Trace Elliot Brat 15R

Late '90s UK production SS 15 watt ,single channel/single input 1x8(Celestion) combo, 3 band eq, gain, MV and boost HP and ext speaker jack. Resonable features for small gig amp, some will miss the CD input that seems to be a stock item on all small amps these days...

I uses this with a mid '80s MIJ Squier strat..Playing mostly classic rock, and jangle pop, with a bit of white boy blues, surf/spy and country in the mix. This is a dark amp, even with SC PU's, with the neck pu I'm in jazz territory, the verb is a all or nothing affair,. Still I like, it sounds VERY distinctive, with a chimy clean channel, and killer OD the voulme is a bit weak on the clean, and the boost is dirt..MORE dirt situation, but like I said you are going to be one unique strummer using this box.. Can be noisy on the boost, and like most small amps hooking up to a cab (using the thoughtfull jack) will probaly let things open up siginfigantly.

VERY well constructed, with a big soild cab, steel chassis, quaitly speaker ect. I hope it lasts 'cause Trace probaly will treat this like a red headed step child now that they are back to bass only production. It would be cool on a gig, but you will need to mike it in most situatiuons.

See above.....

I found this NOS in a small shop 'cross the river.... on a "trip to the city" over spring break.
I had been looking for a up grade from my Marshall MG 10 and this seemed to fit the bill.
It's been a bit of a job to get it dialed in but hey noting fine comes easy. As I said pretty unique;acording to the chassis graphics, it is a Custom Shop item. Don't know exactly what that means, but if I was going to design a small SS booteek amp, it would be a lot like this. The only thing that is untword is that the 'verb tray is cab mounted with absolutly NO protection ..the springs are just.. well..out there. You would need to fabricate some sort of guard or bag or something if you were going to put ANYTHING in the back of the amp (guess you could just gig bag the cord (it's removable) still a bit wierd on such a quality piece.

This solidstate amp has the usual setting, although a reverb is not that common on these amps. Is does have an speaker outlet, but no effectsloop.
Is has a boost function, not footswitchable.
I think its enough. I use the amp for small gigs without a drummer.

I bought this amp because it was so cheap, but I fell in love with it because it has in a certain kind the same sound of the 80's tube Fenders Superchamp/75. It should be used with single coil PU guitars as Fender or Dano's. I play a kind of rootsy american bluesian music with country and folk influences. With a slide and a Dano DC 59 the sound can't be beaten. The boost option is not usable for me, you'd better use a good pedal.

A solid state amp is mostly very reliable. I don't have any complaints. I mostly cherish my equipment.

Bought it 2nd hand. Never delt with TA, I hope it stays that way.

I'm a kind of professional player. I own a ton of stuff and play guitar from 1975. I do perform about 3 times a week.
I don't think somebody will steal this amp because it's not a Marshall, Fender or Peavey. If it was stolen I would like to replace it if possible. The most ugly thing on the amp is the terrible place of the mastervolume pot. Normally I put it on 2-3 O'Clock.

There are three equalisations, well 4, BAss, Mid, Midshift, Treble, and of corse volume. There's also a headphone socket. It's a 15watt pratice amp 1x8" With BLASTING SOUND!!! It's made in or around 98. You can play any kind of music on it! The only problem is no effects loop! For a 15watt amp it has the power of a 30 of 45 watt amp!! I use this amp in my garage and bedroom. It also has a metal Face Plate

I use a Washburn XB100 Batamn Bass. And it's a great amp for the music i play (punk/rock). It's a pretty clean amp. Might need a distortion pedel!

This is a very reliable amp, of corse i would gig with it!

Never had to deal with them but it has a 2 year warranty and I extended it with Musicians Friend (www.musiciansfriend.com) for one more year for only $12.95 they will pay shipping fix knobs, everything check them out they are the best music store!!

This is the best amp. Trace Elliot makes the best, even better than Fender!! WOW

E-mail me for more info: Woodya2004@aol.com

This amp was made in 1998. It has one channel, no effects loop, reverb, a headphone jack and an extension speaker jack. I play country and a little rock. I bought this amp for practice and to play with my Takamine acoustic-electric at a little club where I jam weekly. It's o.k. with my DOD acoustic effects box and the Takamine, but the acoustic reproduction is no great shakes. However, when I play my Tele or Squier Strat through a Rockman chorus/delay box, things are dramatically different. I'm thinking about having the sound guy mic it in this configuration at a future big gig, just to see what kind of sound I can get, or tacking on an extension speaker. I can dial in just enough crunch to make it sound beefy without getting that feel of microwave distortion that seems to be inherent in solid state boxes. It has enough power for small rooms, perfect for practicing with my setup and a pretty good reverb.

