Trace Elliot 1048H Cabinet

At the time it was produced, it was state of the art and lead the bass specialty market in quality and sound. 4 X 10' drivers and a variable tweeter easily sculpt the desired sound pallet for most any style of music. Older style cosmetics with the black "pimple" tolex and a pair of round low frequency ports. Well designed rear plate with a variable tweeter control that is recessed to avoid damage. A Speakon connector would be a nice add, however, when it was made Speakon really wasn't very common. I rotate many different heads with this cabinet given my mood for the moment and they all sound great -- Ampeg B5R, Galien & Kreuger 800RB, SWR Studio 220, Warwick Pro Tube IV, Trace Elliot RAH-600, and Ernie Ball HD-500 to name but a few.

I have over 30 basses in my collection -- Fender 74 Jazz 4, 57 Precision 4, Roscoe Beck signature 5, Marcus Miller signature 4, Jazz Deluxe 5, Hot Rod Precision 4, Modulus Quantum 5, Ernie Ball Sting Ray 4 and 5, Warwick Thumb, 4, 5, & 5 Fretless, Carvin 6 Fretless, Jackson USA 4, GMP 4, Peavey TL-6, Rickenbacker 4001, Kawai, Guild, Heartfield, ... you get the picture. Active & Passive setups, I would say the specific amp heads feeds the qualities of each bass just a little bit differently. The key is to maximize the tone of the bass through the pre-gain and then use the post gain to set the overall volume of the cab. From bright sparkle to deep rumble, the cabinet is able to take it all in stride and has given me trouble free service for years. A very nice blend of power and tone. Who could ask for more?!

Not quite sure how old the cabinet is (perhaps mid to late 90's) but it is very well built and still has the original drivers and tweeter in it. They sound remains as good as ever. I will downgrade a point for the following -- the cabinet is deceptively heavy (I may just be getting old!) and the model/wattage/serial number/ohms data hand written on the back panel has long-since rubbed off.

Never needed due to the seemingly bullet-proof construction. (And that should be a company's greatest compliment!)

Been playing about 30 years. I definitely would try to find another as it was easily worth three to four times what I paid for it (I picked it up used (the guy selling it was moving so he let it go for cheap!) At my age I need to get around to putting casters on it, however, I always prefer having my bass cabinets firmly planted on the floor. Given my extensive bass and bass amp collection, I love to dabble in tone. Cabinets do make a difference and that is why I enjoy the many different cabinets I currently own (this is one of four different 4X10's I have. I also have 2X15's, 1X15's, 18's, 2X10's, 2X12's, and a Trace Elliot 1248H). I really like Trace Elliot gear. The 1048H is a keeper with great tone and range.

It's not a 1048H actually, it's a 1048. I'm just to lazy to make a new thread.
So, it's a ported 4x10" cab, made in GB. It handles 320W at 8 Ohm. No tweeter. Terminal block with 1/4" and XLR connectors and facility to "daisy chain". No speakon, but with its relatively low power handling capabilities it's not a problem.
It's quite heavy for a 410, but is very well balanced, so it's not that difficult to move it around even without casters.
I'm not a tweeter guy, but I can't give it more then 8 because of the lack of it. Tweeter is a pretty standard feature, and even though I would eventually turn it off I think there should be one.

It's not the cleanest sounding cab I ever played, but still it has no problems reproducing highs even though the lack of the tweeter. Very good bottom end. Actually if you don't plan on going lower than D you wont need an extra 15". It's definitely a rock cab. If you play rock, blues or stuff like that you won't be disappointed. I guess it would also suit the needs of reggae, metal and country bass players, but I'm just guessing (based on the bass tones I hear on concerts and albums concerning those kinds of music), not much experience there.
The sound is very similar to the Ampeg SVT-810E. Of course it's not as loud, but hey, it's half the speakers and almost half the weight. And also half the price. There are slight differences in response between this cabs (Trace is ported, Ampeg is not), but you notice them only if you really want to. Since it fits all my needs, I'm giving it a 9. Never know if there isn't something that will fit them better.

