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Looks like Trace Elliot may be back? NAMM 2017?


40hz
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If I owned the TE name (which is all it is these days) I'd be selling a Sansamp style pedal that reproduced the eq and functions of the best TE products, including the graphic. Its the way forward...we'll all be using featherweight powered cabs any day day now.

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[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1485076618' post='3220839']
I get that requirement, but what are such people using for a cab? In such circumstances, a small combo would be even more convenient surely?

If not, why not buy a more powerful amp and turn it down? I cannot see why people need an amp this tiny, 500w+ Class D heads are marginally bigger and much more flexible.

As I say, the market is clearly there for companies to be making them, I just don't understand why :)
[/quote]

Yeah, I gig with a combo too, it's a fair point. Maybe this and the tiny 8 cab takes up even less space than a combo, who knows. Maybe the tiny head means you only have to carry a cab and the head can go in your bass bag, and it all makes the journey more manageable. The smaller the better for me,but I appreciate it's not the same for most people. My tiny Genz Shuttle combo and a bass on my back still makes me look massive and cumbersome on the tube, at rush hour people hate you with luggage like that. Still it would take a lot to better the Genz, I don't know if the Trace is even in the same ballpark in terms of tone really, but in any case I appreciate the desire to make everything as small as possible.

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[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1485075606' post='3220835']
Lots of people live in small apartments with no storage space, thin walls and have neighbors really close by. Those people tend to live in big cities where they have to use public transport to get to gigs and carry everything by hand, and many of those gigs are in tiny venues where loudness and power are not much of an issue as sound quality. As long as they sound good, they should do well with these.
[/quote]

As one of those people, I still used a car. While my Shuttle 6 fitted in the gig bag pocket there was no [i]way[/i] I was going to cart a cab 15min to the nearest tube station and carry a laden trolley up flights of 10 steps or more. If venues provided cabs that would be good but they frequently don't and I did two shared billings in two years and at one of those I was expected to provide the kit without no advance warning. (And the c*** who used my amp played it redlined through their first song until I came on stage and turned it down for him with a glare).

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As much as I love Trace and am glad the name continues, it's not really 'Trace' anymore is it? It's all Peavey designed in the USA with very, very little to do with it's original UK origins.

Edited by 40hz
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[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1485112665' post='3221217']
According to most advice these days one simply can't gig or even jam without at least all of 400+ watts ;)
[/quote]well I manage quite easily with 200 watts, I'm coming to the conclusion that class D watts aren't as loud as what has gone before, or it could be they lack 'heft' and just don't sound as loud, no doubt someone with a lot more expertise and knowledge won't agree with me, but that's been my (limited) experience

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I had a Trace head for years which was 300 watts and never had a problem with keeping up with a loud valve head and 4x12 sometimes 2x 4x12 and a loud drummer.

I've got a markbass 250 watt head so I doubt there will be any difference between those two and probably near enough the same as the elf.

I'm really not bothered about the jack speaker out, as long as it works and makes noise then that's all that matters to me. I've used jack to Jack speaker leads, Jack to speakon, Jack to xlr and speakon to speakon(if it's the same as neutric) and I have never noticed any differences between them.

I want to know more about the cabs too!

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[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1485079727' post='3220875']

sorry lads, thought people would realise my tongue was in my cheek by that point
[/quote]
My only excuse is that it was early and I was still BFCC (Before First Cup of Coffee). :)

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[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1485091704' post='3221013']
How much of this stuff is actually a blood relation to the old TE?

It looks to me like people are getting excited about a name and a colour.
[/quote]

So tempting to just say "same as it ever was."

The Trace brand was just never a very big deal at all in the US, or at least not in my world. I tracked down one of the rare dealers in the 80s, liked what I heard quite a bit, and did seriously consider buying one because of the cool compressor format. But amps with sliders are a real turnoff for me and they were very expensive here, so I never followed through. I only ever knew two people who owned one and both ended up coming across my repair bench eventually.

NAMM was full of excellent sounding new small to medium size Class D bass amps. IMO Peavey have their work cut out for them just with keeping their own brand name viable in today's market. Past attempts to go more upscale have tended to end in tears, so I wouldn't hold my breath on things going in that direction.

