Trace Elliot AH300-12 Series 6 Head

Not sure what year this head was made but I purchased it used in about 1996. Serial number is hard to read but I'd guess the manufacture date is about 1993. Other than the aforementioned lack of an inline compressor, this bass has has pretty much everything you'd need (or I need). Especially appreciated (and especially by sound guys in venues) is the xlr direct, out of the amp's face, which allows you to send the signal pre-equalized while your power signal is equalized. "Mid-shape" button nicely cuts the mids with out over-powering the signal as heard on other amps (such as swr's "aural enhancer"). This is my main rig, used only for larger venues and wedding-type gigs.

Here is where the amp shines. The best Solid State amp I have heard in terms of tone. Now I know everyone on these forums says "best tone ever" and "a 10 for sure". Then you look and see (no offense) that they've been playing for 3 years and their favorite band is Blink 182 (again, no offense). I had this amp mainly as a back-up for most of the time I owned it. I never bothered dialing it in and always had more "powerful" amps to be my main amp. I know now (last few years) what I crazy fool I was.
I use a fretless Alembic with soapbars though this guy. My main music lately has been blazing fast Zydeco (man, I never thought I'd ever be playing that) and the tone is punchy (but without sacrificing tone as I feel Ampeg does) with that badass eq'd balance. Amp is DEAD quiet and begins to break up, not very pleasingly (it IS solid state) at the end the volume capabilities. TOP NOTCH TONE and with a good compressor, perfect. BTW, a nine because of the itty bit of help a compressor gives and almost NO tone is a 10, IMHO.

Amp has broken down, and during a big outdoor gig at that. However, it was a solder that had vibrated loose in it's 17 years of play and being dropped occasionally and the direct signal kept going, thank God (ah, playing a gig without being able to hear yourself at all). Repair was cheap and quick and I will still use it without a backup. It does seem to be built like a tank (oh, so heavy) but has the lame "sealed rubberized case" all TE's had when they were still made by TE.

The old TE is long gone and I have no idea what the status of the Peavey owned co. is like. Repair stated above. No idea about warranties but wouldn't matter now anyway.

Been playing 20 years. Have narrowed my bass gear down to two set ups:
Alembic fretless through the Trace
Early fretted G&L SB-1 through a 70's Fender Studio bass (200w all tube) head.
Eden 4-10 cab for both.
SWR Workingman's combo for the small gigs and upright bass, bluegrass stuff.
The AH-300 is such a screaming deal used that I would definitely purchase another. It really, really is tops in solid state tone. 300w is more than enough; big gigs have house sound for crying out loud (took me a while to figure that one out)!

Not as many features as say a new Mesa, but then again, this doesn't need anything else to sound good. I love the dual compressors and the balance knob between them. The Valve Drive control adds a bit of growl, although I use Fulltone Bass Drive Mosfet foot pedal for getting that "crunchy clunk" sound when playing smaller rooms that don't let me drive the amp as hard. The classic Trace shape feature is key, and if my strings start to go dead at the end of a long four-set night, I can add some brightness back in with the Harmonic Emphasis control. Not needed with new strings, but nice to have for old ones. It has a 12-band EQ, but I don't know why, as I've never had to use it to get the tone I want.

Can't give it ten, as there's no such thing as "the perfect tone." I play three bases through this. My main bass is a 5-string J-Bass, I also play an 8-string Schecter and a 4-string P-Bass, all with active electronics. I've had numerous sound men, many other bassists, guitarists and drummers ask me where I get my tone. I just point to the Trace. I've used it as the back-line bass amp at shows with multiple bands and every bass player loves it, no matter what they have. I play classic rock, hard rock, some punk, and this thing just plain kicks on all of them. Even though I love this amp, I'm always in search of the "perfect tone" and will play every amp I can find just to see if there's anything better. The only thing I've played that comes close to this is the new Mesa Big Block Titan V12, but given the price of that beast versus the $300 I paid for this, I'll take my Trace every day. The only draw back I can see is that I need to use my Fulltone pedal to get the growl I want at lower volumes, but I use it for my 8-string all the time anyway, so now I just leave it on no matter what volume I'm pushing.

