VTypeV4

There's plenty of SMX goodness there man!

Sorry fella, never heard of them.. Hopefully someone will be along shortly who knows more.

Very nice..

The best SMX I had was the 400, plenty of power, cool looks and 'that' sound.. It'll be interesting to see the differences in your pix - I too am a Trace anorak..

I'm not familiar with your cab but I suspect your amp and cab will be wired for 1+ and 1- so either an NL2 or 4 will be fine for your application.. NL4 with four-core cable is typically used for PA where bi-amping or individual driver powering is required. Some power amps used a 1+ / 2+ connection for briidge mode which doesn't require a four core cable but requires an NL4 connector. Hope that helps.

I think some were fitted with fans later just before they went to green carpet / black panel guise although I couldn't be totally sure. I beleive they'll be the '300w' models as they're quoted as 280 rather than 250 on the rear panel..

Big fan of older Trace gear here but despite current production not sure they're classed as modern... EBS used to use 'normal' power supplies and output stages so I assume most models still do. I can't justify it and I'm perfectly happy with my gear but a HD350 would be a welcome as a studio (and live I guess) tool. SWR also largely made (are they still making?) conventional SS amps too. I always liked these, not the workingmans so much but the larger SM series kick ass. On a budget, I was quiite happy with some Laney kit I used at short notice a few years back. I think it was an RB series? 300w, 7 band graphic and a compressor. Plenty of power and decent build and I believe still current production.

Yeah, the head slides out easily enough but you'd still need a 'lid' to protect the exposed power-amp valves. Or just make your own wooden case of course..

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1435051762' post='2804881'] Thats a good review. Now, i just have to wait for one to come up!!! [/quote] Head or combo? There was a combo on eBay but was a little steep in the pennies dept. Let us know if you find one. And sadly, mine ain't for sale..

Overview: Part of Trace Elliots' late '80e early '90s series six range of Valve bass guitar amplifiers. This is the baby one which came in two versions, a head and a 1x15" combo with the GP7 pre-amp. Twin valve refers to it's dual 6550 output valves which make an apparent 115w RMS whilst the larger models in the range were Quattra and Hexa Valve sport 4 tubes (220w) and 6 (300w+) respectively. These larger models (available as head only) also feature the larger and heavier featured GP12 pre-amp. All are easilly identified from the SS models by having a brushed look panels and black writing opposed to the usual grey / bright green livery. Features: Front: The pre-amp is almost the same as the Series 6 GP7 version wit the omission of a balanced XLR direct out although I have seen some with this included. From left to right we have an input gain and overload indicator, separate jack inputs for both active and passive guitars and the classic Trace 'pre-shape' EQ button. Towards the middle is a switch in/out for the graphic EQ and the EQ itself which looks to have a longer fader travel than current models. Further over still is an array of jack sockets, the first pair are the FX loop send / return, the second pair are Line in / out and lastly a head-phone socket. The final controls are the master volume and standby switch on the far right of the panel. The only other thing on the front are the power / standby indicators although they're labelled as 'Pre-amp' and 'Power amp'. Rear: A rocker switch chooses between 4 and 8 ohm total load with two outputs. One is XLR (they loved this didn't they?) and the other jack although the jack is used for the internal 8 ohm speaker. Lastly there's an on / off switch and two fuse sockets for the mains and HT supplies. All in all, it's quite simple for a Trace (have a look at a fully fledged GP12SMX or 600SMX if you want lots of options) but for me it's a case of 'set and forget' and adjust the master volume to suit. Sound Quality: It was love at first plonk! I borrowed it from a friend who was looking to sell but from that first note, it was gonna be mine before we'd even discussed monies. Oh dear.. Considering it's simply a single fifteen inch Celestion in a slightly compromised enclosure, it sounds superb offering an adequate low end and goes surprisingly high too. I say the enclosure is compromised as running the maths against the spec of the driver suggests it would be prefer a slightly larger box and lower tuning however on the face of it, it goes plenty low for me. The flexibility of the pre-amp allows for many different sounds to be coaxed from it as the chap I bought from uses a P-style bass with flats whereas I'm on round wounds and like plenty of ping. Short of a dub-reggae thud, it'll do it without drama. It responds best with the Warwick although it sounds sweet with the Jazz bass too. Lastly the valve pre and power stages add that lovely bit of warmth and squash to the otherwise tight Trace sound. Having previously owned a number of SS Trace combos and a V-Type 4808, this trumps them all including being able to play louder without complaint. Given it's ~100w rating, it's very capable and will stand up to gigging without drama. I have never needed it flat out to keep up. The amplifier wiill distort and break-up with a bit of soft valve grind when played loudly however, this too finds the limit of the speaker which isn't particularly nice. Through my old Ashton 410 though, it was a monster. It's drive sounds very similar to my Trace V-Type V4 when pinned. Just for giggles of course, I like the clean but compressed valve type sounds mostly. Build quality and reliability: This example was built in 1990 so at the time of writing (June 2015), it's 25 years old. I have had it since '12 / '13 and never had and ounce of bother with it. Just before I had the unit, it had been serviced with some some new caps and a full set of PM brand ECC83 / 6550 valves. I don't think it's had a particularly hard life having still got it's orginal vinyl cover but the upholstery and finish are excellent and still in great condition. Inside the amp chassis the standards are maintained with thick PCBs, tidy wiring and decent sized transformers. Pictures inside and out can be found here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/26162-trace-elliot-porn-thread/page__st__300"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/26162-trace-elliot-porn-thread/page__st__300[/url] Bad bits: I don't really have much bad to say about it to be fair. It weighs a tonne (or more realistically about 35Kg) but it's a valve combo, if it was light, i'd be worried! The side handles aren't great and bite into your hands a little, the recessed types on the larger cabs would have been better but at least they wern't so daft as to put a central strap handle on top of the thing. The only other real compromise is the speaker / enclsore. For me it goes low enough without complaint but running the maths, (if I remember correctly) it starts to roll off around 75Hz with a little hump in the 100Hz area which can be heard. I think it's simply the compromise of such a small enclosure. Conclusion: It's old and a bit heavy but with the exception of my V4, it's the best sounding Trace Elliot I've owned. And of course, being a Trace, it's not going to be everyones tastes but it's well worth a look as it's a variation on that traditional sound. It's been totally reliable and I intend to keep it around for a good while yet!

