Thinking Of An Amp Trade

[TGwaH]

Searching craiglist to kill some time, I came across one of my amp holy grails a Garnet amp! The seller is willing to take a trade, but it looks like only because the amp is lacking in volume. He says

It has new tubes with 2 EL 34's like the Marshall’s. It's a 50 watt amp! I was using this amp last week and my friend sugested I put in Yellow Jackets that convert the amp into a class A sound. Unfortunately after doing so something inside has shorted out as to now I've lost all my volume?? I can still get a sound but it sounds like it's a power problem. I know it's not the tubes or the transformers because they are working fine. it's something else ... a capacitor or a transistor.

Now I'm sure most of you know I'm an electronics dummy, and I'd hate to offer up my 50W Traynor only to find that the repair is a $500 job or worse, it's entirely unrepairable.

Hereis a link to the ad. What do you guys think? Presuming of course that it's still available of course.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Sounds to me like he blew the OT.

Did asked him what he did? Did he switch back to regular tubes or just that it's quite with the yellow jackets in?

I would ask him those two questions. I bet it's a simple fix.

[Drak]

There were many Garnet models made, is the one for sale the one you wanted, or just because it says Garnet you want it (which would be a bad move)?

And what model/year Traynor do you have? (I've owned about 10 over the years, still have a few)

Basically, I see very little differences between the Traynors and Garnets, and if your Traynor is working fine, I'd just keep it, you're not buying yourself much of a different amp really, depending on model/power/speaker.

And Garnets are not really collectable per se, you should not feel the need to jump at the first one, rather, you can choose your model and wait till the best one comes along.

Look at it this way, if you owned a Garnet, you wouldn't have very many people breaking your door down to buy it from you, so you are in a better position to haggle than the seller is, not too many people out there thirsting after a Garnet unless the price was -really- good.

Bottom line: I think you'd be trading your perfectly fine working amp for another one pretty much just like it, and with known problems. No go.

[TGwaH]

There were many Garnet models made, is the one for sale the one you wanted, or just because it says Garnet you want it (which would be a bad move)?

And what model/year Traynor do you have? (I've owned about 10 over the years, still have a few)

I own a 1978 YGM-3.

And Garnets are not really collectable per se, you should not feel the need to jump at the first one, rather, you can choose your model and wait till the best one comes along.

Look at it this way, if you owned a Garnet, you wouldn't have very many people breaking your door down to buy it from you, so you are in a better position to haggle than the seller is, not too many people out there thirsting after a Garnet unless the price was -really- good.

Bottom line: I think you'd be trading your perfectly fine working amp for another one pretty much just like it, and with known problems. No go.

I think that North of the border Garnet's are a little more desirable, if only for it's place within Canadian rock and roll history, but you make some good points Drak. I might keep an eye out at pawnshops and on eBay and hopefully a sub $300 Garnet will turn up.