Bought it used from Music Go Round three years ago and have not had a single issue.

Never needed any...

I've been playing for over 26 years now and have used Ampeg, Peavey, GK, Fender, straight power amps and diect lines for live gigs. This is the best sound I've every had or heard. It gives me a sound somewhere between Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick from their first album and Eddie Jackson of Queensryche from the Empire album.

This has been covered already. The EQ is great, but could use a few more features.

I bought mine in pawn shop for $300.00, I got a lot more than what I payed for. This thing is really really loud. The sound I get from it is on a whole new level compared to my old hartke combo. I can finally get that incubus SCIENCE sound I was looking for. This thing is great, it does funk and rock really well.

I don't really know, I just got it 2 weeks ago. But it seems very study and well built.

No idea

Great amp, especially for only $300.00. It was a steal. With the extra money I saved I'm gonna get some nice rack processors and stuff. This thing is worth well over $800.00, it sounds like a amp that should be more than a grand! The only down falls are the lack of features. No compressor, limiter, or anything that more current bass amps have. Also, it's pretty heavy for a Head. But the great sound you get from the amp offsets all the downfalls and then some.

This thing is amazing, it has most the standard bass features: Master vol., overdrive, noisegate, etc... But it also has an AMAZING 12 band equalizer that makes this head incredible. In addition, there's the very cool UV light on the front that illuminates the head's face for a cool effect and easy stage adjustments. Everyone else covered the features, so I don't think I need to say anymore.

This bass amp is hands down the BEST bass head I have ever heard in my entire life. This thing can do anything with its 12 band EQ and 300 powerful watts. This thing never breaks up and is silent. No hissing or static. I love this bass for any style of music, it really does everything. I personally use it mostly for jazz, funk, and some bluegrass fusion type music. It's great, I can slap/pop or finger as much as a I please. It just takes a little adjustment of the 12 band EQ and I can get any sound I want. I added the Trace Elliot SMX Dual Compressor pedal to my mix, OH WOW. This pedal is amazing too, Trace Elliot really knows how to make their stuff. The pedal added a little extra punchyness to my slap/pop sound. This combo is the BEST SOUND YOU CAN GET. I HIGHLY SUGGEST this head to anyone that wants a great amp at a great price. These things are going for almost nothing now on Ebay. I picked mine up for a measley $550.00. Thats half the cost of what they originally were, but they sound just as good. I don't think I have heard any amp sound this good. It crushes my Fender bassman and my SWR workingman. There's no contest.

THIS THING IS A TANK. It doesn't weigh 60lbs for nothing. 60lbs for a head is quite a bit. I think a lot of the weight is due to the THICK plastic outer casing. I have dropped this thing from above my 4x10 cab multiple times. A little chip of the plastic might come out, but it still works fine. I have and don't expect to ever have any problems with this head.

I don't know about this. But I assume it is difficult to reach them, since they were bought out by Gibson recently.

All in all, this is THE AMP to have. It is the best tone you will find in an amp under $2000.00. I guarantee it. If you actually catch one of these babies on Ebay, I'd pick it up in an instant. (I'd buy another if I found one, despite me trusting in its durability. I'd just like one stay at home with me all the time so I wouldn't have to use my SWR.) The only thing the amp needs the SMX dual compressor built into it. Then it would truly be the most amazing piece of music craftsmanship ever.

12-band graphic eq, balanced direct out (on the front of the amp - why don't more manufacturers do this? Soundmen really appreciate this feature.), input gain, effects loop, preamp out, and a real cool UV light on the front :) 300 REALLY FRICKIN' LOUD watts. I've never had to turn it up past 3 1/2. I wish it had a dedicated tuner out, and it'd be nice if the effect loop was footswitchable, but that really wasn't very common when I bought this amp, it seems to be something that has caught on in the past 5 years or so. I bought this amp new in '91. The speaker outs are rather odd...there's one standard quarter inch jack, and another that's a female XLR...if I lost the included XLR-to-quarter inch cable, I'd be screwed.

