Trace Elliot Bonneville 112 Combo

This is another update on my Bonneville.

My amp started making a strange howling sound, kind of like a shortwave tuner. It was mostly happening when I selected the high gain preamp option. At first I thought it was a bad preamp tube, but after swapping out all of the tubes, it made no difference. In addition, I would get intermittent bursts of a nasty distortion - it started happening during the last 1/2 hour of a gig so luckily I was able to finish out the gig. Anyways, I traced the problem to a broken solder joint on the underside of the preamp circuit board. If you look where the input jack is located, you'll notice to wires connecting to the board right in front of the input jack itself. This was where the problem occurred. I pulled the board out and resoldered the connection and the problem was solved. However, in the process of putting it back together, I broke the 3 way preamp switch while trying to get the knob back on. The main reason I'm posting this is to mention that you can get parts for the Bonneville at http://www.britishaudioservice.com. The owner Shane used to be an engineer for Trace Elliot and he knows his stuff. He's got a great stock of parts and if you don't see what you need listed, shoot him an email. Excellent service and knowledge to back it up. I replaced the switch and all is well now - if you ever have to do this, make sure you keep the knob that was originally on the switch separate from the rest. They all look identical, but the shaft on the preamp switch is slightly larger than the shafts on the other pots.

I think it's hard to get support from Trace Elliot these days as all they make are bass amps now. I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard that Shane bought the rest of the parts inventory for the Bonnevilles, so bookmark http://www.britishaudioservice.com in case you ever need to get parts.

This is just an update to my previous review, and this has been stated already, so no comment here.

After years of using EL34's in this amp, I switched it over to 6L6's and I've been really digging it ever since. It's a different sound, but seems to give more highs and a more Fenderish clean sound. I front end my amp with a Barber Burn Unit and typically use the Preamp 1 setting with the Gain around noon. The sustain with the 6L6's is really nice, it jumps an octave after a bit so you hear the higher octave in the sustained note. After owning this amp for several years, I still am amazed at the wide variety of tones available from it. This amp smokes, and with the 6L6's, I like it even better than with the EL34's. It just feels more responsive and seems to have even more tonal options than with the EL34's. Give it a try if you haven't already done so, after all it's easy enough to switch between the two types of tubes.

Has been rock solid for me - I sent it to Trace Elliot back before Gibson acquired them and had them go through the amp to make sure everything was working as desired.

I've never had an issue with Gibson's customer support, they've always been helpful and willing to go the extra mile to help.

Excellent amp, sounds better than many boutique amps I've heard.

***UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS REVIEW***

When I first reviewed the amp, I was running it with the fx loop activated in series mode. I have since started setting the loop to parallel. The parallel setting is much closer, tone-wise, to the sound of the amp with the loop bypassed altogether (which is really the way the amp sounds best, but I like my chorus & delay in the loop...). An added benefit of running the amp this way is that it gets much louder much faster, and it also just "feels" hotter as I'm playing it. I can get the thing cooking with the master volume around 8 to 9 o'clock now, whereas with the loop set to serial, I had to crank the master to upwards of 11 o'clock - noon. It took some teaking of all my pedals, plus tweaking of the send & return knobs for the loop, to get things to work this way, but the improvement in volume & especially tone is well worth it.

My next "master plan" is to have a buddy of mine build a head box & matching 1x12 cab for it, but that's a story for another day... 8^D

I picked the Bonneville up used through the HC classifieds; I'm not sure exactly what year it was built, but I'm pretty sure Trace Elliot had discontinued it before Gibson bought them out.

It's a single channel amp design, but with the added twist of multiple (3) preamp "voicings," selectable via a knob on the front panel (no footswitching for this function, which is just as well because there's a very audible delay when switching voicings). These voicings loosly reflect the "big three": 1 is Fenderish, 2 is Marshallesque, and 3 nods sharply towards Mesa/Boogie. In amp terms, that's three gain stages, four gain stages, and five gain stages, respectively. For some players, that fact may make this more of a studio amp than one for live performance... More on that under Sound Quality.

The Bonneville includes a number of "bells & whistles" type features: an effects loop that can be footswitched in & out, and that can be set for series or parallel, and with send & level controls; a bias switch to change from EL34 power tubes to 6L6s; an "output damping" control that adjusts the degree to which the cabinet resonance of the combo affects overall tone; separate boost switches in the eq section for highs & mids; passable reverb (not great but not bad); a pentode/triode switch that takes it from 50 watts to c. 20 watts, and also gives the overall sound a less gainy, looser feel; and dual master volumes (footswitchable), for a solo-boost before Mesa thought up that name . . .

What's impressive to me is that, despite all that extra circuitry, the signal path remains all tube (5 12AX7s & 2 EL34s) and sounds very pure and natural. The combo came stock with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, which some people love & some hate. I love it, personally.

