thodrik

Joined my first band at 11 in 1998 with the rest of the band being two years older than me. We won a local battle of the bands the year competing against adults. Started doing paid gigs (mostly covers gigs with three hour sets) after that and it was a great source of pocket money for a while. By the age of 17 I was so fed up of playing covers that I decided I would only play in originals bands from then on. Though when playing in a ‘signed’ band at 22 I was making less than I did per night playing covers gigs at 14. I was pretty rubbish when I started and was weak member of the band. I only got halfway decent by about 15.

It doesn't look that bad to me, at least on the front. However, I also enjoy looking at highly expensive Gibson Les Paul guitars where the job of selecting matching maple caps to avoid obvious joins appears to have been assigned to a two year old.

Awesome work! Thanks for sharing and confirming.

No experience with the Forty Eight, but my nephew has a Sandberg MM2 with two Sandberg humbuckers very similar to the ones that will be in the Forty Eight and he loves it. I really rate it too and have rated pretty much every Sandberg I have tried. My only comment is that the upper fret access on the Forty Eight doesn't look great, but that is partially down to the body design, however those interested in those type of basses generally know there is a bit of trade off with that kind of design. Sandberg build quality is generally very high and they use high quality tuners and bridges. Delano pickups are very good. If the deal is good I would just say go for it.

Main regret is not buying a Wal Mk I for £2,000 circa 2009. Yeah, I tried it and liked it but I didn't love it and frankly didn't think it offered anything more than my Vigier Excess. However, I really should have bought it just so I could have sold it ten years later for £4-5k profit. Other small regret is buying a 1974 Gibson EB3 in 2001 when I was going through a major Andy Fraser/Jack Bruce phase when I was 15. I really should have a Musicman Stingray or Fender Jazz instead. Like, I still have the EB3 but I never gig it.

I always fancied one but SWR kinda ceased to be a thing once I had money to spend on amps.

My main gigging and rehearsing amp has been a Mesa Walkabout 15 combo since 2009. Usually played with basses I have owned since 1999, 2004 and 2009. My other main gigging amp is an EBS Fafner which I have also had since 2009 and I usually use that with a 1x15 Trace Elliot I have had since 2009 because I couldn't afford the EBS Proline. The EBS amp actually much louder than the Mesa but it has far more clean headroom, I don't 'need' anymore than the Mesa or the EBS plus 1x15 but in 2017-2019 I did assemble the 'dream rig' I wanted as a 22 year old touring musician but could never afford, a Mesa Big Block 750 and matching 6x10. I managed to obtain them separately for about 30% of the 'new' price for the two combined items. This was a great deal for me but also a reflection of just how undesirable and impractical big heavy setups like that are nowadays. I absolutely love the big Mesa rig as a feat of engineering, however it isn't practical for gigging, even if you play in an incredibly loud doom rock band (which I often do). For a 'bucket list' purchase I won't ever sell though I don't regret the purchase. I fully appreciate the benefits of in-ears and FRFR systems and I would consider this if the band I was playing in required it. When I next have surplus funds that I can spend on gear I will definitely purchase a Helix Stomp as I think it is also an immense bit of gear for the money.

If I arrive at an important gig but forget to pack an essential bit of gear, I am more likely to be fired than I am likely to be given £300 to go shopping for new gear. Thus I struggle to relate to the essential point of the scenario, but I think I have it figured out: (a) If I have my bass, amp, leads and a sound engineer who can run a decent DI then I'm generally good to go; (b) If I arrive at an important gig and forget to pack my amp and cabs, I would make do just running a DI from my pedalboard; (c) If I arrive at an important gig and forget my amp, cab or pedals I would just run a DI straight from the bass and hope that there is a fold back monitor; or (d) If I I arrive at an important gig without my bass, my amp, my cabinet or my pedals then I probably wouldn't play the gig on account that this scenario would probably only occur if I am concussed or mentally impaired to the point I should be taken to hospital. If I am somehow not mentally impaired or already fired I would buy the cheapest bass I could find that sort of looks like a Fender and then play the gig under option (c) above.

I have still never tried a CTM amp. The Trace Elliot V6 has been my all valve amp for about 10 years. As said in earlier comments, it is brilliant but I do find the EQ to be inflexible/infuriating due to the way in which the EQ controls interact with (or rather against) each other. Accordingly, my general (probably wrong) presumption that the CTM EQ controls are similar to the V6 has caused me not to really consider them as potential amplifiers. I think that I would probably prefer the Ampeg style EQ if I was going down the all valve route again. In terms of volume of the V6, I find that the volume and gain tapers are actually very gradual up to the 12 o'clock position. This enables me to set a completely acceptable level of volume. This is as opposed to the volume taper on my Mesa Big Block (or my old M6 Carbine) in which everything above absolute 0 is 'really loud' and an incremental additional turn makes the amp just 'too loud'. With the V6, my amp has loads of added volume once you move the master beyond 12 o'clock. I use it through a Mesa Powerhouse 6x10 (and prior to that a Peavey era Trace Elliot 2x10 and 1x15 stack) and anything beyond 2 o'clock position on the master volume is too loud for any application I can think of, and I play in a doom rock band. Yes, I am aware that I need to buy a smaller cab.

@agedhorse gave some positive news on another thread a few weeks back. I think that next year we will see some positive developments.

Not got one, but in general EBS are renowned for having really high quality compressors, both in their amps and their Multicomp pedal. I would be astounded if the compressor was anything other than really good or excellent.

