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I found one of these Traynor Mark II short heads (50 watts, EL34, point to point wired) for $175!! I've just gotta sell something to get it! Now to figure out what I want to part with Anyone have any experience with these heads? I will definitely end up needing an attenuator and a good cab (hello Avatar!) .....if anyone knows of any good mods for these things, let me know too!

no one knows anything about these? I could use some help. If/when I get it, I'm gonna have to change out the power cord...is there anything else I should look for that might need changing?

If you are talking a Bassmaster MK II from the 60s or early 70s then 175.00 is a huge score. The Mk II puts out around 90 watts with those two tubes with over 600v on the plates, so tube carefully or if your lucky you will have some vintage 6CA7 goodness in there already. With my MK II, I clipped the WAY too bright cap off of volume 2. (This is the normal channel, opposite of a Marshall). A 330 ceramic cap worked well with mine, but mess with em til you get what you like, in some cases no cap sounds great. The gain/bottom/treble response can really be altered by this tweak alone. You can change the volume pots from 4 meg to 1 meg for a less squishy feel to the note. It will be more Marshall like that way. I swapped out the .1 presence cap for a .68 and love the difference it made. Gives the amp more snarl and mids.

I have 4 Traynors, 3 of em Bassmasters and one a bassmate. I love these amps, perhaps the most reliable vintage amp ever built with those lovely Hammond transformers. Each one of mine has a few minor tweaks and each of them sound amazing.

wow, yeah, I'm talking about the bassmaster (YBA-1A)....great looking amp, I can't wait to snag it. I think I'm gonna try to trade for it. I'll definitely get back in touch with you once I get it! now I just gotta get a cab for it

Hey Capo,

Did you get this amp? If not is it still for sale?

no I snagged it man...I'm loving it and can't wait to get a cab for it. I'm gonna order an Avatar cab ..2x12, semi-open back, wheat cloth, black covering and iquot;m gonna order some wheat cloth and recover the front of the amp so it'll match the cab. It's gonna be killer

Sweet,

Where on earth did you find it so cheap? Is it original?

i think the old Traynor amps had a lot to do with the quot;mysteriousquot; tone that Ty Tabor of KIng's X used to have. i loved that tone.

it's local, all original, and I know the guy who owns it. I've gotta do a few mods to it.....most important as I said is changing the plug from a two prong to a grounded three prong..but I may leave it stock beyond that. I absolutely love this amp!


Originally Posted by CapoFirstFretit's local, all original, and I know the guy who owns it. I've gotta do a few mods to it.....most important as I said is changing the plug from a two prong to a grounded three prong..but I may leave it stock beyond that. I absolutely love this amp!

You clip or change the volume cap on volume 2 ( this is the better channel for guitar IMO) to a lower value and that amp should be good to go. I just love those amps!!!

oh yeah, I love this one. I've been bridging the two channels like you would on an old marshall, is that not advisable on these? it sounds pretty good....but I'm not really hip to how these are wired on the contrary to marshalls

Bridgeing is fine, your ears will put you in the right place. Channel 2 is your bright channel, the opposite of a Marshall. On channel 2 there is a 1000pF cap soldered onto the volume control. ( Mine had that and it was stock) the cap value makes that channel extremely bright. By lowering dramatically, 470 or lower you can really revoice that whole channel and have a much more useable bright channel.

On the other side, Volume 1 ( your dark, or bass channel) you could put a brighter cap on that volume control and make that side brighter if you like.

Inputs are exact opposites of 4 hole Marshalls. The bottom are your Hi Gain inputs and the top inputs are low gain.

hmmm...I'm glad you've given me all this info...because I would have never known....gonna have to make a little chart for myself so I'll remember how it's supposed to be hooked up Man, you've been an absolute wealth of knowledge for me about these old amps. I appreciate it.

Btw, I spent a summer in Minneapolis...beautiful city, hope to make it back up there sometime. Spent quite a bit of time over at Famous Dave's on Lake Street (I lived on the third floor above a duplex converted into a church on 5th Avenue South.

Hey kevlar, do you know what ohm these things are? I'm assuming 8 ohms, but i need to know for cab/attenuator reasons!

I lived Uptown for many years, been known to eat a bit of Dave's... 5th Ave S, do you remeber the cross street? It is lovely here, esp when the lakes are thawed!!

That amp is 8 ohms. Avatar speakers is blowing out GB12s for 29.00 each. Get a pair of those and you will have a great sounding speaker with that amp.

Thanks chief! I think I'm gonna go with their 2x12 cab. like I said, get the one with wheat/black and then buy some extra wheat grillcloth from and change the front of this amp so that it matches the cab. It'll definitely be one of those things that gets questions asked

If that amp is stock, keep the grill original. The values are jumping, I am seeing them go for 400-500 now. Avatar has a silver faced grill cloth too, it looks great. The more orginal it is the more worth you will have.

What tubes are in it?

Currently it's loaded with EL34's I'll probably keep the original grill cloth, that way I can take it back to stock if I ever need to, but as is, I'm not really worried about collector's value. I'm a player That and I love the look of black tolex and wheat grill cloth.

It also is missing the logo, so I'm going to have to figure out where on earth I'm going to come up with one of these logos without paying half the price I paid for the amp!