cameltoe

Sweet cheers

Would that power amp be useful for any amp? Even Valve amps? Reason I ask is because I just bought a Little Bastard, and although it's done well for volume, things do get dirty fairly quickly. I could do with a touch more headroom before it starts to snarl. Wondered if a decent power amp would work here.

I've no idea why the EQ settings are like that, before someone asks! Not how I left them. I'm not crazy about the mids!

I desperately need to find some protective covers for both these, before they get scratched to buggery in my van.

Hi,

I picked this up a few months ago and have been using it with immense pride ever since (love Trace...!) but a recent purchase of an Ashdown Little Bastard means I need the space in my gear cupboard.

It's the 150w RMS combo with the GP7 pre amp. Great condition, sounds great, never had a problem with it. It is in virtually new condition- I bought it second hand from a guy who had literally used it a handful of times in the house.

I've had it out and about at gigs and rehearsals since then, but only a couple months use.

No broken sliders, switches, or any of that nonsense. Fan works ok, doesn't buzz or hiss, carpet is in great condition. Like I said virtually brand new!

Copes well at decent sized pub gigs in my five piece band. Don't need to drive it much past halfway to keep up and the drummer is loud.

On the back panel it has two speaker outputs, and states 'Speaker output 4 ohms'. The internal speaker is plugged into one- I can only assume this means the combo does run at 4 ohms, and hence you're getting the full 150w from the combo. Underneath that it says '150w RMS 300w PEAK'. There is also a tuner output.


It actually sounds like a bigger rig than it is. I think this is the Trace sound people go on about- but I've used different 1x15 combo's before, from the likes of Ashdown and stuff, and this just sounds 'bigger'- like you're moving much more air than just a 15" driver.

I've had it apart and given it a good clean, and it's got a Celestion driver in there which I assume is factory standard.

I also managed to pick up a cover for it. Supposed to be for one of the new Trace combo amps but fits like a glove!

I'm based in Cornwall. I appreciate that could be a problem, but if you want it PM me and we'll see what we can arrange. I could possibly meet people coming from a distance at Exeter Services.

It really is in cracking condition.

£195ono, or trade (plus cash my way) for a small, portable, loud amp head that I can use with the Little Bastard cab for the larger gigs, where the LB head just starts to struggle. I'm hoping for a Orange Terror bass.

I also have a Hartke vx3500 combo that I'll be advertising shortly, that I would also trade off against an Orange TB.


Piccies:











Cheers

OK as promised got some pics together today










On top of the lovely LB212 cab, both handmade over here.


Tried it at a gig last night, was loud, but I was playing fairly clean stuff so I had to drive it a bit to get the volume I needed which I'd prefered not to have done. Probably went up to about 6 or 7 (if it had numbers on the output) and it created a warm blanket of bass rather than the directional snappy thud I'm used to.

I'm going to take it to a rehersal tomorrow night in our three-piece trashy stoner-rock type outfit and see how I get on, we rehearse at full on gig volume so I'll get an idea of what it can do then.

Either that or may consider a bit of a trade for an Orange Terror Bass 500w head

If I can't get the volume I need it may be going straight up for sale if anyone is interested.

[quote name='Merton' post='891032' date='Jul 10 2010, 07:27 AM']Remember the Trace volume control is very deceiving, it'll be running pretty much at full whack at around 3 or 4 on the dial! PLus the voicing of the Trace will help.

Really really got to get my mitts on one of these little, er, bastards [/quote]

Well that's the weird thing, usually the Trace behaves just as you described, but yesterday it was getting alot louder between 8 and 10 on the output? Never usually notice much increase between 7 and 10



[quote name='WalMan' post='891120' date='Jul 10 2010, 10:02 AM']Mentioned in the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=90616"]other thread[/url] on these, I tried one out last w/e & it sounded good. I have a bit of a hankering for one myself.

It did seem to me though that only the treble control had any great effect on the tone. The bass & mid seemed to do very little, and to my ears the bass switch up was a harsher, middly tone, where the manual says it gives a deeper tone.

Think I need to step back & give this some thought.

It would also be interesting to know how the first 100 hand wired in the UK compare to the normal ones built elsewhere? Not sure which the one I tried was[/quote]

Yes, I've noticed that already. I guess you could call me a 'tweaker'- so I realised quickly that the mid and bass dials didn't do much, although I hope you'd be able to tell the difference from a bit of a distance. As above with the switching, too. Definitely a more growly tone when the bass switch is flicked up.


[quote name='KiOgon' post='891159' date='Jul 10 2010, 10:40 AM']I haven't heard of any Chinese built in the UK yet so most likely was a handmade you tried.

