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Trace Elliot heads - which ones are the gems?

#21
I have a Trace Elliot AH250 from the mid 80's - it has the GP11 preamp. It's all solid state, puts out a very healthy 250 watts at 4 ohms, all solid state yet it has a very warm tone, it's loud, has a very cool black light, it's loud, it sounds very nice, simple easy to use controls, it's loud... did I say that it's loud? I'll never part with this amp.

EDIT - I've played in some loud situations, for a while with two guitarists, one using a big Fender combo and the other using a Marshall half stack and a very heavy handed drummer... another time I played with a loud drummer, guitarist, amplified horns and the worlds loudest keyboard player - in both situations I had plenty of power with the "little" 250 watt Trace.
 
#23
Low D, Clive did some design for Ashdown during the startup of the company. Not all of it.

Anyways, be my guest on using Ashdown. The QC on the low end stuff isn't the greatest. Heck, even some of their higher end stuff has been known for QC issues.

I like Ashdown personally but I own pre-Gibson era Trace stuff so I will probably never buy any till they get the QC stuff sorted. I really like the looks of that little compact amp they make.
 
#26
I had a GP7 SMX350 head. I had a hard time finding a 'good' (or even passable) tone with it. At that time I was using an Eden 210XLT and/or/sometimes a Genz 112T. With the same cabs, my WT330 completely outclassed it in terms of both tone and power (they had roughly the same power, but the Eden sound is consistent as it gets louder, whereas the TE would sound progressively harsher as the volume went up). I recall using the TE head at rehearsal, constantly fiddling with knobs... then switching to the Eden head at a break and well, only worrying about my playing after that point.

It wasn't bad at all, and I don't know how it'd be with other cabs, but certainly (I hope!) wasn't one of their 'gems.'
 
#31
Thanks for all the great info. Been looking at getting a first Trace. I play a mix of music, but seem to be doing vintage blues with P basses a lot lately. Looking at the V-type, GP7 SM, GP12 SMX...with maybe a 1x15 to start. Any recommendations on these for my use? I don't think I'll find any all tube units too soon...
 
#32
macmrkt said:
Thanks for all the great info. Been looking at getting a first Trace. I play a mix of music, but seem to be doing vintage blues with P basses a lot lately. Looking at the V-type, GP7 SM, GP12 SMX...with maybe a 1x15 to start. Any recommendations on these for my use? I don't think I'll find any all tube units too soon...
Click to expand...
The V-Type would work well for blues IMO. It definately has a more old school tone.

The The SM and SMX have more of a hi-fi tone to them but would also work well for you.
 
#33
macmrkt said:
Thanks for all the great info. Been looking at getting a first Trace. I play a mix of music, but seem to be doing vintage blues with P basses a lot lately. Looking at the V-type, GP7 SM, GP12 SMX...with maybe a 1x15 to start. Any recommendations on these for my use? I don't think I'll find any all tube units too soon...
Click to expand...

V-type!

Excellent pre's and one went on Ebay a day or so a go for about $175 that's a smoking deal. Especially if you look at similar pre's like the Alembic F1-X that can go for $500+ used.

I like the latest 12 band pre's Trace put out, but for different reasons.
 
#34
This one seems to be pretty good
IMAG0042_9.gif
 
#37
Uprightboy said:
I stay away from trace elliot gear. It's ugly looking,sounds thin, over rated, and over priced. For blues, I'd suggest an old 50w Fender bassman head & 2-10s and a horn swr cabinet or something similar. A bassman head is the deal for blues. That's about the cheapest way to go and be REAL.
_Burney
Click to expand...
To be honest, it does sound thin. I have to use a sans amp to get a decent tone out of it. Series 6 heads, I really liked though
 
#40
Uprightboy said:
I stay away from trace elliot gear. It's ugly looking,sounds thin, over rated, and over priced. For blues, I'd suggest an old 50w Fender bassman head & 2-10s and a horn swr cabinet or something similar. A bassman head is the deal for blues. That's about the cheapest way to go and be REAL.
_Burney
Click to expand...
Well, that's your opinion and your welcome to it. However, I would never call an SMX, MkV, Series 6, and especially the
Valve and V-type series, thin. Hartke, SWR, and G-K sound thinner to me than any Trace I have ever tried. I don't know
why you guys would come to such a conclusion unless you had a defective unit, a cab that sucks, a bass that sucks, or
the EQ'ing was just really whacked.

I admit the aesthetics of their equipment is a love-it-or-hate-it kinda thing. Overated? Please, are you serious? So many
touring pros have used Trace over the years. It is durable, reliable, and puts out excellent power.

The overpriced comment really makes me wonder what your talking about. :confused: Are you talking about the new or the older
stuff? Anyways, I know older Trace Elliot gear is very reasonably priced compared to when it was new. Yea, some heads
like the mighty V8, V6, and Hexa/QuatraValves draw some good coin. They are great tube heads and were made in rather
small quantities to begin with. BTW, they are the real deal.

In conclusion, if you want to stay away from Tace gear, by all means...stay away! That will leave more of them out there
for those of us that do love them! :D
 
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