Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate



Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby alnicalico » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:27 pm

Hello. I'm in a transitional period and was hoping for some advice. I've played country music for almost a decade, but in the past year I've developed a love for doom, sludge, and drone metal including Sleep, Swans, Earth, SunO))), Ahab, and Electric Wizard. I'm trying to get some gear together to start making those kinds of sounds with other folks. After seeing some of the awe inspiring amp setups y'all have, it became clear that my 1956 Silvertone isn't going to cut it all on its lonesome.

I have the option to trade a Telecaster for either a late '60s Traynor YBA-1 or a Marshall JCM900 hi-gain 50 watt head and JCM800 4x12 cabinet. My instinct is to take the Traynor and buy a cabinet. I love old tube amps, especially the ones with low collectors' value and lots of tone. I've read adoring and hateful opinions on the JCM900, probably more hateful, but it's not hard to find hate on the internet. The tone of the amplifier is important to me as I don't plan on running more than an overdrive and a fuzz pedal into it.

Part of me worries that I'd be an idiot to pass up a Marshall half stack. When I was seventeen I thought I would be an idiot to pass up a free tattoo. My second tattoo was a cover up. Maybe there's a lesson in there.

What are your opinions? Thanks for your advice.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby waltdogg » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:57 pm

The 900 can be shrill and unforgiving. Never used a YBA-1 though.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby ShaolinLambKiller » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:00 pm

Yea I can't really speak highly of either. the traynor would probably be a better resell. :/
well I didn't have the YBA1 I had the YBA1A and it wasn't loud enough for me.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby pelliott » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:34 pm

The YBA1 is a great amp but doesn't have much clean headroom.

I think the 900 model really matters, but don't know them well enough. Certain models are really close to the JCM800, others are too modern/shrill. Scott Kelly used/uses a 900, so.

Is the JCM800 cab from the 80s?
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby alnicalico » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:50 pm

I'm told it's a JCM900 high gain, not sure what that means. The cab is from the 80's.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby waltdogg » Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:24 pm

That would most likely be the 4100 model. That's the one I've had the most experience with and like I said it's shrill and unforgiving. I find it to be nothing like the 800, though there are a few mods that are easy to do that undo some of the "tricks" that Marshall did to get extra gain at the cost of low end response.

Marshall's cabs are all pretty good aside from the MDF/particleboard back panel, as long as the speakers are broken in you should be pretty happy with the tone. Since it's an older 80s one you might end up with a really good set of speakers (like G12-65s, G12-80s, G12H-80 or 100s or early V30s) but it might just have 75s or after market replacements.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby D.o.S. » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:09 pm

Can we see pictures of the Silvertone, though?
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby t-rey » Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:11 pm

Given that choice I'd go for the Traynor, but mostly this:

D.o.S. wrote:Can we see pictures of the Silvertone, though?
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby alnicalico » Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:44 pm

It's a Silvertone 1335: Danelectro-made for Sears and Roebuck, paper faux alligator and tweed covering.
Image
Here's the business side with the back off: 25 watts going into one 15 inch speaker. Two channels, foot-switchable tremolo, mix and match replacement knobs.
Image
Sounds like a thicker, stranger, blue collar tweed deluxe.

I'm leaning toward the Traynor. In my hypothetical set up, I'm jumpering the Silvertone to the Traynor that I'll run into a 4x12 or 4x10.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby chillerthanmost » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:31 pm

I had a yba1 and it was never loud enough and had no headroom. But it sounded decent. Really dark and fuzzy through the bass input (though I played guitar). I now have a yba1a and I find it to be entirely different. Cleaner, articulate, louder, smoother, it's one of my favorite amps. I enjoy it much more than the yba3 I had for a while.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby t-rey » Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:24 pm

That Silvertone is snazz as fuck.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby frigid midget » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:02 am

I used to have a JCM900 SLX, and I know have an early 70's YBA-1 Bassmaster. Not that the 900 is only good for trash metal or hardrock or whatever, but it wouldn't at all be my first choice for the kind of stuff you're describing. Not at all the same sort of clean sparkly ballsy low mids and oomph. With 900's, it's usually either glassy dry meh cleans, or really compressed preamp distortion.


