Trace Cab Generations

[Merton]

[quote name='Skezza' post='842509' date='May 19 2010, 08:47 PM']If my gp7sm head puts 150 watts into a 4ohm load what is it putting out inot an 8ohm load[/quote]
Around 80 to 100W

[Bass V]

Trace Elliot GP7 2x10 - pre or post Gibson? what are the giveaways?

[Merton]

Pre-Gibson.

Gibson took over when Trace already had the SM/SMX range out (the successors to the Series 6 like you have here). They eventually replaced these with the SMC/GP12 ranges. Then destroyed the company, blah blah....

[fleabag]

When i spoke to Clive Button on the phone a year or 2 ago, he told me his TE designs were from the series 6 onwards.  I was asking him about my Series 5  4x10 combo and he didnt design the 5 series or before.  Presumbaly that was Stuart Watson

CB designed this lot though

 Series 6 range, SMX range, SMC range, 7 Band range, 12 Band range, GP7 Pre-Amp, GP12 Pre-Amp, AH150, AH200, AH300, AH350, AH500, AH1000-12, Valve Series, VA350, VA400, VR400, Twin, Quatra, Hexa, Commando range, Boxer range, PPA power amplifiers, Powered Sub 15, Bass effects pedal range, MP11 etc:

Acoustic - TA100R, TA50R, TA200R, TA Concert range, TA60, TA35, TA30, Acoustic Cube, TAB100 (Acoustic Bass), Acoustic PA 16 channel powered mixer system, Acoustic PA 12 channel powered mixer system, TAP1 acoustic pre-amp pedal, in fact everything that came out of Trace Elliot all the way through to 1997.

[TheGreek]

Maybe we need to make them Honorary Members here for their services to Basskind...and so we could pick their brains periodically. 

[Downunderwonder]

My SMX and 1518 are from 94/95. MDF and battleship grey tolex and LAF.

 

The speaker is a Celestion Made for Trace Elliot which I believe to be same as the one they used in the smaller 1523 cab. The 1518 is an extremely sensitive cab, does not make much below 60hz so HPF or judicious use of the graphic EQ is required to go loud.

 

If replacement is required, I have been told the Eminence 3015 is a goer.

[skyvalley38]

On 17/05/2010 at 09:25, Bassman68 said:

MDF was used in construction of Trace cabinets before Kaman took over...I was building them back in '91! & breathing in that sh*t.
Pretty much all Trace cabs with the 'variable' tuned ports were constructed with this material (to my knowledge?).

The best cabs IMO were/are the earlier MK V's & before, that were made of ply-wood with proper internal bracing & porting, anyone that's picked up a MK V 1048 would know why they were so heavy! they were also filled with an accoustic foam/lagging type material that was visible through the narrow porting slots, i don't know how much help this had on the sound but, to me, always exuded an air of 'quality'....

From the series 6 onwards kevlar impregnated Celestion speakers were used on all the range, prioir to that, a mixture of Celestion & Fane speakers were used, Fane being used for the 15''s with the silver speaker surround & Celestions for the 10''s, with the occasional PD (Percussion Dynamic?) used for the 15''s (fantastic speakers similar to the also occasionally used E.V), If you can find a 1518 with one of these in you'd hear what i mean.

I think Trace went with the carpet covering as it come 'in vogue' with most speaker cabs in the mid-90's, a good tip if you have an earlier vinyl Trace cab is to clean it up with some black shoe polish to get rid of light scuffs, it's what they did at the factory before shipping!

Lastly if you want to match up 'period' cabs, earlier cabs like MK III,IV's had chrome corner protectors & MK V's had black ones, & i think i can recall from series 6 onwards they had screen printed logo's...

 

Greetings good man,

 

I hope you are well.

 

You seem to have insight and first hand knowledge so I am hoping to solve this mystery with your expertise: I just got a Trace Elliot 1810 bass cab with the Fane 10" and 18" speakers rated 200 Watts each at 8 Ohm each. The cabinet features the red stripes. Google says the red stripes were produced from the mid 80ies to the early 90ies. However, the guy I got it from claims he is the original owner and purchased it in 1979.

 

I appreciate your time.

Best Wishes,

Axel

 

[SimonK]

29 minutes ago, skyvalley38 said:

 

Greetings good man,

 

I hope you are well.

 

You seem to have insight and first hand knowledge so I am hoping to solve this mystery with your expertise: I just got a Trace Elliot 1810 bass cab with the Fane 10" and 18" speakers rated 200 Watts each at 8 Ohm each. The cabinet features the red stripes. Google says the red stripes were produced from the mid 80ies to the early 90ies. However, the guy I got it from claims he is the original owner and purchased it in 1979.

 

I appreciate your time.

