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Traynor Darkhorse DH15 15w tube amplifier head

The Traynor Darkhorse is a 15-watt 6V6 amplifier head that offers thoughtful features, excellent tone and amazing portability. With the choice of 15 or 1-watt power, and variable tone stack positioning, the Traynor Darkhorse is a killer head for recording, jamming, or clubs.

The Traynor Darkhorse features:

  • 15 watts Class A using (2) 6V6
  • Or 1 watt Class A using (1) 12AU7
  • (2) 12AX7 preamp tubes
  • Cathode biased, no bias adjustment needed when changing tubes
  • No negative feedback loop for maximum gain and harmonic richness
  • Gain, Master, Treble and Bass Controls
  • USA/Pure/British tone stack switch
  • 8 and 16 ohm speaker jacks
  • 11 lbs
  • Soft carrying bag included
  • Designed and built in Canada

Capitalizing on the popular "lunchbox" amplifier format, the Darkhorse has a purposeful, elemental look that is a cross between industrial and Steampunk. The tubes are easily accessible by removing the thumb screws holding on the top cover, and the jeweled pilot light is actually a multicolor LED: It glows a different color depending on whether you're in standby, 1 watt for 15 watts. Clever.

We tried the Darkhorse through a number of different cabinets including their DHX12 with a single Greenback, Tone Tubby with a G12H30, and even a Marshall 4x12. Dialing in the Darkhorse starts with the gain control. This control not only controls gain (headroom) but also has a tonal effect, and it's fairly bright at lower gain settings. We found that the most useful setting were at 12 o'clock and above, and even at that setting there was still plenty of clean headroom. The Treble and Bass controls have a good usable range, and we were able to dial in both single coil and humbucker guitars without any difficulty. The Master volume works like most other amps: Keep the gain low and the master high for clean headroom, and the gain high and master lower for crunchy rock tones. 

The USA/Pure/Brit switch is a clever little tweak that actually moves the location of the tone stack. In the USA position, the tone stack is between the preamp tube stages. This provides a cleaner, brighter tone with the most usable headroom, with a sound much like a smaller Fender® amp. The Pure setting is just what it implies, and the tone stack is removed from the circuit. This produces a noticeable jump in gain as well as a fatter midrange. The Brit setting moves the tone stack to between the last tube and the phase splitter. This setting also provides a boost in mid frequencies as well as a gain increase, and a decidedly British upper midrange snarl.

Plugged into their DHX12 cabinet and set on the USA setting, the Darkhorse is clean with a sweet top end, decent bass response, and the sort of natural depth that comes from a relatively simple circuit unburdened by complex tone controls and effects. The 6V6 power tube is part of the classic American amp sound, and the Darkhorse has all that going, but with none of the hardness or stiffness you sometimes get in smaller combos. The zero negative feedback design is not ideal for maximum clean headroom, but does give the amp a "breathy" character, that never begs for reverb. That being said, on the USA setting there is plenty of clean volume for jam sessions and even small gigs.

If set up for a fairly loud clean USA tone, going to either the British or Pure setting will bring on some nice crunch and a more urgent attitude. The Pure and Brit settings are fairly similar in nature, but with the Brit setting you still have the functionality of the tone controls. These modes are great for fattening up a single coil guitar, dialing in a stout crunchy rhythm tone, or at more extreme settings, a fairly huge sounding Stack-in-a-Box. In order to keep costs down, there is no foot-switching capability for these modes, and for live work our preference was dialing in a USA tone on the edge of clean, and using a mild overdrive pedal for leads. For home or recording the lack of a footswitch is no issue at all.

As you can imagine, the 1-watt 12AU7 setting is for creating smoking distortion tones without disturbing the peace. Even plugged into a Marshall 4x12 cabinet, this setting never got anywhere near loud, and for all-out Yngwie over the top craziness it's a lot of fun. For our money, we'll stick to the 6V6 setting and enjoy a wide range of remarkably rich clean-to-crunch tones. 

The Traynor Darkhorse is a very good sounding amplifier and an excellent value. It's tighter and cleaner than a small Tweed amp, but not as stiff as a Deville. The addition of the Pure and Brit settings bring on a tougher, more fiery nature that is ideal for Classic Rock or smoky blues. Despite its size, you can gig with this amp, and given that most bands today have the help of a PA, there is absolutely no reason not to. At eleven pounds, with its own handy carrying bag, and hardly more expensive that a couple boutique pedals, the Traynor Darkhorse is practically irresistible.