Trace Elliot - Rescue & Restore (and bargain finds)

[BassTool]

Spotted this from the Build Diaries thread, great stuff @SimonK

 

I bought a brand new TE 4x10 combo back in the day, around 1993/4 for around £750 if my memory is right. I immediately got it flight cased and gigged it extensively - much to the disappointment of our roadies at the time! They hated the thing 🤭

 

Absolute beast though, during a soundcheck our engineer would be permanently waving his hand downwards for me to knock it quieter 🤣

 

During one sound check, a year or so in, I was standing waiting to check the levels - when clubs were full of cigarette smoke - an old bloke with a fag in his mouth at the front enquired 'yer smoking son?'

 

No thanks I replied.

 

No he said, yer big box behind you, you're smoking.

 

Turned around and the amp had smoke pouring out of the top... 🫣

 

Got it repaired, and used it for around 6/7 years. Eventually went into storage and I sold it to a local studio/rehearsal room for £100.

 

Great to see folks still loving the brand as I once did 👍🏼

Edited March 31 by BassTool

[andytoad]

Saw these on Facebook..

 

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, andytoad said:

Saw these on Facebook..

 

 

I'd hold out for half that price or less for these - certainly I got an identical 2x10 a few weeks back for £40, and a 1x15 a year or so ago for about the same. Mind you I will vouch for the sound of the combination!

[SimonK]

Behold - the finished cab drawers (and the other two cabs are very grateful for the speaker donation):

 

 

[SpondonBassed]

Excellent.  Did you use the USB powered LED bar?

[SimonK]

1 minute ago, SpondonBassed said:

Excellent.  Did you use the USB powered LED bar?

 

Yes this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barrina-Blacklight-Aluminium-Fluorescent-Halloween/dp/B0CPHSLQTQ/ and poked the lead out through the old speakon input hole. It actually looks a lot cooler than in the pictures but doesn't quite photo so well. You get a neat glow through the tweeter as well.

 

My daughter nabbed the other bar for her bedroom.

[SimonK]

My 16 year old suddenly decided he wanted to try the old electric drum kit - perfect for the recycled Trace cab! I would have killed to have this in my room at his age!

 

[SimonK]

Someone posted a "cheap first gigging amp" thread but then bought something within 48 hours so I didn't get a chance to show him this bargain currently on ebay (assuming he was close enough). Killer amp for the price!!

 

[SpondonBassed]

18 minutes ago, SimonK said:

Someone posted a "cheap first gigging amp" thread but then bought something within 48 hours so I didn't get a chance to show him this bargain currently on ebay (assuming he was close enough). Killer amp for the price!!

 

 

Where please?

[SimonK]

4 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

 

Where please?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226787499542?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20250324084321%26meid%3D3429e40cdf604f38892cf4a9547f74fd%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D226787499542%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRPboosterAndUpdatedFeatures_BP%26brand%3DTrace%2BElliot&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3A2d7826ab1970ab13560ef8abffff85d8|pageci%3A38f944d7-3f32-11f0-b3eb-c6d89e18e4eb|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

Edited Sunday at 21:49 by SimonK

[Sparky Mark]

I found this SMX250 for a good price because it was making all sorts of horrible sounds, even before I started to play through it! Replacing the original hyper microphonic 12ax7 valve fixed it and now it's as good as new.

Edited 17 hours ago by Sparky Mark

[SpondonBassed]

10 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

I found this SMX250 for a good price because it was making all sorts of horrible sounds, even before I started to play through it! Replacing the original hyper microphonic 12ax7 valve fixed it and now it's as good as new.

 

That looks like a very nice find indeed.  From here it looks like it hasn't been gigged much if at all.  That or a very careful owner had it. May I ask how much you paid for the amp and the new valve?  I am assuming you had the cab already.

 

I hope you have a LOT of fun with it (preferably well away from your neighbours).

[JapanAxe]

My back hurts just from looking at the pictures in this thread!

[SimonK]

3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

 

That looks like a very nice find indeed.  From here it looks like it hasn't been gigged much if at all.  That or a very careful owner had it. May I ask how much you paid for the amp and the new valve?  I am assuming you had the cab already.

 

I hope you have a LOT of fun with it (preferably well away from your neighbours).

 

I saw this but passed - generally (in the UK) you can find a GP12SMX for less than £300, and a smaller cab like that for under £100, but looking at various forums it can be double these prices in the US or mainland Europe.

[Sparky Mark]

3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

 

That looks like a very nice find indeed.  From here it looks like it hasn't been gigged much if at all.  That or a very careful owner had it. May I ask how much you paid for the amp and the new valve?  I am assuming you had the cab already.

 

I hope you have a LOT of fun with it (preferably well away from your neighbours).

Thank you. I can't remember precisely what I paid, probably somewhere around £150 three years ago. I used a NOS JJ valve from my spares box bought many years ago, so nothing like today's silly prices. I kept the original Trace valve for...... no idea really?

[Sparky Mark]

2 minutes ago, SimonK said:

 

I saw this but passed - generally (in the UK) you can find a GP12SMX for less than £300, and a smaller cab like that for under £100, but looking at various forums it can be double these prices in the US or mainland Europe.

Unless you saw it 3 years ago on eBay, I think it's a different amp.

[SimonK]

4 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Unless you saw it 3 years ago on eBay, I think it's a different amp.

 

You are absolutly correct, the similar one I saw is still on reverb for about £100 or more than I think it worth:

 

[Sparky Mark]

11 minutes ago, SimonK said:

 

You are absolutly correct, the similar one I saw is still on reverb for about £100 or more than I think it worth:

 

Yep, a totally different animal, 300 watts, fan cooled with Celestion driver and carpet covering. Mine is 250 watts, rear heatsink cooled with Fane Axiom driver and vinyl covering. 

[SimonK]

2 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Yep, a totally different animal, 300 watts, fan cooled with Celestion driver and carpet covering. Mine is 250 watts, rear heatsink cooled with Fane Axiom driver and vinyl covering. 

 

I'm not convinced its a "totally different" animal - possibly only a couple years older with both being the very last UK manufactured?