1970 Traynor YSR-1 Custom Reverb Head DEMO & OVERVIEW
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Here's we look at and discuss the schematic, interior construction, and tone of the Traynor YSR-1 Custom Reverb. Traynor amps are very high build quality, easily rivaling Fender and Marshall at the time this was made. The transformers are massive, made by Hammond. Original Gibbs spring reverb. In fact, other than the changes I made - adding a 3-prong cord, removing death cap, repairing reverb tank, and cleaning - this one appeared to be 100% original.
Build quality and circuit design is as good as it gets. Canadian manufacturing has always been great.
i am totally gassing for one of these. i believe i've watched this video at least 20 times. Great entertainment.
I've had one for 30 years, this is how I found Brad's channel. I knew nothing about it. It was used as a bass amp! It's my favorite head now. WAY louder than 50 watts!! 100% original components, zero problems.
i just got a traynor ygl1 which is a reissue of a 15W amp tube combo...great amp. Traynor is a rock solid amp and canadian made. the original builder, Pete Traynor, played in bands with very young robby robertson in toronto. Cool amps with great back story. Used to throw the prototype amp off the roof and if they could replace the tubes and it worked, it went into production.
Dude... This was 7 darned years ago and YT had the decency to put this in my feed. I need to go back and watch the vids I missed. I know I wasn't a subscriber at this time.
So much has transpired from then till now. Wow.... Some day when I am free of my current situation I would love to sit and buy you a coffee or perhaps something else amd just talk about the weather with ya. I've beem a subscriber for quite a while now and you have been a seriously cool constant. All the crap that has happened even from when I first stumbled upon your channel till now is a tremendous amount of good and ill.
Thanks B, today is my birthday (58) and it was just spent chilling and reflective about all that I have experienced over the last 6 years since I moved back to Mass from Baltimore. It's been a lot of good and ill here as well.
This was fun and even a little theraputic after a fashion. Thanks for being a good dude. Always a friend brother...
Man the things we let slip through our fingers when we're young and dumb ,hindsight is a big time ass kicker
Unlike a lot of TH-cam videos - Yours was actually useful and informative - Thanks
Thanks, Jay. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already. I have a lot of videos in the can and a lot of cool ones lined up as well.
My 1977 Traynor ygm3 had the bug carcasses and stuff all in it as well. I traded my dad years ago for it. Dont know where he got it. But anyways...someone took a razor and sliced up the stock speaker. Lol. I slapped in an Eminence Legend 1258. New tubes and caps. Did a couple simple mods I got from youtube...shes by far the best sounding 20 watt combo Ive ever had. A real Marshall killer. And lots of clean headroom. The reverb and trem is insanely good sounding. I also have a 1x12 wide cabinet Garnet stencil amp with a single 6v6 tube and 2 12ax7 preamp tubes. Another Canadian gem. This thing sounds unreal as well.
Excellent amp and great video ! Wish I had one of these babies !
+HipGuitar Thanks! And thanks for watching.
I do have one of these, and others.
@@kengevers8738 compared to a fender reverb, is this a quality amplifier? I found one for sale, and I’m looking for a deluxe reverb or showman type amp. I play mostly Surf rock/rockabilly. So reverb and tremolo are extremely important to me.
That was a nice explanation of the amp! I also acquired a YSR-1 head with a YF-10 cab at a very reasonable price about ten years ago. Just like yours, mine had little bug carcasses and similar chassis stains. I used a leaf blower and bristle brushes to clean it (works great). The reverb had the same problem, but the transducer failed upon re-soldering . At the time, I was able to get a replacement reverb transducer from Sound Enhancement Products (Hammond/Accutronics), Geneva, Il. Overall, I had a fun time restoring it..
I sold off about half a dozen Traynors 3 years ago.i side to find them dirt cheap. I kept the best two YBA-1 and a few other pieces. Very common here in Canada but the prices have gone up.
The Yorkville/Traynor history is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkville_Sound and you won't be surprised that a former repairman designed their products and was a VP. I had some brand new Peavey subs that never worked right, and one even caught fire at a show, so I switched to big Yorkville subs and never looked back! I also have a Traynor Acoustic Master Custom (solid state acoustic amp, sorry), and a few Mesa products. LOVE the Yorkville stuff!
