A Fond Farewell

[stewblack]

I always find it incomprehensible that folk form a loving bond with a wholly inanimate, impersonal object like, say, a car or a house, and yet here I am genuinely bereft at the passing of a loudspeaker. Strange chaps us humans.

I just plugged into my hefty old 15" Trace Elliot cab and annoyed the neighbours one last time.

Dreamed of owning this when I was a callow bass player with a Woolworths guitar and a head full of dreams.

Now I'm at the far end of that road, grizzled, cynical, ancient beyond counting, and I can neither afford a vehicle that can carry it nor lift the damn thing.

I put a solid old fashioned amp into it and cranked it beyond any level of neighborhood decency. Still sounds as amazing today as I dreamed it would way back when.

It's going to a new home, for a new lease of life. I hope it will still bring joy long after I'm returned to dust.

Adieu old friend, you were such a heavy ba$tard.

[BassmanPaul]

What you have done is pass all the love stored by this speaker cabinet on to a new player. Hopefully he/she will rise to that history and make you proud.

 

[Hellzero]

Rise ... if s/he still can with a triple hernia and some broken vertebrae... 🤔🤪😂

[Sparky Mark]

20th century Trace Elliot equipment was built for real men!

[Reggaebass]

My old 15" Trace Elliot cab is going nowhere… only because I can’t lift it 😁

[BassmanPaul]

I pretty much missed the Trace Elliot fanfare. We moved over to Toronto in 1973 which IIRC was when they started hitting the shops. I did buy a blown Trace amp via Ebay, repaired it and was unimpressed by the build quality and very poor cooling path design. No wonder it blew!

[Sparky Mark]

I have three pieces that I can't imagine parting with:-

1. My first dream bass, a 1980 natural Stingray bought with my first student grant check in 1981 from Peter Cookes, Acton. 

2. My 1993 Thumb NT bought from Coda Music, Luton in 1990ish. I chopped in at least 6 basses to reach the near £1k price tag.

3. My Hartke AH3500 head, bought from a pro bassist living in Holmfirth in the mid 90s. I'd seen a bassist playing a Thumb through a Hartke rig in a Sudbury (Suffolk) pub and knew that was the sound I wanted. It's probably only worth about £100, but it served me so well for 10 years that I just can't let it go. It's the superior (IMO) MOSFET, Transient Attack version.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Forty years ago, when I was forty, I bought a Streamer as I too fell in love with the Warwick sound. When I bought my six stringed instruments it was consigned to the instrument cupboard.

 

I recently gave it to one of my doctors as I no longer had a use for it.

[Stub Mandrel]

I still have a sticker from when owning a Trace Elliot was a dream, not a nightmare 😁

 

[chris_b]

I completely missed Trace Elliot. Never owned or played one. So I don't get the "love".

 

I was using Music Man and Dynacord gear at the time.

[Linus27]

I played through an old Trace Elliot GP7 combo at Glastonbury this year. I was so excited to see it on stage and it sounded absolutely incredible.

[Hellzero]

9 hours ago, Linus27 said:

and it sounded absolutely incredible.

You mean there was something going out of it, right? 🤔🤪😉