Trace Elliot ELF and fan noise

[dougjwray]

I just picked up a used one today, and it seems to be in excellent shape. I am wondering one thing: I noticed that the fan appears to turn on and off as I'm playing. In other words, I play a few notes and start to hear the air rushing; I stop playing, and a few seconds later, the air noise stops. If if start to play again, the fan kicks in again, etc.

I notice this only when playing without having a speaker connected-- the fan noise is so quiet that any musical sound coming out of a speaker would certainly mask it. So, I'm not worried about the noise being a problem acoustically. Instead, I'm just wondering if the amp is functioning properly. I've never had an amp with a fan that is so closely linked to a signal coming and going... the fans in my GK and Fender amps turn on when the amp is getting warm and simply stay on until I shut the power off.

 

[Downunderwonder]

At that rate they may as well have just wired it to be on all the time.

I don't know how much power it uses to drive headphones or recording but it would a minuscule fraction of the full noise operation.

 

[dougjwray]

OK, but is it normal for these amps?
Attention, all ELF owners!

 

[dougjwray]

Anyone?

 

[jeffb28451]

Had mine a year. Only used for backup/low volume practice. Never heard what you’re talking about.
Only have about 20 hours on it, though, so maybe they don’t age very gracefully.

 

[Matthias]

I ran my new ELF at high volume today and noticed the same: Fan runs at low speed when I pause and revs up as soon as I hit some notes. I guess the fan is also triggered by the power the amp draws and not only by temperature.

 

[oddeotek]

Anyone?

I’ve had mine for over a year and I don’t remember ever hearing the fan. I play small, medium and large venues about 9 times a month. It’s become my main amp.

 

[dougjwray]

I ran my new ELF at high volume today and noticed the same: Fan runs at low speed when I pause and revs up as soon as I hit some notes. I guess the fan is also triggered by the power the amp draws and not only by temperature.

Thank you! That reassures me that maybe there's nothing wrong with mine.

 

[QRanc]

Mine also does that.

 

[FrankVdb]

Mine does it too. I think it's normal. I don't notice it once I'm playing, it's that soft.

 

[chris_b]

I guess in amps this small heat is a big problem and cooling is critical.

 

[frankie5string]

Absolutely normal. I noticed the fan on mine was practically "riding" loud passages and "fading" between songs...
So it would zoom up and down and up and down. I only really noticed it sitting around in a quiet room noodling at high volume when I first got it. I've done lots of shows with it since and can't hear it on stage.

It will still zoom up and down a bit on quiet-playing passages, too.

Large amps do this too. You'd be surprised at how many amps work like that. I played a gig with a GK 1001 that was just sitting on the cabinet. It was low to the ground and that particular model has a fan on top of the output stage. That fan also moves more or less with what you're putting into the device - except it was so big and visible, it was making my peripheral vision a bit paranoid... lol... On some staccato parts, the fan would kinda jerk a quarter turn and stop every once in a while. Under heavy load it would run longer. This even though the back-side fan was running all the time.

 

[ctmullins]

Mine does it too.

And this is a good thing. The fan cools when it needs to cool, and it doesn’t cool when it doesn’t need to cool.

So cool.

 

[agedhorse]

Many amps do not do this.

I suppose it's a choice made by the individual designers.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I suppose it provides a cue when something has gone wrong far quicker than ''hmm, I smell impending amp death'' being the detection circuit.

Further on the plus side, the fan works less, lasts longer.

On the minus, costs more, more to go wrong in violation of KISS maxim.

 

[Martin de Chico]

I purchased a new TE Elf bass combo (200w, 1x8") in June 2021. I've only had a chance to use it for a few minutes, but I did notice that the cooling fan seems to run 100% of the time that it's on and I'm playing through it.

 

[Bryan Schmidt]

I am thinking of returning mine now. I had one I already returned because the Input Jack for the Headphones was interfering with the connection to the speaker, so the replacement I received has a noisy fan...
Bummed because it sounds nice through my cabs but it is too noisy for quiet duets and practice.

 

[wneff]

Many amps do not do this.

I suppose it's a choice made by the individual designers.

Your amps and cabs are absolutely awesome - now you just need to put the new SW350 in with a 8PR-200 with a tweeter and a detachable second 8PR200....but I bet its going to be too expensive for most