Mesa Boogie sold, Ashdown, Trace Elliott rumours?

[Chienmortbb 605]

The Mesa deal is done they are now part of Gibson, is that   bad news for bass players? Trace enthusiasts might think so. On the YouTube channel, Know Your Gear, It was also touted that either Ashdown or Trace Ellott had also been sold, possibly to Cort. I must stress that I can find no corroboration for this. Has anyone any more info?

[fretmeister 2,466]

Aren't TE currently owned by Peavey?

[BassBunny 474]

Be surprised if Ashdown was up F/S as Mark Gooday had a few words to say about the recent Mesa and Aquilar sales. That said..........

11 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Aren't TE currently owned by Peavey?

Pretty sure TE are still owned by Peavey.

[Lozz196 5,095]

I’d also be very surprised if Mark Gooday sold Ashdown, considering how he’s built up the company and their worthy reputation.

[fretmeister 2,466]

3 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I’d also be very surprised if Mark Gooday sold Ashdown, considering how he’s built up the company and their worthy reputation.

And he's not about 300 years old like Randall Smith is.

[thodrik 569]

TE being sold might actually be good news. Essentially Peavey did one launch of gear in 2006 and the ELF in the last couple of years, with not much inbetween. I mean, surely a 500 watt class D amp with the classic SMX preamp should have been a no-brainer?

[40hz 316]

Hopefully Trace have been sold. It's probably one of the top 3 most famous Bass brands of all time (IMO of course) The name still carries a lot of weight, (pun fully intended!) and I've always found it strange how such a internationally renown brand was mothballed  (bar the Elf series) for no apparent reason. 

Imagine if they came out with a range of lightweight class D heads, using the SMX pre-amp, with some form of UV type lighting as a nod to their heritage. Coupled with modern, lightweight cabs with high performance design/drivers etc. They'd make an absolute killing. 

Edited January 14 by 40hz

[Chienmortbb 605]

I was surprised  at the idea that Ashdown had been sold. It would make sense if Ashdown had purchased TE from Peaveu though.

[BassBunny 474]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

I was surprised  at the idea that Ashdown had been sold. It would make sense if Ashdown had purchased TE from Peaveu though.

That would be a new level of Karma. 🙂

[chris_b 4,103]

Ashdown grew out of a split with TE. Why would they want anything to do with putting a competitor back in the race?

[thodrik 569]

13 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Ashdown grew out of a split with TE. Why would they want anything to do with putting a competitor back in the race?

Well, they could pull the old trick of buying Trace Elliot specifically to own the IP and prevent the brand from ever being put back in the race. Not unlike Fender buying SWR and Sunn. 

I don't see that happening though. 

[Marvin 382]

I've never owned any TE gear but I'd really like to see someone take it out of the hands of Peavey and do something with it. TE have a grand total of 7 products on the market at the moment, and only one of those is actually a head. For such an iconic brand it's being treated in a pretty appalling manner.

I've never owned any Ashdown gear either, but I hope they don't sell out to someone else

[lemmywinks 1,049]

Peavey are doing great things with the Trace brand IMO, they revived a long dead relic that only a small minority of players have a fondness for and made it into a range of amplification that stands out in a crowded market. Trace were very much a product of their time and a range of amps based on what they used to offer players would absolutely tank today.

 

I played and gigged TE back in the 90s btw and still played through a Trace preamp in our rehearsal room before covid hit, there's no desire to go back to it from me. Would consider an Elf if I needed a little rig though.

[Rich 5,681]

21 hours ago, thodrik said:

TE being sold might actually be good news. Essentially Peavey did one launch of gear in 2006 and the ELF in the last couple of years, with not much inbetween. I mean, surely a 500 watt class D amp with the classic SMX preamp should have been a no-brainer?

I'd be at the front of the queue for one of those.

[la bam 955]

Loads of stuff you could do with trace nowadays that just didnt exist when they were around.

Lightweight cabs.

Pre amp pedals.

Larger class d amps with classic pre amp built in.

Their current range just doesnt interest me at all. I had an elf which was surprisingly good, but was max on its limits in a gig situation, so not great in the real world. The pre amp transit pedal is expensive and their 8" and 10" cabs just dont do it for me.

Whack together a classic pre amp, the large band eq, the UV light and an 800w class d power stage and it's a winner. Couple that with a lightweight 4x10 or 2x12 all in the black and green and its sounding good already.

