Trace Elliot, tell me about it

[thodrik]

48 minutes ago, Quilly said:

Well Mark Gooday did work at Trace..are ABMs just clones of trace heads then?

There are similarities for sure, in terms of the pre-shape but definitely not clones.

The ABM series are capable of a much more of an 'old school' sound. The valve drive feature on the ABMs can allow for much more grit and dirt to be added into the signal. The valve inputs on say, the Trace Elliot SMX I used to have add a bit of warmth to the signal but don't add much dirt. The ABMs have different eq points as well as fewer EQ controls as a 12 band graphic Trace EQ. So an ABM does 'feel' different to a Trace Elliot amp, though certainly with the right tweaking you can certainly get a 'Trace Elliot' type sound on an Ashdown ABM.

An Ashdown ABM is definitely an 'evolution' on the original Trace Elliot theme though. It is almost like what Trace Elliot 'might/should have' done in the mid late 1990s by combining the 'old school' style of the V types with the 'hi fi' style of the 12 band solid state heads.  

[Deedee]

2 hours ago, Quilly said:

Well Mark Gooday did work at Trace..are ABMs just clones of trace heads then?

I must admit to being a complete TE fanboi but have never got on with Ashdown heads. I know some players love them but I really don't like them at all. 🙁

[Quilly]

1 hour ago, Deedee said:

I must admit to being a complete TE fanboi but have never got on with Ashdown heads. I know some players love them but I really don't like them at all. 🙁

I have both the Trace AH-500 and and Ashdown CTM-100 valve head. They are completely different beasts I must admit and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I would classify the Trace as having a very Hi-Fi clean sound and the Ashdown as having a much darker, warmer sound...but that's the valve heads head, I've no Idea what their SS / Hybrid heads are like.   

[classamin]

I must admit, between the Ashdown and Trace there isn't much in it. Both have insanely musical EQ sections. I suspect you'd do better with the Ashdown if you're used to a GP7 Trace head, as that's what the ABM series up to the latest EVO4 has. 3 knobs for bass, mid and treble, with 2 sliders between each section for fine tuning. These sliders are also MEGA sensitive, you can sculpt about any tone you'd be able to get out of a Trace. In saying that, Ashdown for me just doesn't have that mojo that makes trace gear unmistakably trace. It has it's own mojo, and its awesome but as said before it does the whole "vintage" thing a lot better. If you're a guy who likes his P basses, and want a fairly SVT-esque growl without the weight while having an almost trace sound while on clean, the Ashdown would be your thing through and through. For tweakers and tone sculptors, who want that 80s/90s Brit bass tone, the Trace will be your friend. It also makes Rickenbackers sound as beautiful as they look 😁

[Deedee]

11 minutes ago, classamin said:

3 knobs for bass, mid and treble, with 2 sliders between each section for fine tuning. These sliders are also MEGA sensitive, you can sculpt about any tone you'd be able to get out of a Trace.

With a Trace (and in my experience with a Handbox, Genz, TecAmp, GK and various others) you can set your EQ with for example a P bass, but then if you switch basses mid-set to say a Stingray or Sandberg you still had your core sound but the P would sound like a P and the ‘Ray would still sound like a ‘Ray etc, etc. I found that with the Ashdown I could tweak the EQ to get a great sound, but if I then switched basses I’d need to mess about with the EQ all over again. The EQ seemed very specific and precise to the bass going into it. Probably a very good thing to some but to me seemed a bit of a faff.

As I said before there are lots of people far better placed than me who love them to bits, so each to their own.

[classamin]

1 hour ago, Deedee said:

With a Trace (and in my experience with a Handbox, Genz, TecAmp, GK and various others) you can set your EQ with for example a P bass, but then if you switch basses mid-set to say a Stingray or Sandberg you still had your core sound but the P would sound like a P and the ‘Ray would still sound like a ‘Ray etc, etc. I found that with the Ashdown I could tweak the EQ to get a great sound, but if I then switched basses I’d need to mess about with the EQ all over again. The EQ seemed very specific and precise to the bass going into it. Probably a very good thing to some but to me seemed a bit of a faff.

As I said before there are lots of people far better placed than me who love them to bits, so each to their own.