I think this amp should be rated fairly high for features, given the number of extras it carries, but many folks will be put off by the restrictions of using a single channel at a time, especially for live situations. In an attempt to be fair to everyone's perspective, I'm giving it a seven.

My primary guitar is a Hamer USA Mirage Koa Top with three Strat-sized Seymore Duncan pickups: 2 cool rails (neck & mid) and a recently acquired Lil' 59 humbucker in the bridge. I run through a Microvibe, Phase 90, and Keeley-modded SD-1 (as a clean boost) into the front end of the Bonneville, with a Choralflange and an Analogman-modded Deluxe Memory Man in the loop (set for series). With this setup, I play just about everything except country, from warm jazzy/bluesy chords & melodies to classic hard rock, to old-school heavy rock & early metal (with the SD-1 boosting the front end).

The reason I'm able to get so many sounds is because this amp is so incredibly sensitive to touch & dynamics. Changes in right & left hand technique, as well as adjustments of the guitar's volume knob, get translated very well into the sound coming from the speaker. I simply set the amp on the second voicing style (the Marshall-ish one) and set the gain a bit past three o'clock, and with my guitar's volume on about 8 with the bridge 'bucker, it's classic rock crunch heaven. If play lighter or roll back the volume, the tone cleans up nicely. Switching to the single coils gets me into beautiful blues territory, and with the guitar's volume rolled down, I get a nice jazzy clean that's more sparkly & dynamic than if I set the amp itself for clean. On the flip side, with the bridge humbucker & the amp crunching, slamming the front with the boost takes me straight to old-school metal-land.

One thing about the tone, though... This amp truly does have a sweet spot on the master volume control. Unless it's cranked up to about 11 o'clock (preferably higher), the distortion can sound thin and less defined/articulate. However, once you open up those EL34s and get her cookin', it's all over. If anyone ever asks what rock guitar is "s'pozed ta" sound like, grab a Bonneville, crank it up & give 'em a demo, baby. I'm thinking about trying some THD yellow jackets to get that kind of crankage at lower levels... Cranked up, it is a sweet, sweet sound, though. I now understand where the sterotype of the LOUD guitar player comes from, if this is how British amps were built back in the day.

I had a small reliability issue when I first received the amp. It was used, had not been played in a while, and had been shipped clear across the country. I took it to a local tech, who found some loose connections -- he cleaned the whole amp and fixed the connections and she's been rock solid dependable ever since. I worry about all the "extras" circuitry, insofar as that's more stuff to break down, but honestly the build quality seems very solid. It really is awful that Gibson dismantled the custom shop guitar amp line when they bought Trace Elliot.

Trace Elliot's website still provides access to the original owner's manual in .pdf format, which is a very good thing, and I also found a technical/scematic file online when I was having that reliability issue. I have not, however, dealt directly with Trace Elliot, so I cannot comment on their customer service.

I've been playing for, jeez louise, is it seventeen years now? Yikes! For many years, I used a midi rack setup, but about three years ago, I switched to single-channel tube amps, and I haven't looked back. Of those, this is the best sounding one I've played personally, the most touch-responsive, the most tonally complex. (Bear in mind, though, that I have not played all the fancy booteequee amps out there...) If it were lost/stolen, I'd *definitely* try to track down another one, but they are fairly hard to find used, since not too many were made before Trace discontinued the line. I might, on the other hand, try to track down a used Speed Twin, which was the flaship of this particular amp line...

What I love about the Bonneville is it's responsiveness, it's versatility (a staggaring array of different tones--with the exact same amp settings--just by altering my playing technique & the guitar's volume knob) and it's undeniable BRITISH-NESS. I practically have to start using a Cockney accent when I play it! I would like to convert it to a head & cab setup, but I don't have the building skills-- looks like a job for a certain friend of mine, hehe. But even as a combo, the tone is massive and expressive, and really lets me sound like me, which is exactly what an amp should be and do, in my opinion.

As stated by another reviewer, only 400 of these were made from March '95 to September '96. In the manual, it states that the design brief was simply to create a one-channel all-valve guitar amplifier. That's exactly what it is, but the amount of though that's gone into giving you every possible option for tone & sound versatility is astonishing for an amp its size & price.

It's like a boutique amp in terms of tone & features. You have three main presets to choose from. The first is the 'clean' channel, which is designed to sound like a Fender Twin. It does a good job at that, and when you whack the gain up it gives a lovely SRV-esq biting tone. The second channel is designed to sound like a British valve amp - i.e. Marshall, Vox, Orange etc, and it has a real warmth to the sound. It's not for Metallica wannabes, but for less extreme forms of rock it fits the bill nicely. The third channel is the proper 'crunch' channel. It has an excellent smooth distortion tone which suits me down to the ground. I'm not sure if it's really for metallers, because it's such a pure tone, but you can get an awesome overall crunch sound that versatile & changable

There is a footswitch that accompanies the amp. You can switch the reverb on & off & switch between the two main master volumes, which is useful for a solo/lead boost when neccesary. You can select the different valves you wish to use (EL34 or 6L6) & you can select either Pentode mode (full 50 watt output - more broad/middley tone) or Triode mode (20 watt output - tightens the sound - Useful for crunch.) You also have output damping which loosens/tightens the tone depending on your preference.