Best Wishes,

Axel

 

 

Bit of a necro-bump, but any TE discussion is a good one - even though some of the history on this thread is a bit dodgy!

 

Can you post a picture of your cab?

 

You may find some helpful information on this thread:

 

 

[skyvalley38]

I truly appreciate your lightning fast response. For the purpose of contrast, I placed the 1810 (no grill) next to the 1818x which I do have the sales receipt for (dating back to August 1989).

The fronts of these two cabs are identical. The differences are the the connector panels, and the wattage: 300 Watts for the 1818x and 200 Watts for the model in question. Likely, another difference might be that the 1818x features Celestion speakers rather than the Fane speakers. I'd have to open it up for verification.

 

 

 

picture below shows the 1818x with the left side connectors for full range and behind the cover on the right side are the connectors for bi-amp option

 

 

 

Below is the backside of the 1810 with a single connector panel (1/4" jacks are for bi-amp and the xlr's are for full range)

 

 

 

 

1810 10" Fane speaker 

 

 

 

1810 18" Fane speaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimonK]

Snap - just checked the speakers in my 1818x (I've always assumed this based on the 1991 catalogue, it isn't labelled) and I have a Celestion for the 10, and presumably Fane for the 18. This was definitely dated no earlier than late 80s.

 

 

 

[SimonK]

...should just add that looking at your pictures closely mine seems most similar to the one you are calling an 1810 with the claim of being from 1979, in that it only has the one backplate. Also the grill is held on by strips of wood. Looking closely at the earliest catalogue I have - Mark IV - it seems the grill has metal right to the edge (like your 1818x) so I suppose there is a chance this could be before Mark IV so maybe early 80s?

[skyvalley38]

this is some lovely explorations:

the 1810 grill indeed is a complete grill including around its the edges whilst the 1818x's grill is solid around the edges

 

Moreover, I put on the discovery goggles myself and found a couple of statements in need of rectification:

a) the fronts of these two cabs are not identical; whilst the 1818x has a single added round opening next to the 10", the 1810 features two holes (each around half the size compared to the one in 1818X) in the bottom corners under the 18" speaker 

b) both speakers in the 1818x are actually Fane as well (the switch from Fane to Celestion is said to have occurred around 1996 with the introduction of the V-Type models and their specific cabs)

 

pictures to follow once uploaded.

 

another idea came to mind to shed some light onto the mystery: 1979 was the year Soundwave became Trace Elliot (I have yet to find a source what the date is or at least narrow it somewhat down), google furthermore reads TE first purpose-built cabinet is the 4x10 no mentioning of the 1810. Maybe, the guy I got it from just slipped by a mere decade - it happens..... 

 

[SimonK]

10 hours ago, skyvalley38 said:

Moreover, I put on the discovery goggles myself and found a couple of statements in need of rectification:

a) the fronts of these two cabs are not identical; whilst the 1818x has a single added round opening next to the 10", the 1810 features two holes (each around half the size compared to the one in 1818X) in the bottom corners under the 18" speaker

 

So mine has the two ports at the bottom, and I think is actually the one labelled 1818x in the picture below from the Mark IV catalogue (I've zoomed in and think this does afterall have wooden strips holding the grill on). Looking at the later catalogues it looks like the 1818x were then changed to have a single port, and a full metal grill certainly by the time you get to series 6 (1991?). I've not seen any reference to "1810" in the catalogues I have. Also as I have presumably one Fane and one Celestion, either someone changed a speaker at somepoint, or maybe mine came from a period when they were changing speaker manufacturer?

 

So my current guess is that your cabs are both 1818x's, but one is a series IV like mine from the 1980s, and the other a series 6 from the early 90s.

 

Series IV:

 

 

Series 6:

 

[skyvalley38]

wow - that is some persuasive material you laid on the table there. the guy I got it from used "1810" to describe the model and, whilst correct to describe the speaker configuration the actual model name truly is what you found: "1818x". Thank you for the clarification.

 

There is even a model that included a High Frequency Compression Driver:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/trace-elliot-way-bass-cabinet-1x18-475618300

 

best of luck to you

 

these are the pics announced yesterday:

series 6 left and series IV grills

 

 

 

series IV grill

   

 

 

 

series 6 (left) and series IV (right) over-illumination (top)

 

 

 

series 6 Fane 10"    150 watts, 16 Ohms 

 

 

series 6  Fane 10" speaker 

 

 

Fane 18" series 6 (only God knows as to who and why a black marker was used to write over the printed amount of watts)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, skyvalley38 said:

There is even a model that included a High Frequency Compression Driver:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/trace-elliot-way-bass-cabinet-1x18-475618300

 

 

Haven't seen that before - I think the tweeter looks retro-fitted as I can't see anything like that in the catalogues.

