New Combo Day - Trace Elliot Content

[discreet]

Trace Elliot Series 6 Type 7215 GP7 1X15 300W Combo

Back in the day, I was one of the few bass players who didn't use a Trace Elliot rig. When I saw them on sale at that time (late 80s/early 90s) they seemed quite expensive and I got the impression they were solely for Mark King-alikes who favoured the now-infamous slapping style that was all over the place then… In short, it was a hairdresser’s amp and not suitable for muscular Ampeg men such as myself.  So I didn't ever have the Trace experience. In the intervening years, I've explored pretty much every other brand and every possible format of bass amp and cab with varying degrees of satisfaction. But then I saw more and more threads about old Trace gear, both here and elsewhere and was intrigued…

…mainly because some threads insisted Trace gear sounded terrible, Trace owners wore waistcoats and looked at themselves in the mirror a lot, Trace was a one-trick pony and the gear was incredibly heavy because it was full of concrete. Others praised Trace to the skies, citing a big sound, a huge variety of tones not available elsewhere and claiming lifelong allegiance to the cause. Some very polarised views, then… but they can’t both be right, can they? This cognitive dissonance will not stand! So when I saw a Trace combo up for sale on BC, I thought ‘why not?’ It can only be terrible. Or great. I’ll find out.

 





Got the combo home and plugged in my Jazz Bass - it sounded terrible. So I fiddled with the EQ for a while and it was better, but not great. After quite a bit of fiddling and button-pressing and bone-headed persistence, I got some acceptable results, but there was an overall baked-in aspect to the sound I couldn't seem to get rid of, a sort of Marcus-type twangy vibe. I fiddled for a bit longer (fnarr), upped the input gain quite a bit, then loaded a play-along CD into my Linn system which I set at near-battle levels, to see what the combo would do in concert, as it were - and suddenly there it was - without changing anything, the tone was at once lush, muscular and taut - and without the twang, or rather it was still there, but it now served to make the notes articulate and present, without being in any way offensive. Nice tight bottom end, too - I eased down the 50hz slider somewhat to avoid speaker stress, raised the 100Hz a db or two and all was good. Very good. It is a big, chunky sound that puts a stupid grin on your face. I strongly suspect it will be a cracking live amp. Trace obviously made gear that was meant to be taken out into the world and gigged with a band, not used solo in a bedroom. Tip: Leave the Mid Pre Shape button alone and avoid the ‘smiley face’ EQ curve.

A word on LOUD: According to physics, a watt is a watt is a watt, but any layman will tell you that valve watts seem louder than solid state watts. I can tell you that Trace SS watts seem louder than, er… other SS watts. And by some margin. I need to do a lot more research, but apparently this 7215 combo delivers around 180-200 watts into its internal speaker which provides an 8 ohm load. There is an additional output socket on the rear of the combo to allow an additional 8 ohm cab to be used. It will then produce the full 300 Trace watts into 4 ohms, which must be truly seismic. All GP7 combos use custom Celestion drivers, it says here.

In use, it comes on at least as 'loud' as a regular 500W @ 4 ohms Class 'D' amp and that’s without using an extension cab. I can’t imagine ever needing one - the combo on its own is punishingly loud and must have been astonishing back in the day, largely because it’s astonishing now. It is also built like a tank and the spec of this one puts it at a scrotum-busting 35kg - however I don’t think it’s genuinely that heavy, as it’s a do-able two-handed lift into my hatchback. Lift with your legs, lift with your legs… huppp. Having said that, I wouldn't like to carry it very far… Barefaced it is not. I now keep a folding sack truck in the car. And a truss.

So there you have it. As you know, I've been on the gear merry-go-round for decades. Could it be that if I had bought this combo in 1993 I wouldn't have needed anything else and could have put an end to amp and cab GAS right there and then, saving myself a fortune in the process? We’ll never know. Will I now recommend that you madly rush out and buy up loads of old Trace gear? I will not. Because I don’t want the price to go up. You probably wouldn't like it, anyway…

Edited January 9, 2018 by discreet
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[mep]

I'm glad you have discovered TE. I had an AH200 for years. Definitely agree with not using the mid pre shape,  especially live. I boosted the low mids and had a great live sound and with my Ray cut through the mix. I use a TC 450 head and Barefaced Retro 210. Do I miss my TE head? Yeah I do at times but I'm happy with my current rig and glad I ran some TE equipment in my past. 

