Members jasonf Posted January 29, 2011 Members Share Posted January 29, 2011 I have had my YCS-50 combo since about last March and I love it. The sound from channel one is pure dirt rock. I notice a huge diference between my Les Paul and my strat. With the Les Pual, I get hard driven gain (alnico 2 pups) ala gnr. With my strat, the gain isnt so much there giving it a real 70's era sound. With both guitars, I can clean up channel one using just the volume controls. I find thought that it is not friendly with my gt-8 as I get too much breakup on channel 2 while playing clean and no cmos or preamp turn on the gt-8 (conventional setup). I have tried the 4 cable method and that is great with chanel 2 but I get too much hiss on channel 1. I have also tried the effects loop end, which is okay, but still get hiss. I am going to try routing after the premanp with the other option on the back ; preamp out, amp in jacks. If this doent work, then bye-bye gt-8 (not a big fan of it anyways... too many effects for what I want). Aside from that.. great amp. I may try to play with different tubes. Any good feedback on clearity on channel 2 vs gain on channel1 with say jj's? Also, when setting up pedals, what goes through the effects loop, guitqar and premap sections.. I'm sure this can make a diffence when setting up a pedal board... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lefty Blues Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Hi everybody, I have a Traynor YCS90. I am really happy with the sound of that amp, but I have some wishes to make the amp even better for my taste: 1. Channel 2 (clean channel) of the YCS90 has a huge amount of headroom. In general, this is great, but I would like to have a little bit more crunch in that channel. The gain pot is not very effective so far. 2. The boost respectively boost pot on channel 2 is not very effective either. I wish it had more gain or distortion. I already tried changes of speakers (one Eminence Governor and one Eminence Red Fang and they are perfect!) and many, really many changes of input and output tubes (JJ KT77), but I am not 100% satisfied. For this reason, I am considering some changes of capacitors and resistors. Has anybody suggestions which capacitors or resistors have to be changed to achieve these sound modifications? You can find the service manual with all information here: http://www.traynoramps.com/downloads/servman/smycs90.pdf. I know that this kind of work is dangerous and I will not do the modding without experienced assistance. Kind regards and thanks so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Firebrand Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Can't speak to the 90, but the boost on my YCS-50 works great. As for the clean channel, the EQ type and the EQ itself is instrumental in getting more breakup from it. That being said having a good overdrive to use just for the clean channel is a big help to get the grit most people would desire. I have been a satisfied owner of a YCS-50 since 2006. It is the total tube amp contrast to my Black Pearl 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ledvedder Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I would say, just get a boost of some kind to use in front of the clean channel. I wouldn't go messing with cap and resistor changes. This may alter some other aspects of the amp that you're currently happy with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lefty Blues Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks for your quick replies! I would say, just get a boost of some kind to use in front of the clean channel. I wouldn't go messing with cap and resistor changes. This may alter some other aspects of the amp that you're currently happy with. Yep, there is a risk of changin the sound character, but these changes are not irreversible. I would like to try it. I tried to use many different overdrive pedals in front of the clean channel, e.g. Analogman King of Tone V4, Analogman Maxon OD9 and many others, but the clean channel of the YCS90 did not like them very well. The use of overdrive pedals in channel 1 produces fine results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members came2play Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I also have the YCS90.I currently use SED Winged C 6L6GC's in the power section, and Tung Sol preamp tubes.I'm very happy with the sound. I run mine in 25 watt, class A mode most of the time. The clean channel can get a bit more gain if you push the "Brit" button which reconfigures the tone stack. Still, it's not alot of gain. Easier break-up with humbuckers.But I really don't want break-up from my clean channel. I think the amp offers a very good balance of clean headroom from the clean channel and then good crunch from the drive channel. I get many compliments on the tone from other guitarists. The only circuitry mod I have done is changing the value of a bias resistor, so the bias pot range was more suited to both EL34's and 6L6's. Stock, I couldn't acheive proper bias on JJ EL34's. I also use drive pedals into the clean channel which sounds superb. Good luck, c2p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members came2play Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 Also, on your settings,(clean channel)Try this: Gain - 4:00Volume - 4:00Treb, Mid, Bass, - to suit Master Volume - 12:00- 1:00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lefty Blues Posted March 14, 2011 Members Share Posted March 14, 2011 I also have the YCS90.I currently use SED Winged C 6L6GC's in the power section, and Tung Sol preamp tubes.I'm very happy with the sound. I run mine in 25 watt, class A mode most of the time.The clean channel can get a bit more gain if you push the "Brit" button which reconfigures the tone stack. Still, it's not alot of gain. Easier break-up with humbuckers.But I really don't want break-up from my clean channel. I think the amp offers a very good balance of clean headroom from the clean channel and then good crunch from the drive channel. I get many compliments on the tone from other guitarists.The only circuitry mod I have done is changing the value of a bias resistor, so the bias pot range was more suited to both EL34's and 6L6's. Stock, I couldn't acheive proper bias on JJ EL34's.I also use drive pedals into the clean channel which sounds superb.Good luck,c2p I used a quad of SED Winged C 6L6GCs before I swiched to JJ KT77s which belongs to the EL34 family. I did not have the change the value of the bias resistor to rebias to a proper EL34 value. I liked the warmth and clarity of the SED Winged C 6L6s, but they were too bassy for my taste. The KT77s offer more grittiness in the mids and a firmer bass without sacrificing a clear treble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zhorellski Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 Hey Traynor YCS 50/90/100H Gang!! looking to change the tubes of me ycs50 combo.. what's a good combination pre/power tubes? me want extra bass IF possible? