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by scott_Archive
Naw, they had the choke for a few years after the tube rectifier was gone.
Most amps use a solid state rectifier (a bunch of diodes) to convert the AC into DC. Oldschool amps all used tube rectifiers because solid state didn't exist yet. After the diodes came along, folks started switching to them, because not only are they cheaper (like, $.50 for all four of them, as opposed to $X for a recitifer tube plus an extra $X to put a special 5V winding on the power transformer to power the rectifier) but also they don't "sag" like tube rectifiers do. For a bass amp, or a guitar amp if you want it snappy as opposed to mushy, you don't want sag.
Traynor stopped using tube rectifiers in like 1966 maybe, possibly into 1967.
The choke transformer is a separate thing. It's used to regulate the current that flows to the screen supply, to keep the tubes from burning up. They continued to use the choke transformer into the late 60's and maybe even into 1970, not positive on that one. Then they stopped using a choke and switched to a big resistor and filter cap instead. It's cheaper, lighter, easier to fix, etc.
You can tell if a Traynor (or any non-reverb amp for that matter) has a choke or not by looking at the transformers. If there's only two (power and output) then there's no choke. If there's three, it's got the choke. If it's an amp with reverb, it might have transformer-driven reverb, in which case you'd have four transformers if there's a choke, and three if there isn't.
"The bastards have landed"
www.myspace.com/thechromerobes - now has a couple songs from the new album