Combo amp conundrum

[Dogma Hollow]

Might have to buy myself a good combo amp in the near future, cuz I had to sell most of my gig rig a while back to pay bills.

I've heard some good things about Traynor amps, and I like what I've seen/heard on Musicians Friend about the YCV80:



But I would probably replace the stock tubes with JJ's and maybe replace the speaks, like several people have mentioned in the review.

Then I saw this guy, the Egnater Tourmaster Series 4212, and I'm kinda torn:



The power grid feature is nice, and having 4 voicings is cool. I might replace the tubes as well with JJ's, but I'd have to see how it sounds first. 8 preamp tubes and 4 power tubes will make this a bit pricier, and it's already $1600.

So I'm kinda torn, because if I get the Traynor, I know I'm modding it for sure, and that'll cost a few hundred. If I go with the Egnater, I may or may not have to mod it, and it's got some cool features the Traynor doesn't have. I'd like to play one first, but I've never seen either at Guitar Center or anywhere else around here.

Anybody have any experience with either one?

[Wilbur]

Why plan to mod something before you've played through it?

[Mike]

I'm a big fan of Traynor, I wish they were as reasonable in the UK as they are in the States.

Don't read reviews and plan to mod, play the amp and make your own mind up.

[JamesSmann]

One my favorite bass amps of all time was my all tube traynor. i was sooooo sad when i had to sell it.

[dots]

everybody's so intimidated by dots' big, bad marshall.

preamp tubes are cheap anyway, and they come with the added bonus of not requiring you to bias.


but yeah, demo any and all of those amps before you buy.