It has an effects loop, but I never use it. I just like a good clean tone & a good cruch tone & to be able to fine tune both. I presume it works fine.

For a 1 x 12 50 watt combo, this has mad power & mad volume. Unlike some amps, the volume switches are truly responsive, so it proportinately increases as you turn up the dials rather than getting as loud as it actually gets by 12 o' clock.

The one downside with this amp is the lack of a footswitchable clean/crunch. As stated before, it's only a one-channel amp, so being able to switch between the presets would be useful, but I use a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver for crunch live & whilst it's not quite up to the crunch tone on the amp, it works a treat & sounds better than any other combo its size I've heard. It's designed more as a versatile, multi-purpose recording amp, but it's still very giggable with a pedal for crunch. Whilst I appreciate it's not in the spec, I feel I have to dock one point for the lack of footswitchable channels. Other than that, it's really something.

I use a Gordon-Smith Graf deluxe, which has one single coil & one humbucker - Both Gordon-Smith original pickups. I play alternative/grunge rock in my band & I like jamming blues, funk & occasionally a little metal.

The Bonneville has absolutely everything I need. As stated by another reviewer on this site, the only sound this amp can't do is a bad sound - It really is that simple. The tone controls are really responsive, so that helps with the variety of sounds that are available. It's not noisy at all, and stays quiet to a very loud output. The clean channel doesn't distort at high volume, but when it's got a fair amount of gain on it it gives a lovely rich blues tone. The distortion is perfect for me for recording. I'm not sure it would suit the average Slipknot fan, but then I don't think they are as bothered about tone as me...

Top dollar.

I've actually not had mine for long, but my friend has had one since '96, gigged it extensively & now uses it as his stock amp in his recording studio, so I feel confident giving it a ten, because it's a Trace & it's seriously well-made.

It's hand-wired, everything's solid-looking & people that play Trace know that they care about build quality.

Can't really comment - Haven't had to find out.

Absolutely awesome. I'd struggle to find another one if it were lost, but I'd want to. I chose it because I knwe it was the Daddie-O from ny friend playing in a previous band.

Now I will never want to go back.

This is a 50/20 watt single channel 1x12 combo. Tons of features, the most trick feature is the preamp style selection. 3 styles, the first is Fenderish, using 3 12ax7 gain stages with a cathode follower. The second adds a fourth gain stage, think Marshall, and the third adds a fifth stage, no follower, and slams the power section like a Mesa. I wish I could footswitch between the styles, but I can't, and that's the only thing I wish the amp could do that it doesn't do already. EQ features are gain, bass, mid, treble, presence, bright boost, mid boost, and two footswitchable master volumes. Also, pentode 50 watt or triode 20 watt. And speaker damping, which I've never seen before but works nicely. The damping tightens or relaxes the low end, and controls harmonics. The speaker is a Celestion Vintage 30. There is a speaker mute switch. There are extension speaker jacks and impedance switching. There is an effects loop which can be serial or parallel, with send and receive level controls, and an on/off switch to bypass the loop entirely. On board reverb, which is in the loop. The effects loop is footswitchable. Other features are EL34 / 6L6 bias switching, with a bias test point and trimmer pots on the back panel. I can bias this amp in less than three minutes. There are six 7025s (12ax7s) and two output tubes, your choice. You can use any tube whose plate is pin 3, ie 5881, el34, 6l6, or 6550. I love EL34 pentode, and 6l6 triode. The construction is unreal. Preamp tube shields are heavy steel and chromed. Transformers, of which there are three, are large, and chromed. Beautiful. The knobs are heavy and chromed, the switches are serious. The tolex is dark green with a green and black basketweave grill, and the chassis is black powder coat with white lettering. Its a gorgeous amp, even inside. The wiring is spectacular, with not one single corner cut anywhere at all. As a performance amp, it's missing channel switching. Mesa makes single channel amps with mode switching, with gain controls for each mode. It would be nice if this amp had that for gigging. Otherwise, it's a swiss army knife built to an extremely high standard.

