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Trace Elliot help

T

tehmusician

Feb 18, 2011
7
0
#1
I recently picked up a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX head. The amp was fine the first few practices, then all of a sudden in the middle of the set at my first show, the power cut. The power strip it was plugged into was fine since my other rack units were still on and working and there was no smoke or funny smell. The amp simply did not turn on, no lights or anything. I figured it was just a blown power fuse, but when I opened it up I could not find any spot for a fuse. The capacitors look fine and all the connections seem pretty solid. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be and how severe it may be?
 
#2
Unfortunately, the problem is that it's a Trace Elliot. They all do this. Mine did it, yours did it, and hundreds of others have done it. If you do a search you'll see that there are dozens of threads with similar titles and similar problems. My tech, who does great work has had a hellish time getting replacement parts. I've owned mine for about 2 years now, and I only got to use it for about 6 months. You might be best off cutting your losses and finding yourself a new amp.

Also... this problem is not limited to any specific model or line of Trace amps.

Edit: My tech has also sent the amp to 2 other repair companies to find the problem, but it just keeps breaking down.
 
#3
I have a Trace Elliot combo that I think had the same head. I had a similar issue, but in my case it was a solder that keep breaking. You might want to re-check all the connections. I had to have it fixed multiple times, but eventually I sold it because it wasn't reliable enough to gig with. Shame too, I loved the tone of that amp.
 
#5
Eric Scholz said:
Unfortunately, the problem is that it's a Trace Elliot. They all do this. Mine did it, yours did it, and hundreds of others have done it. If you do a search you'll see that there are dozens of threads with similar titles and similar problems. My tech, who does great work has had a hellish time getting replacement parts. I've owned mine for about 2 years now, and I only got to use it for about 6 months. You might be best off cutting your losses and finding yourself a new amp.

Also... this problem is not limited to any specific model or line of Trace amps.

Edit: My tech has also sent the amp to 2 other repair companies to find the problem, but it just keeps breaking down.
Click to expand...
First I heard. I better look at selling mine, not.
 
#10
Yes I own 3 trace amps and the smx series does seem to have a few issues with power cutting off but I think it also has to do with how much your amp gets banged around. Yes the outside of a trace is built like a tank but if you amp gets knocked around , it will me more prone to failure. I put my smx combo thru six one nighters a week for a couple of years and for the most part it held up like a trooper. But there was that one wedding I showed up to play and when I tried to turn on the power? NADDA!! The problem seems to be with the power supply breaker switch. The older Trace amps have to have that switch serviced due to what i suspect was a euro/us power requirement desighn flaw. The new Trace amps dont have this issue even though my 715x was built in the UK. Trace sound for bass is like marshall sound for guitar,,,,you cant get that sound playing thru anything else.
I like to call it "the fm stereo bass sound"
 

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