 

BTW the more I look at the pictures the more I see differences. Based on your latest pictures the grill on the older of your cabs looks slightly different to mine in that in curves over at the edges and doesn't seem to be held on by wooden battons. Thus while I am convinced mine is a series IV, I wonder if yours is a slightly later series V, still with the ports on the bottom. I think that would definitely date it mid to late 80s, but before 1991 which was when series 6 came out (with the port moved next to the 10).

 

[tauzero]

On 23/03/2025 at 04:47, skyvalley38 said:

The fronts of these two cabs are identical. The differences are the the connector panels, and the wattage: 300 Watts for the 1818x and 200 Watts for the model in question. Likely, another difference might be that the 1818x features Celestion speakers rather than the Fane speakers. I'd have to open it up for verification.

 

 

 

picture below shows the 1818x with the left side connectors for full range and behind the cover on the right side are the connectors for bi-amp option

 

That 1818x is in stunningly good condition, especially as it's 35 years old. Can't help but think that replacing the XLR connectors with Speakons would be a good idea, assuming that they fit the same holes.

[skyvalley38]

The series 6 cabinet truly is near mint functionally and cosmetically alike. The previous owner did a great job preserving that marvel of audio engineering. It even came with the original cover and he kept the asking price pleasantly low: $400 (got it in February). As for your suggestion to swap the XLR connectors with Speakons; I actually use the 1/4" jack powered by a V-Type head - the signal is capital letters H.O.T. The slightest adjustment on the knobs is registered. Regardless of that, I did bring the matter to the attention of the local amp repair shop....the nature of the answer was along the lines of: don't fix what ain't broke.

 

I had gotten the 1818x series IV (just last week) thinking it comes with the same specs as the series 6 1818x (yes, rookie mistake). I can see myself either trading the 1818x series IV for a TE 1528 cab or TE 1524 cab alternatively, the TE 1248 cab. Whilst any of these cabs surface for sale more regularly in the UK or mainland Europe, it is rare hunting luck to see them for sale here in the US.

 

one more difference worthy mentioning: the inside walls of the 1818x series IV has the sound wool whilst the series 6 does not. 

[SimonK]

4 hours ago, skyvalley38 said:

The series 6 cabinet truly is near mint functionally and cosmetically alike. The previous owner did a great job preserving that marvel of audio engineering. It even came with the original cover and he kept the asking price pleasantly low: $400 (got it in February). As for your suggestion to swap the XLR connectors with Speakons; I actually use the 1/4" jack powered by a V-Type head - the signal is capital letters H.O.T. The slightest adjustment on the knobs is registered. Regardless of that, I did bring the matter to the attention of the local amp repair shop....the nature of the answer was along the lines of: don't fix what ain't broke.

 

I had gotten the 1818x series IV (just last week) thinking it comes with the same specs as the series 6 1818x (yes, rookie mistake). I can see myself either trading the 1818x series IV for a TE 1528 cab or TE 1524 cab alternatively, the TE 1248 cab. Whilst any of these cabs surface for sale more regularly in the UK or mainland Europe, it is rare hunting luck to see them for sale here in the US.

 

one more difference worthy mentioning: the inside walls of the 1818x series IV has the sound wool whilst the series 6 does not. 

 

It's a shame you are on the other side of the pond as I have most of these cabs sitting around in various places - thus said it makes a pleasant change to hear someone in the States struggling to get hold of music gear as normally it's the other way round - certainly for many of the bigger brand names where there is just a lot more available on the second hand market State side. I've looked at shipping options before (both ways) as I have family in the States but it almost always works out as a couple hundred £/$'s which is often not worth it for second hand gear.

 

Regarding this thread, I think it has been interesting for me to look closely at similar cabs across what I think are three different, original UK made, Trace eras. Certainly it is easier to identify the later Peavey made Trace Elliots vs the carpeted SMX era (subseuqently sold to Kaman and then Gibson), vs the previous "original" Trace era's, but within this latter group I think the grills are helpful for identifying between series IV, V, 6 and early non-carpeted SMX. Despite what I said in a post above, I think you have a 1818x series V and 6, whereas the one I have is a slightly older IV based on the grills alone (and port position for series 6 onwards).

[skyvalley38]

funny you say "looking at shipping options"....the thought of taking gear along on my way back from visiting family in Germany came to mind. Whilst I might be able to squeeze a head or two of interest (Hexa, V6 and needless to say the V8) onto an airplane, cabinets would have to be hauled on a pallet.....(specific case was a pair of Trace Elliots 1248 - the shipping cost came out to be some astronomical figure of around 900 quit.

 

Good man, I am grateful for you taking the time identifying the cabinet. It has been of utmost pleasure. I keep you posted of any further developments. Best of wishes