide great service in the end, fixing the amp, new KT88's and shipping it back to me.
Edited to add that I really like this amp, lighter than the SVT, but more voiced like a B-15.

 

[failuresXbass]

Had a similar issue with the self-biasing with mine. I had to send it back & pay for new tubes, and they upgraded it to -2 spec - the amp has been A+ since.

This was last February, and I have played it alot since it came back. I would buy from Traynor again.

 

[Stuart O)))]

This was the same exact experience I had with mine. Around and around with a "customer service" person in the US. Mine was still under warranty the 2nd time it went bad. After I paid for a new matched quartet of power tubes and it went out, after less than 2 hours on the tubes, I sent it back. They did the -2 upgrade and it's been fine since, although I still don't have a lot of hours on it. I would buy Yorkville again, as I feel they did provide great service in the end, fixing the amp, new KT88's and shipping it back to me.
Edited to add that I really like this amp, lighter than the SVT, but more voiced like a B-15.

I wish that I was having this experience with Traynor right now. My problem with strange sub-harmonic distortion got worse and one practice, the amp cut out completely. I had the amp re-tubed but the issue persisted.

I drove it over to the dealer, and we confirmed by playing with some other gear that the problem stayed with my head and not the DynaBass that we used for comparism. That was AFTER a full re-tube in early November.

At some point the local tech gave up and sent it up to Traynor in Canada, and I have heard nothing, not a word, until I called them this week. I found that a technician checked it out "a few weeks ago" and could find nothing wrong. Nobody, not Traynor or the dealer, had contacted me to inform me of this.

The Traynor rep wants to know if I want to pay $300+ for the revised, non-self bias output, so it won't blow up like Shane Carter can testify. I have urged him and the tech to try again to find the problem I sent it in for. I shure wish that they would offer me a free un-self-bias fix like they did for this other guy!

I firmly believe that repair work should be best done by those who know the circuits the best. I am an industrial controls technician by trade. But I am feeling like a real RUBE right now! For over ten years I fixed industrial motor drives and serviced robots and the like. All this is just hardening my resolve to study up and hand wire me a Hiwatt DR201.

 

[RevGroove]

I wish that I was having this experience with Traynor right now. My problem with strange sub-harmonic distortion got worse and one practice, the amp cut out completely. I had the amp re-tubed but the issue persisted.

I drove it over to the dealer, and we confirmed by playing with some other gear that the problem stayed with my head and not the DynaBass that we used for comparism. That was AFTER a full re-tube in early November.

At some point the local tech gave up and sent it up to Traynor in Canada, and I have heard nothing, not a word, until I called them this week. I found that a technician checked it out "a few weeks ago" and could find nothing wrong. Nobody, not Traynor or the dealer, had contacted me to inform me of this.

The Traynor rep wants to know if I want to pay $300+ for the revised, non-self bias output, so it won't blow up like Shane Carter can testify. I have urged him and the tech to try again to find the problem I sent it in for. I shure wish that they would offer me a free un-self-bias fix like they did for this other guy!

I firmly believe that repair work should be best done by those who know the circuits the best. I am an industrial controls technician by trade. But I am feeling like a real RUBE right now! For over ten years I fixed industrial motor drives and serviced robots and the like. All this is just hardening my resolve to study up and hand wire me a Hiwatt DR201.

Sorry this seems to be taking so long to resolve, when did your tech send it in? Can you PM me the details?

 

[Stuart O)))]

So I got my amp back last week. They replaced the output section with one with a conventional bias and replaced a mismatched tube. They did it as a warranty as I already paid for the retube during the initial service. So it is effectively a YBA200-2 now. I used it at practice last night and it sounds great now.

Thanks to the good people at Long and McQuade for their guidance in facilitating the repair of my very elusive issue.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

As I just acquired one of these as my first all tube head, bumping this for good info

 

[Laurent]

What specifically are you looking for?