I used to be a huge Trace Elliot fan but sold all my gear when I left the UK. Now I'm more settled I purchased a new, but discontinued, 715 bass combo. I ordered through a firm in NJ, USA although I live up north in Canada. Imagine my disappointnent on turning the amp on to be met with a loud buzzing from the tweeter. Sounded like interference from the internal fan. I sent is back and, low and behold, the replacement arrived with the same problem. This time there was also serious distortion form the 15" speaker as notes dissapated.

I've heard of these problems in some other forums and I'm worried that I'll experience the same if I get another shipped to me. The supplier won't check the replacement for faults for me. Otherwise, I love the sound and tone variations.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hey, Trace! Welcome to MGR. I, too, have heard that the new Trace amps are not as good as their predecessors, which I loved (mainly because Tony Levin used them. Tony's gone back to Ampeg, though.)

Unfortunately one problem of dealing remotely with any product is that you don't know what you're getting till you get it. But I know it's not always possible to find what you want locally.

I haven't played through a new Trace, but if you've experienced the same problem in two different amps -- plus the new problem with the woofer -- I'd say that it's probably common to all TE amps of that model. A couple of questions:

1. Does the tweeter buzz even without an instrument plugged in? 2. Did you test the amps in different locations? I'm seeking to eliminate the possibility that there's an electrical wiring problem in your house (or club). I run two Genz-Benz cabs with tweeters, and I get a fair amount of hiss from them when up close, but it doesn't come out when recording. And hissing isn't buzzing.

Distortion in the woofer could be the amp or speaker. Is the sound clean at the initial attack, or does it distort then, also?

I don't know how TE service is, but I have never been shy about contacting the manufacturer directly with problems. Trace is distributed by Peavey in the US. Try e-mailing them and explaining the problems with both amps. domesticsales@peavey.com

It has been my experience that manufacturers want to hear about these types of things and will go out of their way to accommodate the customer, especially in this age of the Internet, where complaints can go worldwide instantly. Perhaps Peavey will send another amp to you directly and even pick up the freight both ways.

BTW, if you're an experienced player and have some time, pop over to the MGR Gear Review area and write your opinions of gear you've tried or owned. It's easy to do. There's a link at the top right of the Forum pages that'll take you there.

Let us know what you find out from Peavey or Trace.

Here in the Morgantown, WV area there are a few stores who have gone as far as to stop carrying Trace Elliot amps simply because of problems like this. You aren't alone, mate. I really hope these things get worked out for you.

In the meantime, you might want to check out some of Ampeg and Markbass's offerings as potential alternatives. They make some top notch products, and I'd eat my left foot if they showed up with the same problem.

Assuming you spent about $450 for the Trace, here are some other offerings in the $300-$500 price range:
SWR LA15
Acoustic B200
Gallien Krueger MB115
Ampeg BA115
Phil Jones Bass Briefcase (This has my personal recommendation)

Hey guys.....thanks for the quick and infrmative replies.

The tweeter on both amps buzzed loudly when the unit was turned on, without any instrument plugged in. I even tried it in a room with no other electrical appliances in it. The disortion from the 15" was only after the clean initial attack. Hard to tell if it was the speaker or amp.

Both problems seem fairly common to the new TE stuff - certainly in some blogs and forums like this. I contacted Peavey, the TE parent company, but was disappointed with their response. Only advice I got was to take the grill off and try and tighten the grounding screws on the tweeter. That may have worked, but I didn't want to risk the warranty. No advice from them about the distortion problem. I will write to Peavey and TE and explain in full.

Thanks for the tips on alternatives. Main problem is I live in the Yukon 500+ kms from the nearest (and indeed only) music store and so don't get much of a chance to try out equipment. I do like Ampeg (currently borrowing a B500 for an 8 weekend residency), and read great things about Markbass too.

Cheers!

That's too bad about Peavey. My experience with Genz-Benz has been first-rate but they don't have an amp in the price range of the Trace. Markbass is in Italy, but I've heard good things about their amps.

I've contacted TE in the UK and will write to Peavey Canada before deciding on risking a third 715. If only I could afford a 715X. Although the additional $900 I've paid in shipping to date would have covered that extra cost!

I've read and heard a lot of good things about the Acoustic B200 that ShackMan recommended, but likely won't be near a dealer probably until next year. Anyone else have any thoughts on it, or indeed on the TE 715X if I can afford to go down that route?

I only started playing again after a 15 year (travelling) hiatus so I'm a little out of touch on gear to review. Sorry.

Cheers!

