Bobby K

[quote name='Musky' post='781985' date='Mar 21 2010, 07:37 PM']Strictly speaking you don't [i]need[/i] to know the power rating of the cab, so long as you use your ears for signs of it starting to complain. Even if the cab is rated at 320w like the later 1048's, you could still push it to it's limits (or past them) with say an amp rated at 300w if you like distortion and boosting the bass. And if you do like distortion, that can mask the sound of the speakers complaining. But it won't hurt to look in the back of the cab anyway, just for a bit of peace of mind. Or you could have a word with Merton - he's quite up on old Trace gear and might know the power rating. 250w is the rated output of the VA350 (AFAIR) on the medium setting, although I'd expect that to be quite conservative. Edit: I just took a look on harmony central to see if anyone had left a review for an older cab, and someone mentioned that they used Celestion C100h speakers, rated at [i]32 ohms[/i]. That might put the kibosh on any idea of using this cab as a standalone.[/quote] Thanks again Musky. As far as power rating of the cab goes, i'm fine with the using my ears thing. I know when to back off on the power if the speakers grumble. I'll definitely need to look inside this cab because the original drivers have been replaced. I can tell this because the discs in the centre of each speaker (are they the voice coils?) are [b]silver[/b] instead of black. you may have seen this very cab on ebay last week. I think a lot of buyers were put off because the speakers looked different. I got it for 137 quid in the end and it sounded fine in conjunction with the 1153. I'll look at the back of one of the drivers and see what's on there and report back if that's ok?

So I'd need to know the wattage of the cab first. Is it simply a case of taking the drivers out and looking at the figures on them? When you say [i]250w mode [/i] do you mean when the output power selector switch is on [i]low[/i]?

Ok guys, the VA350 shook newcastle to its foundations last night with those two 8 ohm cabs Now then, I'm quite interested in musky's suggestion earlier about rewiring an 8 ohm cab to 2 ohms. My band now hates me because we're carting around two bass cabs and it would be more practical to just carry the one. The Trace 1048 cab i've got is 8 ohm and looks like an older one (no wattage info etc on the rear socket plate, tolex covered, not carpet, with the red stripes accross the front) Not sure of the wattage, but just wanted to know if the rewiring to the correct impedance for the VA350 can be done and what the implications/ramifications of doing so are. Is it easy to do and as a great man once said [i]Is it safe??[/i] I'm guessing it might be more practical to just buy a 4 ohm cab but I'm skint after buying the VA350!

[quote name='obbm' post='779476' date='Mar 19 2010, 09:31 AM']If 1048 is 8-ohms and 1153 is 8-ohms then using them together will be 4-ohms.[/quote] I thought so obbm, thanks very much for the reply! Phew, for Newcastle at least

[quote name='Bobby K' post='779463' date='Mar 19 2010, 09:22 AM']As it stands, i've got a gig in Glasgow tonight, armed with the VA350 and the 1153. Don't know if i should use it now. The gig the night after is in Newcastle, where we'll be picking up a 1048 (bought on ebay too from someone else) - I'm guessing it's fine to use the 1153 and 1048 daisychained with the VA350? those cabs are both 8 ohm yeah? * I say daisychained because there's only one speaker out on the VA350[/quote] Can anyone give me an answer on this.. i'm leaving for Glasgow imminently Sorry to be a pain...

[quote name='bumnote' post='779462' date='Mar 19 2010, 09:20 AM']I saw that as did a friend, we were both going to bid and then it disapeared nice score[/quote] Sorry guys... Got it for 300 in the end. Had to get it from Hull yesterday!

[quote name='Musky' post='779452' date='Mar 19 2010, 09:05 AM']I just had to do a search for that one. £62! How to screw up your chances of maximising your sale price in one easy lesson! Congratulations are due if you did manage to score that one Bobby. I forgot about that option - it would work with a more common 8 ohm cab rewired for 2 ohms as well. Whatever cab you end up with you just need to bear in mind that Oxblood ended up measuring the output on his VA350 at 470w - it's a lot more powerful than the rated output would suggest.[/quote] yes, it was the one on ebay. I needed it as a matter of emergency, so contacted the seller and arranged a buy it now, outside of ebay (tsk tsk, I know) As it stands, i've got a gig in Glasgow tonight, armed with the VA350 and the 1153. Don't know if i should use it now. The gig the night after is in Newcastle, where we'll be picking up a 1048 (bought on ebay too from someone else) - I'm guessing it's fine to use the 1153 and 1048 daisychained with the VA350? those cabs are both 8 ohm yeah? * I say daisychained because there's only one speaker out on the VA350

[quote name='Musky' post='779312' date='Mar 18 2010, 11:52 PM']Another VA350 owner. Sadly whichever preamp you use, you'll still be risking the power amp running at 8 ohms. It's the power amp that connects to the speakers, so that's what will 'see' the load. The VA350 pushes its valves pretty hard in standard form, so you really don't want to strain them further. You might like to do a search for posts by Oxblood, who bought a VA350 power section and did some pretty major work on it. He also lovingly detailed all that work and his findings. You'll have to go to finnbass for the conclusion though.[/quote] Ok, thanks for that Musky. Am i right in thinking then that if I ran the VA350 through [b]two[/b] 8 ohm cabs, the impedance will then become 4 ohms and thus eliminate the risk to the power amp? I don't really have the capability to transport around two cabs plus the beast that is the VA350, if I'm being honest. Would be a lot easier for me to be able to run it through just one cab. I'm now assuming that that one cab would need to be a 4 ohm cab.. Am I correct?

