Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello guys. This is actually my second amplification inquiry this month. (Thanks to those who gave me advice on my Genz Benz thread & thanks also to Jeff Rath for his Bass Pod tutorial!)

I was wondering if anybody had any experience/opinions on Yorkville (Traynor) gear. I'm considering a Yorkville XS 400H head, but since they're a Canadian company, not a lot of folks here in the deep south know much about them.
I had a Yorkville BM200 combo that I foolishly sold a few years back that several of the guys I play with still rave about.
I know some of the Traynor gear (the YBA-3 in particular) from the late '60s/early 70's is legendary in certain circles, but I was looking for some feedback on the newer stuff. There's only one Yorkville dealer here in Metro Atlanta... The amp sounds pretty good & has a great price point!

Looking forward to your wisdom...

Chris, I lived in Minnesota in the 70's and got to see my first Traynor gear. I guess because it was much closer to Winnipeg, Canada, than Minneapolis where I lived, so some musicians went shopping there for gear.

Traynor used to have an ad where they threw an amp off a building and it still worked afterwards. I have the YCV40, which is a guitar amp. It uses sturdy baltic birch plywood in the cabinet, and it's painted on the inside instead of just bare wood. I replaced the midline Celestion speaker with the premium line Celestion G12H80 and it turned it into a monster combo. It's an ear bleeding screamer on guitar now. I can use the combo for bass practice as well, because the G12H80 will not fart out and goes very deep for a guitar speaker. Peter has one and he replaced the speaker with a Vintage 30. Strictly a personal call here. It's also imperative that you replace the ****** and customer abused Russian output tubes with high end tubes such as Tung-Sol or Philips 5881, or JJ 6L6GC, etc. I got further benefit from Ei ECC83 or JJ ECC83S preamp tubes, but far less noticeable than the output tubes and speaker changes. I have no experience with the Traynor (Yorkville these days) bass amps, but a lot of guitarists buy old YBA-1 bass heads as guitar heads because of the oversized output transformers. It's sort of a poor man's Hiwatt head, but the Hammond trannies aren't quite up to Partridge standards, which is OK if you like a dirtier sound. It's for guys who use effects ahead of the amps for tone and need a basically clean tube amp. The Hammond output tranny on mine will also stay a bit cleaner than a Marshall tranny, so that makes the combo versatile for clean and dirty sounds. Mainly you change out the speaker for the character you want. A Fane 12" alnico speaker rated at 100 watts would probably be the ultimate guitar speaker for it. The YCV40 will blow up a 15 watt Celestion Blue without breaking a sweat. I got the G12H80 for $50 on closeout special. It's what you want if you also plan on playing bass through it.

I would say that you would have to search far and wide to find a better value than Traynor/Yorkville gear. I also own a couple of Marshall amps, and my dad and brother like the YCV40 as the hands down favorite. If you're into bass heads instead of separate preamp/amp setups, the XS400H should do fine. I was looking at that head myself before getting a couple of SansAmp RBI preamps. The XS400H is more cost effective. I considered a Nemesis combo because of the lighter weight, but it seemed to have reliability issues that the Yorkville combo amps are free from. The YCV40 was a surprise as a bass practice amp, once the speaker was changed out. Open backed combos aren't supposed to go that low. It also means the Hammond output tranny is better quality than what comes on a lot of guitar amps. I've yet to hook it to a proper bass cab, but expect it will work great considering its limited power output of 40 watts.

Chris,

Just wait and check out their new All Tube Head along with their new 210/115 Cabinet to match the head !!!

This is going to be a killer rig which I can't wait to try !!!

Go see it on their web site: http://www.yorkville.com

The Head is the YBA200. Go check it out !!!

I know I will as soon as I have a chence !

My first bass amp was a YBA-3 Custom Special. This new amp is definitely something I will have to look into. I think it will probably like my '68 Sunn Sorado 2-15 cabinet.

the YBA-1 was the 1st Traynor I heard. point 2 point, hand wired circuits and, at that time, a reasonable price of $90 US.

Always wanted one...

I live in Canada, and of course Yorkville/Traynor stuff is easily found here. Their stuff the last few years has really proven popular, overcoming the same stigma that people used to assign to Peavey ('yeah, I'll use it 'cos it's cheap until I find something better'). I've used a Yorkville 4x10 and 2x10 for my bass rig pretty much every weekend for over four years; no complaints, no problems!

I never thought of Traynor as a Canadian Peavey equivalent. In fact I had never heard that at all, or is that just a Canadian thing?

It's a Canadian thing. Early Traynor stuff was pretty cool, but there was a period where a lot of the gear was... well, not overly desirable. It wasn't the kind of gear anybody aspired to own; in that respect I think the Peavey analogy is fair. I should point out I have a healthy respect (now) for both brands.

Even though I'm not Canadian (but I just watched my beloved Maple Leafs get beat by Ottawa in 2OT), I guess I can understand the Traynor/Peavey analogy. I had a Peavey in the late '80s that I wouldn't even waste the gasoline & match to dispose of properly. But I do own a Peavey combo now that is quite the little trooper. A friend of mine at a local music store talked me into the purchase & said that Peavey is making great strides to rid themselves of the dreaded "Peavey Stigma". Supposedly trying to instill some American made pride in their gear. One could project that Traynor/Yorkville is trying to do the same with a little Canadian pride.

I'd like to thank everyone for their input on my new amplification purchase. (Chuck & Stéphane in particular). It's looking like the Yorkie is the winner at this point, but I do welcome & encourage any more feedback that my fellow Rick freaks have to offer.

Thanks again everybody...it's been a pleasure as well as educational!

Uh, for some reason my Yorkville bass amplification thread was moved the "The Others" section. I defer to the webmaster of course, but I'm still open to any feedback regarding Rick basses through Yorkville amps...

Thanks.

An interesting thread Chris. It was moved as it is much more about bass amplifiers than it is about Rickenbacker basses.

The first YBA200's are going to be in the Long & McQuade Bloor Street store by the middle of May, so i'm told. Perhaps sooner.
I saw the prototype of the YBX1510. This is going to be a killer rig!
At $649.00 Cdn for the YBA200 and $449.00 Cdn for the YBX1510, it will be a tough combination to beat.
Cheers,

PS - Prices to be confirmed