I play guitars with single coil pickups only. Still, this amp produces a surprisingly rich and warm sound without losing that edge that single coils are so famous for. The noise increases as you raise the volume and gain settings, but I'm using single coils and who knows whether there is interference from flourescent or halogen lights. The boost is almost too harsh to endure, even at the lowest volumes. If you're looking for that Dwight Yoakum sound, though, I figure a Tele through any good digital delay would make this thing twang like crazy.

I've only had it for a few weeks, but it seems like a pretty durable unit, even a little heavy for its size, but better than carrying around a Fender Twin.

No experience.

I've been playing guitar for 22 years. I also own a Crate C-60 amp and a Fender Princeton Chorus, my main gig amps. I play mostly Fender and Fender-knock-off guitars and a Takamine EG-330C acoustic electric.
I'd lose the boost and add a chorus or effects loop. This thing has a good sound without the boost. Of course, I play country music so I'm looking for a clean sound almost all of the time. The crunch I get by dialing up the "GAIN" knob is plenty for me. I'd buy another because it's very close to what I'm looking for in terms of sound and quality, and the price makes it almost a steal. I bought a Park box a few years ago for $100 that doesn't even come close to this one. I give it a 9 in this category because it is a tremendous value. Not a Matchless or a Boogie, but the best $79 I've spent in a long time.

Bought new. Seems to be made in 1998. Looks like a factory overrun, especially since the price was quite cheap. Has one channel, headphone jack. No channel switching or effects loop. It has a boost button. I use this amp for home practice. It can get quite loud. The specs seemed impressive, Celestion 8" speaker, 3 spring reverb, made in England.

It seems lifeless with mid range guitars such as an ESP-LTD M 250. Sounds were not inspiring. Sounded much better with a Paul Reed Smith and a Fender Strat Elite. I imagine this could be because these guitars are much better quality. I keep the ESP LTD around to bang about so I don't have to worry about damaging the expensive ones. However, I have seen a low quality guitar come to life played through a great amp like a Vox AC-30, and this Trace Elliot does not do that.
I play mostly classic rock and fusion rock. It is quite noisy for a solid state amp, especially with the boost button on. I am still playing with the controls. It doesn't seem to really sing with the distortion on. The sustain is not there even with the good guitars and the boost button on. I prefer the sound of the Marshall solid state amps.

It's new, hasn't broken down. I didn't test it prior to purchase since I bought it mail order so I don't know how it would compare to one set up at a store. I don't think it is versatile enough for a gig.

I haven't contacted the company Trace Elliot at all. I hear they are under reorganization. I did have some problems with the vendor, zzounds. I ordered the amp in November and my charge card was charged right away. Come the middle of December there was no amp. After four weeks I emailed zzounds and they decided to send it out by UPS 2nd day air. It could have been a glitch.

I have three other Marshalls, a Mesa Boogie .50 cal and a Peavey 5150. These are all tube amps. I wanted something small so I could practice in different rooms. All the other amps are pretty big. I have been playing in excess of 20 years. I tried the Vox Pathfinder and the new Korean Marshalls at the store and in their amp room they sounded pretty good for the price. I went to the Trace Elliot because I saw a good price for it plus the specs were impressive. However I prefer the cheap Marshalls and the Vox for practice amps. They seem less noisy on boost plus have more oomph. Also the Trace Elliot seems a lot more noisy on boost, especially surprising since it is a solid state amp. Makes more noise than the Marshall tube amps I have. I wish the amp had more soul. It doesn't really sing. I don't love anything about this amp, probably wouldn't buy it again. It is less than inspiring.

Small 15 Watt practice amp. One channel. Headphone jack. Passive 3 band Eq. I wish it had an effects loop

The clean sound is really quite excellent and one can dial up a very nice clean sound. Never played it loud enough to hear distortion through the clean channel. Very quiet operation. When the boost switch is activated I find it hard to get a decent distorted sound, especially for rhythm guitar (when playing solos, it is actually quite decent) The problem is that the sound of the amp (when in the boost position) is way too bassy and whatever I've done to remove that boominess has not really helped. It is strange to have an eq that is quite effective at providing a clean sound but cannot dial a nice distorted rhythm guitar sound. Nevertheless in conjunction with a distortion pedal or even an eq pedal or board, I assume that pretty nice sounds can be obtained. It is also very quiet in the boost mode; it probably does not provide enough shredding power for metal or hard music without an additional pedal (Although I don't personally mind that)

Small, light but solid dependable practice amp. I would buy it again for sure! Plus it looks really cute (for lack of a better word!)