I play a Gibson Les Paul mostly, and occasionally I practice with a Fender American Strat. I'm hard rock oriented, playing both classic like Blue Oyster Cult, and modern, like Tool. Even with all the tweaking and experimenting that can be done with this amp, I got great tone immediately. The clean style can be good and clean, but to get headroom out of it you've got to back off on the guitar volume, same with the Marshall style. The Mesa style never gets clean. The clean style can break up quite a bit with the gain up which gives a nice variety of blues tones. Overall this amp is really a high gain rock and roll amp - the mesa style gain is over the top if you dime it. The tone controls are very effective, but also very interactive. I can dial myself into bad tone, to no fault of the amp. The range of control is wide, from dark to bright, articulated or muddy, it's all in there. It sounds great in my living room, and also cranked with a Mesa 1x12 widebody extension. The Mesa wide cab fits under the amp perfectly, making a nice 2x12. While the preamp styles sort of duplicate the big three, this amp does not exactly sound like any of 'em, but it's not possible to pin down what it does sound like, since it's so tweakable it can sound like anything you want.

My amp is now seven to eight years old, and has had no problems. It's been played out, and I have rehearsed with it, but mostly it stays home. Maybe if I beat on it more it would break, but it's too nice so I care for it well.

I've owned Marshalls, Mesa's, and Line 6's. I currently have this amp and a couple of Mesa's. I play the Trace a lot, more than any other, so that says it all.

The features are well summarized by other reviews, but I would add only that the design is very much focused on overall sound-richness and versatility, rather than stage-versatility. Nonetheless, as pointed out by others, you have about ten-amps worth of amp). I think that the features: pentode-triode, bright and mid switches, presence, the three-way-pre-amp; the damping...these are all high-end, thinking persons sound modelling controls (in the old, analogue sense of that term). The reverb is, I agree, perhaps the only weak point, in that it has one personality, (which I happen to like), but it is responsive, in that you can have it in spoons, buckets, or wheelbarrows, depending on how much you wanna twist that dial.

I've only played a Tele-Custom (with that humbucker at the bridge) and a Jazzmaster through it, and the thing that blew me away, immediately, is how the amp expressed the full-range of personality of these (very diverse-sounding) guitars. With that Tele custom at the bridge, you'd swear Keef hisself had stopped by my basement for ashot and a smoke. I think that the clean sound is *almost* as good as a vintage Fender, but slightly more nasal, However, I bought this amp after testing every boutique amp out there (Budda's, etc.)and once you start warming this thing up and getting some crunch, there's simply no comparison...even blows away the Fenders, which (especially the Hot Rods and all that) all seem to distort too fast and lose the sweet-harmonics too quickly. The distorted tone on this guy in Channel One (with the vol cranked and Master wherever you, or your neighbors, can stand it) is a Chartered Trip indeed. I haven't played a gibsonm through it yet, but I'm inspired (and not surprised) that another reviewer here sites "Whole Lotta Rosie" as a tune for this amp. Almost worth taking a road-trip to see that.

I think all these amps were beaten around a bit during shipping and handling, but mine hasn't malfunctioned yet. I got mine at a very weird and shakly used/new store out in the burbs, but if you find one, I wouldn't let a scratch or loose wire or even a missing knob dissuade you from buying. Sounds like they can be fixed, like there are folks who remember how/why they were put together the way they were...so, I'd wrap my arms around one if I found one. I retubed mine (power tubes) and I would be very surprised uif it doesn't run 500,000 miles. It's built like a tank.

I e-mailed some questuions to Gibson-Trace, and they were totally cool and prompt.

I love the amp. Would search for a new one if I lost this one...although it sounds like one day it might be much more expensive to replace...which is fine by me, as I don't plan on losing mine.

The features have been pretty much explained by previous reviewers, so not much else new to add. The versatility of this amp is truly unique; it really nails 3 distinctly different voices by the use of the preamp mode switch. That combined with the pentode/triode switch gives a pretty complete palette of optoins for virtually any style of playing. The speaker mute switch has really come in handy in the studio when I wanted to send the preamp signal out to other sources (board, power amp etc). Also, the ability to switch from 6L6's to EL-34's without rebiasing is totally happening. Lots of cool stuff to play with...

As mentioned earlier, the thing that sets this amp apart from many others is the preamp mode switch. While the other reviewers have noted that there is a slight delay in switching from one mode to another, this amp is not really meant to be a "channel switching" type amp at all. Mode 1 is truly reminiscent of Fender Blackface tones; stays clean and full with a touch of warm breakup at higher preamp levels. Mode 2 is gets into Marshall, Hiwatt territory with plenty of gain and volume for most players who like to get some preamp crunch. I use this mode alot, and can control the gain by rolling my guitar volume up or down. Mode 3 has a real creamy Boogiesque, Soldano voice to it, but can also be dialed in to become very brutal when pushed. The Celestion V-30 works wonderfully in all settings, and covers all the bases from super clean, to thrashed out trash (depending on the channel). I like the fact that this amp is really a one channel amp, but has 3 distinct faces. I can set it up for clean jazz with my Tele or PRS,
get some southern rock and new country with my Strat, and then completely go ballistic with my Goldtop LP; all by a few twists of knobs (which can be done in between songs on stage). I have also used the effects return of this amp with my Mesa Triaxis preamp, bypassing the Bonnie's premap, just using the power section, with beautiful results. This also works great with my Boss GT-5 and Pod.

