Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Rickenbacker and Traynor were both around in the 1960s making their mark on the guitar and amplifier world, respectively. Yorkville sound recently called Pete Traynor back to develop the YCV20, YCV40 and YCV80 series. This is a fortunate happening for Rickenbacker owners.

While visiting a local music store I found the ideal soulmate for my Model 350, none other than the Traynor YCV40A. This 40 watt Traynor amplifier has great features, being an all tube design with two 6L6B's and three 12AX7As. Weighing 45 lbs this amplifier is a joy to move compared to the VoxAC-30 or the Fender Twin Reverb, but make no mistake about it, it is going to be a classic. The cabinet is tough and the Celestion Vintage 30 speaker is a good choice. The clean channel has outstanding tone and it is very quite thanks to the DC powered filament supply on the preamp tubes and the fully regulated power supply.

In addition to the great sound, this amplifier isn't hard on the eyes either. The oatmeal grill and burgundy tolex on the anniversary edition is a knockout. The Rickenbacker and Traynor combination is destined to turn heads and win over those who like a sound between Fender and Vox and who also would like to have some money left over to put on a new Rickenbacker. The Traynor YCV40 can be had for about $550. US.

Peter, the first Traynor I ever ran across was probably a one-off. I saw it at a local guitar show. It looked sort of like a Fender Decotone, but had been covered with hand tooled leather. I wasn't sure if I should play it, or saddle my horse with it. It had a lot of cowboy sex appeal. It had I think a 12" speaker, and a pair of big honkin' output tubes (6L6 I think). Unfortunately it wasn't for sale, but it was a real beauty. The guy said "Its a Traynor".

Lovely amp.
I have been rolling the idea of A/B-ing my JC-120 with a tube amp, comparable in volume. Orange let me down. Vox AC-15 let me down. Vox AC-30 was too loud. Etc.
I will try a Traynor.
Cheers, Noel

WOW!
What a beautiful scene, Peter!
I'm sure they are perfect soulmates.

Hmm, does Traynor have a website so I can get to know them better?

Paul, you'll find them at www.yorkville.com

Peter, on june 28th, I'll try the YCV 80 with my 650S...let's hope for the best. If the magic happens, I'll have a JC120 for sale!!!

But Dan, just think how good they'll sound together!

Noel, I'll try them together... the idea never crossed my mind! And I've just realised what you meant by A/B-ing!!! Thanks for the tip!

I've never played a Traynor, but it has a nice retro look, and Peter's modified 350 always looks stellar.

YCV80 is my next planned purchase. When I first fell in love with my new Ric I was playing it on the stores YCV80 that they had set up in their practice room.

Amongst my modest collection of gear I do have a late 60s Traynor, one of my absolute favorite pieces for live playing. Also has the best tremolo I can recall hearing. Treble boost feature used with an acoustic guitar makes for some excellent frequency layering in the "rhythm section".

Once I've got my YCV80 I intend to buy the Ric-o-Sound kit and pair it up with my Fender Stage Lead 212... I have a soft spot for trans amps, but I still need that tube growl at least half the time.

Thank you, Dan.
They're got lots of stuffs!
I'll check the site more in depth when I get home.

Peter, I'm glad you decided to get a Traynor YCV40. Don't you just love the cranked tone it has?! I NEVER heard a better guitar amp for the money. One incredibly versatile tone machine, for sure. Mine has the Seventy 80 speaker, which has more of a Greenback tone. I would have liked the Vintage 30 speaker, but I may try one some day if I get a deal on one. Really can't complain about the Seventy 80. It has great blues tone, but falls on its face when tryng to play bass guitar in the lowest octave. I know, that's abusive treatment. It would be interesting to know how the Vintage 30 holds up under a bass guitar.

Oh yeah, one other thing: you haven't REALLY heard what your YCV40 can do until you get something like NOS Tung-Sol or Philips 5881 tubes installed. With that Vintage 30 speaker, it should really tear down the house! Is that a humbucker in the bridge position on your 350? The YCV40 just LOVES the Rick 650 with humbuckers on the gain channel!!! You ARE going to get a 650 now, aren't you? And play some Aerosmith or Rolling Stones maybe?

The YCV40 may look retro, but the schematic tells a far different story: 8 valve sections (5 tubes, 3 of them dual triodes), 10 transistors, 4 IC's, and 26 diodes. No classic tube amp ever had that complement of active electronic components. The YCV40 is truly a modern state-of-the-art design meant to take on the world. At a bargain price, no less. It don't need no stinking modeling features! It's a tonemeister in its OWN right. How Yorkville can afford to sell this amp at the price they charge is beyond me, while maintaining Canadian production even. Marshall, Fender, Vox, and Mesa-Boogie need to put on their dunce caps, swallow a humility pill, and take a few lessons from Pete Traynor and Yorkville Sound. Yeah, they may make an amp that sounds as good, but not anywhere even close to the price. The rest of you need to get one before Traynor gets really discovered and the price rises.

Peter, you may like the clean channel, but my hardrock brother thinks the gain channel is nirvana. Both channels are GREAT.

Philco: In what way will the 5881WXT tubes change the sound from the 6L6GB output tubes? I would like to get your opinion on the pros and cons, if any, of making this change.

I would say richness in the midrange. They are also strong in the bass, within the confines imposed by the open back cabinet design.

5881 tubes also have a habit of lasting an incredibly long time according to what I have read. They were an INDUSTRIAL/MILITARY design rather than an audio design. They were designed to combat "sleeping sickness", if I remember correctly, which is a falloff in cathode emission due to inactivity while on standby. These were chosen for the servo amps in B-52 bombers. They were state of the art for their day, which was the early 50's. All I can say, in a Traynor YCV40, they are the REAL THING. Wish I had dozens of 'em. The Tung-Sol variety (the best) tends to be pricey, but the Philips JAN NOS variety is available from Angela Instruments for $15 each last time I ordered some, a few months back. That's Russian tube price, so no reason not to try a few.

Look up an article on the net called: 5881, A New Beam Power Tube, by C.E. Atkins, who was an engineer for Tung-Sol Lamp Works, Inc. The article was published in 1950. The URL I have on my printout doesn't work anymore, and it was on a German website. It leaves no doubt the real 5881 is a dynamite tube.

Is there downside to the 5881s? I wouldn't want to substitute, have a meltdown and void the warranty.

5881's were designed to prevent tube failures. I am talking REAL 5881 tubes, not foreign copies. The Yorkville tech rep had no problem with me running 5881 tubes when I called them. He was a bit envious that I had a stash of Tung-Sol 5881 tubes, however.

Any 5881 tubes you buy can be tested by your amp guru, and the YCV40 adjusts bias automatically so you don't need to look for matched pairs or worry about bias. You only need be assured that it is a normally operating 5881 tube.

The spring tube keepers will seem too long with 5881 tubes installed, but you flip the little clip that holds the spring around 180 degrees and that pulls the spring closer to the chassis and the tube keeper will work just fine.

You can buy a cheap B&K 667 solid state tube tester on eBay for around $50 and test your own tubes. It will not test for mutual conductance (gain) or microphonics, but your amp performs those two tests better than any tube tester ever could. You can test for shorts, grid leakage, cathode voltage sensitivity (by reducing heater voltage a notch or two), and emission quality. Weak, shorted, and leaky tubes will be eliminated while your amp will easily tell you if the gain and microphonics are OK. It's really easy to learn, unlike those old military Hickoks which are expensive, complicated, and more than you need. Audiopile amps need gain matching between stereo tube pairs and twin triodes used in phase splitters. You don't. Buy 5881's from anybody that has a good price and only worry if they are strong and healthy.