This Trace Elliot ELF never ceases to amaze me!!!!

[ossyrocks]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

Has anyone used their Elf as a DI box?

Is that a thing?

I have done a gig with it DI’d, does that count? I played a Christmas concert at Lancaster Priory last year and the engineer took a DI from it. I did ask him if he was happy with it, and he said he was. Huge space, sold out, all good.

[Downunderwonder]

2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

Has anyone used their Elf as a DI box?

Is that a thing?

It has a wonderful post EQ DI by all accounts. You don't get volume control on stage without giving soundman a heads up to ride your fader, so need to get that sorted early.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 26/10/2024 at 21:39, MacDaddy said:

Has anyone used their Elf as a DI box?

Is that a thing?

 

Only alongside a cab.

[Sean]

There's an Elf in the rehearsal room that we use. I've never got on with it and take one of my own heads but to be fair, the Elf is driving a Marshall 8x10.

I think now after reading this, I'll take a BF210 and see how it goes with that.

 

 

[asingardenof]

8 hours ago, Sean said:

There's an Elf in the rehearsal room that we use. I've never got on with it and take one of my own heads but to be fair, the Elf is driving a Marshall 8x10.

I think now after reading this, I'll take a BF210 and see how it goes with that.

I can recommend the Elf/Two10 combination

[E sharp]

I've had a Elf for a year or two now, primarily as an emergency back up- plugging in at a gig just to check it's working, then back in my leads bag, and cracking on with my main amp.

 

At a rehearsal last night, I took it along rather than my combo, and used it with a 112 cab. Sound was good for about 2 minutes, then a mass of distortion. Kept having to turn on and off, to give me a sound through a song, then the same- all night.

 

Just had it out now, and tried various cabs, speaker leads, guitar leads, and different basses, and it's the same. 

 

I presume these little class D amps are basically a write off if they go wrong? - ie too expensive to fix, compared to just buying another one?

[bremen]

2 minutes ago, E sharp said:

I've had a Elf for a year or two now, primarily as an emergency back up- plugging in at a gig just to check it's working, then back in my leads bag, and cracking on with my main amp.

 

At a rehearsal last night, I took it along rather than my combo, and used it with a 112 cab. Sound was good for about 2 minutes, then a mass of distortion. Kept having to turn on and off, to give me a sound through a song, then the same- all night.

 

Just had it out now, and tried various cabs, speaker leads, guitar leads, and different basses, and it's the same. 

 

I presume these little class D amps are basically a write off if they go wrong? - ie too expensive to fix, compared to just buying another one?

I'd certainly hope not.

What Would Mend-It-Mark do?

 

 

[Mottlefeeder]

It may depend on whether the amp module is stand-alone, or on the same pcb as everything else.

When I fried my Ashdown MyBass, I did some basic tests for them and they then sent me a new module and asked for the old one back. That suggests some component level of repairability is feasible.

David

[E sharp]

19 minutes ago, bremen said:

I'd certainly hope not.

What Would Mend-It-Mark do?

 

 

If I were to use Mend it Mark, then I'd probably send him my Sonic Farm pre amp that no one's able to fix- that's worth far more money. 

I'll have to do some digging around 

[bremen]

Is that a valve preamp? I'm surprised a professional couldn't fix that, unless it's full of unobtanium valves

[E sharp]

5 minutes ago, bremen said:

Is that a valve preamp? I'm surprised a professional couldn't fix that, unless it's full of unobtanium valves

Essex Amps have it, and have said that the op amps are fried. The trouble is, like a lot of these boutique amp makers, they've scrubbed the information off of them, so you've no idea what to replace them with.

I've contacted them on FB, and Email - no reply. Essex Amps have had no reply from them either. So all the promo they do with high end studios and players using their stuff, is all BS, if they refuse to support the people that actually buy their kit, and use it weekly. 

There you go, lesson learned. It's destined for the electrical section of my local tip, when I get around to picking it up.

[bremen]

Don't skip it.

 

It's a shitty trick, deliberately making a device unserviceable and it raises myhackles.

 

But these things can be reverse-engineered. Send it to me.

 

If I can fix it, I'll make a service manual and youtube video and challenge Sonic Farm to sue me for copyright 😉 

 

If I can't fix it I'll bin it for you.

 

edit: Sonic farm have a user account at Gearspace, going by the name Ztjangle. You might be able to contact him there; a couple of people have posted complaints that they don't reply to email or facecloth and he insists that they read the contact form on their website.

 

https://gearspace.com/board/high-end/1376300-who-uses-sonic-farm-gear.html

Edited January 11 by bremen

[msb]

Finding a qualified repairman for Class D amps isn’t always easy. They certainly can be fixed. 

[SuperSeagull]

I'm now using my Elf with a TE 1x10 for rehearsals with my loud band. Brilliant!

[Downunderwonder]

Not all loud bands are very loud at all.

[Chienmortbb]

On 11/01/2025 at 17:48, bremen said:

But these things can be reverse-engineered. Send it to me.

The trouble is that with multilayers boards, you cannot always see the connections. There should be a law that manufacturers MUST provide circuit diagrams and other service information. Otherwise more and more kit ends up in land fill much earlier. 
 

I remember the old HH VS amps had a valve sound module, a potted module hiding all the components. However, it was a spare part that could be purchased and it did not cost as much as a new amp. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Chienmortbb

[bremen]

3 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

The trouble is that with multilayers boards, you cannot always see the connections. There should be a law that manufacturers MUST provide circuit diagrams and other service information. Otherwise more and more kit ends up in land fill much earlier. 

Did you manage to get a response from Sonic Fart, E Sharp?

 

I repeat, I'm wiling to give it a go. If the problem has been identified as fried opamps it should be possible to infer what they are, and to work out what fried them.

[nige1968]

I got an Elf and was shocked by the fan noise, always on and way loud (I do need to play in acoustic settings). So out of the other pocket bass amps around, which ones have quiet cooling that people are happy with? Gnome, maybe?

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, nige1968 said:

I got an Elf and was shocked by the fan noise, always on and way loud (I do need to play in acoustic settings). So out of the other pocket bass amps around, which ones have quiet cooling that people are happy with? Gnome, maybe?

Try putting your Elf in a box with holes for leads. We have it on high authority here that it can't cook the amp. The box surface loses plenty of heat once the internal temperature is only a few degrees raised.