caix wrote:it's not a bad head, but not if you want to be loud. if you're on a small budget and want a tube head, it's worth owning just to get started. unfortunately, there really aren't many tube heads that are under a grand. so sooner or later you're going to find out a way to get the head you really want, because you'll end up just working your way towards that SVT anyway. it's unfortunate that the YBA is what it is. Traynor thought of good ways to modernize a tube head, but ended up making it too inexpensive, and in turn underpowered. If they made it 300w, it would have the power to contend well against the SVT and probably at half the price. the YBA200 sounds very thin and lacks a lot of low end. It's got a lot of growl and not much else. so it has it's merits, just not what i'm looking for. the solid state heads i was using before it were much louder and ballsier. the svt on the other hand, i'm only playing at %25 volume and i get the tube sound i want out of it and all that head room to find the right tone. the traynor was at full volume and could barely keep up. that's 200w for you i guess. my dave eden traveler has more deep tone than the YBA.

phildotidiot wrote:

caix wrote:it's not a bad head, but not if you want to be loud. if you're on a small budget and want a tube head, it's worth owning just to get started. unfortunately, there really aren't many tube heads that are under a grand. so sooner or later you're going to find out a way to get the head you really want, because you'll end up just working your way towards that SVT anyway. it's unfortunate that the YBA is what it is. Traynor thought of good ways to modernize a tube head, but ended up making it too inexpensive, and in turn underpowered. If they made it 300w, it would have the power to contend well against the SVT and probably at half the price. the YBA200 sounds very thin and lacks a lot of low end. It's got a lot of growl and not much else. so it has it's merits, just not what i'm looking for. the solid state heads i was using before it were much louder and ballsier. the svt on the other hand, i'm only playing at %25 volume and i get the tube sound i want out of it and all that head room to find the right tone. the traynor was at full volume and could barely keep up. that's 200w for you i guess. my dave eden traveler has more deep tone than the YBA.

what you're describing sounds a lot like my mesa boogie buster head. 200 watts, lots of growl, not a whole lot of low end. i keep looking for an alternative to the SVT, but i suspect i'm gonna end up having to take that loan out after all... hehe.

caix wrote:I played the SVT CL and the VR right next to each other, I found the CL to be more clean and not have that legendary mid-range, but it was still a good sound regardless. Granted, it's $1600 head, though you can find them used around $1200.

I bet if you looked hard enough, you could find something in your budget that comes close to the SVT. Like I said, the Monoblock is pretty damn close, but they're hard to find and usually broken. I found one on ebay for $100 bucks, spend $250 fixing it. Pretty inexpensive, kind of a hassle. Worth it, though.

caix and jermwelfare wrote:Fender Bassman 300

caix wrote:Since this is all theoretically to you, my offer still stands for you to come to my practice space and listen to the SVT against the YBA, Monoblock and Eden, and then whatever head you choose to bring with you.

caix wrote:

Yngwie Einstein wrote:Why did you replace the tubes? Did they go bad? I'm asking because my YBA200 crapped out on me last week and I am wondering if this is symptomatic of the amp in general. I can't tell if I just blew a tube or a resistor or whatnot. Can't find the friggin' receipt and it s/b under the two-year warranty. Oh, and I can't seem to locate a Traynor dealer in the Chicago area that does warranty service. Ugh! Enough about me.

Other than that, I pretty much like the way the amp sounds.

Get it checked out by a pro. Sounds like you had what I had, which was a signal overload that blew a power tube, then a resister. My repairman blamed most of it on the quality of the power tubes. He ended up putting in what he felt were better tubes.

Yngwie Einstein wrote:The picture is becoming clearer. I also play a bass with active pickups. And I encountered the same thing. So much for buying on the cheap.