Heading down the Canada made amp rabbit hole...

[Wooly Fox]

My name is Wooly Fox and I have GAS for another tube amp.

The story so far...

I own a 50W custom tube amp (633 Engineering Groove King Custom) and have it paired with my Quilter Toneblock 202 in a wet dry setup with the Quilter being the wet amp and tube as the dry.

To be honest, I don't like the Quilter doing anything other than super clean as any distortion pedal sounds too crackly and not to my taste in comparison to my tube amp. I mean it compliments the tube amp's girth but it's not what I'm looking for. Before anyone mentions it, I have tried the Quilter going through 200W bass speaker and my JBL loaded 2x12 and I can live with it but it doesn't inspire me to play.

I decided with a budget of C$1,000 to find a decent tube amp and Traynor keeps coming up as a valid alternative to the big names, especially up here in the Great North.

Now I have tried out various amp in my search to narrow down my budget and voicing I like (Vox, Marshalls, a Sunn Model T, Dr Z Z Master etc.) but they all cost a lot for the badge when all I'm looking for is something clean, sounds good with distortion pedals or boosting into it for breakup and is well built.

I am looking at YBA-1s and YBA-3s though the ones available seem to be strong money so what other models should I consider? There is a pristine YGL-3 languishing on FB Marketplace for C$2,000 but it's a head and cab combo.

Then there's Garnet amps, I know very little about these but a couple are available in Vancouver for sub $700 so need some insight on how good they are and whether they would suit my setup.

I'm a Brit so the Canadian amps are a new one for me so any recommendations would be excellent.

 

[northernguitar]

If I were buying Canadian amps, it would be a REVV D-20.

Revv - D20 Lunchbox Head

Revv - D20 Lunchbox Head

www.long-mcquade.com

 

[uriah1]

Traynor had some good ones. Think they are Canadian

 

[Powdog]

Garnet amps are built like tanks. And they sound great. Ask Randy Bachman.

 

[chris m.]

YBA-1 is the one.

 

[Bob Womack]

How about a nice YRM-1?

45 Watts of conservative EL-34 joy. This one is from September of 1973.

Bob

 

[KC]

I picked up a Marshall Origin 50 combo b-stock for under US$500 -- seems like it would do the trick nicely. I don't know if there are still a lot of bargain Traynors out there -- used to be. My brother toured a YGL-3 (I think) 2x12 combo for many years and it was completely reliable and hellishly loud. It weighed like it was bolted to the floor though.

 

[dogmeat]

Traynor amp are great

 

[northernguitar]

I had a YCV50 in the blue tolex. It was a killer amp but I switched to using head/cab. I see YCV series amps sell from $400-600 on kijiji around Toronto. There are a lot kicking around southern Ontario, usually at a great price.

 

[printer2]

Road trip,

REDUCED!!VINTAGE!!Garnet Rebel Reverb head

Musical intrument for sale, This is an awesome, Canadian made all tube amp. It was made in winnipeg in the l. CanadianListed.com has classifieds in Salt Spring Island, British Columbia for musical instraments. Guitars, drums, flutes, windwood, pianos and more

saltspringisland.canadianlisted.com

 

[black_doug]

I had a YCV50 in the blue tolex. It was a killer amp but I switched to using head/cab. I see YCV series amps sell from $400-600 on kijiji around Toronto. There are a lot kicking around southern Ontario, usually at a great price.

When I was testing this and other amps at the factory for quality assurance, the YCV50 was my favourite.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

You already know about Traynor and Garnet, two of the biggest names in Canada. How about a Mayfly? I remember Trevor from the Warmoth forum where he has always been very helpful with all things electric. I've never played one of his amps, but my brother lives in Ottawa and has heard good things about Mayfly equipment.

Mayfly

 

[24 track]

YBA-1 is the one.

