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 2010
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Vintage Traynor Series
Vintage PA Speakers

One of the first successes for Yorkville Sound was the designing and building of Column Speakers in 1963. It seems back then there was no real portable P.A.''s to be found, so Pete Traynor made some. From there, Yorkville Sound and P.A. Speakers have been synonymous with each other, and have been a major source of our business. The following links take a look back at what we started with, and how Yorkville grew as a speaker manufacturer.

YSC-1
YSC-2
YSC-3
YSC-4
YSC-5
YSC-6
YSC-7
YSC-7A
YSC-8
YSC-9
YSC-10
YM-1

YSC-1
Features
Six 8-Ohm Marsland eights in a sealed column-type enclosure with a 1/4" jack, wiring was series/parallel (3 series pairs paralleled)
Approximate Serial Number
1100 to 5500s = 1965 to 1970 (5500s were 1965)
006#### to 306####
Years Made
1963* - 1973
Cabinet Type
6x8" column
Power
250 Watts pgm 5.3 Ohms 		Comments
This is the product that got Yorkville started. In the dark ages when there seemed to be no portable PA anywhere in North America (yes, there was such a time) YSC-1''s ushered in the new era. *(no record of 1963/64 serial no''s exists)

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YSC-2
Features
Four 8-Ohm Marsland twelves in a sealed column-type enclosure with a 1/4" jack, wiring was series/parallel
Approximate Serial Number
0001 to 6400s = 1965 to 1970
006#### to 508###
Years Made
1964* - 1982
Cabinet Type
4x12" column
Power
90 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
For people who wanted more bass than the YSC-1 offered, the YSC-2 filled the bill and was not much heavier thanks to the lightweight speakers. *(no record of 1964 serial no''s exists)

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YSC-3
Features
Four 8-Ohm Marsland 8s in a sealed column-type enclosure with a 1/4" jack, wiring was series/parallel
Approximate Serial Number
0010 to 4900s = 1965 to 1970
006#### to 206####
Years Made
1965 - 1982
Cabinet Type
4x8" column
Power
200 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
Some people wanted a shorter more portable column. Speakers were same as the YSC-1''s.

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YSC-4
Features
Four 8-Ohm Marsland twelves in a sealed, stand-mounted cabinet with a 1/4" jack, wiring was series/parallel
Approximate Serial Number
4100 to 5300s = 1966 to 1970
006#### to 203####
Years Made
1966 - 1972
Cabinet Type
4X12" cabinet
Power
90 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
Another "first". No-one else was producing stand-mounted portable PA cabs at the time.

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YSC-5
Features
A single JBL D-120 in a stand-mounted cube
Approximate Serial Number
5100 to 5500s = 1966 to 1970
006#### to 201####
Years Made
1966 - 1972
Cabinet Type
1x12" "JBL" cube
Power
200 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
The YSC-5 was unusual - a "box-within-a-box" where the flared, open-backed central enclosure was suspended on wood pylons within a cube-shaped outer enclosure. Very efficient and good-sounding.

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YSC-6
Features
Two of the 8-Ohm dual-cone Phillips "Norelcos" in a cabinet based on the YSC-5, wiring was in series
Approximate Serial Number
6100 to 6165 = 1969 to 1970
006#### to 201####
Years Made
1966 - 1972
Cabinet Type
2x12" "Norelco" cabinet
Power
100 Watts pgm 16 Ohms 		Comments
A 2-speaker version of the YSC-5 originally loaded with JBLs for Pete Traynor''s contract system. The Norelcos sounded good and reduced the cost to a reasonable level for retail pricing.

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YSC-7
Features
Two 8 Ohm Eminence and two of Phillips'' Norelco twelves in a sealed column-type enclosure, wiring was series/parallel
Approximate Serial Number
009#### to 306####
Years Made
1970 - 1973
Cabinet Type
4x12" "Eminence/Norelco" column
Power
200 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
The Eminence speakers were more bassy sounding and the Norelcos added highs with their whizzer cones.

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YSC-7A
Features
Four 8 Ohm Marsland eights mounted to aluminum horns plus dual Motorola piezo tweeters in a sealed column enclosure
Approximate Serial Number
405#### to 206####
Years Made
1974 - 1982
Cabinet Type
4x8" + 2 tweeter column
Power
200 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
Four large round aluminum horns raised the efficiency considerably, but sometimes prompted nicknames - "dog dishes" was one.

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YSC-8
Features
Four 8 Ohm Marsland full range eights plus two in the center with whizzer cones on a simple crossover, in a sealed column enclosure
Approximate Serial Number
110#### to 802####
Years Made
1971 - 1978
Cabinet Type
6x8" column
Power
200 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
An update on the YSC-1 offering improved high frequency performance.

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YSC-9
Features
A 15" 8 Ohm bass and 12" 8 Ohm mid RSC speakers plus an RCF H4823 sectoral horn and TW-100 driver
Approximate Serial Number
310#### to 705####
Years Made
1973 - 1977
Cabinet Type
15" + 12" + horn cabinet
Power
200 Watts pgm 4 Ohms 		Comments
Our first enclosure with a real crossover (for the horn, the 12" was simply paralleled with the 15").

