Trace Elliot V-8 Head

From the Trace Elliot website (I can't be more complete myself):

400 watt RMS valve amplifier head featuring V-Type preamp. 100% valve signal path. 8x KT88 fan cooled power valves. 7x ECC83/12AX7 preamp valves. 1x EM84 display valve. Switchable gain controls. 3 Band passive EQ with bright and deep switching. Switchable valve compressor. Effects loop. Pre/post EQ Balanced DI output. Line Output. Full/Half power switch. Output valve fuse protection. External biasing facility. 2 way footswitch included (for Gain I/II and Compressor).

Basses used: Warwick Corvette Standard (Passive 4 string, tuned to B) & G&L L-2000 (USA).
Cabinets: 2 Peavey 410TVX 4x10 cabs

Alrighty. I had my first band session with this amp, yesterday evening. Man man man did this amp blow me of my sox!!

First of all. The sound is awesome. So rich in tone. Really excellent. The EQ is very very powerful. A little goes a long way on the the bass/mid/treble knobs. This amps doesn't have extended features like graphic eq's and tons of boost and cut knobs. The little knobs it has (bright/deep/midshift) are all very useful. The Bright knobs adds some nice overtones, nothing harsh. Deep smacks your balls to the walls and the midshift knob shifts the mids center position to somewhere to 2Khz. When I did this I couldn't believe my ears (and chest). Pumping out strong start/stop rhythms felt like someone was pounding my chest with a ten ton hammer. Talk about punch, my friends...

The compressor is also very very good. I don't know if it's got anything to do with the tubes but this compressor sounds good. I had a pedal compressor in the past, the 'should-be-goud' EBS MultiComp, but it didn't do much to my ears. This Trace comp however adds a lot. Good compression that is.... hehe this amp made me understand compression as well.

What I like a lot is the second, overdrive channel. It sounds very very gritty and that's the way I like it. The Ampeg SVT-3 Pro I had sounds somewhat woolier. Less articulated. Of course you can make the Trace sound wooly if you like.

I never really liked clean-clean tones. The SVT-3 was too, well, not punchy enough so I've always used overdrive. Yesterday night was the first time I fell in love with a clean sound. Channel 1 on this amp sounds so damn nice. Warm warmer warmest.

Ow yeah. This amp is loud. Really LOUD. REALLY REALLY LOUD! I had it on 2 and it was earthshakingly loud. Hehehe I might check that half power switch on the back of the amp :)

Anyway. I'm sold. I want tubes and nothing else. This baby did it. Really. I had the SVT-3 Pro for two years and played and gigged it A LOT. And I liked it as well. Only, with the Ampeg I kept on changing my sound night after night, you know, in search of that holy-grail-sound that I never found in that amplifier. The V8 was instant GRAIL of the holy grails if you know what I mean. Everything set flat was already completely awesome sounding.

So far my first mini review. Next saturday is the first band rehearsal with this amp. Can't wait. Can't wait to hear it in some real songs; yesterday was a jam session.

Bought it used, but it looks like new. Never had an all tube amp but I guess these things are made for touring. However, I'm getting a decent heavy duty flightcase for this baby.

No idea.

I love this amp. I'm playing bass for about four years now. This is my first tube amp and I can't imagine going back to hybrids or solid state amps.

This amp is very rare, hence the zero reviews in this section). Get it when you find one!