I use a somewhat complicated setup on this rig: My main bass is an Ibanez soundgear SR5000 (glad I bought it, they're not made like this one anymore), with a Fender jazz as a backup. I go from a Sampson wireless to a skb pedalboard with a digitech bass whammy, a morley bass wah, an ibanez tube screamer, an akai deep impact pedal, and a digitech talker. Then back to the amp, with a dbx compressor and a BBE sonic maximizer in the effect loop. My cabs are all Harke, a 4X10 and a 1X15. I boost the highs and lows on the eq, a typical smile curve. This amp is not very versatile. You can only get one really good sound out of it. Fortunately, that sound is absolutely incredible! Deep lows, sizzling highs, and a punch that'll make you weak in the knees. If you have a bass with an active eq, you can get more sounds that way, that's what I do. If you like to tweak, find another amp. I've not touched my eq settings in 8 years.

I always travel with all the extra stuff I can possibly carry, ie., extra cords, fuses, backup amp, backup bass, etc.. Doesn't it always seem that the guitar player is always begging to borrow a cord or power strip, and if I had a nickel for every time my drummer needed to borrow "just a bit" of grey tape...anyway, I have never had the slightest problem with this amp. After over 10 years of hard use, it still has the original fuses in it, and the UV light still looks cool onstage. Once a clumsy girlfriend dropped it out the back of the van onto the parking lot...bounced a few times, got a real deep gouge in the top, but still works like a charm. Did I mention that the UV light looks really cool onstage?

never had to deal with them.

This is a one-trick pony, But it's a very neat trick. This is a very heavy amp (my bandmates call it the hernia machine). Lugging it to and from gigs will definitely make a man out of you. With a few more minor features, a few less pounds, and maybe make it rackmountable, it'd be the perfect amp for me. As it is, it's pretty darn close. I've never heard anything come close to how this sounds. If I lost it, I'd probably try out some of the newer trace heads, but if I didn't like 'em, I'd find another used one.

I haven't a clue how old this amp is but age doesn't seem to be any factor as it's still primo. Sure, I got it second hand and it does look like it's got a few years filth on it - the old schoolness of it all just adds to the atmosphere.
Having one doubt about using amps with a solitary graphic EQ I was somewhat reluctant but given the high profile that Trace has, not to mention a kick-ass sound led me to believe the trip to get this was worth it.
I predominantly play ska with funk and worship on the side and this amp is a beauty for all.
300 Watts into 4 ohms is plenty for me and I've hardly had to go beyond half volume. The good thing about that is that there's still lot's of headroom to go should I go louder. So, this is primo for any gig other than stadium stuff. This amp is solid-state and is well suited for outdoor stuff too - just don't get it wet!

Much like my other amp head tho, it doesn't have built-in compression or limiting or anything like that. But that aside, features like the 12-band EQ, a (pre or post switchable) D.I is all good.

I use an Ibanez ATK 5-string and this amp head is the perfect compliment as the bass has typical korean sounds and not like the primo american or european stuff that is of a bassist's dream.

With the large EQ comes large variance although I've usually only got it on a parabola shape with hi's and lows right up there. This is so because I play ska and wish to be heard. Reason being that I'm competing with drums, 2 horns, 2 guitars and 2 vocalists so the bass can get lost. With this thing humming I'm heard anywhere and everywhere.

This amp head is actually my back-up but as I've only just got it - i'll be using it more coz I want my newer one to last longer. Nonetheless it's real good live and I haven't had any problemos. I bought this second hand and it's UV light is missing so that was always gonna be a gamble in buying something used.

That's the only trouble I've had. One thing tho, it's only got one jack out to run only one cab so if you have 2 cabs off this head - you're outta luck.

And it's also flippin heavy (in excess of 15 kgs, for an amp head - that's heaps too heavy)

I haven't ever had to have this amp fixed for anything sound-wise. Currently I'm just working on the UV light thing but even if that won't ever work... it's still primo.

7 years is how long I've been playing and I know a good sound when I hear one... Trace Elliot are big on the bass scene coz they have a big sound - simple as that. You really do notice Trace above other manufacturers but I'm yet to be convinced that it's better than my Ashdown tho.

It would be a bonus if I could get the UV light going - that'd be the icing on the cake. However I like it the way it is - pretty pashable for 2nd hand!!!