The only weakness for me was the stock reverb tank...a little too dark and boingy for me. I replaced it with an Accutronics, and all is well now.

When I received the amp, it had a loose connection on the PC board from shipment. I just popped the chassis out, plugged the connection back in, and voila. All the internal wiring is clean and very solid looking. Everything seems to be built like a tank,
and I have gigged with it without a backup with no worries.

No contact, but I have heard they still support this product.

This amp sounds great, no matter what I throw at it. Its a real sleeper, with enough options and features to keep most players busy for a long time. Its small enough to lug around to any gig, but can keep up volume wise with any heavy fisted drummer (like mine). I plugged it into a 4x12 Marshall cab and was blown away. I also am a Fender fan, and with my Tele in mode 1, it feels like a beefy Deluxe Reverb. Also, it really makes those silly modelling toys come alive by using the effects return of the power amp.

One other cool trick; put in some THD Yellowjackets and get some unreal Class A tones out of this amp. You'd swear you had a AC30 or Matchless in your living room. This puppy is rare, so be on the lookout...you'd be the only kid on the block using it.

Unsure when this amp was made. Features as described in other reviews.

I particularly like the pentode/triode switching feature as I like to overdrive the power amp stage and this is more easily achieved at 25 Watts that at 50 for a given volume level. Even at 25 Watts, this amp has sufficient volume to fill most venues without having to Mic-up. As a result I have not run the Pentode mode so I cannot comment on the sound (see next part).

The three voicing feature provides the amp with a wide variety of tones, but due to the delay in switching (as described in previous reviews) it is impractical to change between voicings mid-song in live situations. Given the design of the amp, this is a compromise that I am happy to live with as three separate, switchable voices would have reduced the common circuitry and therefore increased the price.

I find the two volume feature particulary useful as I can switch in volume boost for solos wthout changing the tone.

Overall this amp has a great deal of tonal variety and practical versatility. It does not have the features of a high-end Mesa Boogie or a digital modelling amp, but to me this is a positive as I do not want unnecessary complexity or circuitry in my signal path. It does all the things I want a valve amp to do, with the possible exception of the voice switching, and it does them well.

I play a PRS McCarty Soapbar and plug straight into the amp with the best cable I can buy (15ft). I do not use any effects other than the amp reverb. The P90 loaded McCarty sound wonderful through this amp with almost any setting.

I play Rock covers (AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Black Crowes, Free, ZZ Top, Queen etc) in a five piece band and Pop style original tunes. For the rock band, I use only channel 2, with the pre-amp gain set to about 3/4. I then use the volume control on my guitar to set the distotion. With the guitar volume on full, the distortion sound is rich, agressive and biting. Great for "Whole Lotta Rosie". With the guitar volume wound down to 3-4, the sound cleans up sufficiently to play open chords and arpeggios, without a significant loss of volume. At any guitar-volume setting, the amp still retains playing dynamics as it has sufficient headroom to cope. For instance, even with my guitar on full, I can play softly and get a softer sound. If this is not a feature you want, but instead prefer more compression, then voicing 3 is the one to use. Furthermore, If I want to play a clean solo (not often) or loud rhythm part I can reduce the volume on my guitar to clean up the sound and the step on the volume switch to change to my lead volume level. This is exactly what I wanted my amp to do and the Bonneville does it beautifully.

Through this amp, the bridge P90 has a beautiful bite and cuts through well, and the neck pick-up is fat, rich and creamy. Great for wailing. These pickups are single coils so there is an acceptable, low level of noise through this amp. However, this vitually dissapears when I select both pickups together, and it is very quiet with my humbucker equipped back-up guitar.

The Reverb on this amp sounds nice to my ears and has a wide range, from subtle to overboard, and is footswitchable.

I have the 1x12 combo version and the speaker, cabinet and damping adjuster allow me to dial in a nice woody colour onto the tone. I have not yet tried this amp through an extension cab but I think that may be a future purchase for bigger venues (or just to make a better sound!).

Channel 1 stays relatively clean until close to the top of the pre-amp gain stage and then breaks-up nicely in a similar way to a vintage Bassman. I have not tried it but I would imagine this voicing would sound awesome at levels where the power amp stage was overdriven and adding to a nice warm drive level from the pre-amp.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied but the sound of this amp.

I have two problems with this amp that I am in the process of rectifying. Firstly, when switching between voicings I intermittantly get no output. So say if I switch from voice 1 to 2, the amp will go dead and will not correct itself until I give it a bit of a tap on the top. Having discussed this with the service guys at Trace Elliot it appears that I may have a faulty switching relay. However as I only use voice two, this is not a big deal for me.