You'll not go far wrong with a Trace Elliot Twin Valve head. Same flavour as a quattra / hexa but in a smaller, lighter, cheaper and less powerful package. The power issue is moot really as these have plenty of 'go' in them despite their modest rating. Through a BF cab, it'll be even less of an issue I'd expect. My combo version is more than loud enough for every situation I've ever used it and that houses an 'normal' spec 20 year old Celestion speaker. They come up in the classifieds every now and then for around £300, well within your budget and the same mojo as it's larger siblings.

I have recorded clean guiitar through my V4 a number of times although not miked through a cab. Much nicer results than straight into a mixer / DI box.. Sorry if thats a bit O/T..

Learned it many years back when it first appeared.. Great track back them still great today! Personal faves are 'Runaway', 'Blow your mind', 'Canned heat', 'Where do we go from here' and 'Dynamite' however I love all of it!

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1434180480' post='2797334'] End of the day though, tube pre + tube power = tone [/quote] Whilst I'm not an Ampeg user (I do like them but prefer a Trace) the above is very true IME

My Warwick Streamer LX5: It's been everywhere and done loads of shows with me since 2001 and whiilst I don't gig as much as I did back then, it's still my go-to machine.

As that the one that was on eBay? Is it still available?

Very interesting, cheers chaps. I think I simply need to have a go of one with a familiar bass and cabinet. Not that I'm planning to buy one of course, just need to scratch an itch and do some research or something!? Judging by the comments above, I think they're a bit more Ampeg / Hiwatt which was kind of like my Ashton BV300 was. Different from the V4 but again, not better or worse just different. I love the V4 and it's particular response through those little SWR boxes and will never sell it as its so comfortable and right but there's somethiing about the 100w CTM that keeps tappiing me on the shoulder..

Having reviewed recent threads regarding The Ashdown CTM models, I couldn't find anyone that had directly compared the two model series. On a different thread, I postulated that the pre-amps of the two may have been similar but Mr Ashdown suggested their CTM was more of a Dave Green / Matamp than a Trace / Fender design. Has anyone compared the two? I'd be very interested to hear if they have.. I'm not normally an Ashdown lover but the CTM100 really appeals.

Glad you found a cab that works.. Whether it a Peavey, Barefaced or SWR or whatever, as long as it works for you then that is all that matters. A conclusion is a conclusiion however that is achieved. Nice one, enjoy!

I have no experience of this model but I have used Matriix amplifiers before.. Ours was excellent and worked solidly without drama although it's been relegated to monitor duty for now since the arrival of another JBL MPX..

Interesting.. Teenage Kicks: The Undertones.. The first song I ever learned School Days: Stanley Clarke.. It's simply a masterpeice on every level Rio Funk: Lee Ritenour.. I needed my bass to sound like that Cut the Cake: AWB.. The perfect '70s funk track with so much feel Canned Heat: Jamiroquai.. This rolled me over, I had to play like Nick If I was to be really cheeky, I have to stick Kula Shaker on there too as this was a pre-curser to me going down the jazz / funk road as Alonza Bevan is an excellent and influential player to me..

I spoke to Wembly and to be fair they were quite helpful and knowledgable but couldn't do anything with my Goodmans. Shame you sold them, they're great cabs. if you ever need anything re-coning again, speak to Roy, he's the best I've seen. He does his own speaker range too which are like a Precision Devices on steriods. He also mods PDs to his own specs too. I'm sure he'd be able to do something clos to the original PAS drivers. Not to worry John shame they're gone but glad you're well.

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1432673155' post='2783910'] When the drums need PA, the Bass usually benefits from some PA too. [/quote] This is very true indeed.. I'd nearly always run a line into the PA for a little (or a lot of) support even indoors as long as the system was more than just a vocal setup. As for a single ten, I think thats probably a bit marginal whatever impedance / power the amplifier is running at. Especially outside. I'm happy with 2x 210 inside although I wouldn't expect it to go far outside without PA help. Maybe you could sell your 1x10 and get two 210 for a bit more sensitivity and more power from your amplifier? This would give you a bit more volume and help you feel like you're not thrashing the nuts off your amp to keep up.. Hope that helps a little..