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Trace Elliot VA400 Stack

A

AnTz0r

Feb 24, 2003
320
1
Delft, The Netherlands
www.magionband.com
#1
I can buy this stack:

It has the 4x10 TE 1048H cab, and a 400W All-valve poweramp.

It has a tube-preamp, but you can also switch to the GP12 transistor pre-amp.

It will cost me €600 ($650?).

It is 15 years old. Gigged regularly, still in good shape. The gain knob needs some contact spray. Some wear on the finish, otherwise good shape. The backlight is broken.

I will play it in a metal band.

Any thoughts on this?
 
#3
Excuse me if I am mistaken, but I don't think that amp is "all-valve." I think it's solid state. There might be a tube or two in the preamp, but it's not the V-Type all-tube preamp.

The cab is fairly rich sounding IMO. It can get bright, but I don't know if it can be "rip-your-ears-out" bright.
 
#4
It's easy to understand why you might think that... the head in the photograph does look similar, if not identical, to an AH series like my own AH600-SMX. However the VA400 being discussed does have an all-tube power section. I might be wrong, but I believe this was the forerunner to the beloved V-Type all tube heads.

It's a great sounding rig and seems to be in excellent condition!
 
#5
MrBonex said:
Excuse me if I am mistaken, but I don't think that amp is "all-valve." I think it's solid state. There might be a tube or two in the preamp, but it's not the V-Type all-tube preamp.

The cab is fairly rich sounding IMO. It can get bright, but I don't know if it can be "rip-your-ears-out" bright.
Click to expand...

It's an all tube design (aside from the SMX preamp) with six KT88's and three 12AX7's. They're very, very rare.
 
#9
AnTz0r said:
Can you give me some more tips to use it?
Click to expand...

Yes. The amp is ultralinear, which means it runs its tubes at VERY high voltages in a different way than most amps. You want to give it a 4 or 2 ohm load (there's switch on the back to select between them). At 8 ohms, you risk shorting your output tubes doe to inductive voltage spikes from the output transformer.

Also, if you have time and know a good tech replace the grid resitors with higher wattage ones. The stock resistors are 1/2 watt and scorch pretty easily. I put two watters in and was done with it. They're all on the same board in the same place, so replacement is easy for anyone who knows what they're doing. If one should burn out, you'd lose the tube it feeds and possibly do some other damage, too.

And what does heatbeat mean?
Click to expand...

...that I can't type "heartbeat" properly.

It's output is 4 ohms according to the seller, the cab is 8 ohms. what will happen when i only use this cab?
Click to expand...

If you play it a lot you'll probably cause extensive damage to the amp..

I dont know what is broken about the light, when i know i will tell, iwant to fix it :)
Click to expand...

The "backlight" is actually in front and it's nothing but a short (18") black-light bulb. It's easy to change.
 
#10
the guy i am going to buy it from has been using this amp with the 1048H for the last 15 years. extensive damage to the amp? i dont hope so!


could you tell me more about this?
i said i would buy it tomorrow, unless it was broken.

is there any way to determine if damage has been caused to the amp? he has been playing it for 15 years with the 1048 only! i dont want to buy a broken amp :(
 
#11
If he didn't play very loud, there's strong chance that it's ok. If it were damaged from inductive flyback, you'll be able to tell easily. The amp shouldn't work. There is also the possibility that those are some VERY tough output tubes and have been biased VERY cold. That would also help to save the amp. When you play it, take note of ANY funny noises, smells, hums, or buzzes.
 
#12
WHOA WHOA WHOA!

I just want to make sure its known that the only way that running a 4 ohm head into an 8 ohm cab would cause any damage is if its a *tube* power section in the head. It sounds like thats what we have on our hands, but I just think its good to make sure people understand that.

Peace
Nick
 

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