The second problem is that my volume 1 "channel" doesn't work. It has only recently gone faulty. I can work around this by just using channel 2 and my volume control but this does seriously hinder my approach. I am sending this amp back to Trace Elliot for fixing.

In summary, this great amp has been somewhat detracted from by these small problems. In speaking to Trace Elliot they tell me they have only repaired one other Bonneville so this may indicate that in general they have very good reliability and that I have had a bit of bad luck.

Trace Elliot have been brilliant to deal with. I have spoken to Gavin MacLachlin of G.M. Audio Service which is like a spin-off from Trace Elliot who now handles the repairs and he was superb. I will be shipping my amp to him for repair shortly. Previously I have spoken to other Trace employees and they have also been brilliant, giving expert advice and sending me circuit diagrams etc.

Gavin tells me the turnaround for repair is 4-5 days which is good by local standards.

I have been playing for 14 years, and have mainly owned this amp and a Mesa Boogie SOB. I like this amp more than the Boogie as it has a wider range of quality tones and features, and it can be run at 25 watts. However, I never had any problems with the Boogie.

If it was lost or stolen I would definitely buy another if I could replace it at the same price or less.

Overall I wouls say this is a well made, powerful amp with a wide range of superb valve amp tones and a comprehensive list of useful features without being overly complex. Well worth a listen, if you can find one!

-The Trace Elliot BONNEVILLE was made from MARCH of 1995' to the FALL of 1996'.
-Only 400 were made.
-It's 1 channel amp with 3 pre-amp sounds to choose from.
-It's got some triode pentode thing in the back I have no idea what it is, but it changes the sounds drasticlly.
- It's got tube biasing switches on it.
- It's got a mute switch.
- It's got impedance switches too!
- It's got a Power amp damping knob. That thing changes the sound alot too.
- The switches are all heavey duty. Real Heavey Duty. They're tough like the breaker switches in your basement for the electricity in your house.
- It's got an effects loop, and switches and a volume for it and stuff.
- This amp is perfect!
- And for all you sissy out there who need channel switching, it's got 2 master volumes, and a jack for a pedal to switch between the two. And that's it.

This amp kicks ass! I heard of it for the first time in Florida in 1997 when I was 18. I was fuckin' around at MARS MUSIC with all the beautiful amps I couldn't afford like The Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Marshall 2000, Hughes and Ketner 3 Channel Thing, and a Vintage Marshall 800. Last in the wall of amps was the BONNEVILLE. And I thought .."Trace Elliot?" And the price tag was $2700.00. Anyways, I was totally 100% Blown Away at the heaveyness, tone and personality of the guitar sound screaming from that thing's channel 3. I instantly fell in love. The salesman discouraged it and insisted I go with the Dual Rectifier, but I was just bullshittin' him anyways, I had no money. So I played for as long as I could and then I left, a different man.

2 days later I flew home to Waltham, MA where I been born and raised. The first thing I did was made a list of everything I could sell; got more hours at my job, and begged my parents to loan me some money so I could buy one, but when I went to the music stores up here, no one ever heard of it and no one could find one in their store computers. So there it ended, and my dreams where shattered.

I've spent 4 years looking for this amp like an orphan looking for his real parents. I finally tracked 1 down two weeks ago in a Guitar Center in California. No body wanted it. It sat there for years in a corner covered in dust, and they sold it to me for 400 bucks.

When it showed up it was broken. "GC" fixed it and gave it back to me after a few days. I've already moved it around alot in my car which is a 1967 Camaro SS, not excalty a smooth ride, and I've had no problems, and I feel confident that I won't. I'm not worried anyways, the guy at Trace Elliot is mad cool.

The name to know is "PAUL STEVENS". This is the man responsible for the BONNEVILLE. I e-mailed the company Trace Elliot in regards to my amp because I just have to know everything about it, and PAUL STEVENS e-mailed me back himself. He answered each and everyone of my questions. He even gave me all the names of the people involved and sent me links to all related web-sites.

I've been playing guitar for 13 years now. My idols have been Eddy Van Halen, Steve Vai, Nuno, Dime Bag, and are presently Paul Figg, Sunny Mayo, and Tom Morello.

I play Classic Rock and Metal. I have a mean ass RAT pedal I run into a Mesa Boogie Heart Breaker, but those have been replaced by the BONNEVILLE. The kid I play in a band with uses the Dual Rectifier. We are Metal Heads from way back in the persuit of heaveyness. I recomend no one uses the Trace Elliot BONNEVILLE becasue it is MINE. I'm just kiddin'. If you really want to be like me, and you are fortunate enough that the GODS OF ROCK consider you a "Chosen One" and work their magic so you cross paths with a BONNEVILLE for sale, I would dump your girlfriend, sell your car, steal from your mamma and buy that amp if I was you. Because it will never cross paths with you again.