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ledvedder Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hey Traynor YCS 50/90/100H Gang!! looking to change the tubes of me ycs50 combo.. what's a good combination pre/power tubes? me want extra bass IF possible? thanks! When I had mine, I was pretty happy with this setup:V1 - Tungsol RIV2 - Penta LabsV3 - Sovtek LPSPower - Ruby EL34BSTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 Had a great 6 hour jam session last night with the YCS50. I had it propped up at about thigh level and noticed that the amp can be extremely harsh if you are directly in front of it. Off to the side the harshness goes away and when I put it on the floor (cement with thin carpet) the harshness also went away and I had to turn the bass down a bit. Also tried my newly acquired MXR-108 Classic Fuzz for the first time at high volume and I loved it. I tried it on channel 2 with USA and Brit mode, fuzz on USA was better in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zhorellski Posted August 13, 2011 Members Share Posted August 13, 2011 I'm planning of having my YCS50 combo modded, EL34 and Bass Mod? I know this guy (tv, radio, amp electric tech) who can do the mod but he needs instructions.. Have any of you done such mod? appreciate the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Axegod Posted February 23, 2012 Members Share Posted February 23, 2012 No action in this (dead) thread for a while....I go a genz benz gflex 2x12, and will report how this sounds..in a while..hope the open combo and low end cab match up nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Swapping out my power tubes for Ruby EL34BSTRs today. I'm looking through this thread for the best instructions for biasing but it is a huge thread. Anybody have a link to the biasing instructions? I want to make sure I'm checking the right points and also keeping mV vs mA correctly. Also, I think I remember reading at one point that older YCS50 have a different bias setting than newer ones, is that right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ledfoot Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 I just put in a set of Tung Sol EL34B's last night in my YCS50h. So far I'm really liking them. They seem to have a nice strong bottom end and at this point seem a little darker than the EH EL34's. If you go to the Traynor website and look for the YCS50 they have a link to download the service manual with biasing instruction at the very end of the manual. This is a great link and thread for biasing this amp with pictures that should give you everything you need, good luck. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=423519&highlight=Traynor+YCS50H+bias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sloppy Fingers Posted June 6, 2012 Members Share Posted June 6, 2012 I'm a little surprised at all the tube and speaker swapping in this thread, I stuck an MXR 10 band eq in the loop and got fairly instant results knocking down 4 k a bunch and boosting the low mids a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted June 12, 2012 Members Share Posted June 12, 2012 Well the EL34B's sound good so far. I also found out that taking the amp out of the chassis and biasing from the top is 1000xs easier than doing it from the bottom. The bias wires and adjustment screws are much more easily accessible, and you don't have to worry about touching the hot tubes or accidentally touching the meter probes to the chassis and getting strange readings. I just propped it up on books, right side up. Overview of the bias wire and ground point areas: Bias Wires & adjustment screw and ground point: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sloppy Fingers Posted June 13, 2012 Members Share Posted June 13, 2012 I'll have to check the bias on mine,but I doubt it's too far out because it seems to sound pretty good. I haven't even checked if it's got the stock tubes in it( got it super cheap used). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted August 2, 2012 Members Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looking for preamp tube suggestions, what do you all use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted August 13, 2012 Members Share Posted August 13, 2012 This thread seems quiet these days, but I'm hoping a fellow YCS50 owner can help me out. It would be great if someone could check their amp and tell me if these are just normal noises or not. I've tried trading out preamp and power tubes, cleaned all tube pins/sockets and jacks with contact cleaner. There are a couple of amp noises in the below video that I don't remember being there before. Power tubes are biased to 80mV. No instrument or cable is plugged in for the video. 1. The "whoosh" sound heard throughout. I don't remember this being present when I first bought the amp. Really not that big of a deal but I'd like to quiet it down a bit if I can. 2. Squealing/feedback when the channel 2 volume and master are turned up. [video=youtube;JcGsHii5ZXA] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sloppy Fingers Posted August 14, 2012 Members Share Posted August 14, 2012 Mine doesn't make that squealing sound, I do have some noise but it's way quieter than my 6505+ if that helps at all. Maybe you have a bad tube in there somewhere? Try swapping out the preamp tubes one at a time and see if it goes away. I replaced all the original Sovtek's with Tesla's and it's a little noisier than when I got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thurston Posted August 14, 2012 Members Share Posted August 14, 2012 Yeah I was able to take care of the squealing by swapping preamp tubes around, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members f1champ Posted July 3, 2013 Members Share Posted July 3, 2013 I am looking to retube my Traynor YCS50 combo. I play classic rock, blues and 80's hair metal music thru either a Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro or a Fender Lone Star (HSS) Strat. I have looked online and the following 2 suggestions have been suggested: Option #1:2x TAD 6L6WGC-STR & 3x Tung-Sol 12AX7 Option #2:2x RUBY 6L6GCMSTR's and 3 x 12AX7's : Tung-Sol in V1, Ruby 7025SS HG in V2 then a Sovtek LPS in V3 Has anyone run these combinations before? If so, do you think they will suit my musical styles? If not, any recommendations? This is my first tube amp, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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