Vintage Trace Elliot Brochures

[Dolis]

14 hours ago, Merton said:

It’s a Series 6 715 combo yes. Circa 1989-1990 I believe

@Mertonthanks a lot

[geoham]

Some of those 'Recommended Configurations' seem rather excessive.... where do you need to be playing to need two 2x15 cabs and two 4x10 cabs? I suppose it's okay if you have a team of roadies and a stadium sized stage. It's quite interesting how it's all powered by a 400w head! I wonder how a modern class D with twice as many watts would compare?

 

[la bam]

If I remember rightly, as a youngster in the 90s, trace gear, fender basses etc were SO far out of the reach of start up players it's hard to comprehend nowadays.

They cost a fortune. Probably the equivalent to a few months wages for someone in their first job. There was no real second hand market (near me anyway) unless your local music shop managed to get something in on part ex. This also kept prices very high.

In context my first bass amp (straight out of school) was a second hand gorilla 30w guitar amp, as it was all I could afford, and that was about 2 weeks wages! My next upgrade was a used, knackered carlsbro stingray 90 head and terrible no name cab - that set up cost me trading in my old amp and £200. So again a big payout for what was a load of rubbish.

No decent second hand market meant the high end gear like Trace was also marketed at everyone from seasoned players to full rock stars all in the same promo material - and in a strange way it made it more desirable. Something to aspire to.

Those catalogues bring back some great memories. Not necessarily of the actual gear, but the aspiration to own one.

[bassaussie]

On 24/01/2021 at 12:06, DiMarco said:

I scavenged the internet and found  some gems.
Thought I'd share

Brilliant thread DiMarco. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I remember that Mark V catalog, I had it and probably read it 1000 times before I eventually got a Mark V AH250. TE were really difficult to get in Australia, and insanely expensive, but the sound - wow! I kept the amp for years, gigged it for years, and never had an issue with it. Just the best kit for bass.

[bassaussie]

One of the things I always liked in those early brochures were the suggested rig combinations, which a few people above have commented on.

It might be fun to comment on any sightings of some of these combinations.

The one I always remember was Doug Wimbish when he came to Australia with Living Colour. His rig was 4 AH500s (or AH600, I can't remember which), 4 * 1048 (4*10"), and 4 * 1518 (1*15") - so basically, 4 stacks.  I saw them in concert, but he also did a presentation at a local music show, and it's difficult to explain how loud he was - I'm pretty sure Sydney Airport probably rang him up to ask him to turn down a bit as the Jumbo pilots were having a hard time telling if the engines had started up or not!

[Woody1957]

6 hours ago, geoham said:

Some of those 'Recommended Configurations' seem rather excessive.... where do you need to be playing to need two 2x15 cabs and two 4x10 cabs? I suppose it's okay if you have a team of roadies and a stadium sized stage. It's quite interesting how it's all powered by a 400w head! I wonder how a modern class D with twice as many watts would compare?

 

As I mentioned in an earlier thread I owned and used regularly a AH350 and 2x 4x10 cabs just to play the Working Men's Clubs in Yorkshire and the North East. Totally excessive, not needed, cumbersome and very heavy and more often than not our mixer guy would only let me plug one cab in as it was really only for back line monitoring, plus we were using an 8K PA rig for everything!! Crazy I know, but boy did it sound and above all, look good lol.

[Downunderwonder]

10 hours ago, la bam said:

If I remember rightly, as a youngster in the 90s, trace gear, fender basses etc were SO far out of the reach of start up players it's hard to comprehend nowadays.

They cost a fortune. Probably the equivalent to a few months wages for someone in their first job. There was no real second hand market (near me anyway) unless your local music shop managed to get something in on part ex. This also kept prices very high.

In context my first bass amp (straight out of school) was a second hand gorilla 30w guitar amp, as it was all I could afford, and that was about 2 weeks wages! My next upgrade was a used, knackered carlsbro stingray 90 head and terrible no name cab - that set up cost me trading in my old amp and £200. So again a big payout for what was a load of rubbish.

No decent second hand market meant the high end gear like Trace was also marketed at everyone from seasoned players to full rock stars all in the same promo material - and in a strange way it made it more desirable. Something to aspire to.

Those catalogues bring back some great memories. Not necessarily of the actual gear, but the aspiration to own one.

I think you might be exaggerating a little. I got my Trace rig in 96 when I was on $20 an hour. That would have been roughly double the minimum wage back then. Iirc I paid around 3k for 250w SMX and 1518 cab = 300 hours at min wage.