This particular amp was made in 1995, I'm not sure if Trace is still manufacturing this particular amp. The signal path is pure tube consisting of 6 12Ax7's and 2 EL34 power tubes. There is a bias toggle switch which allows you to switch between EL34's or 6L6's. It can also use 3 additional tube types, but requires rebiasing in that case. Biasing pots are provided on the back panel for convenience. This is a single channel amplifier with a 3-way configurable preamp switch. The first position was designed to simulate the Fender tweeds, the second a Marshall plexi, and the third is referred to as a modern high gain setting. Other front panel controls are Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Reverb, Master Vol. 1, and Master Vol. 2, as well as a toggle switch for the effects loop. Rear panel controls include a variable speaker damping control, triode/pentode mode switch, effects send & return level, impedance selector (4,8,16ohms), Mute for turning off power amp output for running DI, and effects loop parallel/serial toggle switch. The Reverb and Effects Parallel/Serial are footswitchable, and you can also footswitch between the 2 Master Volume controls. Effects loop is also footswitchable. It would be nice if you could footswitch between the Preamp types, and since they didn't do this, I'll knock off a point for that sole reason. Oh yeah, there's also a Bright switch and Mid Boost switch on the front panel. The combo has a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker with an open back.

I use a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion and a Gibson LP DC Standard with the amp. Because of the versatility of the amp, I can get just about any sound that I'm after. Depending upon whether you're in triode or pentode mode, affects the overall tonality of the amp. Triode mode tends to be a bit darker sounding, whereas Pentode mode has a brighter sound with more snap. The Variable damping also affects the overall sound quite a bit. Tighten it up, and the amp takes on a more focused sound, loosen it up a bit, and it starts to get more bottom end with more harmonics. Triode mode is great for getting thick, singing sustain in a solo. It responds well to the volume control on the guitar, and never seems to get muddy - although, if you loosen up the damping too much you can start to get muddy a bit. The distortion on the amp is great, very detailed, fat and chunky. It took awhile to work with the amp to understand how all of the controls interact. Using the preamp settings, the first position gives you a nice clean sound, but you can push it into the type of breakup that you would get with a Fender, nice for slightly distorted blues. The 2nd position gets you in Marshall territory and can run from blues to fat distortion. The 3rd setting really gets a nice fat brown sound going, and both guitars really sing at this point. I wouldn't call it a shredder type sound though, the distortions all have a very musical, harmonically rich texture about them.

I ordered this amp from Nashville Music and had it shipped to me in Massachusetts. They really did a lousy job packing the amp. They stuck it in a box, filled it with packing peanuts and shipped it. 50% of the peanuts found their way into the inside of the amp through the open back - real bright of them. Consequently, there wasn't a lot of packing to keep the amp from jostling about with UPS. The cabinet suffered a couple of good dings as a result. However, I did get a tremendous deal on this amp since it was their last one and they wanted to move it. When it arrived, I had a problem with a noisy volume pot, probably from being on their store floor for so long. I also had a problem with the reverb fading in and out. The warranty service took care of both problems, unfortunately, they really didn't succeed in fixing the reverb. I finally pulled the chassis out, and I found a single connector that wasn't pushed all the way down, I reseated it and haven't had a problem with the reverb since. I replaced all of the preamp tubes, and replaced the power tubes with a set of Svetlana EL34's (these are great!). This amp is built like a tank. The control knobs are all chrome plated brass, and all electrical connectors are gold plated. Wiring and soldering is very neat and well executed. Excellent build quality. As long as you maintain good tubes in the amp, I'd expect reliability to be excellent.

Trace Elliot's support center here in the US is top notch. I've called several times to discuss some technical details of the amp, and have always gotten knowledgeable individuals. They're quick to react to customer problems and requests, and seem concerned about customer satisfaction. Don't know how this will change in lieu of Gibson's acquisition of the company.

I've been playing for over 34 years now. I play a wide variety of music, and this amp works fine for all of them - blues, rock, jazz, country. If it were stolen, I probably couldn't replace it easily since they're difficult to find. I really like the quality of sound from this amp, it's not a cliche sound like that of a Marshall. I used to have a Marshall JCM900 combo, and this amp just blows it away hands down. Like I said earlier, I just wish you could switch the preamp config with a footswitch. All in all, this is a great amp, I love it.