I'd be interested to hear what you make of it in gig situation. 

[discreet]

6 minutes ago, mep said:

I'm glad you have discovered TE. I had an AH200 for years. Definitely agree with not using the mid pre shape,  especially live. I boosted the low mids and had a great live sound and with my Ray cut through the mix. I use a TC 450 head and Barefaced Retro 210. Do I miss my TE head? Yeah I do at times but I'm happy with my current rig and glad I ran some TE equipment in my past. 

I'd be interested to hear what you make of it in gig situation. 

There is a new band in the offing which will be gigging a lot, if it works out for me... which is why I bought this combo. Nothing like being positive. I can't wait to gig it though, I think it will be tremendous. If so, it will be well worth the effort of moving it about.

Edited January 6, 2018 by discreet

[gjones]

I played through a GP7 combo, at a gig, a couple of years ago and was thoroughly surprised at how good it sounded with my precision.

I didn't try to pick it up though, as I suspected it would weigh the same as a small planet.

I've seen them going for around £150, which is awfully tempting though.

[discreet]

1 hour ago, gjones said:

I played through a GP7 combo, at a gig, a couple of years ago and was thoroughly surprised at how good it sounded with my precision. I didn't try to pick it up though, as I suspected it would weigh the same as a small planet. I've seen them going for around £150, which is awfully tempting though.

It's certainly heavy, but no more so than the competition at the time. It's just that it was made before lightweight gear became the norm. In fact it was sold as a 'compact' solution, IIRC.

Edited January 6, 2018 by discreet

[Paul S]

I'm a big fan of the TE sound.  What I did to overcome the weight issue of the gear was to buy on here a few years ago an ABS rack-mounted head - now (well, pre-hernia )  a manageable 12kg.  Barefaced Supercompact in the other hand - balanced carry in, lumbar nice and comfy.

[Lozz196]

Nice review, Mark. I`ve always liked TE amps, it was the cabs that I found weren`t much to my liking, but after a bit of working out why, it`s they seem to have a hi-mid boost at a frequency that "grates" on my ears. So now if connecting up to one I just lower hi-mids and sorted. I do remember in my old band the other bassist - yes we had two - had a small TE combo, weighed a ton, but that one combo with its 1x15 speaker had no trouble keeping up with the rest of the band and my 500 watt Class D head & 4ohm 4x10 cab. In fact it was us who had trouble keeping up with him, those TE watts are indeed different watts! Hope all work out well with the new band too.

[la bam]

Theyre the same type of bass principle as Ashdown - sound bland on their own but great in a band scenario (which is what theyre made for).

[fleabag]

Join the club monsuier Discretion.  I have a beastly GP11 4x10  Mk V

Its around twice the weight of  Jupiter,  but it flaps my flares like a demon

[MoonBassAlpha]

I had the same combo but with the front ports, and have to agree it does everything you need for a band situation. I didn't find it all that heavy, the side handles make for a comfortable lift  for me, and I am only ickle, but quite sturdy. 

[fleabag]

ooh, yes... the  money shot. Don't get a hernia looking at it, will ya

Edited January 6, 2018 by fleabag

[VTypeV4]

I am probably one of the above mentioned 'Trace Elliot Lifers' as they've always seemed to just fit whatever I've been doing. I've had a couple of different amps too - Hiwatt which I just didn't get on with, an all valve Ashton BV300H which was great and most recently a Fender Bassman 135 which is super - but having owned most Trace models from the '90s onwards, they always do what I need.

Glad you found a solution.

[discreet]

3 hours ago, Paul S said:

I'm a big fan of the TE sound.  What I did to overcome the weight issue of the gear was to buy on here a few years ago an ABS rack-mounted head - now (well, pre-hernia )  a manageable 12kg.  Barefaced Supercompact in the other hand - balanced carry in, lumbar nice and comfy.

Good idea. I'm going to try the combo head with my BFM Jack 12 (18kg) and also as an extension cab with the combo for maximum floor-rattleage.

