In a recent local ad a guy had for sale a 70s Traynor solid state 15 W amp. The amp just has volume bass and treble controls and 2 8" speakers. I phoned the guy who's selling it and he says that it's very loud for 15 W and probably over 20 W.He said that the amp is great for blues (which is a plus for me) and at lower volumes is real clean for country and jazz.So folks should I fork over the $100 for it?He also has an 80s or 90s Fernandes sustainer and he said he'd sell me both for $300.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I would tend to give solid state from the '70s a wide berth... particularly if I had Bassmen and a Leslie to my name (among others)... heh. I dunno, though... perhaps you have a hole in your collection or you want something more portable. I'd be inclined to look for a late '80s-early '90s Tube Works if I were after SS, as they seem to turn up for not much more than that quite often. The valve preamp on those is basically a Butler Real Tube rack unit with a couple of Yugo 12ax7s, so you can get a very acceptable overdrive (just not with power amp distortion) or utter clean-ness from the MosValve solid state power amp stage. In my opinion, your money would be better spent on something else or saved for a more worthy bout of GAS... but that's just my opinion...

except this is a traynor. I say go try it out and see.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

True, I know nothing about Traynor except that they're Canadian (plenty of great stuff from there)... guess I just went with the received wisdom that not many old solid state amps are much to write home about if you disregard the usual suspects (Musicman, Roland). You can tell that I don't get out much, as "play it and see" hadn't occurred to me as an option!

hehe, i would put Traynor gear in the same category as randall or MM. Personally the only Traynor i have ever played (tube or SS,) that didn't rock turned out to need a new speaker. I am a big big fan of their gear. (can tell I am Canadian, I guess)

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I tend to agree with the above. In my recollection, it was not really until the mid-80s Gallien-Krueger stuff until solid state got to be in the neighborhood of at least "good". Prior to that, Lab Series and Roland had some models verging in. But ... maybe this amp is an exception and better than all of them? I dunno.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I've got a Traynor Group 1 VC with a 2 * 15 cab, made in the early 1970's.
Haven't used it in a long time, what I remember it was very LOUD at 50W , but sterile sounding

I am about to dig it out to find out it it still works and try to use it for a bass amp

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Keep on Truckin, Going full speed ahead down the highway to hades.

I've had a few Traynor amps over the years,all tube amps and regret getting rid of them.One amp was a Custom Reverb with a 2-12 cab that was an absolutely fabulous amp that I traded for a Mark III that was an absolute monster.I still have my 67 Guitarmate that's a joy to listen to.It is based on my experience with Traynor amps that I'mconsidering the SS one.BTW wasn't the deadly Traynor Mono Bloc bass amp solid state?

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I can't speak for 70's solid state, but I do really like the Traynor 40w tube amp I purchased in January.

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A 70's Traynor amp? What could that be. The only SS Traynor I recall are the International series and they are not from the 70's and the Dynagain's from a few years ago.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

It's possible the guy could be mistaken but the style of the cab looks like it's certainly no more recent than 80s.The cabinet is grey vinyl like the Mono Blocs were.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

My Repair manual of Traynor show no such amp with 2-8" speaker except a new one that is 40watt Reverb Mate that had 2-8" speakers.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Give it a test drive and see what you think. I'm not a BIG fan of solid state amps but they aren't all bad either.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

The guy posted a pic in the ad and when I phoned he said it was 8s there are definitely 2 speakers but from the photo to me they looked more like 10s but he insisted that they were 8s.Maybe I should pick up the amp just for the uniqueness of it.My Guitarmate is such an early model that it has no reverb or serial number.You could see the amp at nl classifieds just Google it and it will give you the link, when you get to the site you'll find it under musical instruments.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Must have tubes,Must have tubes ............... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.