Single channel 50 watt 1X12 combo. The signal path is 100 percent tube going through six 12AX7'S pre and two EL34'S post. Although it only has one channel it has three different pre amp voices. It achieves these extra voices by adding gain stages, re-biasing and reconfiguring the solitary pre-amp channel. Other controls are: bass, mid, top, presence, a level pot for the spring reverb, TWO master level pots, a bright switch and a mid boost.
On the back panel there is a switch to re-bias the output tubes should decide to swap out the supplied EL34's for 6L6's. The amp can also take 5881's or 6550's although a more complex re-biasing procedure needs to be undertaken. However the Bonneville makes the bias trimmer pots, needed to do this, easily accessable. There is also a switch to change the power tubes operation from penthode to triode effectively cutting the power from 50 watts to 25.
After this there is an output damping control, an effects loop that has both input and output level controls and is switchable from parallel to serial operation and a power amp mute button so you can use just the pre-amp for d.i. work or whatever. Two speaker outputs cover every likely ohmage and the amp comes set at 16 ohms to drive the Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.
Phew! I think that's it. Despite this wealth of features I was tempted to drop a point because although the two master volumes, reverb, effects loop and effects loop mode are all footswitchable (footswitch supplied) the pre-amp voices are only selectable by hand on the front of the amp. I decided not to strip the Bonneville of a perfect ten because it is after all only supposed to a be a one channel amp. And I don't know of any other one channel amp that gives you all these features let alone two extra pre-amp voicings on top.

I can't really summarise the sound of this amp in a few words because the amp is so versatile. The features provided and the quality of the signal path ensure that you can get just about every tone you want. And it truly represents the sound of whatever you care to plug into it. I play a Surfcaster and what I was looking for when I bought this amp was a really rich, smooth, shimmering clean tone that was just on the verge of saturating but with plenty of headroom to take both playing subtleties and the dynamic boost of my rat pedal. This is pretty bloody easy to achieve on the Bonneville. The tone controls are all passive but some interact with others. I found this to work really well and makes the amp seem even more organic and intuitive to use.
So the killer clean sound I wanted I got straight away. But the reason I bemoaned the lack of pre-amp footswitchability earlier is because the other, progressively dirtier, preamp modes sound so damn good. And they sound great without any need to re-tweek the EQ once you've set up your clean sound. The second voice sounds like a really gained up Hiwatt or other British style valve amp and the final voice is the mother of all high gain filth. Not that pussy scooped filth mind just really fat super chunk and shred. The all tube architecture ensures that no matter how much gain you pile on, and there's a truck load here, the sound is complex and harmonically rich.
My usual amp is a Hughes and Kettner Triamp stack. I've recently needed something more portable for sessions and gigs and so my quest for a small combo began. I tried twelve different combos(tech 21, fender, H&K, Laney etc.) , some more than twice the price of this combo(mesa, matchless), and the Trace slayed all in it's path.
Although the Trace can't replace my stack live (when transport and roadies are available) ,purely because the triamp has six midi switchable channels, it will definately be taking a lot of my recording tasks away from the H&K.
Live power is definately not a problem with this amp. It is super loud and despite it's size can handle the bottom end of a heavy metal chug with aplomb. I found the output dampner helps with this (why don't more small amps have this feature?). Operation is real quiet with no noticable switching noises when going between the master vols - another great live feature - real volume boost and real poweramp saturation. I haven't used the reverb much yet but I can say its pretty plush - sort of dark with a long decay. The reverb seems best suited for slower tempos, because of the decay, although it may sound surfish to some.
My style of music is quite hard alternative rock but since this amp is so versatile you'd have to be playing bolivian nose flute folk not to find the right sound for you in the Bonneville.It may seem overloaded with features but they're all there for a purpose. To deliver great sound. The only sound you can't get is a bad one.

Only had it for a month. But Trace's rep is pretty good. It's really solid and oozes quality. Anyway no problems yet.

No need to use this yet. But One thing's for sure they're dealer/service base was pretty big before Gibson aquired the company so I can only assume that now support will be even better (with respect to finding a local service agent anywhere in the world anyway) than it was before.

The only thing I wish this amp did is the footswitch thing. I only wanted one channel when I bought it but the other voicings are so good I almost feel sick every time I kick in a stomp box for distortion knowing what this amp could really be doing with that one simple modification. There is a real audible pause when selecting different preamp modes, caused perhaps by how these sounds are created, and maybe that's why Trace Elliot decided not to market it as a true three channel amp. Regardless of this I'm going to look into getting it modded to be foot switch capable. I would not only buy this amp again if it were stolen but if my H&K were stolen I'd use the insurance on that to buy two more of these and switch between the three. Yes it's worth the inconveniance.
The amp I almost got was the Fender Hotrod Deluxe(#30 more expensive). Frankly after borrowing the Fender for two days I was really depressed about how my sound would suffer from my need to be portable. The Bonneville represents no such compromise. It's a truly huge sounding amp that doesnt seem to realise that it's only a couple of feet tall.
Oh, and not that it matters, but the reason I tried it out in the first place is because it's a real looker - if you like green that is.