Yeah, I'll agree with that one. Switching between my P and my Rick usually needs a minor tweak, especially when using either pickup solo'd. Using both pickups together produces a fairly nice sound, even when used with an EQ set for a P bass. But, then again sometimes utilizing the pre-set EQ shape can help massively for this too. If EQ fiddles are needed, the only saving grace is that I find the Ashdown easier to set than the Trace with its simpler EQ. As I mentioned before, the Trace sound is always unmistakably Trace, and sounds good no matter what but the Ashdown does tend to need a bit of a tweak depending on which bass is put through it!

[Quilly]

1 hour ago, classamin said:

Yeah, I'll agree with that one. Switching between my P and my Rick usually needs a minor tweak, especially when using either pickup solo'd. Using both pickups together produces a fairly nice sound, even when used with an EQ set for a P bass. But, then again sometimes utilizing the pre-set EQ shape can help massively for this too. If EQ fiddles are needed, the only saving grace is that I find the Ashdown easier to set than the Trace with its simpler EQ. As I mentioned before, the Trace sound is always unmistakably Trace, and sounds good no matter what but the Ashdown does tend to need a bit of a tweak depending on which bass is put through it!

Don’t get me started on Ashdown passive eq on the CTM100 valve head. It’s witchcraft trying to figure it out.

[classamin]

1 hour ago, Quilly said:

Don’t get me started on Ashdown passive eq on the CTM100 valve head. It’s witchcraft trying to figure it out.

I was in fact looking at the CTM30 not too long ago, but decided I need more watts hence the purchase of the ABM. I never realised they only ever made 50 of the limited edition combos, 25 2x10s and 25 1x15s. Score! 

[Quilly]

9 hours ago, classamin said:

I was in fact looking at the CTM30 not too long ago, but decided I need more watts hence the purchase of the ABM. I never realised they only ever made 50 of the limited edition combos, 25 2x10s and 25 1x15s. Score! 

I had the 'Little Bastard' 30W head and it was one of the the nicest sounding amps I ever had. It gets surprisingly loud but not much in the way of clean headroom. 

[PunkPonyPrincess]

I’ve always wanted TE and my path to it was to buy cheap and bashed up and do a refinish, it has proven very cost effective.

I am almost there with the big rig, it’s just waiting on a second GP7 for a 2x10 cab just arrived... the setup is for a punk band I am in and it seems I am not only a bassist but also becoming a guitarist and vocalist for the 3 piece so the bass guitar splits off at the Fishman Fission pedal and provides gonzo power chops tracked from the bass and bass into the 4x10. Blending both into one amp sounds a bit messy.

This will do me.

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[TheGreek]

I forgot I have a Little Giant, boxed, in my living room. 1000w in a tiny little package.

I've never used it in anger so can't say how it compares with the classic Trace Elliot gear or the Ashdown favourites.

[geoff90guitar]

Lads, I’ve had a few but don’t want to ruin the Trace ads

[casapete]

On 19/01/2019 at 16:26, casapete said:

Just been reunited with my old AH500. I had it in the 90’s and it just resurfaced so bought it back! Seen some active service, but still working okay, although I’d forgotten how heavy it is 😕 Used it for gigs in Morocco along with an equally weighty Peavey 4x10, and remembered it sounding sublime and didn’t miss a beat. Going to keep it for a while and wallow in some nostalgia, at least until my back gives out of course...

Well, have sadly had to move my AH500 on. It’s new owner is in a well known space rock band and is hopefully going to enjoy it as much as me. And yes, he does have people to move it around....🙂

[Quilly]

3 hours ago, casapete said:

Well, have sadly had to move my AH500 on. It’s new owner is in a well known space rock band and is hopefully going to enjoy it as much as me. And yes, he does have people to move it around....🙂

Pondering on whether I should move mine on also. I have too many amps and none of them light weight unfortunately. I very hesitant on selling off one of the last British Made Traces. I opened it once and had a look inside. Im no electronics expert but everything in there looks 'heavy gauge' , like it was build with heavy use (and abuse) in mind. Every time I used in rehearsal or gigs it always seemed to impress. It just seems to move a lot of air! .  