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YSC-10
Features
A 15" 8 Ohm woofer loaded at the back of an exponential horn in a ported enclosure with an ABS hf horn based on RCF''s H4823 and an RCF TW-101 driver plus 2 Motorola piezo tweeters. It also had tilt-back wheels & handles.
Approximate Serial Number
605#### to 207####
Years Made
1976 - 1982
Cabinet Type
15" + horn + 2 tweeters
Power
250 Watts pgm 8 Ohms 		Comments
A surprisingly compact cab considering that it contained an exponential bass horn.

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YM-1
Features
Two of the 8 Ohm eights from the YSC-1, YSC-3, etc., plus one or two Motorola piezo tweeters (early YM-1s had two but they were too loud so one was deleted), dual parallel jacks and an overall level control. The cab had 3 facing angles.
Approximate Serial Number
402#### to 802####
Years Made
1974 - 1978
Cabinet Type
2x8" + tweeters floor monitor
Power
100 Watts pgm 16 Ohms 		Comments
Another "first", the YM-1 ushered in the era of the wedge monitor and the multi-angle cabinet. Our first wedges (w/1xJBL 12") were built in 1969 for Pete Traynor''s contract system and did not go into production.

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Vintage Traynor Series Overview

The DynaBass The following takes look at the history of original and groundbreaking Yorkville products. Each link above represents a comprehensive archive of our Traynor creations and experiments. If you are the owner of an original Traynor product, you can reference serials numbers to specific models and years.

If you are interested in finding out more about Yorkville's history there is a very detailed document written by Yorkville's Mike Holman that you can get by clicking here. It is quite an interesting read.

SOME EARLY TRAYNOR/YORKVILLE HISTORY
1963-1970

Pete Traynor and Jack Long joined forces in 1963. Jack, a brilliant music retailer and owner of Long & McQuade Music, saw promise in Pete, a young bass player with creative skills at repairing things. Later it turned out that Pete could design things too. Thus began a relationship which would result in the formation of Yorkville Sound and development of many of the world’s leading amplification and pro audio innovations.

Peter Traynor Today, ongoing breakthroughs keep Yorkville at the forefront of music industry technology. Still, we look back frequently at those early days, usually in response to worldwide web enquiries. The present, and even the future it seems, will always pay homage to history.

Here are some early milestones along that 37-year pathway:

  • 1963
    • the YSC-1 portable PA column (6x8" speakers, 150 watts, 5.3 Ohms) filled a huge gap. Portable PA was unknown at the time and they could be used with any commercial PA amp.
    • the "Dynabass", later re-named the YBA-1 "Bass Master" was a tube head (45 Watts rms, no clipping @ 8 Ohms) cleverly designed to please bass and guitar players alike.
  • 1966
    • the YVM-1 "Voice Master" 4-channel, 45-watt PA head
    • another "first". But this one had a few extra "firsts". All inputs and speaker outputs were standard 1/4-inch jacks, there were In and Out effects patching jacks, switchable speaker impedance matching and a Master Volume control!
  • 1967
    • the MX-1, a battery-powered mini-mixer could add 4 channels to any PA
    • the YBA-3 "Custom Special" (130 Watts no clipping rms @ 4 Ohms) made it the most powerful bass head then on the North American market, and possibly in the world.
    • the YC-810 (200 watts, 4 Ohms) "Big B" bass cabinet with eight ten-inch drivers was the first of its kind and originally came on a massive tube steel "swivel dolley".
    • the LS-1 lighting system (8 floods on 2 t-bars with switch controller) was many years ahead of its time.
    • the TRC-2A "Roto Master", rotating horn box for guitar, was a unique forerunner to the flanger and chorus.
    • the YGM-1 "Guitar Mate" tube combo (12" speaker, 20 watts no clipping rms @ 8 Ohms) was an instant success and, when replaced by the updated, 25-Watt YGM-3 in 1969, quickly became one of the industry leaders for its quality and versatility.
  • 1968
    • the YBA-3A, "Super Custom Special" fan-cooled bass head (minimum 250 Watts rms no clipping @ 2 Ohms) could put out over 400 watts if driven hard enough and had to be used with two YC-810 "Big B’s". The 100-pound monster used four 6KG6A TV verticle hold tubes for output and was a "first" for Yorkville, and the world.
  • 1969
    • the MX-8, a nonpowered 8-channel mono mixer brought club PA into the multi-channel era.
    • the YPM-1 mono power amp (100 watts @4 Ohms) went with the MX-8 & MX-24.
    • the MX-24 was the world’s first 24-channel, multi-bus mixer designed specifically for full-scale live sound contracting. Such an operation was run by Pete Traynor from 1969 to 1971 ("Strawberry Fields", "Lighthouse at Varsity Stadium", "Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall", "Johnny Winter at Maple Leaf Gardens", "Steve Miller in Toronto", etc., etc., ). With no others known to have been in existance yet, this operation was a "first" in its own right.
    • the YSR-2 "Signature Reverb" combo (4x10", 2 chan., 45 watts) was a "first" in that it introduced the guitar amp world to one of its most enduring features
    • the Master Volume control.
    • the "wedge" floor monitor was created for Pete’s contract system. A later spin-off, the YSM-1 (not to be confused with the present day studio monitor), was another "first", not only because it was a wedge monitor when there were no others, but also because its unique design provided two different up-facing angles.
This covers the first seven years and only some of the products introduced in that era. There are many more innovations to be found in our history.

Vintage Traynor Series Characteristics

The following links are to sites developed by Traynor fans from around the world. We have no association with any of these sites, so the information contained there is not necessarily correct or the view of Yorkville Sound. You know the drill !!

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