buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Kind of funny that Peavey bought them - one tank owning another. I think they both take the heavyweight belts.
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Trace Elliot - Yay or Nay?
- Thread starter anavar
- Start date
love them!
I had an AH350X I think, full stack, with a 4x10 & 1x15.
it was so awesome!
then when I started touring more, in smaller vehicles, I switched things up a bit. went to GK, then did the Hughes & Kettner thing for a while, then went small with a rack system and no cabinets.
I had an AH350X I think, full stack, with a 4x10 & 1x15.
it was so awesome!
then when I started touring more, in smaller vehicles, I switched things up a bit. went to GK, then did the Hughes & Kettner thing for a while, then went small with a rack system and no cabinets.
Kinda surprised to hear about people stuck on "scooped" sound or too "clean." Trace heads/preamps have built in switches that activate/defeat the scooped eq sound (often, more than one switch for more than one "scooped" sound or none at all - how I set it). The 7, 11 or 12 band eq's allow for more tone shaping than about ANYTHING else on the planet... so the only real reason a player has a "scooped sound" is because they set it up that way (which is cool if it's your thing, but it's not mine at all - I have the mids cranked up). Can't blame Trace for that.
Now onto something much more subjective, so YMMV.
My two Trace heads (both SS) sound raw and nasty when pushed even slightly, like they have a bad attitude and are looking for a fight. They are heavy (literally and sonically), beautifully dark and aggressive. I used to play a GK head, but found it too sterile for my taste and when I plugged into a Trace head I heard that deep, dirty, unholy growl I wanted but could not dial in. A lot of this is how a player plays and what sort of guitar/preamp/pups/ they use, but going from GK to Trace was like going from day to night.
And except for that mutant green radioactive glow, I love it dark and I love the way it feels like a hell beast about to snap a chain as it cracks the earth every time I dig in.
Fan-freakin-tastic.
Now onto something much more subjective, so YMMV.
My two Trace heads (both SS) sound raw and nasty when pushed even slightly, like they have a bad attitude and are looking for a fight. They are heavy (literally and sonically), beautifully dark and aggressive. I used to play a GK head, but found it too sterile for my taste and when I plugged into a Trace head I heard that deep, dirty, unholy growl I wanted but could not dial in. A lot of this is how a player plays and what sort of guitar/preamp/pups/ they use, but going from GK to Trace was like going from day to night.
And except for that mutant green radioactive glow, I love it dark and I love the way it feels like a hell beast about to snap a chain as it cracks the earth every time I dig in.
Fan-freakin-tastic.
Agreed. Geddy Lee was running Trace in the late 90's and I certainly wouldn't describe his live tone in that era as "scooped"...the exact opposite, IMO.
had a few Trace pieces a couple decades ago ... i thought a few of those guys went on to work for Ashdown ?!
Funny about the scooped thing. It was once so popular that amps had a (scooped) knob or button just out of convenience. Now scooped is considered old hat and we are pumping out the mids instead. I wonder what will be next. I'll bet it will be a bunch of 2x15 cabs as no one is making them now accept Trace.
Ya know, it's funny... Every time I see a guy playing a TE, it sounds amazing. Yet for some reason when I plug in to one it sounds like crap.
I'm gonna say "yay", but I can't get them to work for me.
I'm gonna say "yay", but I can't get them to work for me.
Yep, AH 600-12 here. Got it nearly a year ago and play my Gibson TBird through it into a Peavy 210 sealed cab. A very solidly built amp head with no cheap flimsy stuff on it. It doesn't use the latest lightweight Class D power amp technology, so it's not as light as GK stuff for example, but the weight(~40 lbs) is manageable if you're fit. There is a strap on the side with extra rubber feet on the opposite side so it's not too hard to carry and to set down. The green glow front end looks cool in the dark and there are good multicolor leds that indicate amp function state very nicely.