Edited January 6, 2018 by discreet

[discreet]

3 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

...if connecting up to one I just lower hi-mids and sorted. Hope all work out well with the new band too.

Thanks Lozz, I'll try that.

[discreet]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

...Don't get a hernia looking at it, will ya

Too late! My innie is now an outie... 

[discreet]

59 minutes ago, VTypeV4 said:

...having owned most Trace models from the '90s onwards, they always do what I need. Glad you found a solution.

Interesting. The combo may well be a solution, I'll know for sure after I've gigged it. Got the crane hired already.

[discreet]

There is another Trace combo which is very similar to mine, only it is narrower and doesn't have the air vents either side of the amp head... do any Trace bods know what the difference is?

And does anyone have any idea when it was made? From what I can gather it's probably early to mid 90s, but apparently it's difficult if not impossible to find out from the serial number.

[gary mac]

As always, a quality review Mr. discreet.

You don't need the Trace extension cab but I can tell you, it does sound even more awesome with one. A Trace 2 x10" added to that combo is a very pleasing combination.

[T-Bay]

Yup it certainly does, that’s pretty much what I run. Even in a BIG pub/ function room it’s usually around 3-4 on input and 3-4 on output, I can’t imagine what size room it would fill at flat out but I can’t see me playing that size venue any time soon.

[VTypeV4]

13 minutes ago, discreet said:

Interesting. The combo may well be a solution, I'll know for sure after I've gigged it. Got the crane hired already.

I started with a Boxer 30 (1x10 - 30w) back in '98 and I've been through the giant stack of the 12-band 600w head, 410 and 115 and an all valve V4 MK2 with matching 810 and pretty much everything in-between. I too needed a crane!

10 minutes ago, discreet said:

There is another Trace combo which is very similar to mine, only it is narrower and doesn't have the air vents either side of the amp head... do any Trace bods know what the difference is?

And does anyone have any idea when it was made? From what I can gather it's probably early to mid 90s, but apparently it's difficult if not impossible to find out from the serial number.

Most have the smaller (and earlier) power stages up to 200w - I think most of the series 6 ('89 to '93 ish) seven band models were 100w and the 12 band being the 200 but there was likely options for both. Box volume was lower which may have affected low end response a little but I never really had issues with my Twin Valve combo which was the smaller variation and was built in 1990. Yours is the pre-cursor (I'd have said about '92) to the later (post '93) combos (and 1153 cab although it's a touch deeper) with the off set driver and front loaded ports which came as 200, 250 / 280 and 300w models featuring the SM, SMC, SMX and GP12X pre-amp stages.

Hope that helps.

[discreet]

20 minutes ago, gary mac said:

You don't need the Trace extension cab but I can tell you, it does sound even more awesome with one.

I may consider one for the sound rather than volume, but it's quite a 'hauling commitment'. More experimentation needed.

[discreet]

9 minutes ago, VTypeV4 said:

Yours is the pre-cursor (I'd have said about '92) to the later (post '93) combos (and 1153 cab although it's a touch deeper) with the off set driver and front loaded ports which came as 200, 250 / 280 and 300w models featuring the SM, SMC, SMX and GP12X pre-amp stages. Hope that helps.

Thanks... so as a Series 6 it's pre- SMC, SMX, etc? Not sure what the production run was like, but when I search for 'trace elliot combo' I dont see the exact model I have... could be my lack of search skilz, however.

[discreet]

25 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

Even in a BIG pub/ function room it’s usually around 3-4 on input and 3-4 on output...

I know Ashdowns can stand a lot of signal on the input stage, but is there  any advantage in a high input level on a Trace? Is it better to whack up the master and control the volume level with the input, or vice-versa,? Or neither?

[Merton]

Get the gain as high as you can, the hotter the signal in the preamp the better. Much like a Ashdown funnily enough given their heritage

[PaulWarning]

I'm a fan of the Trace Elliot sound but not the weight, so I use a TE head with light weight cabs, agree with everything Discreet says, Trace watts are a lot louder the D class watts and the preshape buttons are seductive when playing on you own but in a band situation a no no, I just cut the 50 and 60Hz sliders (GP12) to get rid of boom, but I do use a bass drive sim which does take out some mid range honk and have the input on full, the red light might flash very occasionally but that's it