VTypeV4

I collected this compact but weighty beast from Bristol today - a last bastion of the 'oldskool' Trace Elliot dating from Feb '99. I'll not fly into a drawn out essay here but history suggests this particular era of TE wasn't known for the same level of quality as their heyday but this example has stood the test of time. Everything works and it makes all the noises it's supposed to. Initial findings suggest the tonality is a little different than the SMX models and the additional features are very interesting so I'll do a review at some point. Did I need yet another black and green box with Trace Elliot written on it? Of course not, but I convinced myself 'something more compact' would no doubt 'come in useful' which if I'm being honest is at least half true. Anyways, I'm very pleased with my new toy as it sounds truly fantastic. ❤️

It was 'challenging' to say the very least! 😬 Those Pro series Midas do sound good although I've never gotten on with their operating system particularly well - especially that patching screen! Given the choice, (as I'm sure you know!) I'd pick Yamaha, A&H or Digico for a 'proper' gig. Having said that, Germany was probably my first nightmare on one.. Looks like you've had some lovely views, Mike - it even seems like the sun came out, too! 🥰😃 As for the control room, thank you - I feel like it's looking (and sounding!) very good indeed although I did add some little Kinsman lamps to both the ML and DM. A&H uses a different pin-out so I had to rewire the four for the ML - it was simply reversing the black and white wires between pins 3 and 4 on the XLR connector. The ones in the DM worked without modification although the filter on the pic makes them look much brighter than they really are. I'd have got some for the 02R but they don't have a lamp socket, sadly. ❤️

I appreciate that opinions vary greatly on these - personally, I rather like them. Where I'm struggling is to find a genuine Fender one with the 'F' logo in GOLD. Chrome finished ones are easy to come by - with or without the logo and gold ones without the logo are also out there but I just can't seem to find what I'm after. I've tried various google searches to no avail. 😐 Does anyone know where I might find what I'm after? Like this but in gold finish. ^^

AH300-SMX at the studio after I'd put it back together the other day. Still one of the finest compression circuits for bass guitar - in my opinion, at least. 👍

I took my 300-SMX to a show the other night and it got very unhappy with me which quickly ended in the silent treatment.. 😬 I'd been using it at home these last few days as it wasn't really practical take one of the V-Type amps and associated cabs as the sound is a little different plus the venue was somewhat 'cosy'. Paired with my Trace Elliot 2103H (2x10) cab, the compact setup packs quite a punch and was ideal for the situation. I played about three notes that sounded fine but then the sound just kind of 'fizzled' out. The lights stayed on as did the direct out so I worked round the lack of power amp and speakers - the performance was well recieved. Today, I began investigating and quickly found both the on-board fuses (both T5A) associated with the power amp section had blown. I happened to have some spares so removed the bad ones and put the new ones in place and fired it up. No smoke, no funny smells and most importantly, no popped fuses so I powered it down and recreated the failed setup with the same cables and speaker cab. Still, no blown fuses, no odd behaviour or even the hint of a problem. This unit is a later example with the much improved Clive Button Mosfet 300w board rather than the older and slightly twitchy 'Bi-Polar Bear' power stage. I played the amp (far too loudly for the house!) for about 10 mins - far longer than at the venue and it held solid so I've since buttoned it back up and it appears to be back in full health. Can anyone shed a bit of light on what might have happened?

Thanks Mike - it seems that the new M32 has been happy to play more than one show and has settled into it's role very well indeed. 🤣 Looks like you've been flat out and I'm really pleased you're flying the A&H flag loud and proud. I still don't really think there's much on the market that can get near the SQ currently - A&H seem to have truly won with them. As for the bigger stuff, the dLive is probably the most intuitive and easy to use flagship - I'd probably choose one over an SD12 and I'd be really hard pressed to pick between a CL5 and the A&H. I'm loving the picture of the old SD8! It's been a while since I've used one as most places seem to have gone to an SD12 now. The SD8 was the first big Digico I did a show on - it's sea of knobs and buttons but reasonably intuitive once rolling - great board. ❤️ Of all the shows I've done recently (or in the last few years to be fair), I only had one nightmare which was in Germany. A Pro-2 which had become very twitchy was the centre of my troubles. In the 15 minutes between bands, whilst the house engineer was double checking what I needed (very helpful, btw) I was putting some presumptious settings in - effects setups, compression envelopes etc when it got 'stuck' in sends on faders so re-boot number one. Now with only about 6 minutes before the show, having re-scrabbled some of the lost settings back in, it then refuses to assign / re-assign any DCA / Pop or subroups nor will it allow me to turn the upper auxes on for FX sends - restart number two. The show gets pushed back by a few minutes as I re-re-scrabble settings and don't really get chance to line check anything - not even gains so it was pretty much a 'check and fix it all on the fly' whilst they're on and playing - very unpleasent. 😐 On a happier note, a recent pic of the control room. 👍

I've been tempted by these more than a few times - very cool indeed..