Hello! I really enjoyed you video. it seems the most informative on the amp, because you're not only a great technician, you are also a great player. Thank you!
Hey Peter. Thanks for that. I appreciate you watching and taking time to comment.
Someone sells the same amp for 650$ in my country, so I was thinking to give it a run to use it as a pedal platform to use it with my Bad Cat 2-Tone and with Torpedo Live with guitar and bass. I believe it's a great device to use that way :)
By the way, I'm torn between this one and a Sovtek Mig-50. But thinking more towards Traynor, because I love tremolos :)
Between this and the Sovtek, I'd take the Traynor.
Thank you!
Please, keep doing your amazing videos! :)
Was able to pick up a YSR-1 and cab for $350 recently. Killer amp!
What part of the country? That's one heck of a great deal you found!
@@Fr0stbyte89 Danvers, MA Guitar Center. They had it for $599 for a long time and then it dropped to $349 and I snatched it up.
@@Fr0stbyte89 thats a normal price,I got a ysr-1 and 410 traynor cab both in great shape for $425 cdn
Love that Traynor! Great, informative video, Brad!
andris schóber Thanks for watching and taking time to comment! Yeah, I agree. Traynor amps are vastly underrated and their vintage ones are often overlooked where they do not deserve to be.
I have a late 60s YSR-1 and I remember all of the wipers had come loose when I got it 20ys ago. Took them apart and reattached with tiny brass screws. Did the usual power cord fix, added a bias trim and played with the treble caps. It is still my favorite amp to jam through for vintage tone although I haven’t used it regularly for several years. Sadly I replaced it for live sets with a modern 3 channel 100w head that I never really liked the sound of. The effects loop and master volume however made me tolerate it for years. Like most channel-switching amps that I’ve owned it fails to deliver on the promise of a Blackface in CH1, CH2 sounds nothing like a plexi and CH3 cannot be described within the context of any civil discussion.
After watching this a couple months ago I have been playing through the YSR-1 almost every day. Kinda pissed me off when when stacking pedals it can chug some drop tuned humbucker riffs tighter than my Mesa. This triggered me to pull the nomad 100 chasis out and search for a way to stiffen up the spongy power supply. After acquiring all new radial 450v caps in double their stock value all I need to do is flip the damn board up to do it.
That was a month ago, still haven’t done it. For some reason after working all day I would rather come home and play guitar through anything before working on a Mesa Boogie! An old radio, a toaster, anything other than work on this particular type of PCB amp! And I don’t mind working on any of my other amps. Worse than Ampeg even. I should have picked up a Traynor combo for the living room before they all got hoarded up, it’s cold down in my studio sometimes when the old bones hurt.
Been a Traynor geek for years. Pawn shops all over Michigan had these for next to nothing. Not anymore. Secrets out on these tank like gems. Pete Traynor overbuilt these beasts to last. These are proper tube amps. Grab em up before the next guy. Prices are already getting up there.
It's funny. Right before you mentioned it, I was thinking "It's all in phase. I bet that thing really screams when you jumper the channels." lol
Got a bunch of old Traynors that I bought when you could get them cheap,all PTP and most with the original Mullard 6CA7 s.Huge Hammond Transformers.Change the caps and they are good for another 40 years! Thanks for the video but lets keep this a secret..cheers
+Leslie Dukes The young generation doesn't know about these for sure. I think the secret's safe if they keep getting gear advice from GC.
The Guitologist the secret is not safe.. yba's.. ygm's and especially the yba2's are fetching big bucks up here in Canada. .. a place where vintage Traynor is common.
Would you like to sell me one?!
I love your video! I just got one with the original cabinet yesterday. I made a short video about it including some stuff mic'd up in my studio. It's on my channel if you want to see it.
But before I went and got it I watched your video. So thanks for posting this!
