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Traynor YCS-50. I really like this thing.

GCDEF

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OranJuice Newbie

OranJuice

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UPS are so bloody incompetent. I'm betting the amp will arrive pretty beaten up. All they have to do is fly it to Hawaii. The amp left NY, then KY, arriving in CA, then flew back east to NC (where the government held it for a day), came back to CA, and now it's in Alaska.
:facepalm:

 

Hey, i'm from Hawaii as well, and i've been thinking of ordering the head version.

 

How much did the shipping cost?

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dudeman1967 Newbie

dudeman1967

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UPS are so bloody incompetent. I'm betting the amp will arrive pretty beaten up. All they have to do is fly it to Hawaii. The amp left NY, then KY, arriving in CA, then flew back east to NC (where the government held it for a day), came back to CA, and now it's in Alaska.
:facepalm:



It looks like your amp went on tour without you. :wave:

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Tool Shedd Newbie

Tool Shedd

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Next day air is $300

2nd day air is $221

 

 

Crikey! And I was feeling bad because I had to pay $55 in sales tax for mine! (I'm in Central NY.) They shipped it Monday (free via Fedex) and it arrived here Tuesday.

 

I ordered the YCS50H head version and so far I'm loving it. I did some tube swapping today, currently have Tung-Sol EL34B's (New Sensor "reissues") and a mix of various 12AX7s in it and it is sounding amazing. The best $450 I've spent in a long time (with the recent 10% off ebay coupon, 25% live.com cashback and 5% ebay bucks rebate all aligning over the weekend I couldn't pass it up at that price.)

 

I have a question, it appears that there are 3 test points on the amp one by each tube and then another between the left tube and the transformer. Anyone know what that one is for? I e-mailed Traynor about that today, haven't received a reply yet.

 

Traynor was very quick to reply when I e-mailed them over the weekend to see if tubes bedsides the 5881s, EL34s and 6L6s listed in the manual might be compatible. (I'm partial to KT77s and KT66s in my Univalve.) FYI they told me...

 

"KT77 and KT66 will be fine, as will any other 6L6GC or EL34 equivalent. KT88 and 6550 are not to be used in any Custom Special (YCS) series amplifiers. Negative outcomes ranging from poor sound to amplifier damage would result."

 

I need to get a matched pair of KT77s now, has anyone tried the New Sensor Gold Lion "Reissue" KT77s? They are extremely expensive, the lowest I've seen is $99/pair at Tube Depot. A pair of JJ KT77s is only $40 or so, the Gold Lions better be sonic gold and last forever at that price... (granted it is cheap compared to NOS or even used "real" ones.)

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bluesman09 Newbie

bluesman09

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Well guys, I guess I'm in the club. Just pulled the trigger on a YCS-50 combo from Proaudiostar on ebay. $654.21 shipped. Can't wait to try it out. Maybe I'll get a new set of tubes for it as well, I'll have to see what the tone is like. :D

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jaytee123 Newbie

jaytee123

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I tried out Traynor's newest combo, the YCS-50 with the band this weekend. For the money, it's easily the best amp I've ever seen. Really good feature set for people like me that need a wide variety of tones.


It's two channel, each with its one tone, gain and volume controls, effects and reverb levels. Master volume affects both channels.


The clean channel has two settings, Brit and USA. The USA stays super clean and bright no matter what you do to the gain. In the USA (Fender) setting the gain just fattens the sound without adding much distortion. Think Fender Twin.


In the Brit setting, it breaks up much earlier and gets a good amount of crunch. I'm thinking it's going for a BluesBreaker kind of sound. I used this setting in conjunction with the volume controls on the guitar and a volume pedal in the loop to get as much clean to medium crunch as I wanted.


The drive channel has two setting also, vintage and modern. Vintage is more a hair band kind of sound, good screaming Marshall tone. Modern adds an aggressive buzz, more like a Mesa. It's a good buzz, not an annoying one. It also has a boost switch with a variable level. The boost is more like Mesa's contour switch in that it fattens the sound more than actually makes it louder.


It's switchable between 15 and 50 watts. I only used the 15 watt setting, and found the volume on that setting ideal for practice with a drummer. I had a little left on the master, so for me, that's probably good for gigging too. I imagine the 50 watt setting would be plenty for those that like it really loud.


Another really cool feature is its compensated line out. I plugged it into a Yorkville powered monitor and it sounded surprisingly good. One of the few line outs on an amp that's actually usable. I believe I'll use that instead of a mic for gigs - at least I wouldn't be afraid to try it. The line out if pre-master, so changes in the master volume don't affect the strength of the line out signal, which is really handy. You can adjust the stage level without discombobulating the PA mix. The line out also works when the amp is in standby, so you can record silently or use it as a direct feed to the board.


The amp itself has more bass than I'm used to in a combo. The box is huge. It's the biggest 1x12 that I can remember, which may account for the bass. I found myself dialing it back some.


Two things I'd want to change. The USA/Brit and Vintage/Modern switches are great. I'd love to have them footswitchable. The speaker is hardwired, making disconnecting it to use a cabinet or attenuator difficult.


