Trace Elliot elf

[Chris Horton]

Has anyone bought or tried one yet ?

whats ya thoughts?

 

http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Trace_Elliot_Bass_Amplification.html

[VTypeV4]

There's a review here.....

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by VTypeV4
Typo

[Deedee]

Great amps, tiny but with great tone.

For quieter gigs they’re ideal, but they can just about hold up against two guitarists and a heavy handed drummer if you’ve got an efficient cab/s.  The DI is there for FOH anyway so you’re sorted.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Deedee

[Kevin Dean]

I reckon they will have an over heating problem like the TC250 , time will tell.

[Chris Horton]

8 hours ago, VTypeV4 said:

There's a review here.....

 

Thanks very much for the link to the review, very helpful:)

 

 

[Bigwan]

11 hours ago, Kevin Dean said:

I reckon they will have an over heating problem like the TC250 , time will tell.

Wondering how you arrive at that? Similar setup to the GK MB200 and there don't seem to be issues there.

[stevie]

13 hours ago, Kevin Dean said:

I reckon they will have an over heating problem like the TC250 , time will tell.

I've nothing against critical comments about products - in fact it doesn't happen enough - but if you're going to slag a product off like that you really need to explain yourself.

[disssa]

Yepp, I play a ELF. Here is my review: Klick

[DGBass]

6 hours ago, disssa said:

Yepp, I play a ELF. Here is my review: Klick

Very interesting review, thanks for sharing. The pics are good and show how much is crammed into such a small unit. I'm guessing the mini fan is attached to the(removed) top plate as nothing looks like a fan inside the unit? I'm interested in the super small form factor of the ELF for a go anywhere amplifier however I have a total aversion to cooling fan noise/hum at low volume which you mention is audible in the ELF. This would be no use to me for home noodling in the front room which for me would be an ideal use case for an ELF. I have a GP7 SM-150 (also with a quiet fan) so if I need a fix of green I can use that meantime.  If the good people at TE can come up with a 500watt ELF without a cooling fan,  my cheque book will be ready and waiting     

[Kevin Dean]

21 hours ago, stevie said:

I've nothing against critical comments about products - in fact it doesn't happen enough - but if you're going to slag a product off like that you really need to explain yourself.

I can't see any new technology going in there & the components are tightly packed .I have a PJB breif case & it stopped working after it fell on its side .It turned out that the transfomer was too close to other components & falling on its side was enought to make it blow .

[MoonBassAlpha]

re: fan noise; I'm sure you could put a thermal switch in series with the fan for turning it off at low volume/temperature.

[Defo]

I’m thinking of getting one just to be able to have something in my gigbag in case my Tecamp head goes down - 2 minutes and all’s good

[TheGreek]

Despite my initial reservations I haven't found any issues with the performance of my Elf. I can understand Kev's concerns about overheating - after all it is a tiny little packaged and the internals probably are packed closely together - but this hasn't proved to be an issue so far. 

They are good little amps - for those after a true TE sound, you'll need a Compressor, possible from the Transit B system or maybe a Tech 21 Bass Fly rig.

I've wasted £250 on worse bits of kit

[Chris Horton]

54 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Despite my initial reservations I haven't found any issues with the performance of my Elf. I can understand Kev's concerns about overheating - after all it is a tiny little packaged and the internals probably are packed closely together - but this hasn't proved to be an issue so far. 

They are good little amps - for those after a true TE sound, you'll need a Compressor, possible from the Transit B system or maybe a Tech 21 Bass Fly rig.

I've wasted £250 on worse bits of kit

That’s really cool, great to hear a positive from an elf owner

I keep thinking about buying an elf to use with my barefaced one10.

i currently drive the cab with and EBS redimer 250.

i would quite like a smaller amp just to make life even easier and saving space in the bag

 

[chris_b]

On 11/30/2017 at 11:57, Kevin Dean said:

I can't see any new technology going in there & the components are tightly packed .I have a PJB breif case & it stopped working after it fell on its side .It turned out that the transfomer was too close to other components & falling on its side was enought to make it blow .

Really?

You dropped the amp and it was the internal design that was at fault when it stopped working??

[Bruce Benham]

On 29/11/2017 at 11:24, Kevin Dean said:

I reckon they will have an over heating problem like the TC250 , time will tell.

Hi Kevin. I know where you're coming from because of the Elf's size and when you start pushing it the worry is it'll melt down. I had the same concern. The first thing I did was to buy a heat sink for it to sit on and that works a treat. The case is really solid and I think the idea was to dissipate as much heat as possible and help the fan out. The Elf does get hot but nothing to worry about. The only thing I found was that it doesn't like my active basses and cuts out when I slap. Not a problem for me because I have a cool switch that swaps to another amp for those basses. I can really recommend the Elf but you have to play with one using your basses to make sure it's going to suit you but don't worry about the heat problem, the Elf can deal with it.

 

[mazdah]

Pretty loud mf.

a friend recorded this video: 

astonished by the sound and loudness. 

Only complaint - the highs are centered pretty high. Warm tones are not for elf,

a

[la bam]

I alleviated any heating worries on mine, by replacing the feet with taller ones. Air just passes under and out perfectly. Cost about £4.

[King Tut]

Just thought I'd post on here for anyone doubting whether an Elf is loud enough to gig with. Last night we were playing at The 100 Club in Oxford St. Hugh - The bass player from the support band - the excellent 'Pig Iron' had asked if he could use my rig, obviously to save bringing a car into London. I'd set up my Elf as a spare and sat it on top of the amp I was using. After we'd sound checked, I had the idea of swapping the amps over so that Hugh  could use the Elf and dial his sound in without us having to worry about getting my settings back at changeover. I put this to Hugh and he was quite happy - I was more than willing to let him use my main rig if he didn't think the Elf would be loud enough. Anyway - it was set up going through a Barefaced Big Baby 2, which was sat on top of a little Eden EX112. Hugh was playing a Rik straight into the amp. It sounded like a Rik should in a rock band, warm - defined and growly. Any worries I had about it being loud enough were dispelled when the sound engineer asked him to turn the rig down! It sounded great. So if you're playing with PA support and the stage isn't mahoosive, and you're using efficient cabs - then yes - the Elf is plenty loud enough.