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New Trace Elliot amp


Merton

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The head has shipped - I should have it Wednesday or Thursday, so I'll post some impressions once I've had a bit of time to play with it. :)

 

I'm actually quite excited - really hoping it's not a letdown. 

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1 minute ago, Russ said:

The head has shipped - I should have it Wednesday or Thursday, so I'll post some impressions once I've had a bit of time to play with it. :)

 

I'm actually quite excited - really hoping it's not a letdown. 

My wallet / bank manager / wife would all like you to hate it please.

I, however, would also like it to avoid being a letdown 🤓

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On 09/03/2022 at 17:02, Rich said:

I've seen a lot of comments on US sites/pages suggesting that it is just a re-badged Peavey Mini Mega. 

I can only assume they're looking at a different Peavey Mini Mega to the one I'm seeing, because apart from the EQ having 4 bands I can't see much similarity at all. 

image.thumb.png.eeef1aa320bd814ee5fc330e864befe8.png

 

Probably both got the same Class Dpower stage. Which is irrelevant as all class D power stages are more or less identical (transparent) and it's all in the choice of preamp.

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On 09/03/2022 at 22:05, Russ said:

I'd be surprised if they did, but it's certainly possible. Most of the variance of Class D amps comes from the preamp. I've had an Ashdown RM-800 and a Mesa WD-800, which I believe share almost identical power amps, but sound completely different. 

 

Bearing in mind my comment above, perhaps the future is relatively inexpensive, easily replaced class D power bricks, and separate preamps that are a cross between a DI box and the front end of an amp.

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On 14/03/2022 at 19:58, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Bearing in mind my comment above, perhaps the future is relatively inexpensive, easily replaced class D power bricks, and separate preamps that are a cross between a DI box and the front end of an amp.


That’s why I was quite interested in gigging the new Markbass power amp: http://www.markbass.it/product-detail/little-mark-vintage-amp-1000/

 

I had GR Amps equivalent, which sounded ok, but the fan was very loud imo.

 

Si

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1 hour ago, Sibob said:


That’s why I was quite interested in gigging the new Markbass power amp: http://www.markbass.it/product-detail/little-mark-vintage-amp-1000/

 

I had GR Amps equivalent, which sounded ok, but the fan was very loud imo.

 

Si

What about this?

https://www.guitarsoundsystems.com/gss-1000w-sumo-guitar-bass-power-amp-c2x23791314

I doesn't look like it has a fan at all!

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OK, first impressions: 

image.thumb.png.47f3f4ec559fe83b9bfe46f7b9d66662.png

This thing is LOUD. And - let's get this out of the way - it does sound like a Trace, especially with the pre-shape engaged. It's got that characteristic scoopy punch in spades. 

The compressor is great, possibly a little heavy-handed, but I recall the original SMX compressor was no different. The volume goes down noticeably when it's dialled anything above around 10 o'clock. 

EQ las a lot of flexibility, the two mid controls seem to affect quite a wide bandwidth, so there's a lot of sounds in there. 

I like the footswitch, but it might have been nice to have a cordless Bluetooth one - the MIDI cable kinda gets in the way. 

Rack ears are cheesy. 

Only thing I'm not liking so far is there's no input gain monitoring LED or anything like that. It'd be nice to see if I'm overloading the preamp. Might have been nice to incorporate that into the LED that lights the gain knob. 

 

Going to A/B it against my Mesa WD-800 next.

Edited by Russ
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Still playing with it. :) It's good. And my BF Big Twin II is a good pairing for it, since it's got the power handling capacity to properly do it justice. Regarding what I was saying about the input monitoring, an active/passive switch might have been nice. I was using my MM Bongo (VERY hot output) and it was distorting slightly at about 50% input gain. My J-Retro-equipped Jazz and my Spector were super-clean at that level. 

 

Did the A/B test with my Mesa WD-800. The Mesa isn't as loud, the tone is a little smoother thanks to the valve preamp, and I really appreciate its highpass filter control to dial out the super-lows. More versatile EQ too. But it's nowhere near as punchy as the Trace. The Trace is, for want of a better expression, more lively and feels "bouncier", if that's actually a thing. 

 

One other little niggle though - I've just packed it away in its gig bag and the bag has a carrying handle but no shoulder strap. But at least there's room for the amp, the footswitch and a bunch of cables. 

 

 

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Oh for god's sake. Why couldn't you have told us it was crap? Why? Now I can hear my credit card whimpering from the other room. :( 

Rack ears do look a bit, errm, yes... I think I'd be getting busy with the T-Cut to get rid of the logo.

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1 minute ago, Rich said:

Oh for god's sake. Why couldn't you have told us it was crap? Why? Now I can hear my credit card whimpering from the other room. :( 

Rack ears do look a bit, errm, yes... I think I'd be getting busy with the T-Cut to get rid of the logo.

I heartily endorse these statements

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7 minutes ago, Rich said:

Oh for god's sake. Why couldn't you have told us it was crap? Why? Now I can hear my credit card whimpering from the other room. :( 

Rack ears do look a bit, errm, yes... I think I'd be getting busy with the T-Cut to get rid of the logo.

 

5 minutes ago, Merton said:

I heartily endorse these statements


As do I. I really do want to try one of these 😍

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