cbass wrote:Typically Mustard caps can last years and years. Its the electrolytic caps that need replaced
Yes, but 1973????? Isn't that just TOO many years? I really would like some clarification here....I was always told that it's a risky proposition running an amp with 30+ year old caps. Why are some saying these mustard caps are coveted? If they're 30 years old, aren't they about to break? EDIT - you mean those giant mustrard caps in my Traynor YGLMKIII aren't the electrolytic capacitors?
PS - I thought about keeping this amp, but I think someone here indicated the work on this amp was shoddy, and that the quality of components was in question. I guess that's the deal breaker. If you guys were saying the work and components were good, but that just somethng simple in shipping jarred something loose, then I'd be willing to take the amp to my tech. The seller offered to foot the bill for the tech looking at it. See, that's attractive to me, but someone said the worksmanship and updated capacitors looked sub-par. I will try to get new pictures up here soon.
Last edited by CherryFive on Mon Mar 09, 2015 5:32 pm, edited 4 times in total.
I should add...Ive built a number of these - an easy build - great amp for keys like old wurlis/hammond - did you know the YBA 1A is a leslie knock-off? exact!
any decent tech should be able to find the problem in less than 20 minutes - likely less than 2 minutes these are so simple. bench fee of 20$ and you should be done - but since it didnt work when it arrived - back it goes.
just build one - its easier and cheaper than dealing with the hassle of buying one.
fine amp - loud as all get out!
it really is a journey, and you just cant farm out the battle wounds
Filter caps and some of the cathode caps (electrolytics) have a paste inside (that might even be organic IIRC) and that dries out with time and then the caps fail - they wear out. They are like the tires in your car, and even if it just sits for 20 years the tires will still suffer dry rot, so you change then on a schedule. The coupling caps are like metal engine parts - as long as they are good you leave them, could be 10 years could be 100 years. From the early '60s onward coupling caps become film and foil and vacuum potted and hermetic and very reliable. The European made mustards have proven very reliable. People steal them from cheap Traynors to restore their expensive vintage Marshalls and Voxes, or build exact clones and try to capture the vinatge mojo on the cheap.
Nothing wrong with all the work done on the Traynor just kind of blah having half its vintage vibe excoriated, but that's a peculiarity to amp geeks. While the amp was represented properly on eBay, in the meantime you learned something here, so you can take advantage that it arrived non operating to return it if your new knowledge bugs you.
Or if you get it working quick and easy and you like the sound, just keep it. $600 for a serviced 50W hand wired tube head isn't unreasonable, though it will have no vintage value if you were expecting that. But IMO, if you get it working you are also stuck with it as it wasn't misrepresented.
I don't think the innards look bad. In fact, all the wiring looks to be original, it's just that they removed and replaced every component from the board(total waste of time)... but everyone's already noticed the mustards have been robbed.
Do at least the transformers look to be the original oversized Hammonds? That is another strength of these early Traynors.
OK, I have a question regarding the Speaker Jack wiring. I've seen this same method used on a friend's YBA-3 and I changed it. I must be missing something but it looks like the extension jack takes the positive signal wire (from the OT) and grounds it out via the switching jack when nothing is plugged into it. How does that make sense? Shouldn't that little wire connecting the ground and switch terminals on the ext jack be removed and just let them operate like parallel output jacks? Why would you ever want the OT wires to connect with 0 ohm impedance? This would just give you barely any signal and too little of a load on the OT... but since I have seen this exact wiring before... I must not understand something. Someone please explain.
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bcmatt wrote:OK, I have a question regarding the Speaker Jack wiring. I've seen this same method used on a friend's YBA-3 and I changed it. I must be missing something but it looks like the extension jack takes the positive signal wire (from the OT) and grounds it out via the switching jack when nothing is plugged into it. How does that make sense? Shouldn't that little wire connecting the ground and switch terminals on the ext jack be removed and just let them operate like parallel output jacks? Why would you ever want the OT wires to connect with 0 ohm impedance? This would just give you barely any signal and too little of a load on the OT... but since I have seen this exact wiring before... I must not understand something. Someone please explain.
Correct, it makes no sense to have the ext speaker jack short across OT secondary if nothing's plugged into it. That would definitely explain why there's low and distorted volume when plugging a speaker into the main output jack.
However the shorting bar does make sense on the main speaker jack, and Fenders have (mostly) been wired this way since Howdy Doody was on TV. (late 50's) Leo's idea being, if someone forgot to plug in the speaker, it's cheaper to replace output tubes than transformer.
I thought perhaps this Traynor's previous owner or some ham-handed tech may have swapped the main & ext speaker jacks.
I just noticed pieces of plumber's metal punch-strip used to mount the filter caps. Now that's at least half clever. Beats a big glob of glue.
I think ,one thing when almost rebuilding an amp,some times a small miswire can happen.
