So...why haven't you got a Trace Elliot then..

[TheGreek]

The "[i]family[/i]" of Trace Elliot owners seems to be getting ever bigger again.

Huge in the 80s ([i]not only because of Mark King[/i]) they sort of lost their popularity in the 90s and early 00ies, mainly because IMO most of the music Joe Average was listening to was crap and gutless. There seems to be a bit of a resurgence in the popularity of "[i]classic[/i]" TE gear despite it's weight - the main reason it seems it fell from grace.

My return to TE was prompted because of the "[i]Emperors clothes[/i]" syndrome - every body was toting how good the Class D gear was when in fact it lacked any semblance of "[i]heft[/i]", that indefinable quality that Class A/B amps have and Class D profess to have but just don't.

When I came back to TE I realised that I'd been looking for something that had been under my nose the whole time - I'd been looking for a TE tone but with a different badge on the box. The TE gives me all the punch and tone variations that I need and, currently, at a ridiculous cost. Have a look...you'll see good condition TE combos changing hands for less than £200, heads for £150 and cabs for around £100...there's a whole 300w rig available here for £325....and these are your nuclear powered, galaxy shaking Trace Elliot watts, not those "Class D pretending 2B" watts. I defy anybody to show me a Class D head for £325 that'll compete with that TE.

I went through the Class D phase same as everybody else and came out the other end disappointed, same as everybody else.

Now with quality gear ([i]remember to buy the British stuff[/i]) at such ridiculously low prices why doesn't everybody have some TE in their arsenal?

([i]Cos I bought most of it is not an acceptable answer BTW[/i])

[Dad3353]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1501619755' post='3346030']...why doesn't everybody have some TE in their arsenal?...
[/quote]

'Cos some of us have HA 3500, Fender Bassman and/or (the King...) Hiwatt stuff. Weight..? Don't talk to me about weight..!

...

[KevB]

I'm hoping it stays unfashionable so the second hand prices stay low. I use a 715 combo with a non TE ext cab and have been for at least 10 years (originally had a TE 4x10 ext cab with it but only gigged that rig a couple of years, back couldnt take it), before that I had a similar TE combo but it was the model that only worked at 8ohm so I traded it in when I started playing some slightly bigger venues. Both cheap s/H jobs, never had either of them serviced and still running same as ever. If the prices stay low and the current one dies I might just go out and get an identical replacement which would probably see out the rest of my serious bass playing days.

Edited August 2, 2017 by KevB

[LukeFRC]

I used to use one some GP7 combo at church for years and it made me sound so spikey and 80's it was horrid. Then they got an Ashdowm ABM and it was like swimming in muddy wool. Somewhere in the middle would do me.
Would like to try a GP12 SMX

[TimR]

I picked up a 715 300W combo. I'm pretty sure it was lead lined and probably nuclear powered.

It used to demolish door frames and take chunks of plaster off the walls at home.

Sounded good but I went for a pair of Warwick cabs and a 500W Pro FET to replace it as it was getting very old and unreliable.

Bought 'second hand' for £300 played for 10 years sold 'second hand' for £300. It owed me nothing I must have earned 000s with it. Although it probably cost me 000s in wasted fuel and building repairs.

[FinnDave]

I ain't got a TE 'coz I remember carrying my TE 4x10 combo up four flights of stairs twice a week after rehearsals. Head and a light weight cab for me these days (though I did play through a TE rig at a festival last week and the tone warmed the heart of m'cockles).

[T-Bay]

TE and a Thunderbird - the power to move people (sometimes literally, and bowels possibly).

[Osiris]

This probably won't go down too well with the recent resurgence in TE popularity, but having owned an SMX rig for several years I found it to be gutless and under powered and almost impossible to get a good sound out of. I bought a new 250 watt SMX combo and extension cab in the early 90's and used it for several years and in that time I pretty much grew to hate everything about it.

There's been a lot of talk on here recently about how Trace watts are so much louder than everyone else's. But with 250 watts and two 15" speakers, I always felt like the rig was struggling to keep up with other people I was playing with. The SMX amps had loads of different controls but I just couldn't get a sound that I really liked from it. The pre-amp tube didn't seem to introduce any tonal colour and no matter what I did with the graphic, it still sounded toppy and was unable to deliver the mids and low end with any conviction.

On the plus side, it looked great and the dual band compression circuit was really good.

I'm not out to rattle any cages here as I know there's plenty of Trace fans still about, but my own experience is very much at odds with the highly regarded reputation that Trace gear has. Maybe mine was just a duff one? Who knows.

[gjones]

My experience of TE gear was mostly in rehearsal rooms (where old Trace Elliots go to die). I really disliked them as, whatever I did to try and get a good sound from them, I just couldn't.

Then one day my band where playing a gig, supporting a Ska band in a club in Edinburgh. The bass player in the band let me play through his amp, which was a GP7 combo with a 15 inch speaker.

I was playing my Precision through it and it sounded fantastic. It had a great ballsy, punchy, trouser flapping sound to it and, considering I think it was only 150 watts, was very loud.

Since that experience, I have considered buying one from Ebay as the secondhand price is as cheap as chips.

But all the sellers want the buyers to pick them up - I assume because they are the weight of a small planet.

[ambient]

There was one in a studio I used to frequent.

It had this inherent sound that I just didn't like, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of it.

It also weighed about as much as the average family home, complete with the average family.

