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First test review of the Traynor 'dark horse' DH-15 head amp. 12/15 Watts, 5kg , awesome looking amp head.
I paid 365 euro for it, new. Sits comfortably between a Champ and a Deluxe.reverb.The sound is very close to a Fender Deluxe reverb in fact. It normally is driven through a Celestion greenback 12" in cabinet, also made by Traynor. I just used a Celestion G12-75, because i intend to use it with a Epi ES295 hollow body (big jazz guitar with 2 P90s). This changes the sound somewhat. Very clean in bass and treble, scooped more than the greenback which has a warmer sound.
The 'dark horse' has too may highs as it is i think. Even with the treble down to 0 it kept trebley. I'll put in a different resistor later to lower the highs. The stock preamp tube is a sovtek 12AX7wa and it drives both the gain and the master channel. Replace this with a better tube. In my case i used a GE5751, like i did in my vibroverb 63 RI. It lowers the output slightly, but clears up the sound considerably. Then i used a 12AT7 as a PI. The stock JJ 6V6 output tubes are fine.
I must admit i was apprehensive about the gain/master interaction, especially since it's a low watt amp. I couldv'e lived without that. I would say they use it so you can get a beefed up sound with the gain high and the master low. The Fender Blues Junior does the same. I was looking for a cleaner sound, more a Deluxe Rev than a tweed and.... i got it! I'm happy to say that the gain channel acts like a proper first volume section, without going into saturation on 8 or 9 o clock. I had to move it to 1 or 2 o clock when it started to beef things up, in a good way mind you. My setting would be: gain 12 o clock, master on 3 o clock, bass on 2 and treble on 9.
There are 3 different settings, operated by a switch.1: USA. this one gives you a scooped Fender Deluxe reverb sound (12 watt). 2: Pure. it bypasses the EQ altogether, has more output than the USA (15 watt). More beefed up mids too. 3: Brit: well.. it tries to be a Vox, but doesn't really get you there. It is only a different EQ setting. For some reason it distorts more than the USA setting, but i don't like this kind of distortion. I wasn't terribly impressed, although it is usable. You also have a 2 watt 12au7 as an output tube, which gives you a distorted, low volume sound. That's just a little plaything.
So.. It's not like a small tweed or a Vox ac15, but like a smaller Deluxe Reverb.It's a good price compared to a new Deluxe and will take you 80% there. I gather it should be miked up when playing in a rock setting. It has slightly less beef than a Blues Junior, but the cleans are nicer through the 6v6s instead of the EL84s.i might be suffering from new amp= great amp syndrome, and haven't tested it on stage. I will do that in the coming week.
I paid 365 euro for it, new. Sits comfortably between a Champ and a Deluxe.reverb.The sound is very close to a Fender Deluxe reverb in fact. It normally is driven through a Celestion greenback 12" in cabinet, also made by Traynor. I just used a Celestion G12-75, because i intend to use it with a Epi ES295 hollow body (big jazz guitar with 2 P90s). This changes the sound somewhat. Very clean in bass and treble, scooped more than the greenback which has a warmer sound.
The 'dark horse' has too may highs as it is i think. Even with the treble down to 0 it kept trebley. I'll put in a different resistor later to lower the highs. The stock preamp tube is a sovtek 12AX7wa and it drives both the gain and the master channel. Replace this with a better tube. In my case i used a GE5751, like i did in my vibroverb 63 RI. It lowers the output slightly, but clears up the sound considerably. Then i used a 12AT7 as a PI. The stock JJ 6V6 output tubes are fine.
I must admit i was apprehensive about the gain/master interaction, especially since it's a low watt amp. I couldv'e lived without that. I would say they use it so you can get a beefed up sound with the gain high and the master low. The Fender Blues Junior does the same. I was looking for a cleaner sound, more a Deluxe Rev than a tweed and.... i got it! I'm happy to say that the gain channel acts like a proper first volume section, without going into saturation on 8 or 9 o clock. I had to move it to 1 or 2 o clock when it started to beef things up, in a good way mind you. My setting would be: gain 12 o clock, master on 3 o clock, bass on 2 and treble on 9.
There are 3 different settings, operated by a switch.1: USA. this one gives you a scooped Fender Deluxe reverb sound (12 watt). 2: Pure. it bypasses the EQ altogether, has more output than the USA (15 watt). More beefed up mids too. 3: Brit: well.. it tries to be a Vox, but doesn't really get you there. It is only a different EQ setting. For some reason it distorts more than the USA setting, but i don't like this kind of distortion. I wasn't terribly impressed, although it is usable. You also have a 2 watt 12au7 as an output tube, which gives you a distorted, low volume sound. That's just a little plaything.
So.. It's not like a small tweed or a Vox ac15, but like a smaller Deluxe Reverb.It's a good price compared to a new Deluxe and will take you 80% there. I gather it should be miked up when playing in a rock setting. It has slightly less beef than a Blues Junior, but the cleans are nicer through the 6v6s instead of the EL84s.i might be suffering from new amp= great amp syndrome, and haven't tested it on stage. I will do that in the coming week.
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