[quote name='obbm' post='779285' date='Mar 18 2010, 11:23 PM']I didn't mean to confuse. The GP11 is all solid-state, the direct input on the VA350 chassis is valve all the way but has no tone controls IIRC.[/quote] Yes, that's what i thought and I intend to mainly use the solid state input (GP11) not the direct valve input. So, if i input through the GP11 only, using the 1153 on its own, will the issue regarding the strain on the output valves still remain? If I used a 1048 on its own, would that be ok? Sorry to harp on..

[quote name='obbm' post='779250' date='Mar 18 2010, 10:51 PM']BTW I think you'll find a lot of solid-state in that pre-amp.[/quote] what do you mean? Do you mean it would be better to use the top section of the head (the GP11) as opposed to the valve input section. Sorry if that sounds confusing... Also, would using the 1153 in conjunction with, say, a 1048 (4 x 10) make it a lot safer for the amp? How about using the 1048 on its own with the amp?

Hello again guys I've managed to get hold of a lovely old Trace Elliot VA350 amp, the one with the GP11 and valve preamps. Just wanted to ask if I could use it safely with a Trace 1153 speaker? The amp is 350 watts and the impedance switch on the back of the amp is switchable between 2 and 4 ohms - it's set on 4. The 1153 speaker is only rated at 200 watts and is an 8 ohms. Can I use the amp with the 1153 on its own, or would I have to use the 1153 in conjunction with another speaker? I've got the output power selector on the back of the amp set to "low" - it's got low medium and high settings - but it's bloody loud enough on low (I tested the amp through a friend's 1153 and 1048 speakers together) Sorry to bring up the old impedance/wattage issue but I can never get my head around it Any answers would be most appreciated....

[quote name='witterth' post='771115' date='Mar 10 2010, 11:38 PM']JG..at rocket?....a friend of mine took a old stereo Trace Elliot AH500 (of mine that Ive posted problems about on here a few times) to this guy the other week after 2 other respected techs failed with it , seems ok now, fingers crossed. dunno fixing old amps is a minefield in fairness to techs!! but a big +1 to JG (till it goes wrong eh?) [/quote] Glad to hear you had a pleasant experience with JG, but i'm trusting my gut on this one.. Truth is I just haven't got time to take the amp to ANYONE at the moment, busy on tour, so don't hold your breath waiting for an answer to this one folks.... I'll get it to somebody as soon as I can....

[quote name='Etienne' post='768349' date='Mar 8 2010, 07:05 PM']Hi Bobby, good to see you on here! Amplifier problems aside, I hope all is well... With a bit of luck, you'll be able to get this sorted out with minimal wallet damage- sorry I can't be of any assistance in diagnosing the problem! Which tech have you decided to go with by the way? Coincidentally, my friend and fellow bassist JJ Rio also had his Trace head blow up on him very recently, and needs to find a reputable repairer ASAP! ATB, Etienne EDIT: Just in case you haven't lined up a repairer yet, you could could give Gee Electronics a try. I haven't used them for ages, but they repaired and modified a Trace V-type hybrid head for me several years ago, and did a good job. They're on the Rocket industrial estate near the Parcel force depot (just off the M62 interchange). [/quote] Hey Etienne, great to hear from you mate!! I assume you're talking about John Gee. Hmmmm.... I contacted him about servicing the amp a couple of years ago and he fobbed me right off; it was so obvious he didn't want to help! i've heard nothing but bad things about him (apart from your repair story of course) - I'll sort it out soon enough. Will probably take it back to the guy who serviced it. He's in Stoke but he came very well recommended from some muso friends. See ya soon bud...

[quote name='bass5' post='767630' date='Mar 8 2010, 09:41 AM']Give this man a prize! I have had the same problem with my 18 years old Trace last summer and it was a series of dead capacitors in conjunction with a crack in the circuit board where it connects to the GP12 graphic eq, a good technician can repair it and mine was fixed and now it's as good as new. [/quote] Nice one bass5, hopefully mine will be sorted out too. Thanks for chipping in. Would much rather have your speaker configuration though!

This isn't actually a tube amp, dunno if that matters or not, with regard to the guy in Southport Thanks for the input guys. I'll get back to you once a tech has had a look at the amp.....

Hello all. I was in the middle of a gig the other night, using my Trace Elliot Series 6 1215 combo (GP12) and the sound started cutting in and out randomly. Then the sound cut out all together and the thing started rumbling and screeching! Finished the gig through a DI box Anyway, got the amp back home now and when I turn it on, i basically get the rumbling noise and then the horrible screeching sound, which sounds like a crazed kazoo player! This is all without plugging in the bass at all. It is also worth noting the that the power led seems to fade and come back on again sporadically while this is going on. I only had the output pot on 4 and the input gain light was only going yellow now and again, so wasn't playing loudly. Somebody has suggested to me that it might be a transformer issue, but I don't really know about these things, so any suggestions anyone has would be most welcome. The amp is probably around 18 years old and I've had it for at least 15 of those years and it's never given me any problems before. It even had a service last summer. Should I be looking at a new amp, or is this probably fixable?? Any suggestions are most welcome