Never encountered a problem. Since the cab is pretty old I guess it's a sign of good craftsmanship. A very reliable cab. Still I always have a backup, but never needed it so far.

Never dealt with them yet. No opinion here.

A very good cab. Not perfect, but I think I wouldn't call any other cab perfect as well, so it's fine. It's not a cab for everyone - it's definitely a rock cab, so if you are into that kind of music and need a good-price-for-value 4x10" you won't be disappointed with this cab.

Made in 1998. Four 10" drivers, a single 1" Horn tweeter and two large tubular ports. Expanded metal grille, mounted on rubber grommets to avoid vibration. Stainless corner protectors. Covered in green carpet (Dark!).
Terminal block with 1/4" and XLR connectors and facility to "daisy chain". There's also a tweeter attenuator.
Drivers are custom-made Celestion C100h, rated at 80 watts each with a 32ohm load. Altogether this yields 320w rms power handling and a nominal 8ohm impedance. The drivers feature very small voice-coil covers (to liberate more cone area), have rear-vented voice-coils (to reduce air noise/turbulence in front of the drivers), and are kevlar reinforced. If used with an excessively powerful amp, it would be possible to damage this unit, but that is true of any cabinet....

The cabinet sounds very clean and ordered in terms of presentation. It naturally works well with Trace Elliot amplifiers. It posseses great attack and clarity without the excessive upper-mid hype of, say, a Hartke Aluminium-coned affair.It runs out of low-frequency puff at about low "D", so all you 5 and 6 stringers are going to need a 1x15 or 1x18 (etc) to put under it. At no point has it shown any signs of distress when being played. I use it as an extension to my Trace Elliot 2x10 combo (122HSMX), and all the buzzes, squeaks and rattles come from the surrounding environment. Have just played a gig with only vocal PA, and had comments from audience members over 15 metres away about how it was making their chest cavity resonate.... I guess it must move some air as part of a 6x10" 300watt (rms) set-up.

Bomb-proof reliability. It has never let me down. looks like new after six years' worth of practice/ gigging/ being bounced in and out of cars. I don't abuse my equipment, but still....
The only difference between new and now is that it smells of cigarette smoke (but don't they all after a while!)

Excellent. I live 30mins from the factory. They've always been very accomodating and helpful, both over the telephone or in person. This unit has never been back. They serviced a previous amp for me. I got more for that 1110 in p/x for this 1048 and 122HSMX pairing than I paid for it.....

I've been playing about 10 years now. I chose this primarily due to reliability, price and ease of servicing if necessary. Compared it with Hartke, SWR, and Eden products. All were MUCH more costly, and did not significantly improve on the 1048h (if at all). If I blow the drivers (not likely), I'll simply replace them, possibly with better ones (Eminence, Fane, EV)

It?s a speakers cabinet, but it has two useful features:
variable tweeter level control
speakers tuning ports
I bought this cabiner togheter with a GP12SMX 250 WATT
I?ve used my head with a lot of other 4x10: SWR, AMPEG, MARSHALL, HARTKE, GALLIEN KRUEGER, TUBE WORKS, PEAVEY, LANEY, HUGHES&KETTNER but the 1048h is the perfect match.
This cabinet is rated 320 Watts (80 per speaker), much less than others; i?ve used my Trace togheter with other cabinets rated twice the power, but i never heard any difference in terms of output volume.
A little bit heavy, but i think that power and quality can hardly be matched with light weight

Absolutely perfect, this is an excellent 4x10 cabinet, fast and sharp, punchy and defined, can handle the full power of my 250 Watt head alone, and gives me all the power i need (even though i use it togheter with an ampeg 4x10, power is never enough!).

Bought new in 1994, and still perfect without changing anything. Trace Elliot is famous for the reliability of their stuff, and i can only confirm the verdict: Green branded tanks!!

E-mailed them once for a technical suggestion, the only answer was the Return Receipt (one mount later!!)

I strongly recommend this cabinet to everyone, for both his sound & realiability, but remember:
a cabinet should ever be heard with the head supposed to drive it