Edited by Passinwind
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Well I personally am really really happy to see this particular new offering from TE.
I sold my old AH400SMX to our lead guitarist's younger brother years ago but borrowed it for a gig when my old Ampeg packed in about 18 months ago and realised I had been stupid to sell it. Basically the sound was what I'd been trying to get from a host of other amps without any success ever since I sold it.
My current Aguilar rig which I subsequently bought has taken quite a bit of time for me to get the best out of it but recently I've finally been properly happy with the sound I've been getting from it.
And that's why I'm so happy to see this as TE's comeback - because it doesn't appeal to me even in the slightest and I can just carry on enjoying what I have instead of Gassing for something else.

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Currently drag around a massive great big EBS Riedmar 250 as a back up amp just in case. This is obviously going to make all the difference. :D

But seriously though...if I hadn't already got a back up amp and I needed a nice easy to port about back up it could be worth a punt. But it would have to be in the same price bracket as the Riedmar to get a look in from me.

Reliable though.........is going to be reliable? Will it be good enough to get you out of a spot on a gig? Will it be good enough in a band setting? Will wait a year for every one else to test it out and have a look then and then only if its priced sensibly.

Oh and I'd need to buy a speakon to jack speaker lead because my cabs are all speakon. Which is rare on a cab these days......

Edited by bassjim
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Interesting stuff. I mentally can't get past the tiny cab but hearing is believing I guess.
Interesting what direction peavey are looking to take this, I'm really not sure. Is it the start of a high end amp range for peavey so their name stays on the workhorse budget friendly stuff? Is it product dev and market testing for crazy ideas that will later filter in to peavey products?
Interesting that a lot of us want the old trace sound. I loved my old trace gear but the size and weight just wasn't practical. In keeping the name going are Peavey trying to keep the sound going or are they trying to keep the principles going? What I mean is, are they not bothered about recreating trace tone for us oldies in the UK who remember when everything was better, or to them does the trace name mean "innovation", "reliability", "high tech" or other such things that they feel they are representing in green products with the trace name on them?
No idea what the answers are, just trying to guess at what they're doing.

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I contacted Customer Services a few days ago to suggest that, whilst many of us were ecstatic to see the Trace name on new amps again, there were a fairly sizeable number who were disappointed to see the new product bear no resemblance to the kit that name was made on. I asked if it was worth some of us holding our breath for a new, lightweight version of the SMX or something similar. No reply, no acknowledgement so far...

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[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1485365952' post='3223444']
Interesting stuff. I mentally can't get past the tiny cab but hearing is believing I guess.
Interesting what direction peavey are looking to take this, I'm really not sure. Is it the start of a high end amp range for peavey so their name stays on the workhorse budget friendly stuff? Is it product dev and market testing for crazy ideas that will later filter in to peavey products?
Interesting that a lot of us want the old trace sound. I loved my old trace gear but the size and weight just wasn't practical. In keeping the name going are Peavey trying to keep the sound going or are they trying to keep the principles going? What I mean is, are they not bothered about recreating trace tone for us oldies in the UK who remember when everything was better, or to them does the trace name mean "innovation", "reliability", "high tech" or other such things that they feel they are representing in green products with the trace name on them?
No idea what the answers are, just trying to guess at what they're doing.
[/quote]

What's the perception of Peavey like in the UK? Seems like they might be wanting to leverage the warm fuzzies that you guys clearly have for the TE brand name, which as I mentioned probably wouldn't get them all that far in the US, at least IMHO. In any case, I'm a terrible judge of this stuff, since there are really no old sounds that I covet in the least. If I had my way the whole industry would start with a white sheet.

Edited by Passinwind
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For some inexplicable reason I have never used or had the opportunity to try a Trace Elliot bass amp and always wondered exactly what is it about them that generates so much affection amongst some BCers.

I must say the aesthetics are appealing to the eye.

However for me, possibly only Peavey and TCE have got it right for a small lightweight amp. In the 200 - 500 class D watt range I want a built in tuner and compression.

[i]edit - (got it now, if used with the Transit pedal then you have it all).[/i]

With all the class D amps I've tried, at 12 o'clock, I hear an eq that favours the mid's. But looking at the curves, (frequency v gain), the class D module here seems to have a super flat response.

[url="http://icepower.dk/files/solutions/icepower_asx_series_class_d_amplifier_oem.pdf"]http://icepower.dk/f...plifier_oem.pdf[/url]

Edited by grandad
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Nice to hear lots of affection for the brand in the replies. My first was also a Trace.
I think the real watts v D watts is a fair issue too and has been discussed on here before. I'm also confused as to what they're going for with a very feature free amp with potentially gigging power levels?

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