The speakers in my cab aren't anything special (4x75w jensens), so I don't know if it's the new tubes in the Traynor, or if maybe you guys are talking about a different version or something...:idk:

But the volume controls on my Traynor (channels patched) never ever went up halfway, other than to try it out. Stayed clean as fuck too, worked awesome for smudgy doomy shit (FZ-2, Mastotron, ODB-3, Fabtone, Bluebox, Hotcake,...). The drummers I jam with just can't keep up if I turn the volume past noon. Gotto say though, I've got the impression that most of the volume is in the first half of the dial. The last quarter on the vol controls don't add a whole lot of volume, and I'd suspect from there on it'd get grainy/fuzzy too. Like I said though, for my bands it's way too loud to turn it up that loud anyway :idk:

It's got a nice vintage feel imo, reminds me a bit of the old (pre jcm) Marshalls or even Oranges I used to own/play, though it's definitelly voiced somewhat different.

I'm way passed the honeymoon phase, and I'm at the point where I wanna replace my 'home' amp with a small cab and attenuator for the Traynor, and get rid of my other amp as well cause I haven't touched it since I got the Traynor.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby frigid midget » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:07 am

chillerthanmost wrote:I had a yba1 and it was never loud enough and had no headroom. But it sounded decent. Really dark and fuzzy through the bass input (though I played guitar). I now have a yba1a and I find it to be entirely different. Cleaner, articulate, louder, smoother, it's one of my favorite amps. I enjoy it much more than the yba3 I had for a while.


I suck at describing sounds, but 'articulate' is kinda spot on. When I just got my YBA1 it had virtually no clean headroom at all, got really dark and fuzzy real fast. The local amp wizard cleaned it, fixed a couple pots, put in GOOD tubes instead of whatever old shitty set it came with, and biased it, so it now sounds completely different. He told me it was real easy to work on, and the parts and construction were supposedly top notch, build to last, unlike most modern amps.
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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby christianatl » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:40 pm

frigid midget wrote:I used to have a JCM900 SLX, and I know have an early 70's YBA-1 Bassmaster. Not that the 900 is only good for trash metal or hardrock or whatever, but it wouldn't at all be my first choice for the kind of stuff you're describing. Not at all the same sort of clean sparkly ballsy low mids and oomph. With 900's, it's usually either glassy dry meh cleans, or really compressed preamp distortion.


The speakers in my cab aren't anything special (4x75w jensens), so I don't know if it's the new tubes in the Traynor, or if maybe you guys are talking about a different version or something...:idk:

But the volume controls on my Traynor (channels patched) never ever went up halfway, other than to try it out. Stayed clean as fuck too, worked awesome for smudgy doomy shit (FZ-2, Mastotron, ODB-3, Fabtone, Bluebox, Hotcake,...). The drummers I jam with just can't keep up if I turn the volume past noon. Gotto say though, I've got the impression that most of the volume is in the first half of the dial. The last quarter on the vol controls don't add a whole lot of volume, and I'd suspect from there on it'd get grainy/fuzzy too. Like I said though, for my bands it's way too loud to turn it up that loud anyway :idk:

It's got a nice vintage feel imo, reminds me a bit of the old (pre jcm) Marshalls or even Oranges I used to own/play, though it's definitelly voiced somewhat different.

I'm way passed the honeymoon phase, and I'm at the point where I wanna replace my 'home' amp with a small cab and attenuator for the Traynor, and get rid of my other amp as well cause I haven't touched it since I got the Traynor.


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Re: Traynor vs. Marshall for a new initiate

Postby doommeow » Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:23 am

I'm not a expert on Traynor gear but know that I've yet to meet one I haven't liked. Would definitely take one over a JCM900. Whether the YBA1 is the right amp for you is a different question.


t-rey wrote:That Silvertone is snazz as fuck.


This.

While it would be unconventional as all hell, I'm betting that Silver into a dummy load, a power amp and a decent cab would sound like a monster.
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