It seems we had a bit of a false start with the M32. It did one gig then refused to start ever again so the Yamaha was put straight back in to service for a few shows. Of course, it worked without fault or issue - as ever. The faulty M32 was returned sometime last week with a fresh Midas box arriving at the venue yesterday. You can see the new, new desk under test in the background. An hour or so later and the replacement M32 is in place awaiting it's first show this coming Saturday. 😃 Recent Kirk Brandon tour at the Islington 02 - here I was mixing Ruts DC, Theatre of Hate and Zac Starkey at the Vive le Rock awards. TOH at the Glasgow 02 with a lovely Digico SD12. TOH at Northwest Calling - Manchester Academy. KK's Steel Mill hosted this years 'Westworld Weekender' - their brand new A&H SQ was a pleasure to use.

So in a slightly sideways move, neither a an X32 or Qu32 were purchased in the end - I chose an M32 to replace the 02R instead. Built well and feature laden, hopefully it will provide at least as many years service as the Yamaha did. The Midas had it's first show yesterday (18/5/24) and worked perfectly - as expected so all I have to do is teach the apprentice how it all works now. 👍 It felt a little sad removing the Yamaha as it marks the end of an era - 02R's have been used at the RIgger for the best part of ten years which is longer than any other console that's been in service at the venue during the last 25 years. ❤️

^^ That Contemporary 5-string looks absolutely stunning.. ❤️

Agreed - it's does so much more than I thought it would..

For live work, I've used a few compressors over the years with the longest and most consistent serving being an old Boss LMB-3. My usual go-to for recording is the built in Trace SMX dual band although I occasionally use a Digitech Dual Squeeze pedal which is OK but not my favourite although seems to work well with aggressive rock players. Whilst very different, based on my limited time with the unit, I think this LA2A style compressor would work well (like a full fat LA2A would) with most situations - it hits the nail right on the head for me. I haven't gigged it or done any recording with it seems to be something of a secret weapon.. 😃

I picked this lovely second-hand dynamics processor up for an absolute steal of only £40 from our favourite auction site, eBay. Since these first appeared a few years back, I've often thought I really must try one - especially since I heard fellow bass-playing friend, Dave. His seemed to give a 'platform' to each note and tied his hard-hitting P-Bass sound into the rest of the band so I wondered if I could achieve the same although my sound is almost the opposite of his. Test rig is Squier VM > Trace Elliot V6 (FX Loop Opto Comp - BiYang EQ) > Trace Elliot 2103H & 1153. I've only got a few hours on it so most opinions expressed here are based on initial impressions and observations. Firstly, it's very nicely made with well finished paint, firm controls and bright LEDs plus the slightly raised Ampeg logo finishes the unit very well indeed. Sound wise, it offers that 'platform' I'd hoped for so that's a win straight out of the box. That slightly lazy attack time (non-adjustable) is still a little bit faster than the compressor on the Trace V4 and not a million miles away from the units heritage, the uber-squashy LA2A but the release time really helps shape the other end of the envelope - surprisingly so - this definitely a 'character compressor'.. The blue LED indicates power whilst the green indicates gain reduction although there's almost certainly some compression occuring before indication. I'll report back as I get more time with it although initial impressions are very good.

I'm not 100% on this as I've not had the box apart but I think the 15 is a de-rated Eminence Delta-Pro. It seems something of an odd spec with such a low thermal rating but a heavy-duty cast frame.. I'll be honest, I've never heard it complain but that may well be that I'm much closer and on axis with the more efficient 410HE. I don't have big lows in my sound either so maybe that and not running silly loud helps keep cone movement and consequential risk of complaint down.

I like mine - it's paired with a 115E with both being driven by an SVT CL. It's voicing across the spectrum seems to suit the SVT plus the horn / x-over setup work almost as smoothly as my SWR cabs.

I'm reasonably sure the series 6 amplifiers don't feature the Bi-Polar Bear power stage, only later SM, SMC and SMX series were affected.

