VTypeV4

The Allen & Grief is a great product, I've used one a few times and was very impressed although that low mid control is kind of a blessing and a curse.. A & H generally make a great product. I haven't used the Mackie or Alto versions but I have used the Spirit Powerstation models. If memory serves, they did a 350, 600 and 1200w version with each model having more inputs and facilities respectively. I've used both 600 and 1200 models and have to say they're a great product and what they do. Some of the early models are getting a little old now but even so as long as it's in good shape and has been serviced then you should be good to go. Hope that helps..

Some pix would be good.. With regards to the covering, I'd speak to the good people at Ashdown as theirs is virtually identical to the last generation Trace stuff. To be fair, they probably used the same supplier. I spoke to Dr Decibel at Celestion about a replacement speaker / spare for my Twin Valve combo. If I'm not mistaken,the driver in yours has very similar specs to mine, yours being a C15H 200? Mine has a different number but the driver is pretty much the same according to him. Sadly neither is in production anymore but out of the current line, he suggested that the TF1525 was close in terms of T/S and was also tonally similar and as such would perform well..

Top choice.. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/BeavisChassis.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/BeavisChassis.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Mine worked great in the V4 back in '04 and two of the four have worked well in this amp since ~07..

I would like to think it'll be somewhat of an improvement over the Superfly.. Not an awful amplifer to be fair but maybe just a liittle ahead of it's time with regards to its power-stage..? Not sure how they'd get the 12-band pre-amp on something the width of a car radio but I'm sure Paul has something up his sleeve.. Best of luck to them.

I have no experience of the SVT however I have used plenty of 6550 / KT88 types in various other amplifiers.. The big Ashton has 6 x KT88s of the EHX flavour. This amp doesn't really distort in that grindy / gritty kind of way but I can best aliken it to a Fender 'clean' on steriods with plenty of soft compression when pushed. Big clean valve in this application. No failures in 3 years service. I have used the Tung-Sol 6550 (reissue) in both my custom 60 watt and previously in a Trace Elliot V4. This is a great valve -my fave 6550 type- having a pronounced low-mid hump when clean and a smooth transition into really angry territory. Lovely valve. The pair in my 60 watter is two of the original four I bought for my old V4 about ten years ago. No failures. Long Time Fred has a set of these in his V4 currently. Shuguang KT88 - 98: I used these in the V4 and a Hiwatt 200. A very glassy clean type valve with a big bottom and huge warmth. It's overload characteristics are softer than that of the Tung-Sol but it also offers a little more clean headroom and more of that 'clean compressed' thing going on. I'd happily use these again, usually cheap too. I had one vacuum failure in a Ruby Tubes branded example but I think this is an isolated incident. The little Trace TwinValve has a pair of PM 6550s which have worked great since I had the amp. I understand these amps were biased quite cool (fixed bias) out of the factory. These valves seem very clean and allow the amp to play far louder (cleanly too) than it's modest 120w rating suggest. Just a touch of compression when pushed although the power-stage finds the limit of the speaker before so it's harder to identify it's character. These opinions are based on my experiences so be aware your mileage might vary.. Hope that helps.

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/Celcoil4_zps3c55f509.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/Celcoil4_zps3c55f509.jpg[/IMG][/URL] G15C.. Oldskool and warm. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/Powercell2_zps13d94cf9.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/Powercell2_zps13d94cf9.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Powercel.. It weighs eight tonnes but works well..

Some pix might help.. I have a G15C which is the 'Spider' frame but is only 50w and a later Powercel which is the 250w model both I believe used by Marshall in the '70s..

I had a G15 100 a while back but moved it on sadly. I assume we're talking the blue cast frame one from the early '80s? They also did a 'spider' frame version too although I don't know the differences (if any?) between them. Both crop up on ebay from time-to-time.

Excellent, many thanks Paul. Best of luck with the new line when they appear.

I think they won some award in '88 for the MP11. Some Queens innovation prize or something.. As mentioned, the Ashdown Superfly used an almost identical system albeit based on the 7-band EQ. I used one at a gig once but felt it was a bit under-powered and you could fry an egg on it at the end. My valve amps run cooler.

Makes mine look somewhat 'pedestrian'..

It'll be interesting to see what Paul Stevens says.. I met him at the guitar show in Birmingham many years back ('05 I think, just as the new Peavey owned range was emerging) and he seemed a throughly nice chap. We spoke at length about the V-Type range from yesteryear as well as some of the design concepts and features of the new amplifiers. I seem to recall something along the lines of how he wanted the new amps to be Trace Elliot 'brought up to date' not simply an evolution of the '90s product. He also spoke about the quality of them too, wanting to have the over-built and heavy duty products that they were associated with during the heyday of the '80s re-establishing them as a premium must-have brand. His enthusiasm was the thing that stuck with me so hopefully he will contribute to this thread or at least reply to TheGreek.

