Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special

[Randall]

Just re-capped it, clipped the death cap, and installed a new power safety cord. Biased it according to the schematic, which I must admit is a little lost on me. Adjust for 8vdc drop on a 20 watt screen resistor, while also sending bias voltage to the suppressor grids?

Also was able to press out a significant dent at the inputs. Surprised at just how quiet it runs. 550v B+. Fan cooled. Heavy as a couch on moving day.

[LOUDthud]

That's the "slide out" rubber bumper chassis. Only made for a year or two in the early 70's. Later versions had a removable top on the head box. Much easier to work on. AFAIK only the earliest versions up to about 1967 had a choke. It's possible to date the amp from the serial number. I moded an early one for my personal bass amp. It was very heavy after I added a choke.

[bcmatt]

It is my absolute favourate bass tone. I tracked down one for $300 for my bass player. It has the original Phillips EL34 still sounding great. It has a choke and no master and I thought it was about a 1968 based on different schematics I found, but I could be ogf a little bit. I recapped it when we got it and here it is sitting right in front of me as we drive back to Vancouver in our motorhome (we fly to Japan on Sunday and sadly are taking no amps with us). I'm taking this photo from the couch, our drummer is driving, Kristine (our singer/bass player) is in front of it and the legendary Aaron Mokry (20 year-old rock and blues guitar virtuouso who is our new second guitar) is sort of blocking our view of the YBA-3.

But ya, I think the whole idea of these amps are pretty cool. An interesting power setup that easily gets 130 clean Watts out of a quad of EL34s and still keeps them going for 50 years; I think I'll be cloning this amp once they can't be found any more. The perfect amount of power for most club gigs so that you get some real sweet bass growl.

[Randall]

Yep. That's the one I have here. The fan is a bit pooched, tho. It's a round 115v.