As the Power Supply on my 1967 Selmer is starting to pack up I decided I needed to get something to use whilst it goes for repairs. It had to be Tube, a bit more modern, but simple. Not too worried about Modern Hi Gain sounds as I don't need them live.
After a conversation with my friend Irene Ketikidi she told me she had an amp for sale and, as we're friends, she would sell it to me for a slight reduction in her original asking price! This was her main Live Amp until she got an Endorsee deal with Orange, so this thing has travelled to more places than a lot of people have!!
So, on Wednesday, I travelled up to London to go get it and here it is:-
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It's a Traynor YCV 40, Handbuilt in Toronto, Canada. It sounds great, really bright cleans and Crunch and takes nicely to having the Gain turned up. The Clean Channel works really well when driven with my old Zoom Stomps, especially the Hyper-Lead.
Sound-wise it's very similar to an old Fender Twin that I used to use years ago!!
Here's a random YT clip of one:-

Great deal man I have no clue these amps existed, but since you are all for rare/boutique stuff, I totally trust you know what you got there

When can we hear a sample of clean juiciness?

Traynor's are fairly popular in the states - vintage and current. They've been around since the early 60s (Yorkville Sound) as a cheaper alternative to Fender or Marshall, but using similar circuits and sounding very good. They're also known to be quite reliable and easy to work on.

The vintage models are 'indie' rock cool right now.
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I will post some samples as soon as I get a decent enough Mic to record it with. I think I need to acquire a new SM57 or similar!!



Thanks for that Ken, I didn't realise they'd been around for as long as that!!

Congratulations mate! The amp looks great and based on the video it seems to sounds very good. I'll be waiting for your samples!

What sort of mic do you plan on using? I had my eyes on the Senheiser e609 Silver, as I loved the way my recordings sounded last time I used it

Thanks Gab! I'll get them up as soon as I can!!




I was thinking of an SM 57 but am open to any suggestions of anything else that will do a good job!

Everyone here suggested the SM57 every time and I know it's a great solution - a bit cheaper than the Senheiser too. I think you have a lot of options and you can surely borrow a few different models for tests - right?

I will definitely do some tests at the Shop! I'm pretty sure that my Bro has a couple of SM 57's at his place that aren't being used at the moment. I'll see if I can borrow one of those when I see him next!

Hah! So you guys are involved in the music business as a whole family? That's amazing! Keep us updated I am seriously thinking about buying a guitar cab mic for myself and I am oscillating between the SM57 and the e609 - we'll see what's what

Sort of, my older Bro (the one in Zurich) did Electronica, Ambient type stuff in the 80's. My younger Bro is like me and has done all sorts but his main thing was Radio Broadcasting, that's why he has odd Mics and things still around!


I'll speak to my freind at the Shop this weekend and see what Mics I can borrow to test. It will depend what he has in Stock at the time.

Let us know what you have chosen, mate I do believe you have a lot of experience with micing amps, especially in a live setting - correct?

I'm borrowing the SM 57's this weekend and will be experimenting with them next week!
I have Mic'd a few Amps/Cabinets in my time, it's true!
Although I have heard from a few Engineers that there is a slightly different way of Mic'ing for Recording purposes!I think it's to do with Mic'ing for lower Volume Levels. Not sure though!

I have only mic'ed a Vox AC15 using a Beyerdynamic microphone, without having ANY prior experience and I got a very good crunch tone out of it I guess it's all in experimenting isn't it? And yeah, I'm clearly agreeing with the fact that micing for live and for recording involves different stuff Here's what I found so far:

http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/general/...icrophone-tips/

As I said, I am not experienced, so any piece of info can come in handy for me and I thought I'd share it too

It is definitely all about experimentation for sure!! I have a friend that has an amazing way of recording Acoustic Guitars using a 3 Mic set-up. You will never hear a better recording than his way. I'll get him to write it out for me and post it as a Wiki article maybe!!
Talking of articles, that was an interesting article! Thanks for the share!

Hey Neil!! I'd be very, very interested to find out more, as next weekend I'm recording some acoustic covers

Please let me know as soon as you have news All the best and thank you in advance, mate!

What great timing!! I'll speak to him in the next couple of days and tell you what he says!!

Thank you very much, man! Looking forward to it!

I'm interested too.

I mostly familiar with a two mic set up for acoustic ...

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I'm meeting with him tomorrow night, so will post the info on Wednesday for you both. I had a quick chat with him last night and he was saying that he's come up with a slightly different set up to his old way, he's now incorporated a 4th Mic to pick up the Room dynamics/reverb too.

Whahah! Amazing, but where am I gonna get 4 mics from?

Let's see what the techniques look like and what they involve and I'll take it from there - thank you once again, Neil!

I had a very interesting chat with Mike last night and he explained his new approach to me. It goes a bit like this:-
"As per normal I use 2 SM57's. One pointing at the Soundhole, slightly angled like you would when mic'ing a Cab, one at the Fingerboard, perpendicular and about halfway along the neck. Then I also use a Kick-drum Mic at the Soundhole to get a better Bass response. Finally I use an Omni-directional Mic about halfway between the player and the furthest wall to pick up the natural Reverb of the Room. There are no 'set' rules, as all the positioning is open for adjustment at any time. The main other thing to remember is to Double Track EACH Mic so you can play with the Panning whilst mixing. The Ambient Mic being panned hard left and hard right (about 85% each side) to give the feeling of the Room Space."
As he says, everything is open to adjustment and the best thing is to play around with things until you are happy with it all but these are good starting Guidelines!!
He also said he'd be interested in hearing the results if you do have a go at recording this way and if he can hear anything that he thinks he could help you with he'd be willing to do so!

Seems like pairing mics would be more challenging when dealing with out-of phase issues. Had any noticeable issues with that? How did you overcome them?

Hey Neil, thanks a bunch man! I also had a talk with a friend who's a very experimented acoustic player and he knows a lot of stuff about recording acoustic guitars as well. He recommended the following mic:

http://www.thomann.de/ro/oktava_mk_01201_black_cardioid.htm

He said that getting a matched pair would also be a good solution, but I could very well do the job with just one mic, placed around the 12th fret and as you said, moving around it (keeping it as a center) in order to find the best position.

I will take both opinions into consideration and I will see what I get I will also need to change my audio interface unfortunately, as I need an SPDIF in, so I decided to get this one:

http://www.thomann.de/ro/maudio_fast_track_c400.htm

Hey Chris, this setup is the way a friend of mine records. As far as I know he's not had any Phase issues, or not that he's mentioned at least! I'll ask him next time I see him and let you know what he says!!


No worries Cos!
That looks like a nice Mic and Interface!!
Let me know how the recording goes!!

Sure thing I'll get the mics on Tuesday, so I delayed my recordings a bit Thanks again man!

I will try both approaches - the one you suggested and the one suggested by my friend and I'll see what results I'll get

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts/results!!

As soon as I will begin, I'll leave my thoughts here Thank you once again!