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Trace Elliot AH200 Series 6 Head

jnightmare

jnightmare

May 12, 2004
273
1
42
Carson, CA
#1
how do these heads sound? i found a guy selling one for like $275. i wanted to know if this is a good deal and if i should jump on it? ive heard trace elliot amps are great and sound good, but what about this model? i cant find any info. on the web. is it a tube or ss amp? well any info. would be much apperciated.

by the way does anyone know the specs on this amp?
 
#2
This amp should be 200 watts into 8 ohms. Trace amps generally are conservative in their power rating, meaning that if you a/b this with many 400 watt rated heads, it will be as loud or louder.
This is a solid state amp, but has a warm and round pre-amp that will deliver the goods and then some. Fat and crunchy!!!
I have seen these recently for 300-500 dollars.Series 6 were the line from roughly late 80's-very early 90's. Solid components throughout.
How do they sound? SOLID, fat, crispy highs - it's up to you, the potential is there in that EQ. Don't let the negative vibers spoil you about Trace, these amps beat many flavour-of-the-month amps that will cost you two grand!!!
Good luck {buy it!!!]!!!
 
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#6
$275 seems like a pretty good price. I paid $250 for mine (used) years ago. I still regret selling that amp. I love the sound of the old SM and SMX amps. Now I have a V-Type head that I also love and an SWR 'Stella/Power 750 rack (that also has a V-Type rack pre in it), which is awesome, too...but that AH200 was light, small, relatively simple, and sounded fantastic. My SWR rack takes up 12 rack spaces and weighs about 90 lbs...it's worth the money and effort, but sometimes that little head would be nice to whip out...

I still love that Trace Elliot "Pre-Shape" button...
 
#7
amper said:
I still love that Trace Elliot "Pre-Shape" button...
Click to expand...
Yep :)
I stopped using the graphic EQ many years ago, but the Pre-shape is still cool. I don't know exactly what it does. It must be some EQ-ing, it kind of fattens the sound. I haven't reproduced it on graphic or parametric.

I have played EQ-less until I went fretless, then I got external parametrics. I don't want to play Pre-shape-less ;)
 
#10
I have a TE GPSM7 300 I use as a practice and backup amp. I bought it used like 10 yrs ago and it's still going strong. I could be convinced of getting rid of it as I also have a SWR Workingman's 4004 I use with BBE Sonic maximizer. Who knows??
 
#14
I have one of those things and I would buy the heck out of it for $275 in good shape. You can gig that thing with a good cab easily and it's still light enough you could use it as a preamp in a rack with big power if you needed to. It sounds Trace Elliot all the way.
 
#15
Peter Ormandi said:
Dear LennyP,

Almost 3 years passed.
I would be pleased to pay You eur 100 for Your Trace AH200 head.
Do You still have it?
Would You like to sell?

Thanks:
Peter Ormandi
Click to expand...

Long since gone! I actually sold it eventually for 100 euro.
I do have a Series 6 AH350 for sale in excellent condition. Have it since 1993. Gigged probably 3 years in all that time. Heavy but great.
 
#16
I played through a Series 6 220W combo equipped with 4 10" I borrowed from the previous band I was in, and still borrow on occasions when jamming with the drummer from that band.

As said it is conservatively rated regarding watts, which means it will sound much louder than most other 200W heads.

Also in my opinion the Trace Elliots from around that period sounds amazing.

I got a 130W Trace Elliot SM combo myself equipped with a 15".

Yes, it is heavy as it is a relatively old amp, but as other have said it is really sturdy made and sounds amazing.
 
#19
I also had a series 6 200W 4x10 combo (that have been converted into a head+box by the previous owner) but sold it a few years ago.
Now I just got a AH200 (19" rack head) because I was missing it. The only thing that bothers me is that it produces some mains hum through the speakers (independently of the gain/level potentiometers).

I changed the filter caps and checked for bad soldering, ground issues, suspicious components. It got slightly better, but it's still there. I don't know if I should look further or if it is the normal behaviour.

My question to the other owners: how much hum are these beasts supposed to produce?
Do you know about typical issues to solve hum in these amps? (it's the power amp with the J50/K135 Mosfets)

Cheers
 

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