I got it shipped to my door for $679. It's absolutely the best $679 amp I've ever come across. It would still be a good amp at twice the price.

 

 

clips?

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Squeakor Newbie

Squeakor

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Ugh lol


I think i'll just stick with my plan of getting the Ceriatone Plexi50

 

 

Sounds like a good plan. Nik is good people. I nearly ordered a Vibroverb clone from him back in January, but I ended up bowing out because the $461.00 shipping was too much.

 

Enjoy and post a review.

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diddlybo Newbie

diddlybo

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This will give you some idea. I'm stage right, left of your screen. The Time solo is all amp, with a little delay. The audio/video synch is off but you'll get some idea.


http://www.imeem.com/people/49QAPtX//video/4F5yMCDZ/gg_gratta_time_comfortably_numb_music_video/



Hey, are you playing a blond Heritage 535 in that clip? That's funny, my main gigging guitar when I use this amp is also a blond Heritage 535. Sounds good to me.:thu:

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GCDEF Newbie

GCDEF

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Hey, are you playing a blond Heritage 535 in that clip? That's funny, my main gigging guitar when I use this amp is also a blond Heritage 535. Sounds good to me.
:thu:



It's red, but yeah, it's a 535. It's a good combination.

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diddlybo Newbie

diddlybo

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It's red, but yeah, it's a 535. It's a good combination.



I thought it was a blondie. Yeah, that is a great combination. I've used this amp with teles, strats, LPs, LP jr, and an Explorer but I keep going back to the 535.

I'm surprised more people don't use Heritage guitars. I've had custom shop stuff, loads of Fenders and Gibsons, Andersons, and so on but my 535 is probably the best guitar I have ever had.

Oh yeah, the clips and your band sound great. :thu:

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guitarded_1 Newbie

guitarded_1

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F it...I'm pulling the trigger on the YCS50 head this coming week. Traynor has one of the best warranties in the biz and the dealer has a 30 day return policy. The price rocks, and I have a 10% off ebay coupon. I smell a NAD quickly approaching.:wave:

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GCDEF Newbie

GCDEF

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I thought it was a blondie. Yeah, that is a great combination. I've used this amp with teles, strats, LPs, LP jr, and an Explorer but I keep going back to the 535.


I'm surprised more people don't use Heritage guitars. I've had custom shop stuff, loads of Fenders and Gibsons, Andersons, and so on but my 535 is probably the best guitar I have ever had.


Oh yeah, the clips and your band sound great.
:thu:



Thanks. When I listen to it on that sight, the sound seems to jump around a lot, like it's leaving parts out to catch up with itself. It didn't sound like that when we played it. :cry:

I have the 535, and American Deluxe Tele and and American Deluxe Strat. They're all really nice guitars. I prefer the 535 to any of the 335s I've owned.

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Stephan1980 Newbie

Stephan1980

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Thanks. When I listen to it on that sight, the sound seems to jump around a lot, like it's leaving parts out to catch up with itself. It didn't sound like that when we played it.
:cry:

I have the 535, and American Deluxe Tele and and American Deluxe Strat. They're all really nice guitars. I prefer the 535 to any of the 335s I've owned.




Noted.

(was thinking about getting something like that)

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weetadsFTW Newbie

weetadsFTW

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can someone post a vid w/ their gain maxed?
you compare this to a mesa, and mine is not close even after boosting it with a tubescreamer.
is mine faulty? when i got it my reverb tank was not working untill i shook it up a little.

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Stephan1980 Newbie

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can someone post a vid w/ their gain maxed?

you compare this to a mesa, and mine is not close even after boosting it with a tubescreamer.

is mine faulty? when i got it my reverb tank was not working untill i shook it up a little.

 

 

This amp is nothing like a Mesa, but if you turn the modern and scoop switches on and eq it properly it can do 90's metal pretty well. Just my opinion tho. I believe this amp excels at classic rock up to 90's metal and everything in between. It's not a super high gain amp. The highest I usually set my gain is 9 on the gain, 7 on the boost, and boosted with a bad monkey.... but I never leave it that way for very long. I like the boost disengaged, switches all off, and gain between 5 and 9 depending on what I'm playing. I typically like the eq to be all at 5 too.

 

Perhaps an EQ would help you out.

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Stephan1980 Newbie

Stephan1980

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I checked it out again and it sounded pretty good like this.

Modern switch ON; Scoop switch ON:
Gain: 9
Boost: 7
Volume:8
Treble: 4
Mids: 2:
Bass: 3
Presence: 5
Resonance: 3-4

Sounded very gainy on my amp.... kinda like... hmm... some high gain person. :D

Oh yeah, the stock preamp tubes in v1 and v2 are not very high gain 12ax7's... that would make a big difference as well. I have a Tung Sol in V1 and a JJ ecc83s in V2 as well as v3, and Tung Sol 5881's in the power amp. I would try buying a couple of 12ax7's... perhaps a TS or Mullard RI's for v1 and either JJ or Chines 9th Gen. for v2. and see if you can get one test for high gain as well.

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