Trace Elliot Commando - surprisingly awesome

[project_c]

Played my Fender Jazz DLX through one of these yesterday (not my photo) and much to my surprise, it sounded absolutely amazing. Had the Gain maxed out, Mids up high with Mid Shift engaged, Treble around noon, and it nailed the growly burpy jazz tone beautifully with both pickups on full, really nice tone with an aggressive bite to it, totally jumped out at me and slapped me in the face. I play through a Bassman TV15 usually and love the tone of that thing too, but this combo is a fair bit cheaper in comparison, and has more or less my ideal tone.

These amps are seen as a bit of a compromise by a lot of people, and the green and black thing has always put me off in the past, but I'm going to try to track one down, I loved it a lot. I guess the lesson to be learnt is the same as always - don't let price / other people's opinion / your own snobbery get in the way of trying less expensive gear.

 

[the low one]

It's a great little combo. I've had mine for about 15 years and gigged, rehearsed and recorded with it loads.
You say that's not your photo but is it the same model? I have the green carpet model as pictured, the original model, and I believe it's better than later models when Trace was taken over.
I use a P bass with all the eq at 12:00 and the mid shift and treble boost on. Can you confirm what your settings are again please. Always good to get more settings to try out.

 

[jungleheat]

Probably the best cheap but capable combo you can get. I tried one at GC a while ago and loved it, but couldn't really justify it so I had to pass. It didn't stick around for long.

 

[project_c]

It's a great little combo. I've had mine for about 15 years and gigged, rehearsed and recorded with it loads.
You say that's not your photo but is it the same model? I have the green carpet model as pictured, the original model, and I believe it's better than later models when Trace was taken over.
I use a P bass with all the eq at 12:00 and the mid shift and treble boost on. Can you confirm what your settings are again please. Always good to get more settings to try out.

I'm pretty sure it was just like the model above, which I think is the 100W model, not the more powerful 150W US version as far as I know, but I don't really know how to tell them apart. I know newer ones have the number 15 written on them, but I don't know about the green carpet ones, the one I played was here in a rehearsal studio in London. It's given me serious GAS, I might even call the studio and make them an offer on it..

The settings, as far as I remember were:
Input - Passive (the USA DLX Jazz is pretty quiet, even in active mode)
Gain - all the way up
Bass - around 2 o'clock
Deep switch - not engaged. (The difference that switch makes is immense, probably great for a metal tone or slap, but def. not for me).
Mid - up almost all the way
Mid Shift - On
Treble - up pretty high, about 3 o'clock. Didn't find it harsh at all.
Volume was at least 2/3 of the way up, but mostly up pretty high. The thing sounded totally badass, and reacted beautifully to dynamic fingerstyle playing. My Fender Bassman TV15 sounds fantastic, and I love playing through it, but the Trace combo just had something about it, perhaps a bit more mid range punch and clarity than I'm used to with the Fender. Tone is really difficult to quantify but I definitely heard my ideal tone in there.

*edit - forgot to mention, the treble boost was also switched on.

 

[the low one]

I'm pretty sure it was just like the model above, which I think is the 100W model, not the more powerful 150W US version as far as I know, but I don't really know how to tell them apart. I know newer ones have the number 15 written on them, but I don't know about the green carpet ones, the one I played was here in a rehearsal studio in London. It's given me serious GAS, I might even call the studio and make them an offer on it..

The settings, as far as I remember were:
Input - Passive (the USA DLX Jazz is pretty quiet, even in active mode)
Gain - all the way up
Bass - around 2 o'clock
Deep switch - not engaged. (The difference that switch makes is immense, probably great for a metal tone or slap, but def. not for me).
Mid - up almost all the way
Mid Shift - On
Treble - up pretty high, about 3 o'clock. Didn't find it harsh at all.
Volume was at least 2/3 of the way up, but mostly up pretty high. The thing sounded totally badass, and reacted beautifully to dynamic fingerstyle playing. My Fender Bassman TV15 sounds fantastic, and I love playing through it, but the Trace combo just had something about it, perhaps a bit more mid range punch and clarity than I'm used to with the Fender. Tone is really difficult to quantify but I definitely heard my ideal tone in there.

*edit - forgot to mention, the treble boost was also switched on.

Thanks project_c. I'll be gigging with mine at the weekend so will try these settings out in soundcheck and see how it sounds.

 

[Finley Booker]

what are the specs of this amp
also is it giggable?
found one for £65!

 

[the low one]

what are the specs of this amp
also is it giggable?
found one for £65!

I had the original 90's British made 15 inch combo. 100 watts RMS, 200 watts peak. Passive tone stack eq which works fine when you get used to it. Dark green carpet covered. It doesn't have a DI but never a problem at rehearsal and at gigs there's always a DI box around so not an issue too.
I gigged one in a pop/rock band for nearly 20 years and it was great. Never let me down and I enjoyed the sound. Loud enough to be heard over the drummer.
I only replaced it for a smaller class D amp but I would happily gig with one again.

 

[project_c]

Wow surprised to see this thread again, it's 8 years old. I still have the Commando, still like it, although it now sits in my small home studio and my cats regularly use it as a scratch post, so the rat fur has definitely seen better days. It still gets used from time to time. Never been a big fan of the typical Trace tone, but I still think this combo sounds great. I think I paid around £50 for it back in 2013!