I’ve got a YGL-3 Mark 3 2x12 combo, 2ch/100W/reverb/tremelo I picked up at a pawn shop for $150 in great condition when I was visiting my parents over fall break about 25 years back. Great amp, built like a tank and about as heavy. 😂 Responds very well to pedals as well. Could probably use some freshening, as far as I know the guts are all original.
These things are really still affordable. They can be had for less than 600 bucks, if you know where to look. These are what the Fuchs ODS amps start as.
You've got great videos! Like this one especially as I had the very same amp and regretfully traded it away for some digital gear. I just might be able to get it back though, so I've got my fingers crossed! keep up the good work!
30 years ago these were 50 bucks in every pawn shop in canada. we all wanted peavey bandits as newbs . lmao. now you pay 5-600 for them and they are BETTER than 70s fenders and marshalls. * with a couple gain mods of course !
Off topic but, have you ever repaired a SoundCity head? Those have some really unique tone and I kick myself for having sold it. I played through a Traynor and liked it.
If you want to hear super great tone out of this sucker, plug it into a bass guitar bottom.
Some pretty fine playing too ! :-)
I have this amp. It was given to me with and ampeg speaker cab with two 15" speakers which were 16 ohm which I blew checking tosh PA with eight ohm outputs to see if it worked. As I am just starting to learn about amps so I can build one I just opened it to prob around and found a schematic in the chasie which is exactly like yours and I was surprised that the output transformer is 8 ohm so I'm wondering now if the 16 ohm speakers were wired in series so they worked on eight ohms but the baskets already went on the dump but now I'm thinking I can use the speakers in my Fender super chorus which is an amp I'm not crazy about but I don't want to ruin those speaker because it's the only working think I have. Would that be safe? There was no name on the head. I thought it was an ampeg because I googled the numbers off the ampeg cab and it looked like the ampeg. Thank you. I didn't know you could jumper that input and that distortion was perfect which seems hard to find in natural distortion so I'm pretty excited at this point.
Do you know Chuck Frank in Edmonton Alberta? He is a good amp tech, has a couple of these that I may buy one.
You mention jumpering the channels a couple times but dong tell us How you do that. So, how you do that ?
I believe that I see this somewhere that you plug a patch cable in channel 1 input 2 to the channel 2 input 1.
Sorry , I just take a look at the end of the video right here 23:33 he's guitar in channel 1 input 1 patch cable in channel 2 input 2 . Take a look ;)
ALL YBA's (and their variants, YSR, YCR, YVM) are 90 Watts. Google History of Yorkville by Mike Holzman. Pete only turned the volume up half-way because he was a bass player and measured the amp just before it started to break up. Cheers!
1973saoirse No they aren't. My 67 YBA-1 small box is a little over 50 watts and my 68 YBA-1 small box puts out a bit over 45 watts. My 69 & 71 YSR-1 amps put out around 50 watts rms(the 71 runs a bit cooler at 48 watts & the 69 is at 52 watts). My 68 YVM-1 PA head also runs a bit below 45 watts, so none of these amps are even close to 90 watts rms. The YBA-1A will most certainly get up to 90 watts rms, but it runs the power tubes differently than a YBA-1, YSR-1, YVM-1, YBA-4 & YRM-1 which all spec out as 50 watts and below.
I assume you are talking about Mike Holman's recollections(not Mike Holzman as you have put in your comment). He addresses what you are talking about in regards to other competitors putting on the peak dissipation figure for the output rather than the real world watts rms measurement that Traynor or Fender put in their amps(you know like how does a Champ type circuit have a 50 watts Max figure on the control panel? They used the peak dissipation rather than the root mean square reading or RMS which is more of a real world measurement). From the article:
"Product-wise, someone must have pointed out to Pete Traynor that there was a rather
large gap in power between the 45 Watt YBA-1 and the 130 Watt YBA-3. In any case,
the YBA-1A "Bass Master Mark II" (90 Watts rms @ 4 Ohms) was ushered in during
1968. Looking identical to the YBA-1 except for its name and a telltale fan built into one
end, the Mark II delivered around double the YBA-1's power from the same two 6CA7
output tubes, a fact which still leaves vintage amp collectors dumbfounded. Soon after
its introduction the YBA-1A encountered growing use by guitar players".