There are some mistakes in the online manual regarding the switches, I pointed these out to Ashdown a while ago but nothing seems to have been updated/corrected yet. As you said the Bass Shift works opposite to the instructions, like the Mute too! The Bright has no effect according to my hearing, which unfortunately is like the rest of me - nearly 60

Still a great sounding amp though, just don't expect tone shaping anything like a 12 band EQ Simples old's kool

Cheers,
John[/quote]

I don't mind the simplicity of it at all- all the tone sounded usable to me so I was happy with that. Glad it's a handmade british one too, makes me feel special . I sincerly hope they haven't cocked up the speaker outputs on the back panel? They could have got 4ohms and 8ohms the wrong way round.........Just hoping it's going to be loud enough for me- the Trace would usually run at 6/7 ish on the output and with that I'd be fairly big in the mix driving the band- here's hoping I can get the volume I need from it, or I really can't see what I'd do with it. Could be a very stupid purchase!

A spur-of-the-moment type purchase in PMT music Bristol yesterday. Shiny 30 watt all-valve amp head, plus the LB212 cab. Lovely. With a certificate claiming it to be number 38 of 100, signed and everything.

Sounded huge in the shop and easily loud enough for most of the gigs I do. I use a Trace Elliot GP7 SM150 combo for most of my gigs, bar the really big ones or outdoor jobbies, so to make sure it could cut it I tried it back to back with an Ashdown Electric Blue 180 combo, and it was noticably louder, even with the input and output cranked on the EB180.

Got it home and plugged it in today- not quite so sure now. The Trace does seem louder by a bit. Hoping it's just the small room reacting better to the trace,

Hopefully it can cut it, otherwise it could be a colossal waste of money! Most of our gigs are just pubs with a small PA, so here's hoping. Going to try it tomorrow, and take the trace as back-up.

Does anyone else have any gigging experience of these? Do they have the balls for a smallish gig? I'd like to know how you got on with it.

Photo's up tomorrow, I'm too tired now.

Anyone interested in this should go for it!

I've got one coming for my birthday

Damn fine bass. I had to pay £699 (Well, my Mrs did) and that was AFTER haggling and getting £200 knocked off!

£550 is an absolute steal!

I tried this directly alongside three 'Classic 50's series' P Basses (MIM) and the difference was huge.

Easily the best P I've ever tried. The guy from the shop is a proper old-school bassist, and was so impressed with it he took it home for several weeks to give it a really good set up. He really rated it, and considered it as good as custom shop stuff.

I've never tried custom shop stuff so I wouldn't know, but it felt soooo good I pleaded to my girlfriend to get it for me. I didn't even want it at first, I thought it looked stupid!

It's all about the feel.

Yeah I'd heard EV's could be the way to go. They seem expensive though. Guess you get what you pay for.

We already have peavey eurosys things, they're OK but a bit tinny and are starting to crackle a bit. Well worn and gigged.

We're just after passive speakers, we have the power amp and desk sorted.

Can anyone recommend any decent PA Speakers for our band? We're having to upgrade our current gear and wanted to know what people's opinions were. We're a fairly loud five piece band playing folk rock, quite stompy music and like to have a punchy clear sound.

The speakers usually have vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle and mandolin going through them. Occasionally we put a trickle of the lead guitarist through as well when it's a big venue or stage.

I rarely put any of my bass through- we don't use subs although sometimes I wish we did at the bigger venues, especially some of the outdoor gigs we do.

Price, as always, is an issue, but I guess we could splash out around £600ish.

[quote name='BassKS' post='870989' date='Jun 18 2010, 06:06 PM']Where are these bad boys made?[/quote]


[quote name='FLoydElgar' post='871745' date='Jun 19 2010, 02:29 PM']Mexico,

Thanks, it's very well made![/quote]


Yes but don't go confusing these with boggo mexican standards, the quality is very good and a good step up from usual MIM gear.

how do you upgrade to get more power?

Don't say a K&N air filter.....

Cheers guys. I'll use these guides and advice and give it a tweak today.

If I can't get on with it then I'll nip it down to a pro.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='861487' date='Jun 8 2010, 09:11 PM']Does this have lighter strings? They move more. Also, is your plucking position moved due to shape of the bass?[/quote]


Not sure about the strings, they didn't feel too different.

On the Fret King the plucking position was the same, but as I use the pickup as a thumb rest then it probably did shift about on the others.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='861521' date='Jun 8 2010, 09:29 PM']Are you absolutely sure the truss rod adjustment is correct? I understand your reluctance to move it too much but if it is wrong it is wrong and you'll never achieve a low action.[/quote]

I'm not sure I've ever got it spot on- I've followed Fenders guide in the past and got it as close as I can to the .35 they recommend on the feeler gauges

even then I'm not convinced that it can be set in stone for a particular bass.

Pretty much every budget and midrange bass I try always seems to have too much relief in the neck, if you follow fenders guide anyway. The G&L, Musicman, and Fret King all had a lot straighter necks than some of the cheaper basses I've tried in recent weeks, notably Squier Classic Vibe Precision and Jazzes (including my 50's P) and The Classic 50's MIM Precision.

These are usually set up fairly well out of the box aren't they? I would put it down to personal preference if I hadn't;

a) set up a few basses to fenders specs and seen how straight they recommend the necks should be and;
tried more expensive basses with much straighter necks that are consequently much nicer to play.

In all the more expensive basses, the action doesn't seem to get any higher or lower along the length of the neck, which to me suggests not much relief. On the others you can see the action is higher in the middle of the neck.