(Forgot about ''youth rates'' back in the day. Would've been about $5 an hour so 600 hours. Ouch. No kids buying Trace amps.)

It worked for rock in bars but we had to have the guitarist with the 50w Marshall stack to pull his head in.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Downunderwonder
Memory faulty.

[Gray C]

Had a 715 back in 90’s, sounded louder than the 150 watts stated! Weighed about the same as a fridge, but I was younger then so didn’t notice! Hugely reliable with a deep bottom end, sold it when I stopped gigging and regret it even today! In the 80’s I reckon Trace was the amp of choice in the UK. Shame they don’t make these big booming, green lit monsters today.

[Dolis]

18 hours ago, Gray C said:

Had a 715 back in 90’s, sounded louder than the 150 watts stated! Weighed about the same as a fridge, but I was younger then so didn’t notice! Hugely reliable with a deep bottom end, sold it when I stopped gigging and regret it even today! In the 80’s I reckon Trace was the amp of choice in the UK. Shame they don’t make these big booming, green lit monsters today.

Have been using one for the last 3 years and you're absolutely right, they are bloody heavy! i've never had a problem with it but am currently considering selling it, though, as previous posters have commented, i'll probably regret it....i'll ponder some more, managed to find a nice cubby hole to keep it in during lockdown so it can stay there safe for the time being 🙂

Edited February 1, 2021 by Dolis

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm trying to convince myself to split my 1110 combo into a 19" head and a 4x10 cab.

63kg is manageable for me though, especially as I've fitted castors, reading this thread makes me feel it's a bit special and more reluctant to start butchering....

[geoham]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm trying to convince myself to split my 1110 combo into a 19" head and a 4x10 cab.

63kg is manageable for me though, especially as I've fitted castors, reading this thread makes me feel it's a bit special and more reluctant to start butchering....

I don't think I'd get a 63kg cab in the pubs play, never mind the half-mile or so trek from wherever I can get parked!

[bassaussie]

4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm trying to convince myself to split my 1110 combo into a 19" head and a 4x10 cab.

63kg is manageable for me though, especially as I've fitted castors, reading this thread makes me feel it's a bit special and more reluctant to start butchering....

Given that the TE stuff from back then is quite modular, could you not extract the amp part, and put it in a road case, then just use the remaining cabinet as a speaker box? At least that way you can put it back together if you choose.

I just noticed you had another thread on this amp. I was always under the impression that the internal speakers in those combos were rated at 8ohm, as the brochures always suggested you could add another 8hm cabinet to give full power. This would also make sense given that the AH150 at that time delivered (I think) 90 watts into 8 ohms, and 150 watts in 4 ohms.

Sorry, should've added that the AH150 is the actual amp in the 1110 and 1115 combos.

Edited February 1, 2021 by bassaussie
Added info

[Stub Mandrel]

42 minutes ago, bassaussie said:

Given that the TE stuff from back then is quite modular, could you not extract the amp part, and put it in a road case, then just use the remaining cabinet as a speaker box? At least that way you can put it back together if you choose.

I just noticed you had another thread on this amp. I was always under the impression that the internal speakers in those combos were rated at 8ohm, as the brochures always suggested you could add another 8hm cabinet to give full power. This would also make sense given that the AH150 at that time delivered (I think) 90 watts into 8 ohms, and 150 watts in 4 ohms.

Yeah, that would reduce weight, but who wants a cab with a big hole on top?

It arrived as four 8 ohm speakers in series/parallel for 8 ohms. It had an over-spec power supply (46V-0-46, instead of 40-0-40) but only a single pair of output transistors. The connectors were wired so you only had the choice of the internal speakers OR and external 8 ohm cab. The suggestion is it was a bodge made when there was a shortage of 150W transformers. Effectively they made it 150W at 8R rather than at 4R.

I added the extra Mosfets and gate resistors (the boards had the connections) which made the board into the 250W version (I got the schematics) which let me add the extra socket and rewire so, you can use internal speaker + external 8R, two external 8R or just a single external 4R. I should add that the output transistors' heatsink had the cooling fan used on the AH250 but not the AH150. All that is missing is the UV light!

Incidentally the original output transistors had been replaced as had the speakers (one of them was wired out of phase!) so perhaps even with the 8 ohm limit the overspec PSU was all too much. It's been running well now for over a year, although rarely with a 4 ohm load - it's loud enough!

