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? 🤔🤪😉

[synthaside]

I

On 13/07/2025 at 00:31, Linus27 said:

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.

The only time I don't bother to lug my gear in from the boot of my car is when I turn up at the open mic practice studio/venue and see a GP7 or if super lucky, a 12 by contrast I played a smaller stage at Guildfest the weekend before last.  We sounded great up front as we had quality PA support and a great sound guy but the provided amp was a 100 watt Orange combo and while it sounded great fully cranked for the punky stuff ... it had no clean headroom at all the gain had to be up at max and my compressor squeezing the hell out of it to audible on stage .

Theres