I've read good things about the new Acoustic line. I really liked the old Acoustic amps but apparently the only thing they have in common with the new line is the name. I also recommend the Ampeg BA115.

`

"BA115" ? Ampeg ? Acoustic ?

`

My bad -- Ampeg BA115. I was only off by 7 letters. Fix'd it.

$900 freight to correct a problem thaz still
not corrected ? I'd say, no matter what you
read or hear good things about, given your
location, it makes sense, both now at time
of purchase, and later when you may need
routine repair, that you go for the seperate
head + cab, even in a modest power range.

Seperates are often easier to diagnose for
faults [by substitution] and would reduce
your shipping costs. In your location and
circumstance, I'd want a lightweight amp
in the 200 to 500W range plus two cabs,
one for 'practice' and one for gigs. The real
purpose of the 'practice' cab is backup and
diagnostic. If you have a problem, and both
cabs produce it, blame the amp. If only one
cab produces the problem, don't blame the
amp. Acoarst the 'practice' cab needs to be
minimally large enuf for most of your gigs,
cuz it's also your backup.

`

I bought one of these Amps and had the same thing happen. I fixed it with a phillips head screw driver. Just take the speaker grill off the front and tighten the tweeter screws as tight as you can. This fixed the problem for me. I have played several gigs with NO problems. The amp is performing great and I am glad i did not panic too much and try to send it back!

After the debacle with the amp I was trying to purchase it seems suppliers in the US will longer ship to Canada. Shame really as I was going to try for "third time lucky" on the 715.

Guess I'll have to set my sights on something else. Not sure if I'll get such a good deal as 715 though. Thanks for the advice on the option of going back to a head and cabinet - it does make sense up here.

Cheers, J.

`

I was checking the Peavey site for some
other reason, and I noticed that they're
the TE distributor these days. Maybe it's
old news and I'm just the last to know ?

Somehow it makes sense, since both TE
and Peavey make stuff that weighs way
too much :-/



`

I was never a fan of Peavey for bass, but their new tube guitar amps apparently rock. I think the Ampeg SVT Head still wins the heaviness battle.

`

O yea, I got this Peavy tube head, an real oldie,
4-power-tube, 130W thing, called "Rockmaster"
[or something close to that]. It's a G-head not
a B-head but it rocks for fretless, and has cool
features like a second gain thingy on the 'pre-'
side, called "The Pump". Anyways, cuz it's 'just
a Peavey' it cost about $150 in great shape. It
doesn't weigh any more than my 50W all tube
Bassman, yet there's no widespread attitude of
"Oh, Fender stuff is so overweight !" ... but this
Peavey has over twice the power with no added
weight ... Does the Peavey have that inimicable
Bassman tone ? Hey, the only idjits that think a
Bassman 50 is all that *and* a bag of chips are
tone-sick geetards. Here in Bassland, it's only a
moderately powered tube head whose price has
been jacked up by demand from geetards.

BTW once upon a time I did get sucked into the
Bassman 50 thing. I had both silver and black.
Now the only tube Bassman left here is a pink !
Yup. I got this *pink* Bassman 70 pretty cheap
before I found the Peavey. The 70 has two very
important advantages for us bassers. Tonewise,
it's cooler for bass cuz it's got a master volume
and a bit more power than a 50. Pricewise, it's
cheaper cuz the geetards all want the black 50,
might settle for a silver 50, but noooo waaaays
will they touch a 70 [pink, black or otherwise].

Acoarst, as a basser I want much less pre-amp
kruntch and a big steaming heap of power tube
BBQ. Thaz where a master volume works magic.
You can control your power tube saturation fully
independent of your pre-amp drive distortion.



`

My first real amp was a Bassman 50 with the chickenhead knobs, from one of the old tweed Bassman 410 combos. Some guy had taken it out of the combo and mounted it in a Formica cabinet that weighed at least 50 pounds. But that thing had juice enough to drive 2 JBL D140s and I never had to turn it up past 3. I might have paid $75 for it in 1966 and a friend made the cabinet for me for around $25. I used this till I picked up a blue sparkle Kustom 200 in 1968. Shoulda kept it but I sold it to one of my male groupies.

Yeah we do a lotta showtunes as well ;-)


And Ms Diva reeaally plays the Satin Doll.
You thunk I mean the tune ? Welll, yezzz
we do do that one, but I meant that she
plays the Satin Doll *role*, all day, every
day. So she has, so by association I have,
plenty of "male groopies".



`

And don't we all? More than females in my case. But that's another story.