Edited February 5, 2020 by Quilly

[PaulWarning]

5 hours ago, casapete said:

Well, have sadly had to move my AH500 on. It’s new owner is in a well known space rock band and is hopefully going to enjoy it as much as me. And yes, he does have people to move it around....🙂

how heavy was it? I've got a AH250 and it's 13Kg, which I don't consider heavy 

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Quilly said:

Pondering on whether I should move mine on also. I have too many amps and none of them light weight unfortunately. I very hesitant on selling off one of the last British Made Traces. I opened it once and had a look inside. Im no electronics expert but everything in there looks 'heavy gauge' , like it was build with heavy use (and abuse) in mind. Every time I used in rehearsal or gigs it always seemed to impress. It just seems to move a lot of air! .  

If I wasn't short on space I probably would have kept mine TBH, just for nostalgic reasons as I probably wouldn't find a gig where it would be used to it's best!

52 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

how heavy was it? I've got a AH250 and it's 13Kg, which I don't consider heavy 

It was 22kg, which is quite heavy for an amp head ( in my world anyway ). Not an easy lift either, all that weight on one handle located on the end of the amp sleeve. Mine was basically two AH250's in one, hence the extra weight. The GK 1001RB head I regularly use is a shade under 10kgs which is far more user friendly for me, without going down the class D route etc.

[PaulWarning]

9 minutes ago, casapete said:

If I wasn't short on space I probably would have kept mine TBH, just for nostalgic reasons as I probably wouldn't find a gig where it would be used to it's best!

It was 22kg, which is quite heavy for an amp head ( in my world anyway ). Not an easy lift either, all that weight on one handle located on the end of the amp sleeve. Mine was basically two AH250's in one, hence the extra weight. The GK 1001RB head I regularly use is a shade under 10kgs which is far more user friendly for me, without going down the class D route etc.

right 22Kg is heavy, the lower wattage ones without the fan are a lot lighter and being Trace Elliot, there's no problem with them not being loud enough 😀

[Quilly]

Anyone out there have any experience with the AH500-7. I put mine up for sale and then withdrew it when I discovered a slight 'blowing' sound from it , also the foot switch seems to have packed in (it lights up and everything but does nothing) 

[Chris1127]

the ah500 had a bigger brother back in the day too, the ah1000 which I think was designed to go with the BFC cab. I bought a BFC back when Trace were selling off a load of gear in the early 2000s, it was a 15, 2x10 and 2 hf horns in one cab, wired up to be run biamped. I rewired it to mono to use with a V-type 600h hybrid head, it was a monster setup. The v-type wasn't a great design though - mine fried all the FETs first time I switched it on. there was a massive heatsink on the pcb which had no support underneath - the courier dropped it on delivery and the weight of the heatsink cracked the pcb. I repaired the board and replaced all the fets and all was good, but wasn't a great design. Some earlier comments referenced really good reliability - I think anyone who was repairing electronic gear around the time who was familiar with the Bipolar Bear output stage may have differing views

[stewblack]

duplicate post

Edited March 7, 2020 by stewblack
duplicate post

[stewblack]

 

God I love that Trace sound. Tonight's rig... 

[PaulWarning]

10 minutes ago, stewblack said:

 

God I love that Trace sound. Tonight's rig... 

any preshapes involved?

[stewblack]

Just now, PaulWarning said:

any preshapes involved?

Yes! There's only one on this amp. It may look as if I counter it with the eq but trust me it sounds beautiful. 

[geoff90guitar]

I’m about to receive an AH250 for the umpteenth time. I’m hoping it will match my two 1x12 Vans. The Vans are superb with any micro head but I’m hoping the AH250 will give me more throw and girth or whatever it is. ...  bit concerned about next Fridays gig though in Brum with the curse.

[Jack]

I can tell you that the very first thing you need to do is get rid of those speaker-level XLR outputs. Even if you just tape over them. You know what they're for and that'll be fine. But one day you'll walk up on stage to find an irate soundguy who patched in there without looking and let the magic smoke out of something.

 

Oh, and it's an amazing amp. I remember the one on the back of a bass magazine that came with the matching 4x10 and 1x15 cabinet. As a 15 year old boy I preferred it to that month's issue of Nuts.