I think the main issue with using an HPF (on any instrument) is when we're making changes, we're nearly always making them in isolation rather than actually in 'full mix' context. Sometimes components within a mix need to sound 'worse' to make them fit the big picture in a 'better' or more useful way. The oldskool desks with fixed HPF frequencies and slopes went a good way to improve mixes and make life easier but with digital we can now better fine tune the instruments in our mix. From tiny gigs to full-flight festivals, I use a HPF to some degree on every channel with the exception of the sub / kick..

It's official, the days of this particular 02R running FOH are numbered. Recently, the venue won a grant to make a number of all-round improvements with some pennies ear-marked for a console upgrade. Whilst it's not yet arrived, an A&H Qu32 will soon replace the high-mileage Yamaha. I was also given the option of a full-fat X32 but thought the Qu is arguably the better quality product, it suits myself and the needs of the venue. In an ideal world, I'd have chosen an SQ although the reality was, it was just a bit too far to reach but I've plenty of good experience with the Qu range. 🥰

This thread has certainly gathered some pace! ❤️ 100% on the 'horses for courses' thing, Phil - I used to run a small / medium-ish PA setup with several Peavey boxes, some big horn loaded subs and what felt to be about 8 tons of Crown and JBL (QSC) power amps. All together, it was just short of 10K so mainly inside gigs but there was the odd out door session too so this was where the Mackie was tried and the chap I used to do the PA with loved it but when I was mixing, comig from 'full time analogue' to the Soundcraft XD and 02R, I was just never comfortable enough with it plus the 'verb was a little lacking. The PA was largely sold off about ten years ago as it was a direction I didn't really want to go in anymore but the other chap still has a couple of amps, some HiSys 4 boxes and the little Mackie DL. As for the HPF, It depends on the voice, mic, technique and how the system is setup - tune by ear although it might be more useful to do this during a song rather than the usual 'yeah yeah, hey one two' mic check. During the song, slowly nudge the HPF frequency higher and higher until you reach the 'I've gone too far' point then back it down to the sweet spot as I'm a great believer in keeping the mix clean by getting rid of components that may cloud it - sweeter in isolation may mean worse in the mix. 😃 Loving the vintage pics, Chienmortbb! 🥰

Ha, absolutely - me too! 🤣 I can't say that I've much experience of the stage box / ipad type mixers although I did try a Mackie DL16 for a short while. It was ok but I never really loved it as I simply couldn't get round it as smoothly or as quickly as I could a conventional mixer. I appreciate, they're great where space is at a premium plus they offer so much more than any equivalent analogue mixer of even three times the foot-print. 😃 Being honest, even my smallest Yamaha digital (DM1000) is a bit too chunky to hide behind the drummer.. Great that you have a solution that 'does what it says on the tin'.

Glad you had some joy and success with those suggestions, Phil - it's always great to see something both positive and conclusive come out of a thread. 🥰 Out of interest, what mixer are you using? Chienmortbb, let us know how you get on too, and, don't worry, we won't let any singers know what's happening! 😆 Depending on setups, I'd nearly always advise on use of a high-pass filter at 120 - 150 Hz (assuming a slope of at least 12dB / Oct) on the vocal channels and possibly the fx returns as no-one needs fx with a load of boomy 'plosives in them as it'll simply ruin your mix.. We'll talk about compressors another day.. 😆❤️

Kind words, many thanks indeed for that. 🥰 I particularly liked that last sentence - definitely something I'm used to when on tour although I'm still proud of my collection of ever aging relics! ❤️

Not a problem, Phil - always happy to help as you are on speaker queries.. 😃 I've used this starting point for many years now - as far back as when I was using analogue in the world live full time with an A&H GL3000 and a pair of Yamaha SPX90 multi effects units which are all featured on said Yamaha 02R thread 😆.. Another trick that is use of a 'doubler' which essentially a very short delay (30-50ms) with low or even no feedback sometimes with a little pitch shift too albeit rarely greater than 15% sharp or flat. This can useful to 'fatten' a vocal and tends to work reasonably well in most situations especially on vocalists that 'don't like fx'.. Again, adjust to taste. Keep us posted and let us know how you get on plus don't be afraid to tweak those settings; a longer reverb time might work better in a certain situation or maybe less feedback on the delay in another - have a bit of fun with the mix and enjoy the experimentation. Cheers, Matt 👍

My personal starting points are usually a short-ish plate or hall reverb of around 1.2s - give or take - and then in addition to this a short delay with 180ms (or thereabouts) time with around 30% feedback. These are approximate settings and won't work on everything all the time (plus different fx units have their own sound too) so you'll no doubt find some vocals will lean towards sounding better with less of one / more of the other and vice-versa - adjust to suit the sends / returns to suit. Good luck. 😃