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One of my long time friends and band mates recently was gifted a Traynor Mark 3 head. It is in great shape, except it needs its tubes replaced because apparently some idiot didn't turn it on the right way.

Anyway, we had never heard of the brand before, so I decided to look it up. Apparently they are essentially Marshall and Fender clones on the inside, and are apparently very good amps. Just a simple google searched revealed tons of pages devoted to them.

Anyway, my friend doesn't really like classic tube amps, as he prefers a heavier metal sound, and would much rather sell it or trade it in and get a solid state Half-Stack, such as the Line 6 Spider, or some other kind. I know most of you won't agree with such a thing, since tube amps are apparently much superior to solid states, but that's what he wants to do, as he didn't like the sound from the Traynor when it was working.

So I was just wanting to get some feed back to help him decide what to do. Neither of us have a lot of money, we're just 18 year old musicians, although we've been playing our whole lives.

So how much would it be to restore the amp by replacing all the tubes, and getting a good 4x12 be? Would it really be worth keeping and restoring it? In the end if it wouldn't give a good sound, or if you can't convince him that a tube is better than a solid state, he would much rather sell it or trade it, for a solid state half stack.

Thanks in advance.
Peace

AndyHighTides

The thing about Traynor amps is back in the day, nobody respected someone who copied Marshall. Now, everybody does it. Those old amps love pedals and are very reliable. A multi-effects board will give you any sound you want and the amp will take as much gain as you can throw at it.
Expect $200-$300 bucks to replace all the tubes and maybe a bit more if some of the internal parts need replacing, but, a Spider is not a cheap amp, and basically it is a software simulation of a real tube amp.