Telecasters tend to have fairly chunky necks. This is part of the reason I like them and Gibson Les Pauls when switching from bass but I'm conscious that my preferred tastes are the complete opposite to liking a thin neck from front to back. If you want a neck that isn't thick from front to back, it might be worth looking into a second hand PRS SE. A lot of the PRS instruments have a 'wide thin' carve where the neck very narrow from front to back, but the fingerboard is quite wide and flat. Definitely worth putting on 'worth trying' list. Fender Jazzmaster might be worth considering too. Lots of tonal options and the neck will be thinner than the average Telecaster. I would highly recommend visiting a shop or two and trying some instruments out.

The Subway 4x10 and the Badlander are certainly on the shortlist of gear that I have wanted to try for some time. Glad to hear that we will be getting new Mesa gear back in Europe.

or a 4 ohm 4x10

Quite like the look of the cabs, would have liked the 4x10 to be a 4 ohm cab so you could run a semi-lightweight 4x10 it with an old school SVT instead of the heavy 4x10hlf. The Pro Neo series of cabs are gone too so I’m guessing this is the replacement range. Heads look nice too. Edit: The heads don’t appear to have the cab sims/IRs that were on the SGT pedal. That would have been a nice extra.

I mean, it is Gene Simmons and Gibson. Simmons makes no secret of his willingness to merchandise pretty much everything at the expense of good taste or whether it is value for money for the end consumer. This instrument is essentially expected outcome given the nature of the parties involved. I have no issue with the pricing on that basis.

I heard that they are still in the original Trace Elliot factory as nobody could move them. They are located right behind those 1980s 8x10 combos...

Probably when I said I would do a Masters degree while my band were recording an album. ‘Well we are technically signed, but I have enough free time to get an extra qualification while we write and record an album’. After a year the Masters degree was done, but the album wasn’t. By then the label had rightly lost interest. In frustration I jokingly bet the drummer that I could probably qualify as a solicitor before the album was actually finished. I have now been a qualified solicitor for over 8 years.

To be honest, I never used the dual compressor that much. By the time I got an SMX amp (2008), there were better pedal compressors available and the SMX compression wasn't quite to the level of the compression on my 'main' amp which was an EBS Fafner. I think that the SMX amps are generally a bit more expensive because they were slightly newer (late 80s-mid 90s) and are generally in better condition than earlier models and also had a tube in the preamp and dual band compression and tonnes of options like EQ blends at the rear of the amp. They also generally had more power on tap. The SM series was essentially a more stripped down approach which discarded the tube in the preamp (which didn't really drastically change the tone anyway) and dual compression and instead introduced the 'Sound Management' system which (trying to remember off the top of my head) was an EQ balance control which I never really used. Generally, any of the TE solid state amps should give you that core Trace Elliot tone so I wouldn't necessarily think of the SMX as 'superior' to an earlier model.

At this point when looking at older Trace Elliot amps you are looking at amps that are often over thirty years old so in many cases that the question 'how does model X compare to model Y?' often matters less than 'what kind of condition is the actual amp in question in?'. If the condition of the amps is comparable, I would probably pick the AH250 owing to the 11 band graphic compared to the 7 band, also the additional watts. I had a 7 band SM 300 combo for over a decade and while it was good, the 7 band preamp was a bit limiting and I greatly preferred the 12 band SMX head I later got. So essentially if both amps were in similar condition I would get the AH 250. If you have patience then you could wait for another model like an SMX amp but for the core Trace Elliot tone, any of the solid state amps should manage to get that pre-shape voiced classic TE tone. The V-type amps are pretty much completely different to the solid state heads so not really comparable. From the ages of 13 to 27 I acquired an GP 7 SM300 combo, a GP12 SMX 300 head, two Peavey era Trace Elliot cabs and a V6. The V6 is the only bit of Trace gear I have left at the age of 37.

I’ve had a V6 for about ten years. The cost of re-valving it in 2014 was more expensive than the price I paid for it. Still one re-valve in ten years is not too bad. I play it through a Mesa 6x10. Just ridiculous. Currently looking for a more portable 4 ohm cabinet. Really great amp, huge headroom, in fact too much headroom to achieve much overdrive at useable volume levels. In terms of the weight, it actually not too bad. Certainly lighter than an Ampeg SVT and no heavier than a standard Marshall JCM 800 guitar amp.

Mesa Boogie to ship products to Europe and the UK. I know that they have had a number of issues out of their control but these issues have now being going on for well over a year and it is frustrating, particularly as they have launched a lot of good gear in that time.

Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne comes to mind for me. He is utterly incredible player in technical terms but I generally find Mudvayne to be one of the more 'meh' bands of the post nu-metal early 2000s.

The old Trace Elliot cabinets are just incredibly heavy. I actually preferred the Peavey era ones from 2006-2012 as they were much lighter and had better power handling capabilities. The old Trace Elliot cabs were good in their day but they are antiquated now compared to modern cabinets. Also bear in mind that most GP12 SMX type amps are coming on about 30 years old, so unless the price is a steal I would recommend trying before buying as there are components that can go 'pop' at anytime that might might be difficult for a tech to economically repair or source parts for. I mean, most Trace Elliot amps are pretty reliable. I would probably get the amp and pair it with a more modern, lighter 4x10, 2x12 or 2x10. If you must have a matching Trace Elliot cabinets I would recommend picking up one of the new Peavey era Trace Elliot cabinets instead. I think that someone on BC is selling one of the Peavey era 4x10s ones for a very good price (i.e. I would buy it but I can't collect it from the West Midlands so it isn't possible).

Honestly I expected it to be heavier.