NPD: Trace Elliot Transit B

[Wood and Wire]

Can anyone confirm whether the Transit B has any speaker simulation built in? Thanks

I'm 99% certain that it doesn't.

I've never heard of any Trace Elliot product that had speaker simulation, historically speaking.

I've not read anything in the documentation, nor heard anecdotally, that any of the current crop of Peavey era products (ELF, ELF Combo, Transit A, Transit B) features any speaker simulation.

 

[4StringsEnough]

I'm 99% certain that it doesn't.

I've never heard of any Trace Elliot product that had speaker simulation, historically speaking.

I've not read anything in the documentation, nor heard anecdotally, that any of the current crop of Peavey era products (ELF, ELF Combo, Transit A, Transit B) features any speaker simulation.

Thanks. That's what I thought. So will sound like ass if DI'ing with the overdrive kicked in I suspect.....

 

[stingray69]

Thanks. That's what I thought. So will sound like ass if DI'ing with the overdrive kicked in I suspect.....

Sounds good to me when going DI into a Zoom R16 recorder - perhaps there is an HPF on the DI out signal to emulate the high end roll-off of a cab. Don't know for sure.

In any case, it does not sound harsh to me going straight out.

 

[Paolo Mazzi]

Hi guys, I resume this thread because I took a Teansit B preamp (used mint condition), I'm very satisfied about its tone but I have a question, who purchased a unit I hope can help me. The green light of the compresson unit turn on correctly, but it doesn't blink, never. But I have read that it should blink (on and off) when the effects compress the tone. The manual published on trace elliot site confirm this, but this is the manual I found inside the box:

As you can see there is a white stripe over the part that talk about the light of the compressor unit. Help me,
has there been a change in trace elliott's project?
Or is it a manipulation of the previous owner?
thanx

 

[FatherTrucker]

Are you pushing the preamp? I find I only get the compressor lights to blink when I'm playing fairly aggressively.

 

[stingray69]

Although it works perfectly, the compressor lights on my unit never blink either - no matter how aggressively I play.

 

[Paolo Mazzi]

Ok, I Have received my answer.... Italian dealer for Peavey and Trace Elliot sent me a message, the blinking light feature of the compressor was removed on the newest units

 

[stingray69]

Ok, I Have received my answer.... Italian dealer for Peavey and Trace Elliot sent me a message, the blinking light feature of the compressor was removed on the newest units

Thanks for the confirmation! I've been wondering about this too.

 

[jdmarino]

Ok, I Have received my answer.... Italian dealer for Peavey and Trace Elliot sent me a message, the blinking light feature of the compressor was removed on the newest units

Interesting. I got I brand new unit last week and the lights blink. I guess it was sitting around not getting sold for a while.

 

[stingray69]

I'm still loving my Trace Elliot Transit B - it's my go-to preamp these days. That TE tone is killer!! Anyway, I found a minty fresh pre-owned Transit B and decided it was worth it to have as a backup and I can keep one at the house & one at rehearsal. I was surprised to see the compression lights flickering because I had forgotten that the older units had this feature. Actually, I find it quite useful to see when the compressor is kicking on & releasing as well as being able to easily dial in light vs heavy compression. The original model does indeed mention the flickering lights.

The top unit is the newer model, the lower unit is the older/pre-owned model. FWIW, I A/B'ed the tones/EQ/, etc. They sound 100% identical to each other. No differences, save for the Compression lights feature.

Whole lotta Trace going on:

 

[fourstringbliss]

Does this have a baked-in amp tone when engaged?

 

[stingray69]

Does this have a baked-in amp tone when engaged?

All EQ knobs at noon sound neutral to me - nothing baked in that I can tell. The Pre-Shape button is another story - it's supposed to be a baked-in tone. It brings in a very specific signature-EQ that Trace Elliot is known for. The PreShape function was also found on their vintage amps. The manual explains the exact eq the Pre-Shape uses. To my ears, it can be a little harsh playing solo, but sounds fantastic when playing with my band. Really cuts through the mix.

 

[fourstringbliss]

All EQ knobs at noon sound neutral to me - nothing baked in that I can tell. The Pre-Shape button is another story - it's supposed to be a baked-in tone. It brings in a very specific signature-EQ that Trace Elliot is known for. The PreShape function was also found on their vintage amps. The manual explains the exact eq the Pre-Shape uses. To my ears, it can be a little harsh playing solo, but sounds fantastic when playing with my band. Really cuts through the mix.

Great! It's funny, but I barely know the sound of my basses through my amp head since I usually go through my Zoom B1 Four into the fx return. I'm looking into other analog preamp pedals but I'm liking how this pedal has the effects I would use and nothing that I wouldn't.

 

[4 Out of 5]

Great! It's funny, but I barely know the sound of my basses through my amp head since I usually go through my Zoom B1 Four into the fx return. I'm looking into other analog preamp pedals but I'm liking how this pedal has the effects I would use and nothing that I wouldn't.

Have you tried the Trace Elliott patch in the Zoom B1 Four? With a few tweaks its now my favourite patch (even better than the SVT 8 x 10 patch).
I'm interested in a Transit B though to compare how it sounds and also I'd prefer to go old school analogue.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Have you tried the Trace Elliott patch in the Zoom B1 Four? With a few tweaks its now my favourite patch (even better than the SVT 8 x 10 patch).
I'm interested in a Transit B though to compare how it sounds and also I'd prefer to go old school analogue.

I have, but I haven't dug deep. I tend to use the Baseman amp model a lot. I'm really wanting to get away from digital I think. I'll keep the Zoom, though.