Maybe I'm just making a complete pigs ear of it all!

There's probably a very small 'sweet spot' in the truss rod adjustment that so far I've been incapable of hitting.

I'm trying to get a nice low action that doesn't slap against the frets when I play. I'm still a bit of a beginner and actually find it quite physically challenging if my action is too high.

I recently traded a Fret-King perception that had a lovely low action and didn't slap at all when I played it. The guitar itself was too awkward feeling for me so I had to pass it on.

I've also recently tried a Musicman Stingray, and a G&L L-2000 that both had really low, flat actions and neither of those slapped against the frets either.

My Road Worn Precision, which currently is still in the shop waiting for my girlfriend to pick it up, also has a lovely low action that doesn't require hardly any strength to fret the strings, although there was a bit more fret slap when I really dug in.

I also used to use my girlfriend's brothers Rickenbacker, which had a lovely low action all the way up the neck and never slapped at all.

How is this acheivable?

I like to set my guitars up myself, but I'll only make minor adjustments to the truss rod, and I can't figure out how to get this low action without it sounding like I'm playing slap bass when I'm just using fingerstyle. It sounds horrible!

I find too much relief means I can't get the action low enough, and too little relief means it slaps like mad. Obviously I need a little relief to allow the strings to vibrate, but I usually find the strings are slapping at the last fret which means the saddles are set too low- but then how have I played guitars in the past that have had a really low bridge and not slapped? The only thing I can think is if the neck angle is different. The Fret King did look as if the neck very slightly lent backwards, and I've read before on Fender's site that if you can't get the action as low as you'd like then use the Micro-Tilt (which I don't have )

The G&L and the Fret King necks felt absolutely identical, btw, and maybe it's more than coincidence that they have the same headstock? Could JHS be buying up surplus stock?

I will send my guitars to be set up by a pro, but ideally I'd like to figure out what to do myself. One of my guitars is a £40 Aria Jazz that I keep knocking about so it's not really worth the £50+ to have it worked over.

Yes I've follwed Fender's setting up guide word for word

I wouldn't care, if the gold hardware didn't over campify it.

My fiesta red road worn is pretty much pink.

Man up!

Pink is for real men.

What would a Squier Classic Vibe '50s Precision be? 3/8 or 1/2?

Ok guys, thanks for the advice.

The combo IS loud enough for my smaller gigs, which is all I really need to use it for, but I had noticed that at a couple of recent gigs I didn't have the headroom i'm used to.

Not a problem though, I'll take the Hartke out for the larger gigs.

My little AC Euro 200w combo never really needed to be pushed above 4 or 5 on the master volume, BUT this amp didn't hava an input gain like the Trace does, which obviously needs to be set at optimum each time it's used.

The input gain has been freaking me out a little bit too, I don't know if there is a problem here, but last night (and the gig I used it at on Thursday) I ran the input gain (at first) up around level 8 without the clipping LED coming on hardly at all, but as the gig progressed, I had to turn the input gain down a bit more each time as the LED kept flickering on more.

This isn't me just digging in more as the gig progressed- I made sure I gave it a really good clank when initially setting it up, but last night it went from 8 to begin with down to almost 2 or 3 by the end of the night! and The LED was still flickering! I had to ignore it in the end.

Any ideas here?

As above, easy guy to deal with, hassle free, no problems here.

Recommended

Ah so not such good news then.

Bringing another cab is what I want to avoid really, as the Hartke will be the easier (and louder) option then anyway.

So with the RMS output almost doubled from going 8ohm to 4ohm, through a speaker that can handle the power, I'd really see no extra (real world) volume?

I posted another thread up about adding a cab to my newly aquired Trace Elliott GP7 SM combo.

It's 150w RMS, with a 1x15 driver.

It has two speaker outputs, with the print 'SPEAKER OUTPUT 4ohms' between them.

I was told on the other thread, that currently the combo will only be kicking out about 80w (ish) using just the internal driver, (which I was told would be 8 ohms) and to get full power from the amp I'd need to connect another cab to get 4 ohms and the full 150w power output.

I gigged it last night, and it was just loud enough, but I didn't have much headroom to be honest, and the venue wasn't that busy.


I have a Hartke vx3500 combo amp for my big gigs, so really if I was going to bother to buy a cab to go with the Trace, I might as well just take the Hartke.

However, knowing absolutely nothing about amps, I wondered if it was possible to get the full 150w from my Trace WITHOUT adding a cab? Could I, for instance, swap the 8 ohm driver for the appropriate 4 ohm driver to acheive max volume?

My AC Euro 200w 1x15 combo is quite a bit louder than my Trace. This amp, though, doesn't have any speaker outputs. I'm wondering if this amp has a 4 ohm driver already and hence puts out the full 200w? I would think the Trace with it's full 150w would kick it's ass though!!


Anyway, If there's a way to do this and someone could point me in the right direction I'd be grateful!!

Hey good idea! I might use duck tape to find the sweet spot- Cheap instant punk vibe!