NAD-Vintage Traynor

[Britishampfan]

Bought a great sounding vintage amp today. I have no Idea what year it is, low serial, Clean with only minor scuffs for an amp and cab this old.

Tubes- Two 6V6, 12AX7 PI and the tube chart says 12AU7 on the input tube.

Rogers tubes, says Holland on one of them. Look possibly original.

I cannot find one picture on the internet that looks like my amp, I know its a late 60`s amp. Traynor YBA 2A Bass Mate II Every picture I have seen there are three knobs mine only has two. Volume and Tone.

Output impedance is not marked, the cab is single 15 closed back original speaker, script logo, the owner did`nt know much other than he thought it was a matched head and cab and the heads had different Logo. Both are steel logos.

Original everything looks untouched and I could barely get the chassis out of the head cab, I needed lube. (dishsoap) Good sign the wood has shrunk around the head cab.

Info much appreciated!

 

[Tone_Terrific]

I know somebody that has one.
I worked on it a bit to try to brighten it up and give it a bit more gain to make it livelier for guitar.
The schematic is usually attached to the inside of the chassis of Traynors (YAY!)
These are not the same as Guitar Mates but I don't recall all the differences, certainly the tone stack and less gain.
They can be improved.

 

[Britishampfan]

Thanks for the info, searching still nothing except the cab YS-15 was made in 1964.

No schematic

I think the head is 1967-68


The amp sounds great the way it is, however someone put a 12ax7 instead of the AU in the input so the gain is nice.

Great grind and bark at 9 o clock

Infinite sustain at around 11 o clock and just bright enough with great low end.

Plug and play with my Les Paul, quite happy, not going to do anything to it.

 

[zzmoore]

I have only had my hands in ONE.
That was about 3 years ago...and it was a 1x15 combo...but it had just 2 knobs like yours.
The 2 knob amps seem to only use one half of V1.
So I kind of "gutted" the amp and picked up the other half of V1.
I think I changed the PI to LTP...but I cannot remember for sure.
It did not take a whole lot to turn the amp around.
The guy put in one of those Eminence Big Ben 15.
Was a pretty nice ride when all said and done.
But the guy picked it up on CL for only 100 bux.
Good Luck with yours...cool it is a head.
I would keep it for sure.
Pete Traynor needs a movie made about himself.....

 

[Britishampfan]

I found a schematic for the two knob, dated 1967

Did the combo have 6v6`s?, I had one closed back combo single 15 that had EL 84`s two knob those were later, like 1971 and it was a YBA-2B I believe there were no 2A combos.

I was told by a friend the two knob pre dates the three knob on the heads and the 6v6 ones were the first bass mates.

 

[blueworm]

Looks like it still has the old Mallory can filter caps. You'd be wise to have them replaced. You won't easily find caps of the same spec 40+40 @450 though. But 50+50 or 32+32 @500V would be OK I think. I have 32+32 in my guitar mate. Removing the old cans is a PIA though.

 

[WillTM]

Hey man!

Awesome amp you've got there!

It's an earlier version, they stopped using 6v6s in favour of EL84s in the late 60s, and switched to a volume, treble and bass layout instead of just 1 volume 1 tone

 

[ROKY]

To date that amp pull the chassis again and look at the date codes on the pots .

 

[drbob1]

I had a 6V6 version of the combo a while back, pretty cool although not super loud. I found the Guitarmate much more useful for guitar and moved the Bassmate on.

That one looks like an entirely passive tone control (like a guitar tone, just drops high end off the volume pot) which is going to tend to rob gain. Might want to consider using a push-pull pot so you can drop the tone pot out of the circuit altogether in most circumstances? It's not a mod in the sense that it's completely reversible.

 

[zzmoore]

I found a schematic for the two knob, dated 1967

Did the combo have 6v6`s?, I had one closed back combo single 15 that had EL 84`s two knob those were later, like 1971 and it was a YBA-2B I believe there were no 2A combos.

I was told by a friend the two knob pre dates the three knob on the heads and the 6v6 ones were the first bass mates.

This combo was 2x6V6.
I suppose it could have been a re-work...but it sure looked factory.
I made a small adjustment in the tone "circuit"...and picked up that other half of V1.
I think we made the by-pass switchable on V1b...but I cannot remember fort sure.
Good Luck with yours...nice amp.

 

[Britishampfan]

Pot and transformer code says 66. Thanks for all the info. The thing is untouched, I hate to mess with it, it does what it does, I have other amps for gain etc.

I`m not really sure if using a half of a 12ax bothers me, the amp is loud, breaks up nice, has good distortion and infinite sustain. I mean its only 20 watts.

Brightness concerns me, and the 1970 bass mate A/B schematic shows both sides being used, I could just wire it like that, yeah?

It`s a poor mans portaflex and guitar sounds great through it too.

It sounds very much like the EL 84 bassmate I had only with a wider sound field and more low end and not so narrow voiced like EL 84.

I dunno, first it needs a three prong cord and all three caps are bulged on the tag board. It hums a little might need a can cap.

 

[zzmoore]

Heck Yeah -
Do that cap job, and the other "normal" maintenance...and see what you think.
If you like it the way it is...all the better.
Plug in ...and Go Man.!

 

[MikeMcK]

This combo was 2x6V6.
I suppose it could have been a re-work...but it sure looked factory.
I made a small adjustment in the tone "circuit"...and picked up that other half of V1.
I think we made the by-pass switchable on V1b...but I cannot remember fort sure.
Good Luck with yours...nice amp.

Depending on the year, some Bass Mates used 6V6es and others used EL84s.

 

[Mike H]

Congrats on your find. Those old Traynors are some of the best vintage amp values on the planet.

 

[slider313]

Nice amp! Run that head over to a single 12" open back cab with a Celestion Blue!

 

[Britishampfan]

Got a good deal on it, I`m putting it back together and it`s heading to the vault, until I get some time to work on it.

I should have never sold my other Traynor YBA-2B combo I found I missed it, they do certain things I like.

The amp I just bought was at a local studio and has cut many bass and guitar tracks over the years from what I`m told.


I plan to do the same, If I can get a little free time I will post a clip.

Traynors have an interesting sound to me, this one is kind of Fender and Marshall with a unique sound.

 

[blueworm]

For cap job (and other things) check out this thread: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/620101&page=2
I did a similar thing in my guitar mate, disconnecting the original tin can caps and leaving them in place. But the board in the YGM is much more cluttered and I hardly found the place to install the 2 new caps (mine are with clamp). I believe you'll have much more room in yours.

 

[Britishampfan]

For cap job (and other things) check out this thread: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/620101&page=2
I did a similar thing in my guitar mate, disconnecting the original tin can caps and leaving them in place. But the board in the YGM is much more cluttered and I hardly found the place to install the 2 new caps (mine are with clamp). I believe you'll have much more room in yours.

Very good kind sir, however this just got more interesting, due to the fact that the parts pre date the schematic and the serial number which starts at 5xxx I might own the very first bass mate ever made.

Who would know? Traynor?

 

[JDW3]

That looks like a transitional amp. The first Bassmates with simple tone control were housed in a 1x15 cab. Yours is the same setup, but they split the head and the cab. Considering its rarity, I probably wouldn't mod it. I have both, a 6v6 combo with bass/treble, and an el-84 version head. The 6v6 sounds sweeter, without wiring the other half of the tube in. I will agree that playing that head through some Celestion 12s will make you happy. Just crank it!

 

[ugameus]

http://www.0rigami.com/vb/models.html#bassmateyba-2a