Trace Elliot/Ashdown History

[Bassman62]

Trace themselves do not keep spares for older cabs. Didn't ask about amp parts.

You'd be wasting your time asking.

 

[BbbyBld]

Trace frequently used parts from surplus parts suppliers. While this meant they could get cool specialty parts cheap, it also meant that THEY could run out of service parts very easily.

This is off topic, but it's been the topic for a few days now, so...

Peavey bought Crest audio 10 years. Crest is still it's own entity. For the most part, you can open up a Crest amp, and a Peavey amp, and they will look completely different...because they are! Peavey repairs Crest, but Crest has it's own parts department independent of Peavey.

It's the same way with Trace. Any suspicion of the new Trace being Peavey in disguise would quickly be laid to rest if you have an opportunity to peek under the hood...or bonnet of the Trace.

Peavey has already started to repair older Trace stuff, and will probably set up a separate parts section just like it did for Crest. This means that eventually, parts would be available for Trace legacy products.

 

[Bassflute]

Trace frequently used parts from surplus parts suppliers. While this meant they could get cool specialty parts cheap, it also meant that THEY could run out of service parts very easily.

This is off topic, but it's been the topic for a few days now, so...

Peavey bought Crest audio 10 years. Crest is still it's own entity. For the most part, you can open up a Crest amp, and a Peavey amp, and they will look completely different...because they are! Peavey repairs Crest, but Crest has it's own parts department independent of Peavey.

It's the same way with Trace. Any suspicion of the new Trace being Peavey in disguise would quickly be laid to rest if you have an opportunity to peek under the hood...or bonnet of the Trace.

Peavey has already started to repair older Trace stuff, and will probably set up a separate parts section just like it did for Crest. This means that eventually, parts would be available for Trace legacy products.

I hope you guys FINALLY do a good job of the takeover, but that has NEVER been the case when a large corporation takes over a smaller one in the music business. All progress seems to stop; see Tobias, Ovation, Steinberger, Eden, SWR, Oberheim... and on and on.

You'd think with all the money behind them that they'd put money into R&D, but it just seems to go into number crunchers trying to figure out how cheaply they can make something that looks the roughly the same.

Seems to be the smaller companies putting out the good stuff, then the big guys try to stop them.



Thanks,
Cameron

 

[Bassman62]

Seems to be the smaller companies putting out the good stuff, then the big guys try to stop them.
Thanks,Cameron

In the UK we have two small companys hand building amps, one is Matamp and the other is producing Vox AC30s under the name JMI (original Vox parent company) they also produce Hiwatt.
The trouble starts when the corporate vulters move in and asset strip.

 

[peledog]

Having been an old Trace devotee and a former endorser, here's my somewhat biased/bitter take on the whole thing, edited for brevity:

Trace started out making custom bass gear for John Entwistle, Mark King and the like. They gradually developed into a big company, making guitar amps, acoustic instrument stuff, and PA (I have one - sounds amazing, esp for bass). Their original stuff was the best on the market at that time - SWR & Eden were distant also-rans. Compare the Trace 2x10 combo with the Eden or SWR counterpart; soundwise, build quality, volume... in a league of their own; I rest my case. I had a big Electric Bass rig (2x10 combo plus 15" extension), acoustic bass amp for my Taylor AB1, and the Trace Acoustic PA as part of the endorsement deal. Used it for many years and had the best electric bass sound in town. Have recently moved on - kept the PA - it's amazing.

The Kaman corporation bought them out in the mid 90's, fired a lot of the old staff, started cheaping the stuff out till it sounded like junk. Lots of quality control problems, breakdowns, and it now sounded like ****.

They flipped it to Gibson about 3 years later, who bassically shut it down. Acoustics amps were still available by special order only - I don't think anybody was stocking it anymore.

Gibson flipped it two or three years ago to Peavey, who are reintroducing it. I tried the stuff at NAMM 06, and was not impressed; looked like Trace, sounded like Peavey. Other peoples opinions may differ, and the new stuff may be better; who knows. I do know I played the amps for about 30 seconds - sounded like 1982 all over again - the Pre-Trace days.

Ashdown was started about 10 years ago by Mr. Mark Gooday and a bunch of other really good blokes from the original Trace Elliot staff. Have taken the initial Trace designs and updated them. Their speakers are different now - darker, bassier, a bit boxier - amps are similar to the old Trace stuff in sound/power. Their new Mark King signature model amp was virtually identical to the amp in my Trace 1225V combo - interestingly enough originally designed for Mark King also - he used a WALL of them back in the day. Originally it had 2x10's and 2x5", later changed to 2x10 + the best tweeter ever in a bass amp, and second only now to the stuff Jim Bergantino uses.

Trace and Gooday were ALWAYS at the forefront of bass amplification, very innovative stuff; I think the Ashdown stuff more reflects the current fascination with retro crap, and eventually when this 'pre-bass with a pick and flatwounds around my knees through an SVT' fad dies a much-deserved death, they might get back to making some good high-end 'hi-fi' bass stuff like they used to. In the meantime, they are building very good 'retro' stuff, and making lots of money, and deservedly so. They raised the game on bass gear in the 80's and 90's, taking it to new heights; they deserve all the success they receive, IMHO.

