A lost art. Trace elliot

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

But if you had a big Trace Elliot instead - think how much per month you could save on your gym membership!

 

I have a 4x10 combo. Trouble is, my Orange Terror/GRbass cab suits blues rock and classic rock much better, so it's hard to work up enthusiasm for hauling it to a gig.

[ajkula66]

4 hours ago, peteb said:

 For me, SWR coming onto the market was the big step forward for bass amplification. 

 

 

Same here, which is why I still own a Studio 220 head. TE and SWR were the ultimate bass amps of the '80s, at least in my book.

 

My "perfect" amp collection misses a few gems...a TE of some kind - preferably a preamp - along with an old Acoustic, Lab Series L2/L4 and the original version of Dynacord Bass King.

 

Funds are really not the problem here since all of these are quite inexpensive nowadays, but storage is a major issue...

[LukeFRC]

7 hours ago, ajkula66 said:

My "perfect" amp collection misses a few gems...a TE of some kind - preferably a preamp - along with an old Acoustic, Lab Series L2/L4 and the original version of Dynacord Bass King.

you can still explore without massive weight or cost - I made this - it’s a clone of a L4 preamp -  it’s got a pretty awesome tone.

 

 

[prowla]

16 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I no longer believe this. I have heard and played through too many good class D amps.

The Trace Elliott mosfet power amps are good, solid designs but there's absolutely nothing special or innovative about them, they are very basic designs. A simple differential amp taking feedback from a push-pull ouput stage. 

All the 'Trace Magic' is in the preamp design and the fact that the output stages were genuinely powerful. Class D is ultra faithful to preamps and most have headroom and power way beyond Trace designs.

They may be simple (high-level) designs, but that can be a good thing.

And, of course, the selection/matching/tolerance of the components forms part of the specification/design of the amp.

So, apparently similar designs can differ in sound quite markedly.

The "power" thing is interesting and perhaps subjective, and may not be definitive in terms of perceived volume/loudness...

There's a saying that 10x the power = 2x the volume (all other aspects being the same); given that Trace Elliot amps are available in 500W (or more) and I've yet to see a 5kW power amp or bass cab, I'd suggest that the "way beyond" assertion is questionable.

There's also the question of how the "power" is measured: rms, peak, sustained, etc.

I remember in the past someone saying you couldn't run a Hi-Fi amp at full volume because it would distort; I said that just meant its spec was wrong and demonstrated my 15Wpc amp cranked up with no discernable degradation of sound.

In the real world, the last time I went out I took my Trace Elliot 300W amp and it sounded bloody good; I don't think I had the vol above 1/4.

I do have a couple of preamps (Ampreg & SWR) and a Class-D power amp in a 19" case, and keep meaning to give them a go.

However, I've also recently picked up an EBS Reidmar 250W and that's probably next on the list.

[Jack]

On 24/09/2025 at 13:52, SimonK said:

Ta-da!!

 

Vertical stacking, dispersion, comb filtering, etc. Doesn't matter that's still a rig that I'd use side by side lol. 

 

Awesome. 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 04/10/2025 at 09:01, prowla said:

They may be simple (high-level) designs, but that can be a good thing.

And, of course, the selection/matching/tolerance of the components forms part of the specification/design of the amp.

So, apparently similar designs can differ in sound quite markedly.

The "power" thing is interesting and perhaps subjective, and may not be definitive in terms of perceived volume/loudness...

There's a saying that 10x the power = 2x the volume (all other aspects being the same); given that Trace Elliot amps are available in 500W (or more) and I've yet to see a 5kW power amp or bass cab, I'd suggest that the "way beyond" assertion is questionable.

There's also the question of how the "power" is measured: rms, peak, sustained, etc.

I remember in the past someone saying you couldn't run a Hi-Fi amp at full volume because it would distort; I said that just meant its spec was wrong and demonstrated my 15Wpc amp cranked up with no discernable degradation of sound.

In the real world, the last time I went out I took my Trace Elliot 300W amp and it sounded bloody good; I don't think I had the vol above 1/4.

I do have a couple of preamps (Ampreg & SWR) and a Class-D power amp in a 19" case, and keep meaning to give them a go.

However, I've also recently picked up an EBS Reidmar 250W and that's probably next on the list.

 

I have a 300W 1100 combo,  plenty loud enough for any gig IMHO.

 

I also have a 500W Bass Terror through a GRBASS cab. I don't know how loud the modern rig is because it gets too loud for sanity if the master control is past 8 o'clock.

 

I'm not saying Traces don't deliver, but in my experience class D has no problems delivering the goods.

 

(And 500W RMS is lots more power more than 300W RMS, volume wise it's my very efficient cab that's making most of the difference).

 

 

[prowla]

49 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I have a 300W 1100 combo,  plenty loud enough for any gig IMHO.

 

I also have a 500W Bass Terror through a GRBASS cab. I don't know how loud the modern rig is because it gets too loud for sanity if the master control is past 8 o'clock.

 

I'm not saying Traces don't deliver, but in my experience class D has no problems delivering the goods.

 

(And 500W RMS is lots more power more than 300W RMS, volume wise it's my very efficient cab that's making most of the difference).

 

500W is a bigger number than 300, that’s a fact. 
However, it’s only about 10% louder, through the same cab (assuming it can handle the power), as volume is logarithmic. 

So lots more power isn’t the whole story. 
But, as you say, the efficiency of the cab (and how many) are significant and it doesn’t matter anyway if your ears are already bleeding.