 

[stingray69]

Have you tried the Trace Elliott patch in the Zoom B1 Four? With a few tweaks its now my favourite patch (even better than the SVT 8 x 10 patch).
I'm interested in a Transit B though to compare how it sounds and also I'd prefer to go old school analogue.

Your post got me wondering so I tried this A/B test with my Zoom B4 & the Transit B. Hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison with the way the amp sim is laid out in the Zoom, so I just set everything completely flat on the Zoom amp sim and focused on the Mid knob. Full scoop on the Mid knob took away boat loads of low mids too in the process. Honestly, it sounded nothing like the Transit B. So I went the other way - tried a full boost of the Mids on the Zoom patch and that wasn't great either. It had a lack of natural tone that the Transit B had when doing the same tests - it boosted the mids, but it sounded very boxy/nasally sounding if that makes sense. At less drastic EQ settings, I could get some similar tones from the Zoom though. But the entire time I was A/B'ing, the Zoom still had a fair amount of digital noise that I don't care for.

Not trying to disparage the Zoom gear (I currently own the last 3 gens), but clearly the 3 band EQ on the Zoom patch can only do so much as compared to the 5-band on the Transit B. It's also hard to get digital patches to match the fullness & tone clarity of a quality analog circuit. Plus, I have no idea if the Zoom patch directly copied the EQ center frequencies Trace Elliot used. On the other hand, Peavey really did their homework to nail the classic Trace Elliot sound. They matched existing, classic Trace Elliot EQ points when they took over production - they kinda HAD to nail the Trace Elliot tone or people would definitely notice. They even implemented the gyrator-type EQ that TE used in their bass heads (at least in the ELF bass head and I'm assuming in the Transit B too). Here is a really good in-depth article that talks about the Trace Elliot gear and is written from the point of view of someone very familiar with the classic TE gear.

 

[4 Out of 5]

Your post got me wondering so I tried this A/B test with my Zoom B4 & the Transit B. Hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison with the way the amp sim is laid out in the Zoom, so I just set everything completely flat on the Zoom amp sim and focused on the Mid knob. Full scoop on the Mid knob took away boat loads of low mids too in the process. Honestly, it sounded nothing like the Transit B. So I went the other way - tried a full boost of the Mids on the Zoom patch and that wasn't great either. It had a lack of natural tone that the Transit B had when doing the same tests - it boosted the mids, but it sounded very boxy/nasally sounding if that makes sense. At less drastic EQ settings, I could get some similar tones from the Zoom though. But the entire time I was A/B'ing, the Zoom still had a fair amount of digital noise that I don't care for.

Not trying to disparage the Zoom gear (I currently own the last 3 gens), but clearly the 3 band EQ on the Zoom patch can only do so much as compared to the 5-band on the Transit B. It's also hard to get digital patches to match the fullness & tone clarity of a quality analog circuit. Plus, I have no idea if the Zoom patch directly copied the EQ center frequencies Trace Elliot used. On the other hand, Peavey really did their homework to nail the classic Trace Elliot sound. They matched existing, classic Trace Elliot EQ points when they took over production - they kinda HAD to nail the Trace Elliot tone or people would definitely notice. They even implemented the gyrator-type EQ that TE used in their bass heads (at least in the ELF bass head and I'm assuming in the Transit B too). Here is a really good in-depth article that talks about the Trace Elliot gear and is written from the point of view of someone very familiar with the classic TE gear.

Thanks - this is really interesting & I hope to be able to A/B the two units myself when funds allow for purchase of a Transit B.
Bear in mind with the Zoom, you could always add one of the other EQs (for example the parametric EQ) to the TE patch. I don't get any digital noise at all with the TE patch, at least the way I have it set anyway.
Thanks for the link to that article - I'll read it later when i'm not meant to be working!

 

[fourstringbliss]

Your post got me wondering so I tried this A/B test with my Zoom B4 & the Transit B. Hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison with the way the amp sim is laid out in the Zoom, so I just set everything completely flat on the Zoom amp sim and focused on the Mid knob. Full scoop on the Mid knob took away boat loads of low mids too in the process. Honestly, it sounded nothing like the Transit B. So I went the other way - tried a full boost of the Mids on the Zoom patch and that wasn't great either. It had a lack of natural tone that the Transit B had when doing the same tests - it boosted the mids, but it sounded very boxy/nasally sounding if that makes sense. At less drastic EQ settings, I could get some similar tones from the Zoom though. But the entire time I was A/B'ing, the Zoom still had a fair amount of digital noise that I don't care for.

Not trying to disparage the Zoom gear (I currently own the last 3 gens), but clearly the 3 band EQ on the Zoom patch can only do so much as compared to the 5-band on the Transit B. It's also hard to get digital patches to match the fullness & tone clarity of a quality analog circuit. Plus, I have no idea if the Zoom patch directly copied the EQ center frequencies Trace Elliot used. On the other hand, Peavey really did their homework to nail the classic Trace Elliot sound. They matched existing, classic Trace Elliot EQ points when they took over production - they kinda HAD to nail the Trace Elliot tone or people would definitely notice. They even implemented the gyrator-type EQ that TE used in their bass heads (at least in the ELF bass head and I'm assuming in the Transit B too). Here is a really good in-depth article that talks about the Trace Elliot gear and is written from the point of view of someone very familiar with the classic TE gear.

All good to hear! I'll get one soon and run it through the fx return on my amp head.

 

[tombowlus]

Here is a really good in-depth article that talks about the Trace Elliot gear and is written from the point of view of someone very familiar with the classic TE gear.

Thanks!

 

[stingray69]

Thanks!

Nice article!