Traynor 'Iron'; any good for D-Clone builds?

[odourboy]

I know it's kind of a vague question, but I have a line on an amp locally that is basically a rebranded Traynor amp built in the early 80's. I'm thinking of grabbing it for the iron to use in a future D-clone build. Unfortunately, I don't know which Traynor it's based on. All I know so far is that it uses 12AX7s in the preamp and 2 6L6s for power.

Can anyone comment in general on the suitability of Traynor transformers? Anything I should look for (or watch out for) when I go to inspect the chassis?

Thanks! OB

[Beerman]

You haven't really supplied enough information to say for sure. But with a little bit of manipulation of the power supply and rectification, it should work for a Dtype with that same or very similar tube complement.

Maybe you could change some component values in the existing build to make something that you like the sound of.

[odourboy]

I realize I haven't really said much and I'm sorry about that... but I don't know much at this point. I'm going to see the amp tomorrow evening. The owner does not have a schematic, and Traynor, while acknowledging that they built it, says they have no information on it - it was a short run branded for a local company back in the early 80's. I want to be as prepared as possible when I go to check it out.

[Johnhenry]

I've built a lot of circuit's in Traynor amp's and if the one your getting has the Hammond Iron which is what Pete Traynor used most of the time you can build anything you want to, the iron in the Traynor's i've owned were oversized, and we gigged a 100 watter for 3 year's with no problem concerning the transfomer's, these use to be the best buy in my town, but now a lot of people know what they are and price's went up.
http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~dace/vb/
this site has a lot of Traynor info.
Johnhenry

[heisthl]

Wasn't Traynor another of those companies that initially copied Fender? Which would mean the Iron would be suitable, although by the late 80's there specs could have mutated to something else. I have built several "clone type" amps in the past few months but never a real spot on "clone". I know from personal experience that the basic design sounds good with MusicMan RD-50, Bassman 50, Vibrolux, Carvin X-60 and Hot Rod Deluxe OT/PT pairs. What I don't know is what sounds the absolute most authentic for a real "Clone". People on the forum talk about MMan and Fender Bassman Iron for 50 watt and Showman Iron for 100 watt as being actually used as well as Marshal OTs (PTs?)showing up in some models. I guess the real question is: Do you want a good sounding amp or do you want an authentic sounding amp? The days of hoping for the lucky accident of mismatched components are over for me and it's rare that I would pursue used iron for the sake of saving a few bucks unless its a desirable chassis to use for your build, in fact, even if some oddball transformers were free I would leave your mounting and PS options open to swap in some more correct Iron if you don't get the tone.

[Funkalicousgroove]

FWIW, All of the traynors I've worked on have been TOP NOTCH, Had way oversized trannies, Phillips mustard caps (Save those!!) and Mullard or telefunken tubes. Honestly the ones I've restored have been great sounding amps onto themselves you might listen to it before you start disassembling it.

[Johnhenry]

Funk's telling you Straight, the Traynor's can sound very good, Try it before you wreck it, you might just like it !
Traynor was 1 of the first with a Master Volume, Robbie Robertson played one of these in The Band,
Also Pete used an unusual way to bias the EL34 tube's in his amp that prolonged the life of the tube. and the amp's were tossed off the top of a building's to make sure they were tuff ! LOL ! just look at the way he fixed his chassis to the cab.
I have no knowledge of the new amp's but have loved the old Traynor's and they use to be the greatest buy of any used amp out there.
I don't understand the use of the word copycat,
there were 2 schematic's that were used to build most amp's with in the beginning, the RCA and the Western Electric, any improvement's that followed were made by building and testing, a clone is an exact copy, any variation from the original would negate useing the word copy or clone as far as i'm concerned, Some people will not agree with me on that but to each his own !
Johnhenry

[tubetek]

Best "new" amp I ever bought; Traynor YGL3mk3 in a 2x12 combo...(1971)
4x6CA7/EL34 and a EL84 driven reverb. The only negatives were that it was really LOUD (probably close to 150watts from that circuit; It easily drowned out silverface TwinReverbs at roughly half the cost. Also, the original speakers didn't last too long.
I second what Funk said; all the old Traynors I've been in were top-notch builds. Have fun with it and don't be afraid to invest a little if you need to; it'll be worth it.
tubetek

[odourboy]

Thanks for all your responses. I did buy the amp. I have no intention of gutting it until I at least get it up and working and give it a good test drive.

It appears to have been built in the late 60's, so I'm doubting it was built by Traynor at all. (Yorkville told me they built for this label in the 80's). It's basically functional but it's missing what appears to be a foot controller and unfortunately the main channel signal (it has two), reverb and tremolo controls are all routed through a connector on the rear of hte chassis. I'll have to trace out the circuit and figure out how to jumper it so i can get it fully operational. There is a second 'bass' channel that I've been able to plug in to and get sound - but it's nothing to get excited about.