I think I'll stick to my shoebox sized Phil Jones combo

[Guest Jecklin]

Glad there is loads of nostalgic love for TE.
Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I was always intrigued by trace due to adverts in bassist magazine with my bass bass heroes such as Stuart Zender playing with various TE stacks.

I liked the colour green and liked the look of their stuff.

I tried on many occasions either trying other bands amps at gigs or at the bass centre to get on with a variety of Trace amps and cabs, but always went running back to my hartke rig or lusted after David Eden stuff, both of which gave me the tone I wanted. Something I could never achieve with A TE set up

Edited August 1, 2017 by Jecklin

[T-Bay]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1501621563' post='3346056']
My experience of TE gear was mostly in rehearsal rooms (where old Trace Elliots go to die). I really disliked them as, whatever I did to try and get a good sound from them, I just couldn't.

Then one day my band where playing a gig, supporting a Ska band in a club in Edinburgh. The bass player in the band let me play through his amp, which was a GP7 combo with a 15 inch speaker.

I was playing my Precision through it and it sounded fantastic. It had a great ballsy, punchy, trouser flapping sound to it and, considering I think it was only 150 watts, was very loud.

Since that experience, I have considered buying one from Ebay as the secondhand price is as cheap as chips.

But all the sellers want the buyers to pick them up - I assume because they are the weight of a small planet.
[/quote]
I have the 250w version of that one, I can move it on my own but it is bloody heavy. When it comes to stairs it's a two man job. The 2x12 cab is worse as it has no castors. But the sound is just amazing so I can live with it.

[stingrayPete1977]

I've started using a 1x12 cab for my monitoring and everything else goes out via a pair of RCF 735 class D PA speakers, I've got no interest in lugging heavy gear around to deafen myself and bandmates

[tonyquipment]

Great Amps. I love em. The weight definitely adds tonal character.

I considered swapping back to a TE rig. I don't miss the weight tho.

[Lozz196]

I`m ok with the amps, but the cabs have always seemed to me to be really trebly. The combos seem to escape this, but the cabs, especially those with 10s in I`ve found to be ear-splitting.

[tauzero]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1501619755' post='3346030']
Now with quality gear ([i]remember to buy the British stuff[/i]) at such ridiculously low prices why doesn't everybody have some TE in their arsenal?
[/quote]

I have had, on more than one occasion. The second and third times were because I can be a slow learner. Overweight, didn't sound great. Vastly overrated. That's TE, not me.

[fleabag]

TE GP 11 Mk 5 4x10 combo

Eye thang yow

[TimR]

Sorry, but no TE thread is complete without this guy.

In case you have no idea he's from this classic thread:
http://basschat.co.uk/topic/200307-mystery-bassist-solved/page__fromsearch__1

[thodrik]

I used to have an 12 band SMX head, a 1x15 GP7 SM300 combo, Peavey era 1x15 and 2x10 cabs and a V6.

Have sold everything Trace related apart from the V6 and 1x15 cab. A bit annoying as the 1x15 is 8 ohm and the V6 is only 4 ohm and 2ohm input so I can't use them together. I will get another cab eventually.

[barkin]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1501623847' post='3346082']


I have had, on more than one occasion. The second and third times were because I can be a slow learner. Overweight, didn't sound great. Vastly overrated. That's TE, not me.
[/quote]

Me too. Sorry Mick !

[Kevin Dean]

I had a series 6 head with the rubber type sleeve & now mainly use the JJB Ashdown head anyone would think that they're made by the same people ...Oh hold on .

[ambient]

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1501621852' post='3346060']
Glad there is loads of nostalgic love for TE.
Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I was always intrigued by trace due to adverts in bassist magazine with my bass bass heroes such as Stuart Zender playing with various TE stacks.

I liked the colour green and liked the look of their stuff.

I tried on many occasions either trying other bands amps at gigs or at the bass centre to get on with a variety of Trace amps and cabs, but always went running back to my hartke rig or lusted after David Eden stuff, both of which gave me the tone I wanted. Something I could never achieve with A TE set up
[/quote]

A David Eden rig was something I always wanted. The players that I admired were always photographed with one in Bassplayer magazine adverts.

There was an old and much battered one at a studio I was in a few years ago, it sounded magnificent!

[Rich]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1501619755' post='3346030']
I went through the Class D phase same as everybody else and came out the other end disappointed, [b]same as everybody else[/b].
[/quote]
Speak for yourself I'm still Class-D'ing it, and still perfectly happy. And most importantly, my back loves me.

[rushbo]

I had a GP7 Combo for a short while. It was incredibly heavy and I was never happy with the sound. Quite distressing really as I'd wanted one for years, but my lovely old Peavey combo just refused to die - when it finally did, I grabbed the TE. Be careful what you wish for, said a wise man.

After a brief flirtation with a Peavey Nitrobass head and 4x10 cab and then a revolting Ashdown combo, I settled on a Genz Benz contour combo. Lightweight and gorgeous, unlike me.

[Cat Burrito]

I used to admire the TE rigs in the 80s and 90s (I thought they were still popular then, but not according to the OP). The ads were always in Bassist magazine. However the gold standard for me was always going to be Ampeg which is what I've used for the last few years. I'm sure there are better and certainly lighter rigs out there but I can't quite shake the teenage dream. TE was like the cool MkII Cortina but Ampeg was the American muscle car.