Trace Elliot RAH 400 SMX Head

I inherited this amp from a friend that moved from base to guitar, I moved from sound engineer to bass player. Back when we were playing out bass was never a problem, this amp pushing an Ampeg 8x10 cab would rock most any club, good tight bass. Now I'm using it, hard rock mostly, and it is awesome, I get many compliments on the tone I'm getting, from the other musicians mostly. I play a Spector bass, which only weighs 7 pounds! and with this amp I am getting the deepest and most satisfying tone, in the active bass mode. It does have a tendency to hum, I'm always having to flip the ground lift or find another plug to get rid of hum. I use a direct box to the board so there is no hum in the mains, but before I got the DI it was a problem, running from the XLR outs on the back, but I've been using this amp for years now and have no desire to try anything else, it gives our band the solid bass a metal band requires. It has so many features that I have no idea what some of them are, never read the owners manual. But it does have every feature I want, that's all I care about.

Sounds great, Lots of controls on the front to adjust the tone, I messed with it a lot when I first got it but once I found the tone I wanted I haven't adjusted it in years. Sounds strong, very low tones without any octavier or effects.

I have toted this thing all over, set it up and tore it down a million times. I have total confidence in this amp, I have never ever had not one little problem with it, perfect performance. It's one of the things that I don't have to worry about. This is a 10 rating but I have to give it a 9 due to the hum problem, it really isn't that bad, and I don't know how much another amp may hum in the same situation, but it is worth mention

I wouldn't know, this amp is at least 12 years old I guess and I have never had to raise a screwdriver to it. So I have never had to call support for it.

As I said in the first place, I have no desire to replace this amp, it works perfectly for me and sounds exactly like I want it to, and is plenty strong. That has to be a good indorsement. The other bass player that used it played a Yamaha bass, and it sounded cocmpletely different, very piano string clean, and on my Spector it sounds deep and heavy, so choise of bass may have an effect on how much you may like this amp, but I love it, I can deal with the hum, the direct box makes it tollerable, and if I can find a good outlet at a gig it isn't a problem. a good power filter would probably help. Over all I love it.

It has the GP12 preamp. anyone who has used a Trace knows that that is the best bass preamp they made. This amp is the pre-Gibson era, therefore it has the preshape that the original designer took with when Gibson took over and they started to make some shoddy bass amps. I had the 350 watt model for a long time, then I got Mesa 400+. I could never get that *sound* again. The 350 watts was enough to cut through the 2 half stack, but the 400 watt model offers more headroom. This amp wa made Sept. 5 1997. The E.Q. section is very subtle. There is no need to do that radical V-shaped graphic EQ shape. A +/- 6-10db in any range is more than enough. The High/Low compression section is also very subtle. Just a touch, like 8-9 o'clock is enough on either control.

I use a Fender bass, I play rock music, and this amp keeps up. Clean with the solid state preamp, or a little distorted with the tube preamp (which I replaced the T.E. 12ax7 with a N.O.S. Phillips/JAN 12AX7A) or any combination of both.

This amp is bulletproof. Trace made some reliable stuff. My old 350 SMX fell right off the top of a SWR Megoliath (8x10") while operating, never missed a beat. I didn't even realise that it had fallen until our tech ran up and put it back up on the cabinet. It was then when I bought the 350 SMX, a Juice Goose, and a 6-space rack.

Trace is friendly. They took good care of me when I needed some stupid part. They had some N.O.S. stuff and they just sent it to me, free of charge.

I been playing for 20 years and been in the same band for 8 years. Like I said, I bought a Mesa 400+ in hopes of a louder and different tone. I could never get that Trace preshape sound out of the Mesa. Also, I always worried about tube burning out right before, or during a show. That actually happened 3 times with that Mesa. Therefore, it was always in the back of my mind when firing that amp up. It was in a shockmount case and it was taken care of, but then to re-tube that sunnuva@#$%^ was $400, so it was time to get rid of that thing, which I have no regrets about. It also weighed about 500lbs! (More like 40lbs, or so). I went back to the same Trace I used to have, except its 400 watts instead of 350. Its got the sound, the features, and everything that I am used to. I can't say enough good about this amp. If you are on the fence about buying one, don't hesitate. They are going nothing but up in price, as they are getting harder and harder to find.