Edited January 15 by la bam

[Marvin 382]

Surely it's not beyond the realms of possibility to put their pre amp pedal (as illustrated above) in a box with a power amp, and at least a 212 lightweight cab, to create a decent lightweight gigging combination.

 

[2elliot 138]

On 15/01/2021 at 01:41, lemmywinks said:

Peavey are doing great things with the Trace brand IMO, they revived a long dead relic that only a small minority of players have a fondness for and made it into a range of amplification that stands out in a crowded market. Trace were very much a product of their time and a range of amps based on what they used to offer players would absolutely tank today.

 

I played and gigged TE back in the 90s btw and still played through a Trace preamp in our rehearsal room before covid hit, there's no desire to go back to it from me. Would consider an Elf if I needed a little rig though.

What range of amplification would that be and what great things are they doing with the brand? I thought they only make a 200w class D amp that doesn't have the Trace Elliot sound. It's an ok amp but just a toy compared to the original Trace gear.

 

[stewblack 5,535]

I don't fit in either camp here! I love all the old Trace gear I have ever owned and still use some of it, good sound is good sound to me regardless of when am amp was built. 

 But I also love the Elf, in its own right. So much more than it ought to be in such a tiny package. I'd gig with it without hesitation. 

[lemmywinks 1,049]

1 hour ago, 2elliot said:

What range of amplification would that be and what great things are they doing with the brand? I thought they only make a 200w class D amp that doesn't have the Trace Elliot sound. It's an ok amp but just a toy compared to the original Trace gear.

 

 

I'm guessing you know perfectly well what they make, you can always check on their website if not though. Their range of amps, cabs and combos seem to be selling well, people are gigging with them and they are an attractive proposition for a lot of players so absolutely not a toy. In fact they are everything the old Trace gear selling for peanuts on eBay fails to be - something a lot of bassists want to buy and use. It doesn't have that Trace Elliot sound or frontend because very few people want that, it aint the 80s any more.

 

I'd say to go from a dead and highly unfashionable brand with minimal value outside of a small circle of older British bassists to a legit contender is a massive achievement, particularly when you look at how crowded the market is. Straight after the Elf was released TC made their copycat head and Warwick followed suit showing a trend for super micro amps, looks like the bean counters were right on this one.

[Wolverinebass 543]

I appear to be of the odd opinion that I really like the Peavey era stuff from about 2002. The older stuff is great as well.

This new stuff is awful. Unless you play a jazz gig you'd need an 8x10 to play anything bigger as the Elf is so anaemic. You can put it in your pocket? Whooptee do. You'll be red lining it the whole way as it's got so little power. 

Also, whomever priced the new cabs is on crack. They're ludicrously expensive for what they are. 

Get the preamp of the older models bang a 1000W class D behind it. Job done. Instead, we get this ludicrous set of products that look like someone forgot to add water to get them to the correct size.

Edited January 17 by Wolverinebass

[2elliot 138]

13 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I appear to be of the odd opinion that I really like the Peavey era stuff from about 2002. The older stuff is great as well.

This new stuff is awful. Unless you play a jazz gig you'd need an 8x10 to play anything bigger as the Elf is so anaemic. You can put it in your pocket? Whooptee do. You'll be red lining it the whole way as it's got so little power. 

Also, whomever priced the new cabs is on crack. They're ludicrously expensive for what they are. 

Get the preamp of the older models bang a 1000W class D behind it. Job done. Instead, we get this ludicrous set of products that look like someone forgot to add water to get them to the correct size.

I agree 100% with you, I owned one of the early Peavey era Trace heads and it sounded excellent.  

I've never seen anyone gig an Elf, but I have seen plenty of old Trace Elliots. 

...and fingers crossed for Mesa, I hope they survive. 

 

[MartinB 152]

I don't know about the cabs etc, but I've got an Elf head, and it's great. Like any amp, it's perfect for some gigs, and poorly suited to others.
I wish they'd called it a Peavey Elf though. It doesn't particularly bother me that Peavey are using the Trace Elliot brand for not-very-Trace-y things, but it clearly riles up a certain demographic - every discussion about the Elf seems to get sidetracked into grumbling about that instead! 😆

[mazdah 9]

I think there is SOMETHING going on, since Warwick Gnome is essentially THE SAME amp as Elf. 

[Wolverinebass 543]

2 hours ago, mazdah said:

I think there is SOMETHING going on, since Warwick Gnome is essentially THE SAME amp as Elf. 

That's because Warwick literally copy anything and say they invented it.

[Cuzzie 3,483]

Exactly - the world was flat till they rounded it