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Trace Elliot 1215V combo


Twigman
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On my recent trip to Italy:
I used a Mark Bass Head with an Ampeg 4x10 cab in Rome - I didn't get on with this.
and a lovely Ampeg head with a SWR 4 x 10 cab in Vicenza - I liked this a lot.

In Athens I am told I will have a Trace Elliot 1215V 1x15 combo.

Tell me about them.

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I think the 1215V is likely to be either a Series V (i.e. mid/late 1980's) or a 1215 with 12-band valve preamp instead of the usual solid state jobbie, from the early 1990's.

In either case it'll be a lovely combo, but if it really is a valve combo it will be lush (though I really don't know if they ever did a 1x15 version as well as the 2x10).
:)

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[quote name='Merton' post='463866' date='Apr 16 2009, 12:49 PM']1215 with 12-band valve preamp instead of the usual solid state jobbie, from the early 1990's.[/quote]

I used to have this: Its the 15" 12band eq and valve pre, it was called the 1215-12 and had the GP12X head. peavey still have a link to a picture of it
[url="http://www.trace-elliot.co.uk/pop_product.php?&flag=GB&lan=UK&obs=Y&key=2248"]there[/url] and you can see the head (with useful manual) [url="http://www.trace-elliot.co.uk/pop_product.php?&flag=GB&lan=UK&obs=Y&key=2183"]here[/url]

The full list of legacy products is [url="http://www.trace-elliot.co.uk/support_3.php?flag=GB&lan=UK"]here[/url]:
But I cant see any 1215V so Im guessing it is the 1215-12...in which case it's a great amp....I loved it, I only got rid of it because I went towards the minimalist amp route and got a markbass LMII. It is extremely flexible and lush tone....no real negatives except weight and sometimes being lost due to too many controls.

The 1215-12 has more bells than you can shake a whislte at and I just wasn't making use of them, it had:
passive and active input
12 band eq (+toggle bypass)
pre-shape swith (the trace elliot "smile" eq) which can be combined with the graphic eq
valve stage (to get the most of if you need to use a combonation of the gain and a seperate valve stage "valve drive" dial)
harmonic emphesis (never used that)
a very nice dual compression
noise reduction
effects loops swith
mute
DI out (pre/post swith)
foot switch
effects loop with paralell/serial switch and seperate level control
two signal outs (one dedicated tune out)
it also has a useful three point input level gage with a very classy thumbs up thumbs down picture lol

hope that helps

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I reckon this would be the SMX series combo from mid/late 90's. Obviously a 1x15 speaker, 12 band EQ.
To the best of my knowledge Trace didn't make a 12-band EQ amp with valve frontend so I think thats a misnomer. There have been queries on here before about whether the SM and SMX series had a valve stage. The answer is no, but they had a valve replication blend on the preamp (think that was just the SMX though).
The only Trace valve amps of the 90's were the V-Type (which I know Merton is familiar with!)

Whatever it is I think you'll find it a great sounding amp with plenty of hi-fi grunt. The 1x15's in particular were real workhorses.

Relating it to the other two rigs you mention, my opinion is that it will be closer to the SWR sound than the Ampeg - BUT... it really depends how its been looked after over the years.

Enjoy!

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[quote name='coasterbass' post='464869' date='Apr 17 2009, 12:02 PM']To the best of my knowledge Trace didn't make a 12-band EQ amp with valve frontend so I think thats a misnomer.[/quote]
Trace did do a valvey range with the 7- and 12-band Series 6 preamp as the basis - this is wher ethe Twin Valve, Quatravalve and hexavalve come into play. They also did them as 2x10 and 1x15 conbos hence why we think it might be a very rare 12-band one of those (I've only ever seen 7-band 1x15 combos).

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