Product Reviews

Custom Special 50H All Tube Head Reviews

before buying a more expensive amp, TRY THIS ONE OUT!
Features		Quality
Value		Overall
Product Experience	I own it	Closest Store	Moncton New Brunswick
picked it up on boxing day and the local L&M didn't have any compatable cabs in store that fit my needs and budget so I ordered one and had to wait a few weeks to try it. So finally I got the cab and hooked it up and no sound. Being a computer tech as well as playing my share of gigs when I was playing in bands, I know a bit about troubleshooting. Checked all the cables, replaced the cables with known good ones, removed any extra equipment that could cause problems until I had myself down to just the guitar and the amp and a cable. NOTHING. Tried swapping preamp tubes around and still nothing. So I took the amp to the store and even when it was cranked full blast people didn't notice the amp was on. They tested the tubes and found no issues and the possibility of my rig being the problem was ruled out by the fact the salesman at the store used a guitar off the rack and a cable that he'd just used to demo a guitar to another customer. I didn't want any other amp, not even the combo version and they didn't have another head in stock, so they sent it back to Traynor. It came back with them saying they found nothing wrong with it and it worked just fine the whole time they had it there, even when it was hooked up to all sorts of fancy equipment to monitor it's performance. I haven't had a problem since and Mark Taylor at the Moncton L&M and I figure that something inside the amp like a piece of dirt or something may have been causing a problem and got knocked free during shipping back to Traynor. Most important was that it works now. Despite my experience I rate this amp a 9 for quality because I've had no issues since and Traynor stands behind it's product. They give a 2 year UNLIMITED WARRANTY, even if you break it! (I assume the one limitation here would be intentional damage). They were awesome to deal with too. Any questions regarding the amp or attempts to follow up on the progress of getting my amp back were answered within 24 hours or less every time. Now for the tones and features, basically this amp is designed to be versatile. It's clean channel is capable of tones ranging along the lines of Fender to early Marshall or Vox amps (some might disagree, but I find this is a good description of what I hear). The dirty channel picks up where the clean channel leaves off and gives tones I'd compare to Marshall JCM800 style tones to modern Marshall or Mesa/Boogie depending on what voicing options are enabled. The variable gain boost is a nice touch too. I wouldn't say to expect exact reproductions of the above mentioned tones but as a guideline of what this amp is intended to compete with, I feel that's a good guideline of what the amp is capable of. There is no need for pedals with this amp but from my experiments with it... IT LOVES PEDALS. Try this amp with the volume at 10, gain up until it's slightly dirty and put a fuzz or OD in front with the volume on the pedal set so there's a slight increase in volume when the pedal is engaged and then add gain to your liking and you'll be very pleased. Or set the amp so it's clean but just about to start distorting if you were to push it a bit harder and let the pedal do the work...it still sounds good. Also I love the class switching feature. On 15 watt class A mode it's just as loud as in 50 watt class AB mode, but a little hotter and you get the distortion a bit sooner in the volume/gain controls. Class AB mode has more clean headroom but I also find the tone has a bit more bottom as well. Both channels sound good but if you want a clean tone while competing with a drummer, 50 watt mode is what you need. I like this feature because It lets me have an amp that goes from practice room volumes to stage/jamming volumes and not have to worry about being drowned out by the drums. There's also lots of voicing options that all more or less do what they suggest and between all these options there are not many tones you'll be unable to approximate from high gain to vintage crunch to very clean. Now, for the thing that makes this amp worth looking at... after you've seen first hand what this amp can do and considering the warranty they offer (and by experience how they stand by their product); check out the price and compare other amps with similar features in the same wattage range...maybe it's because they aren't as known as the other guys, but they offer basically the same options with a better warranty for several hundred dollars less. Also, Traynor does have a good reputation with people who know of them. They've been around as long as Marshall has, and there are many examples of their amps from the 60's and 70's still working just as well as they did when they were new. Also, I know a lot of people that swore by these old Traynor amps. They're just as good if not better than their more expensive competitors Posted by this_dying_soul on Jun 10, 2010