Gibson, on the other hand... Trace, Tobias, Steinberger, Oberheim to mention but a few... they take great stuff and turn it into a pile of junk out of pure greed. Couldn't care less about music, instruments, or musicians. They'd be just as happy making Endoscopes out of barbed wire if they could make money at it - they'd bribe a bunch of quack doctors to tell you how good it was for you. Dreadful. I personally won't buy so much as a guitar pick from them - EVER.

The history of the Kaman corporation is NOT much better, I'm afraid, and they bought Genz-Benz... which is why I won't be buying one of those anytime soon.

I hope Peavey does a good job with Trace - they have the old factory; unfortunately, they DON'T have the old brains; Mark Gooday and Company.

Just my 2 cents, and IMHO. You're free to love Gibson, Kaman, and Peavey if you like; see 'Stockholm Syndrome' Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Cameron

Didn't know Peavey bought T-E. I bolded the line about the svt, that made me lol. (I'm guessing you meant to type P-Bass, not pre-bass)

 

[Bassflute]

Didn't know Peavey bought T-E. I bolded the line about the svt, that made me lol. (I'm guessing you meant to type P-Bass, not pre-bass)

this is an OLD thread, btw. And just for the record, my Trace Elliot Acoustic PA system is STILL going strong, 15 years and 100,000,000 miles later. I use it EVERY DAY from 1 - 10 hours for teaching, practicing, and rehearsals. And it still sounds great.

Always wanted a Hexa-valve...one day. Or a V8.

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[pablomigraine]

Gibson flipped it two or three years ago to Peavey, who are reintroducing it. I tried the stuff at NAMM 06, and was not impressed; looked like Trace, sounded like Peavey.

Gibson, on the other hand... Trace, Tobias, Steinberger, Oberheim to mention but a few... they take great stuff and turn it into a pile of junk out of pure greed. Couldn't care less about music, instruments, or musicians. They'd be just as happy making Endoscopes out of barbed wire if they could make money at it - they'd bribe a bunch of quack doctors to tell you how good it was for you. Dreadful. I personally won't buy so much as a guitar pick from them - EVER.

The history of the Kaman corporation is NOT much better, I'm afraid, and they bought Genz-Benz... which is why I won't be buying one of those anytime soon.

Cameron

Totally agreed about the new Trace stuff sounding like Peavey.... however... the new GB stuff is, IMHO, the best stuff you can buy with money until you hit the financial ceiling with EBS for amps and Bergantino for cabs.

Many companies make a great amp... but a crappy cabinet... most of the top names in amplification throw two or four like-kind drivers in a box, punch square or circular hole in the box... make sure the *Eminence Logo* is prominently placed and that's the extent of their speaker enclosure "Design Process". The GB Uber line is the closest thing I have ever heard to the Bergantinos.... with the Berg's edging the GB out in terms of better build quality / bracing, and a far superior X-over and tweeter.

 

[Korladis]

this is an OLD thread, btw. And just for the record, my Trace Elliot Acoustic PA system is STILL going strong, 15 years and 100,000,000 miles later. I use it EVERY DAY from 1 - 10 hours for teaching, practicing, and rehearsals. And it still sounds great.

Always wanted a Hexa-valve...one day. Or a V8.

Cheers,
Cameron

Why would you want a V8? Isn't just "retro crap"?

 

[onmars]

I realize this is an old thread, but that does not mean the information and debate contained herein are useless or irrelevant. So, I'd like to add this link to an interview in which Mark Gooday discusses his departure from Trace Elliot and development of Ashdown.

“The Story of Ashdown Engineering as told by Mark Gooday of Ashdown to Global writer Andy Long.” Global Bass Online, Dec. 2000.

Link Removed

 

[onmars]

And this more recent update to Ashdown's ongoing development and relationship to Gooday's history at Trace Elliot:

“The Only Way Is Essex – The Ashdown Story,” by Richard Flynn. Guitar~Bass.net, Dec. 2012.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[amper]

I kinna like my Gibson Trace Elliot, thankyou very much.

you just think you know what your talking about

British audio told me, it was the same blokes at Gibson that were at trace putting these together.

Anything sold by Trace Elliot after the Gibson buyout and before the Peavey resurrection would have been designed prior to the Gibson buyout. The only new product I am aware of that shipped after the Gibson buyout was possibly the Super Goldtone GA-30RV head, combo, and 2x10/2x12 cabinet, and the head was probably designed at the same time as the Velocettes before the buyout, and simply not released as a Trace Ellliot product, since they already had the Trident/Bonneville/Velocette/Triumph tube amps in production. The other Gibson Goldtone amps were just rebadged Velocettes

 

[phillybass101]

The next one should be about Epifani and Bergantino. The Morale of the Story is Good comes from Good. Then BB steps in.