Well, this happened:
About 2 weeks ago, I went out shopping for a decent acoustic guitar because I've started playing in this acoustic duo with this singer who I'm also in another band with. In the DC area, there's a cluster of appropriate stores to get such a thing, Chuck Levin's, House of Musical Traditions, and Atomic Music.
So one saturday about 2 weeks ago, I decided to hit all 3. Atomic was first. They are this crazy flea market junk heap of weird and wonderful used stuff. Being a multi-instrumentalist, I had to pass through each section just to see what was around. So this guy caught my eye, but I didn't have time to try it out that day.
I also could never keep the various Trace "tube" models straight, as they have some that are all tube/hybrid, and some that are just tube preamps with SS power sections.
Anyway, just for the curious, I did end up getting a very nice Breedlove Eco Pursuit Exotic S Concerto in myrtlewood at Chuck Levin's that day, which I'm liking a lot so far, and will be even better with new strings, saddle, and setup.
But of course I had to head to the googles and look up this model and see what was what. Of course that lead me to some old threads here which indicated it was indeed a 6x6550 350w tube powered head, with a very unusual preamp setup, and definitely worth at least checking out.
So my next free day I drove back over there with my LB76. I upgraded the electronics in that last year, with Bartolini hum cancelling jazz style pickups, and a John East 3 band Uni-Pre. I got one of the staff to get me setup with this thing as it was kind of buried under other heads, and not near any decent cabs.
I tried the lower tube preamp first. That's apparently a "flat" pre with just a gain stage basically to feed the power amp. I wanted to try the SS pre with the EQ, but it didn't seem to be working off the bat so I had to get some more help. Fortunately it was just a slightly funky jack and came to life with a little wiggling and has been fine since.
The 11 band EQ really gave a lot of shaping options. The typical Trace pre shape is on the aggressive side by itself, but can be tamed with the graphic.
Anyway, it was probably the best my Carvin has ever sounded, even with fairly old strings (the Aguilar GS 4x10 surely didn't hurt). I didn't really get into any grindier sounds, but it just had a nice big and wide and phat sound that was really musical.
And I managed to get the guy down on the price a little (which was already pretty reasonable for such an amp). So even if I end up spending $400 on a retube at some point, and/or a couple hundred on a thorough going over by a tech, I'll basically be in Strategy territory.
Speaking of that, the weight is not TOO bad. Even in the road case, I think it's something like 65 lbs or so. So it's actually moveable by one person, unlike an SVT.
My plan is to use it mainly with my pair of Genz Benz UberQuads, which this thing should light up nicely, and vice versa. There was definitely a good amount of low end in the store, even without the EQ or the bass being boosted, and the UberQuads are pretty stout, so they should handle whatever the Trace can throw at them.
Anyway, I had some vintage Trace cabs for a few years (red stripe era) which were great, but I've always wanted a vintage Trace head (was eying an SMX to get that dual compressor), AND I've always wanted to finally get an "all" tube bass amp (I have a number of hybrid heads, but this is the first tube power section on a bass amp for me), AND my business has been doing great lately, so this really fit the bill, so I had to jump on it, as Trace heads with tube power sections don't come up very often. So I'm pretty happy so far, but I can't wait to actually have some time to really dig into (and restring my bass finally).
I welcome any and all well wishes, virtual high fives, arcane Trace wisdom, etc...
About 2 weeks ago, I went out shopping for a decent acoustic guitar because I've started playing in this acoustic duo with this singer who I'm also in another band with. In the DC area, there's a cluster of appropriate stores to get such a thing, Chuck Levin's, House of Musical Traditions, and Atomic Music.
So one saturday about 2 weeks ago, I decided to hit all 3. Atomic was first. They are this crazy flea market junk heap of weird and wonderful used stuff. Being a multi-instrumentalist, I had to pass through each section just to see what was around. So this guy caught my eye, but I didn't have time to try it out that day.
I also could never keep the various Trace "tube" models straight, as they have some that are all tube/hybrid, and some that are just tube preamps with SS power sections.
Anyway, just for the curious, I did end up getting a very nice Breedlove Eco Pursuit Exotic S Concerto in myrtlewood at Chuck Levin's that day, which I'm liking a lot so far, and will be even better with new strings, saddle, and setup.
But of course I had to head to the googles and look up this model and see what was what. Of course that lead me to some old threads here which indicated it was indeed a 6x6550 350w tube powered head, with a very unusual preamp setup, and definitely worth at least checking out.
So my next free day I drove back over there with my LB76. I upgraded the electronics in that last year, with Bartolini hum cancelling jazz style pickups, and a John East 3 band Uni-Pre. I got one of the staff to get me setup with this thing as it was kind of buried under other heads, and not near any decent cabs.
I tried the lower tube preamp first. That's apparently a "flat" pre with just a gain stage basically to feed the power amp. I wanted to try the SS pre with the EQ, but it didn't seem to be working off the bat so I had to get some more help. Fortunately it was just a slightly funky jack and came to life with a little wiggling and has been fine since.
The 11 band EQ really gave a lot of shaping options. The typical Trace pre shape is on the aggressive side by itself, but can be tamed with the graphic.
Anyway, it was probably the best my Carvin has ever sounded, even with fairly old strings (the Aguilar GS 4x10 surely didn't hurt). I didn't really get into any grindier sounds, but it just had a nice big and wide and phat sound that was really musical.
And I managed to get the guy down on the price a little (which was already pretty reasonable for such an amp). So even if I end up spending $400 on a retube at some point, and/or a couple hundred on a thorough going over by a tech, I'll basically be in Strategy territory.
Speaking of that, the weight is not TOO bad. Even in the road case, I think it's something like 65 lbs or so. So it's actually moveable by one person, unlike an SVT.
My plan is to use it mainly with my pair of Genz Benz UberQuads, which this thing should light up nicely, and vice versa. There was definitely a good amount of low end in the store, even without the EQ or the bass being boosted, and the UberQuads are pretty stout, so they should handle whatever the Trace can throw at them.
Anyway, I had some vintage Trace cabs for a few years (red stripe era) which were great, but I've always wanted a vintage Trace head (was eying an SMX to get that dual compressor), AND I've always wanted to finally get an "all" tube bass amp (I have a number of hybrid heads, but this is the first tube power section on a bass amp for me), AND my business has been doing great lately, so this really fit the bill, so I had to jump on it, as Trace heads with tube power sections don't come up very often. So I'm pretty happy so far, but I can't wait to actually have some time to really dig into (and restring my bass finally).
I welcome any and all well wishes, virtual high fives, arcane Trace wisdom, etc...