 

[bassaussie]

50 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

All that is missing is the UV light!

 

All?!!! That's the main reason I bought a TE!!!

To be honest, I don't have the technical knowledge to completely follow all you've put there, other than that it seems someone decided to hotrod the thing. I guess if it's working well after a year of use, that has to be a positive sign.

[Orbs]

I loved the TE 4X10 combo I had, easily the best sound I've ever had, shame about the weight. Seeing these pics reminded me of when I'd spend hours glossing over these mags fantasising about upgrading to stuff way out of my price range. Thanks for sharing...

Edited February 2, 2021 by Orbs
spelling mistake

[Gray C]

4 hours ago, Orbs said:

I loved the TE 4X10 combo I had, easily the best sound I've ever had, shame about the weight. Seeing these pics reminded me of when I'd spend hours glossing over these mags fantasising about upgrading to stuff way out of my price range. Thanks for sharing...

That 4x10 combo must have weighed like a fridge freezer, my 715 felt like it was made out of stone and that was just a 1x15 combo 😂

[Phil_T]

there's 4x10 combo (1210H GP12) for sale in one of the cash converter type places in Leeds, they have it up on Ebay as well. Not a bad price at £350 but I suspect they might struggle to shift it (literally) at the moment.

[DiMarco]

40 minutes ago, Phil_T said:

there's 4x10 combo (1210H GP12) for sale in one of the cash converter type places in Leeds, they have it up on Ebay as well. Not a bad price at £350 but I suspect they might struggle to shift it (literally) at the moment.

Send the roadies out!

 

[Woody1957]

7 minutes ago, DiMarco said:

Send the roadies out!

 

Forget the roadies lol, send for an Hi-ab lorry!

[Phil_T]

I've thought about buying it but I'm only a thin strip of a lad and I reckon I might get into my car with a bit help and then never be able to get it out.

[DiMarco]

I did some direct tests between the Hexa Valve, my Ampeg SVT-4 Pro and TC Electronic RH750, together with my guitarist.
We ran all amps through a Barefaced Big Twin II and two Trace Elliot 2x8" cabs (The Hexa Valve doesn't do 8ohms)

Result: staggering. Forget about lightweight amps they just don't cut it.

[JottoSW1]

Thanks very much for the brochures which in some ways are rather more informative than the pdf manual for  my AH500x (British Audio download).

Hope it was ok to grab your scan for my own use.

Carrying the head isn't really a problem, it's got a good handle. The 1818t cabinet however !! Feels like it was made of Tungsten. However I use it at home with an Ashdown CTM 30 as a practice amp and sounds lovely @  sociable volumes.

The Trace sounds mega thru latter-day lightweight cabs. A friend has a BF big twin which it drove with thunderous aplomb. He now wants a Trace head 

I'm super happy with it via Laney Nexus lbghtweight Cabs (as recommended by @la bam)

Also via Epifani 1st Gen UL212 which is 4 ohm if I only want to carry 1 cab. Pretty light and really too damn loud 

Would be intrigued to try the new Ashdown 12 band which would appear to have inherited some TE genes. Gassing for the CTM 200r though. 

Better revert to lefty Bass G.A.S. really have more than a sufficiency of amps and cabs. What my late parents would have made of the former dining room🤣

 

[BadHands]

Wish I'd have known about the sale! What I wouldn't do to get one of those TE combos with celestions in.. 

[Chopthebass]

One of my best amps was a 600SMX. Wish I'd hung on to it, but like most of you I was always looking for new gear!

I don't know why all they have to offer now is the Elf. Maybe they have plans for bigger heads??

[funkydoug]

On 03/02/2021 at 00:25, DiMarco said:

I did some direct tests between the Hexa Valve, my Ampeg SVT-4 Pro and TC Electronic RH750, together with my guitarist.
We ran all amps through a Barefaced Big Twin II and two Trace Elliot 2x8" cabs (The Hexa Valve doesn't do 8ohms)

Result: staggering. Forget about lightweight amps they just don't cut it.

Interesting experiment, bet it was great fun.  It's not a fair fight though if you're wanting to compare amp types (as you conclude). The Hexavalve Vs TC RH750 is full fat Ferrari Vs a Ford with all kinds of engine efficiency management going on.  

I'm as big a TE fan as the next guy but compare the Hexavalve with an absolutely premium Class D head (Mesa TT) and you'd be in for a clash of the titans.