Two VBAs!?

The problem with EQ and any musical instrument is that there are always two systems in play: 1: Using EQ as a corrective tool. 2: Using EQ as a creative tool. Personally I use it as pretty much a creative tool to achieve the result I want from my bass sound. On the Trace, I'll use the 50Hz slider to correct any percived 'boom' but the rest of the graphic and pre-shape as creative. With the Ashton, I use the EQ on the bass to roll any boom out if (rarely) needs but the NE-1 and the passive EQ on the amp help do 'my' sound. I think alot of issues arise from folks not understanding how different frequency components sonically fit into their sound. General terms like 'there's too much mid' or 'I like plenty of treble' are guilty (as much as ignorance at least) of keeping players away from the numbers which I believe are very important in achieving the required sound from their instrument.

[quote name='budget bassist' timestamp='1409153161' post='2536886'] Bit of a strange question, but you didn't buy these from someone in hucknall (nottingham) did you? [/quote] No, they were given to me to make work then move on by a friend from local 'knees up' group called Bearfoot. I put a nasty Sica driver in one that I'd got knocking around and swapped the Celestion out for an EVM SRO / 15L. I flogged them on eBay to some young lads from up near Geordie land. The Sica sounded a bit off as it wasn't really up to the job but the EV sounded nearly (but not quite) as good as the Powercel. I've still got the Celestion Powercel in a box for a 'rainy day' as it's a lovely old thing. The K15 was probably scrapped but gave it to the lads with the cabs anyway just in case they wanted to recone it.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1404494674' post='2493250'] Hi Ash, There was a mint condition Celestion 18" speaker up on eBay a couple of weeks ago. It didn't sell for the original BIN of £80, so the seller then put it back on at £100 and surprisingly it sold. I'd held off buying it as the seller had some negative feedback that looked a bit worrying. However, there is a guy on eBay that's selling Peavey cabs pimped to look like old Vox ones and he had a 2x15" last time I looked. [/quote] Apparently loaded with Black Widows which are generally quite tough, the 1502DT found in most peavey bass cabs is pretty 'standard issue' but I'd be happy to use one.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1404497317' post='2493283'] It makes me wonder if the person stating the required cabs to get the best from it was from sales or marketing. [/quote] And to my knowledge they never made a production 4 ohm 410 or 115 to get 300w per side.. Cheeky! Most of the time I ran mine with 1153 (compact 15) and 1048H (410 + HF) which was pretty pokey.. I found the 400w model to be pick of the bunch tho..

It's a funny thing the old 'power' struggle.. My amps are all in the 'oldskool' bracket as are the speakers I use. In the real world gigging situations I find myself in, I don't require 140dB SPL nor an extended range down to 22Hz as I don't play in a crazy doom setup. Without getting bogged down in the numbers, I've gigged with less than 60 and in excess of 600w on-stage and it's usually been enough. Can't say as I've sat and thought 'another 100w and this would be cutting the mustard' or indeed how much power the amp is making, just whether it's compressing / clipping.. As an engineer I see lots of modern / lightweigh (Markbass / TC etc) amps coming through as well as any number of big valve (Ampeg being the most common) rigs and the odd SS thing (Carlsboro / Ashdown MAG) thrashed to within an inch of their life all through varying speakers with varying results. Most players seem happy with their system irrespecive of it's power and SPL capability. In the time I've been playing which has been since the mid-late '90s, I have seen a steady trend of increased power and reductioon of bulk and weight. To me, king of rigs when I started was either a Trace AH600SMX boasting 2 x 300w, the 400w V-Type V6 or of course the big Mesa 400+ or AMpeg SVT. All big and heavy usually associated with lots of speakers which were also big and heavy. Trace specified two 410 and two 115 plus a bright box to get the most out of their 600w offering. Monster! Great sounding but you'd need a transit van plus a roadie to move it! Compare that to todays market.. In a nutshell, power is cheaper today than it's ever been and watts have always been a great marketing point to boot. I'm happy with my glass bottles irrespectiveof how much power they make..

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1402156428' post='2470552'] I guess the presence of the ashdown cab underneath it tells us all we need to know .. [/quote] I wonder what the implication there might be.. Hmmmm, now let me think

I think this is great, adding sonic precision to your system to achieve the required result using a bit of home brew and ingenuity. I raise a glass to you.