Function: front end has a parallel dual channel preamp with a 12AX7 driver and a ss driver. You have the option to continuously blend both channels from tube only to ss only to anything in between. I've overdriven the ss amp and it doesn't sound that bad, even though I do like overdriving the tube channel better. The dual channel compressor is nice and not overly complicated to work with. The high/low band compression allows you to experiment and find what you like for your sound. The built-in Trace Elliot mid scoop sounds nice with some high band compression added. If you like to play flat wound strings but still want some mid bass bark you can slide it up on the 12 band EQ section, good overall flexibility. There are no overheating issues nor any sound artifacts that occur after extended playing. If you overdrive the ss front end you can attenuate some of the HF harmonics on the EQ and maybe get a tone you like.
If there was some thing that I could add to the amp head it would be a headphone out jack, although I've developed a workaround for that with the plethora of outputs on the back. I could run another 210 cab in parallel run up a full 400W RMS output and make some pretty big sound if I needed and still have sufficient headroom on the amp. I might like to experiment with an all tube low-power amp in the future, but I'm totally satisfied with this amp and will not replace it. I hope this helps.
I'm trying to figure out how Peavey is going to operate Trace Elliot when Peavey themselves are shutting down there own factories.
Had the pleasure of doing an in-store gig with the store's Trace practice amp, in the 90s. I thought, is this gonna cut it? Two Marshall stacks battling for attention? No problem. Double bass happy drummer? No problem. It was right there in the mix. It would have been my amp of choice back then, budget considerations aside.
I played them a lot in the past,I guess older heads and cabs were better. Here is a picture of one good stack I had in the studio:
However,recently whenever i had misfortune to play their newer (mostly Combos) I was so dissapointed as there was NO usefull tone - very scooped, just awfull.
Forget the stack, tell me more about that bass
- Oct 18, 2012
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I have never tried Trace Elliot but from what I've read and heard from people who used them, it was always either a love them or hate them kind of thing. Some people absolutely loved them and some hated them. There didn't seem to be an in between like there is with Ampeg, Eden, Hartke, etc.
TE in action, I think I have seen a vid of this guy playin' thru a Peavey also lol
Yay!! Trace Elliot made some badass gear in the 90's, and I'm assuming in the 80's as well...
About 15 years ago i had one of their 1x15 SS combo amps and a 4x10 as an extension (I think I ran into phase issues with this particular combo though)
But growing up a local store had a ton of Trace amps, might've been a dealer, not sure.. And their tube amps were stunningly beautiful sounding amps, very heavy though...I also had the SMX compressor which was awesome as well..
Also IIRC, Steve Harris use's/used the AH600, go for it
About 15 years ago i had one of their 1x15 SS combo amps and a 4x10 as an extension (I think I ran into phase issues with this particular combo though)
But growing up a local store had a ton of Trace amps, might've been a dealer, not sure.. And their tube amps were stunningly beautiful sounding amps, very heavy though...I also had the SMX compressor which was awesome as well..
Also IIRC, Steve Harris use's/used the AH600, go for it
I used a TE 15" combo (7215SM ???) for a almost 20 years but got sick of the weight (96lbs) so switched to something a bit lighter. Would I go back to it, hell no but I still have a soft spot for Trace gear.
I always ran it with plenty of mid boost and for 190W it was loud. I played a festival once where I guested with a band who's guitarist ran a Mesa Boogie with 412 extension cab, he said I was intolerably loud (it was the first time ever that he hadn't drowned the rest of the band out completely).
I always ran it with plenty of mid boost and for 190W it was loud. I played a festival once where I guested with a band who's guitarist ran a Mesa Boogie with 412 extension cab, he said I was intolerably loud (it was the first time ever that he hadn't drowned the rest of the band out completely).
+1 for TE.
When I want my bass to have the "Darth Vader Voice", I break out the Trace. Setting the volume on anything higher than 5 will break windows, kill small animals, and cause brain hemorrhages in anyone within 25 feet.
When I want my bass to have the "Darth Vader Voice", I break out the Trace. Setting the volume on anything higher than 5 will break windows, kill small animals, and cause brain hemorrhages in anyone within 25 feet.
