Traynor

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This article is about the Canadian corporation. For the influential American jurist, see Roger Traynor

Traynor is a Canadian company—a sub company of Yorkville Sound—which designs and manufactures musical instrument amplifiers. After fading out of existence, Yorkville Sound reintroduced the Traynor brand in 2000 with the YCV40 (Custom Valve) model.

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[edit] History

Original Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special Amp
Original Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special Amp

Created by Peter Traynor who worked as the repair technician at the original Long & McQuade music store in Toronto during the 1960s, Traynor started out by making custom PA systems. He built a customer a pair of column speakers for PA use. They were covered in purple tolex. Other customers seeing these items waiting to be picked up placed orders for columns of their own. Jack Long owner of the Long & McQuade music store noticed Pete's creativity and industrious attitude, together they formed a small manufacturing company and named it Yorkville sound. Yorkville Avenue a sidestreet near store was the center of Toronto's exploding 60's music scene. Soon the product line blossomed into a line of guitar and bass amplifiers. There were quite a few models produced, but the most popular were the 'simple' Fender and Marshall clones. Like most Canadian manufacturers of the day, Traynor used Hammond transformers and Marsland or RSC speakers. The amps became famous for their durability, as Pete Traynor drawing on his repair background sought to engineer amps that would withstand real world use and abuse. Pete Traynor would regularly test new products for durability by throwing them from the roof of the store. He would replace the tubes and if the amp still worked it was built well enough for customers. Today, these older amplifiers don't command nearly the price that an equivalent Fender, Marshall will on the used market, though prices have been rising as more players realize the original YBA-1 used the same Wester Electric designed circuit as the legendary Fender 5f6a Bassman, and Marshall JTM45 amplifiers. [1] Eventually, Yorkville evolved into a major supplier of mid sized P.A. equipment. Production of Tube amps ceased when it looked like solid state amps would take over the market. Due to customer demand the Traynor name and Traynor production of tube amps was revived in the late 90s, and continues to this day.

[edit] Current Production Traynor Amps / Cabs

Traynor YCV40WR Amp
Traynor YCV40WR Amp

Traynor's return to producing full tube amps occurred at the end of 2000 with their YCV (or Custom Valve) line. Although the YCV line takes main stage, Traynor has a wide product range including DynaGain Solid State guitar amps, International Amps, BassMaster Bass Amps, Keyboard Amps and an Acoustic Guitar Amp line.

Traynor International Guitar Amps(Solid State)
This line of amplifiers are inexpensive foreign manufactured solid state amps, though the TVM10 is the sole battery-operated amplifier offered by Traynor. Equivalent to the Fender's Frontman

  • TSM10 - 10-watt, 5-inch
  • TGM15 - 15-watt, 8-inch
  • TGM20 - 20-watt, 7-inch
  • TRM30 - 30-watt, 10-inch
  • TRM40 - 40-watt, 2x8-inch (2 x 20 watts x 8 inch)
  • TVM10 - 15-watt, 6-inch, Battery Powered Amplifier

Traynor DynaGain Guitar Amplifiers(Solid State with tube emulation)
This line of amplifiers provides analog-based amplification with special circuitry to emulate the compression and dynamics of vacuum tubes. They are equipped with Celestion speakers (except the discontinued DG-65R/D models).

  • DG10 — 10 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, 8" Celestion Speaker
  • DG15 — 15 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, 10" Celestion Speaker
  • DG15R — 15 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, 10" Celestion Speaker
  • DG30D — 30 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, 12" Celestion Speaker
  • DG60R — 65 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, 12" Celestion 70/80 Speaker
  • DG-65R/D — 65 Watt, Auxiliary Line Input, Eminence Redcoat Governor 12-inch speaker (discontinued)

Traynor Tube Guitar Amplifiers

  • Custom Valve 20 — 15 watt class 'A' amp. 2 x EL84s, 3 x 12AX7s, 12 inch Celestion speaker.
  • Custom Valve 20WR — Same as Custom Valve 20 but with red tolex, cream grill cloth, and Celestion Greenback Speaker.
  • Custom Valve 40 — 40 watt class AB amp. 2 x 5881s, 3 x 12AX7s, and Celestion 70/80 Speaker
  • Custom Valve 40WR — Same as Custom Valve 40 but with red tolex, cream grill cloth, Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.
  • Custom Valve 40T — Same as Custom Valve 40 but with 2 x 10 inch Celestion speakers.
  • Custom Valve 50BLUE — Same as Custom Valve 40 but with Master Volume instead of Presence control, EL34 tubes, blue tolex, black grill cloth, and a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.
  • Custom Special 50 - 50 watt class AB/15 watt class 'A' amp. 2 x 5881s, 3 x 12AX7s Channel Independent Tone Control, 12 inch Celestion speaker.
  • Custom Valve 80 — 80 watt class AB amp. 4 x 5881s, 3 x 12AX7s, 2 x 12 inch Celestion 70/80 speakers
  • Custom Valve 80Q — Same as Custom Valve 80, but with 4 x 10 inch Celestion speakers.
  • Custom Special 90 - 90 watt class AB/20 watt class 'A' amp. 4 x 5881s, 3 x 12AX7s, Channel Independent Tone Control, 2 x 12 inch Celestion speaker.


Traynor Guitar Heads

  • Custom Special 100H — Selectable 100-watt/30-watt output
  • Custom Special 50H - Selectable 50-watt/15-watt output

Traynor Bass Amplifiers

  • YBA 200-2 - A 200 watt bass head utilizing a quad of KT88's, 2 x 12AX7s and a 12AU7.
  • DynaBass 400H - A 400 watt hybrid bass head with a solid state power amplifier, and selectable solid state or tube preamp with a 12AX7 tube.
  • DynaBass 800H - An 800 watt version of the DynaBass 400H.

Traynor Guitar Extension Cabinets

  • YCX12 - 40-watt, 1x12" Celestion speaker.
  • YCX12WR - 40-watt, 1x12" Celestion speaker in Wine Red leatherette covering.
  • YCX12BLUE - 40-watt, 1x12" Celestion speaker in Blue Nubtex covering.
  • YCX212 - 160-watt, 2x12" Celestion speakers.
  • YCS412 - 260-watt / Angled, 4x12" Celestion speakers, with versatile 4 or 16 ohm operation, or 2x8ohm stereo operation.
  • YCS412V - 240-watt / 4x12-inch Angled, 4x12" Celestion G12T-75 speakers, with versatile 4 or 16 ohm operation, or 2x8ohm stereo operation.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tales From The Tone Lounge; Made In Canada-Traynor Amplifiers!

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