It's all good, man. Production ceased after Gibson was done with the brand which was around 2001 / 2002 and nothing was built between '02 and '05. i'm not entirely sure when Peavey purchased Trace but the 'new' amps appeared in 2005 and have been with us ever since. The original ones were built in the UK (I think at the Peavey UK / Corby facility) and I thought they still were but there's every chance they now buiilt over seas (like most things!) for a fraction of the cost. As previously stated I have no problem with the new ones, I just think they're just too expensive to buy new. Second hand ones represent a lot of bang for buck with the 12 band 350 / 400 watt models being cream of the crop IMO.

I suspect wooly thing comes from excessive bottom end boosting on the graphic allied to using the pre-shape. The pre-shape gives boost at 50Hz and 2k6 but also cuts around 400Hz (All low Q seemingly) so any boost on the graphic is adding to the already boosted low . The effect is further enhanced by that reduction in the low-mids adding to the amount of apparent bottom end. The classic deep 'smiley face' generally yeilds a poor result with a Trace as it's all boom and clank with nothing left in the middle. It might work for a certain effect but doesn't tend to work in a group mix. On 12 band models the first two / three bands are generally better as a cut - do we really need 30 and 40Hz as frequency components in our sound? On 7 band models it's a 50Hz slider with a lower Q which covers a similar range. For me it's a no so I save the speakers and headroom by reducing them in my sound. I treat them in the same way I approach PA, (afterall it's where they were developed from anyways) I'd never boost the lowest frequencies as it would murder my drivers and sap amplifier power without achieving much in terms of sound. 20, 25, and 31Hz are moot on my FOH graphic anyway as my HPF is in at just below 40Hz but a trace doesn't have an HPF. I believe this is where things go wrong as folk assume the left side of the graphic 'must mean bass' rather than looking at the numbers, understanding where and how those frequency components fit into their sound. I'm not trying to defend Trace here, put simply their products don't work for everyone in every situation but I do believe a little investgaton and an open mind goes a long way..

That driver looks a bit suspect to me altough it's tricky to say without a full spec. I'm quite sure you'll not get the same sound from it either as i looks like a rather cheap speaker if I'm honest. if it was mine and I was looking to upgrade then i'd be on the hunt for the old 100w 18" Celestion or Goodmans with the really heavy cast frame, 3" coil and big magnet as it's period and may sound similar to your existing driver. If you wanted to go a bit further the only other driver I can think of thats a 'full range' 18 and is up to the job is the old JBL E155 which is a great speaker but rather weighty. Not sure about the old 18" Peavey BW, I don't have the specs for it, sorry.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1401290997' post='2462114'] I have the AH250SMX, got it new in about '93. Belting - I keep looking around, as you do, but I can get my sound with the TE so no need to change. I use it through a EA 1x12 with tweeter, sounds superb. Used to have various other cabs, always sounded great. By reputation, [i][b]all the English made ones are well worth getting[/b][/i].. well built and repairable. I think the rep slipped after the Gibson takeover, but I have no direct experience of those or later. [/quote] Without being pedantic, they were all built in the UK [i]possibly[/i] with the exception of some of the later Boxer range (TE engineering badges) and [i]maybe[/i] some of the Goldtone guitar amps with Gibson badges.. All GP7, GP12, V-Type and Commando ranges were built in the UK.

I had a 300SM for a while and it was a great amp. Never had any upset with it but the power stage was what Trace called the 'Bi-Polar Bear' was occasionally known to be naughty. To be fair, they haven't been built for 15 years so any that have gone bang will have been fixed by now or replaced with the later 'Clive Button' module. The pre-amp is flexible but personally I preferred the later SMC variant which came with the compressor and ditched the EQ level and balance controls. Both came with a decent DI (as long as the input level is correctly set) which had a low noise floor and a quality sound. And don't be too put off by the Gibson thing, if it's a black (not grey) control panel and green furry carpet finish then it's Gibbo one. Anything built after '97 is a Gibson one so if you clock one on eBay and it says pre-gibson, it's probably a fib. The earlier pimple-finish and grey panel ones were rated at 250w although there's probably not a discernable difference between the two despite being pre-gibson. Most of the Trace amps I've owned have been Gibson era models and I've had very little trouble with any of them. The V4 could be a funny bugger sometimes but all the SS / Hybrid ones never caused any upset other than the odd dry joint. I've never ran one with a 'modern' cab but it always sounded well through the Trace cabs I had at the time. To be fair, it'll probably sound great through something new. Currently thinking about 300 / 400w SMX personally.