Maybe my eyes are getting weak, so maybe someone else verify it. as you can bring up a schematic. and i'll also show another pic to compare of another traynor, but in the pic 268. The wire that jumps across the board to the filter cap.
The wire should be in the other eyelet,or on the other side of that 4.7k. Not on the 10k side. The way it is now its on the side of the 10k,which already has a hookup down the board to a filter cap.
The 4.7k where the wire should be feeds the PI section, which would now not have a filter section the way it is wired. Look and compare these 2 pics.
too bad I can't flip one pic so they are b oath the same direction, but still should be easy to see the difference.
I updated with a pic, the blue arrow shows where the wire should be. May have to blow up the pic to see it.
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Last edited by Richie on Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
bcmatt wrote:I don't think the innards look bad. In fact, all the wiring looks to be original, it's just that they removed and replaced every component from the board(total waste of time)... but everyone's already noticed the mustards have been robbed.
Do at least the transformers look to be the original oversized Hammonds? That is another strength of these early Traynors.
OK, I have a question regarding the Speaker Jack wiring. I've seen this same method used on a friend's YBA-3 and I changed it. I must be missing something but it looks like the extension jack takes the positive signal wire (from the OT) and grounds it out via the switching jack when nothing is plugged into it. How does that make sense? Shouldn't that little wire connecting the ground and switch terminals on the ext jack be removed and just let them operate like parallel output jacks? Why would you ever want the OT wires to connect with 0 ohm impedance? This would just give you barely any signal and too little of a load on the OT... but since I have seen this exact wiring before... I must not understand something. Someone please explain.
The Jack that's grounded ...is the main speaker out... the other is the ext....
I really don't like what I see in the way of the components used to put this together. I went to the website listed on the capacitor and everything about the appearance of the parts seems to say cheap components, as in "Just Radios" capacitors. I purchased some caps from them and got the impression these were borderline components purchased form the manufacture rejects. What's more, I stupidly, (this was my fault) I stupidly entered my pin from the debit card I was using at the time of the online sale and then suddenly realized what a dumb thing that was. Promptly changed cards after that. when I discussed the matter of the card processor and the lack of concern on the actual delivery date by the sellar, it was all ho hum to him. End of sales relationship!
Regarding the amp though, there are what appears to be a large number of borderline solder joints as mentioned by someone early on. In addition why is everything so burnt up? Wire ends and all. while this won't make the amp inoperable it could cause problems down the road and they could be hard to diagnose. Whomever did the soldering didn't even clean up afterwards- Flux and burn....
Send it back. I should have returned a flakey computer but I waited and figured it was not a big deal. Then the warranty ran out and I was stuck. Send it back.
If there is any question on the original source of the problem point the seller to this post as it documents the problem.
the link on the cap is cedist, not just radios. And Cedist is tubesand more,or Antique electronics that sell parts of all kinds and type to most amp builders.
As far as Just Radios, they sell similar items as Cedist and mojo and others. Just Radios has one type caps made for them, and the correct values.
I've bought a lot of caps from Just Radios, and never had a problem with the caps or the service being A1 and or shipped the same day the parts are ordered.
Like most places, they sell a less expensive, type or brand. Or Sprague,to polystyrene or mica to Audio hi-fi grade.
The other caps in the amp shown are IC caps or Illinois capacitors.
Its up to the buyer to decide what caps they want to use. Saying Just Radios sells "cheap" componets is a bit misleading. Just my opinion.
Send it back unless you want trouble and expense. This thing is worth about $250 as a (very nice) platform for a restore or project to a DIYer.
At least two (possible) mis-wires??? Whoever did the work never plugged it in and tired it out?????? And yes the work isn't very pretty, looks like a rank amateur, and not the sign of an anal neat-nick which is something you want in dentists, surgeons and amp techs. The parts are cheap CE Dist parts, the filter caps say CE, the coupling caps are just the common cheap I-C ones they sell. All fine but again not the sign of a detail oriented tech or hobbyist, more like cheap, quick, and out the door.
If playing around with the out jack gets you sound, you should still be wary of the mis-wire in the power string Richie mentioned. If it really exists at best it will blow the fuse right away and make the tech aware, at worst it could hold for 5,10,20 minutes, even longer, and then start smoking or a filter cap will explode. So even if it plays watch out. YOU MUST CHECK THE FUSE before you plug it in again to make sure some numbnuts didn't put an over-rated one in to keep the amp running.
Wondering if the trannies are orig? The Hammonds on these often had the bells fully open on the bottom, not a hole for the wires to pass, and went all the way down touching the chassis. If you are still into it after all this post a pict right side up for our curiosity.
I just noticed pieces of plumber's metal punch-strip used to mount the filter caps. Now that's at least half clever. Beats a big glob of glue.