Notice how he put that that YBA-1 is 45 watts and that the YBA-1A is 90 watts? You should re-read the article because he explains the power ratings of Traynor amps very clearly. The YBA-1A runs the tubes at the highest possible voltage so they could run up to 90 watts rms. They also have a great deal of headroom as a result of how this circuit works. I prefer the YBA-1, but the YBA-1A is great sounding amp.
Thanks for misspelling the name so I had to actually search for this attachment. I am going to re-read it later on as it had some interesting Traynor history that I was unaware of. For those that might be interested
www.yorkville.com/downloads/other/yorkvillehistory.pdf
The YSR-1 might be one of my all time favorite amplifiers. It's got great clarity with an excellent tremolo. I always thought it was unfair to say it was a YBA-1 with reverb & tremolo-that would be the YRM-1. The YSR-1 has tone stack that seems more like a brown 6G era early tolex Fender amp. I do not believe there is a cathode follower stage in the YSR-1. The tone stack seems closer to a Baxandall type.
It's Mike Holman
great. why didn't keep my Traynor from 1970? bummed. Use to drive 8 12's for fun with it with a sto
ck sg.
Quick question would $270 be a bargain for one of these? Great video Brad
That would be an insane bargain! Buy it now if it's still available and you haven't done so already!!!
@@Fr0stbyte89 I didn’t win the auction shame
Awesome
That thing really sounds great, doesn't it? I do the same rant as you about all the chintzy flimsy cheesy Chinesey landfill fodder that comes from the "Designed right at the threshold of failure" philosophy these days. They make really pretty cabinets, but that's where the similarly ends. The cabinets make good starting points for projects if you want to gut them, chuck away all the junk, and start over with the good stuff. I've done this a couple of times with great results and happy customers, but that's a very small market, and most people don't know or care about the inner workings of this stuff. They want fast and cheap, and if it sounds OK now, that's all that matters. Most people medicate the hell out of their sound with 20 pedals anyway, and the purity of the guitar and amp is less relevant th than it once was. The stuff in the middle is far more important now. Having said all that, the high point of my day is when somebody who plays well and cares about quality and longevity brings me something like this Traynor and says "Do it right, make it sound its best" Those are the days when I actually feel like I'm doing something.
Just picked one of these up! As far as speakers/cabs. These use 8 ohm load...to run 2 cabs would it be 2 - 16 to total 8, or would you run 2 - 8 to give you 4?
Either will work, but 2x 16s to give you 8 ohms would be the way I’d go, given an option.
The Guitologist much appreciated!
I just found a 68' ysr -1 and as I was tracing out the circuit I noticed it has a cathode follower tone stack but all the schematics I found online dont show a cathode follower. It does have a choke and a reverb transformer, has anyone ever seen a ysr-1 with this type of tone stack or was this amp possibly modded ? All the components seem to be original though.
I have one of these. Would someone help me understand what jumping the channels does? I've seen it on quite a few demo videos for these amps.
It lets you get gain from both preamp tubes. So, a bit more gain. Easier to overdrive the amp with pedals, I’d assume.
With Exceptions! Most guitar store employees don't know what they should. You go to a place like Guitar Center and they're usually just kids. That's the industry's fault for low wages because they promise greedy shareholders double gains on their returns.
I bought a 69 ysr-1 for 25 dollars at a garage sale how much should I spend to have it checked over by a tech it's all original. Is it worth putting money into it to get it up and running thanks
Since no one replied, I'd say it's definitely worth it. I have a 69 yvm-1 and its amazing.
why do you talk abt finagling the chassis? turn the amp/head on its side let gravity be ur helper
i love these vids,!! but, the smacking of the lips brad does makes me have to mute them and watch captions or sometimes just take a break...lol.. sorry, just being honest.. lip smacking just irks me to no end.. and some vids are worse than others.. i wish brad could just switch to not doing it, but i've known other people that cant help from doing it... anyhow regardless keep up the good work.. i love saving old awesome gear from being trashed!!
Jesus Loves You
I bet your legs fall asleep. Get wrapped up in your playing and then.....too late!