Traynor amp are great

Traynor had some good ones. Think they are Canadian

the YBA-1 with about a 1/2 doz parts change IS a Marshall plexi ( the parts include resister value changes etc.) I kid you not I have the parts list to do the conversion and would be my first choice in a heart beat the conversions can be found on line with very little effort . I also have a pine pepco Made in the early 60's (Montreal ) this is a widow maker but Pepco published the transformer upgrade also 2 early 60's Beltone Tiesco amps releleased in only in Canada , A Sunn Sonaro with matching 15 " spkr . Garnets were made in Winnepeg and were used by the Guess Who in the early years . Traynor amps were the brain child of one of the original owners of Long & Mcquade fame now owned by Yorkville a subsiduary.

beltone AP12-AP14 ( Notice my Tiesco Beltone Hound dog taylor )

Pine Pepco

Sunn Sonaro I have the 1 X 15 cab ) I used an EV 15 for the cab and have put the original Sunn in storage

 

[Wooly Fox]

Thanks all, that $400 Garnet is interesting but the mods would make me worry about it's reliability (only mods I would consider are grounded cable or IC socket installed and recapped).

I'll keep an eye out for Traynor YCV50 listings in Vancouver though a trip to Ontario and back would be worth it for the right amp.

 

[Wally]

Traynor…the YBA1 is based on the Fender 5F6A type of circuit…as are those Marshall’s. The YRM amp is closer to the BF Fender Reverb thing.
If you want small, I like the YBA2.
Garnet….I have never seen one but would like to. The G45/90100TR and tthe GB100TR and the LB100TR amps have a different approach from the Fender reverb amps. I would like to play through one.
Get a Herzog and run it through one of those bigger, cleaner amps. Does that 633 Engineering amp have a power amp in jack?? Or the Quilter? For that matter, you can run the Herzog through the front end, but why do that when the Herzog is where you want to make your tone. I have never seen one of those, either. Get a Champ and build a line out off of the speaker leads….

 

[24 track]

Traynor…the YBA1 is based on the Fender 5F6A type of circuit…as are those Marshall’s. The YRM amp is closer to the BF Fender Reverb thing.
If you want small, I like the YBA2.
Garnet….I have never seen one but would like to. The G45/90100TR and tthe GB100TR and the LB100TR amps have a different approach from the Fender reverb amps. I would like to play through one.
Get a Herzog and run it through one of those bigger, cleaner amps. Does that 633 Engineering amp have a power amp in jack?? Or the Quilter? For that matter, you can run the Herzog through the front end, but why do that when the Herzog is where you want to make your tone. I have never seen one of those, either. Get a Champ and build a line out off of the speaker leads….

I have a friend with a Garnet would you like me to borrow it and take some Pics for you ? This would not be an issue at all
I sold it to him as I had 11 amps and did not need any more ,LOL , I may even have the matching schematics for said Garnet .
Let me know

 

[Nogoodnamesleft]

If you're open to new, this one has caught my eye a few times.

https://traynoramps.com/product/dh15h/

 

[Vibroluxer]

How about a Mayfly? I remember Trevor from the Warmoth forum where he has always been very helpful with all things electric. I've never played one of his amps, but my brother lives in Ottawa and has heard good things about Mayfly equipment.

Mayfly

I was reading this post knowing that I was going to post about Mayfly. Trevor May is a hell of a guy, he's very helpful and very free with his knowledge.

I have a much loved, mint condition Mayfly BC15. Simply put, it's an AC30 with 15 watts. Controls the same as an AC30. They are so rare but that kinda means they might not be very expensive. No one knows about them.

 

[printer2]

I wonder if you can take a 68 Bassman head on the plane as carry on baggage? I would have to recap it though.

 

[Wooly Fox]

Get a Herzog and run it through one of those bigger, cleaner amps. Does that 633 Engineering amp have a power amp in jack?? Or the Quilter? For that matter, you can run the Herzog through the front end, but why do that when the Herzog is where you want to make your tone. I have never seen one of those, either.

There is one for sale for $4,000...

I would rather get the Love Bomb preamp or one the Kingsley preamp pedals (even with the wait times) if I were to go the preamp into power amp route.