Traynor amps from the 1960s and 1970s carry serial numbers in three forms: three digits up to 1968, four digits from 0XXX in 1966 to 5XXX in 1971, and a seven-digit form that encodes the year digit, the month and the sequence. Because the year is one digit, the decade has to be fixed from the model era or from component codes first.
Traynor began as Yorkville's own brand in Toronto, and the earliest amps carry three-digit serial numbers. Component codes and the model names of the period are the second witness.
Four-digit serials run from 0XXX in 1966 to 5XXX in 1971. A forum claim that five-digit numbers were in use by 1969 conflicts with this table, and the canon records the conflict instead of resolving it.
Seven-digit serials lead with the last digit of the year, then two digits for the month and four for the unit number, so 1020629 reads as February 1971. Because only one year digit is encoded, the same reading could be 1981.
The modern line starts with the YBA200 Tube Bass head in 2004 and the YCV and YCS valve families in 2005, using model prefixes rather than the old numbering.
| Series | Years | Rows | Era note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-digit serials (pre-1968) | 1963–1968 | 1 | |
| Four-digit serials 1966-1971 (0XXX-5XXX) | 1966–1971 | 6 |
10 Traynor models are catalogued with their production years, specs and safety notes.
Browse the models →The first digit is the last digit of the year, the next two are the month and the final four are the unit number, so 1020629 reads as February 1971.
Because only one year digit is encoded, so 1971 and 1981 cannot be separated by the number alone; the model era or component codes decide.
Mallory 235 on filter capacitors and Mel Rain 834 on circuit breakers, each followed by a year digit and a week.
It runs from 0XXX in 1966 to 5XXX in 1971; a claim that five-digit numbers arrived by 1969 conflicts with it and is recorded as an open conflict.
Compiled from 150 published sources — the source library.