Not dealt with them

Small yet solid and very loud for its size, quiet operation even with maximal distortion, a clean tone can be obtained very easily and it sounds quite sweet. For anything that does not require tremendously violent sounding distortion, this amp is really perfect. I would buy it again, no hesitation. For the price I paid (less than $80 at ZZounds!) its value is astonishing.

I bought this amp new with the requirement that is would be a decent practice amp that would sound good at lower volumes. It has one channel but also has the ability to be switched manualy to a boost. Which to me is only distortion. it would be nice if it had a foot switch. It also took a while to tune in all of the controls so that it would actualy sound good.

I use a Les Paul studio through this amp and play all styles of music.
The amp is somewhat limited in sound quality when played through its 8 inch speaker. But when I attached it to my Bandmaster speaker cabinet whith 2 12 inch speakers, it made the bandmaster sound a lot like a Marshall. The clean channel has quite a nice tone once you figure out how to adjust it. The boost more than doubles the volume and it is quite loud . It would be nice if the boost volume was clean, or if you could clean it up. Don't get me wrong the distortion is nice and smooth when in boost.

It is too early to write about reliability, but it seems very well built.

I did research this amp on the internet, and Trace Elliot did E-mail me back at least 3 times. So they do appear to stand behind the product.

I have been playing guitar for over 30 years,and am quite accomplished. I have owned many guitars and amps. I bought this from zzounds.com for a very good price. It meets all of my expectations for a quality practice amp. I would recommend this to any begginer or professional who does not want to blow the walls down with their full rig.

This amp is made in good ol` Britain. It is a solid-state. Comes with a Celestion speaker. The controls are gain,bass,mid,treble,reverb and a powerful boost switch. Comes with a headphone jack and a speaker output to connect to cabinets.15 watts.

I use an Epi Dot 335. With clean channel, the neck PU is fat and warm, very jazzy with full reverb on. The bridge PU is okay. Mix the PU`s together and you have a good cutting tone which is good for Chuck Berry music. When the boost is turn on, it produces an overdive full of AIR!!When OD is on, the neck pickup is good for playing blues eg Cream and the bridge PU is good for playing "Crossroads". I play Beatles and Brit blues music from the 60`s

I also have a Boss Overdrive/Distortion pedal but it doesn`t sound as good as the overdrive in my amp. The amp is quite big and heavy. I wish this thing has a footswitch. Overall, very good and I`m satisfied.

Treble, Bass, Mid, Volume and Gain controls.1 i/p jack, headphone jack. It is a solid state 15W amp with Celestion speakers, it has 2 channels ( clean and overdrive )

I use a Les Paul standard together with this amp and believe me, it sounds shitty!! The clean channel sounds all right but the overdrive sucks. I tried to play some Heavy Metal on it but you just couldn't depend on it

Surprisingly, this shit never fail me. I have had it for 3 damn years and it never gave me problem (though i rarely use it now).

I have never deal with them

This amp is okay for pratice amps but for you pros out there, avoid it. Its not worth that kind of money even though it comes cheap.If it was stolen, I personally would thank that gentleman for helping me clear the junk.

This amp consists of 1 input, Bass,Mid & Treble Pots, Headphone Socket, Overdrive Switch and Reverb. For a fifteen watter, this thing really kicks out some volume. I just wouldn't dare wind it all the way up in the confines of the bedroom. As with most practice combos, getting a good balance between the overdrive and clean channels is a bind, and cries out for dedicated EQ. Set against this though, output through headphones produces a very accurate interpretation of the speaker output. As stated earlier, dedicated EQ for the two channels would give this little beauty a 10.

I play Blues of the Chicago variety using a Hohner SE35 (335 copy) that came with Kent Armstong Humbuckers. This amp easily helps reproduce that lovely thick and woody midrange sound synonymous with this type of guitar. The clean channel is quite nice with plenty of good clean twangy sounds. Distortion is very good for this class of amp. High gain settings on the clean channel with the volume wound up produces that sought after crunch sound used by many Blues players. On the overdrive side of things you can get most types of distortion including the mid-scooped metal variety. The Reverb is pretty good but not very deep and does cause feed-back at higher levels. The bass response has to be heard to be beleived from a box this small. There is a small amount of hiss when you wind everything up to MAX, but don't worry, in the confines of practice at home you'd probably never get away with it anyway !!

Only had it a month, but no problems as yet.

All the dealers I rang had none in stock or they were on back order, (even though the mail order adds stated they had them in stock), so I rang Trace directly who quite suprisingly said they could deliver it the very next day !!!

Yes I would buy this again. There is nothing to compete with it as far as practice amps go. Good realistic valve type tones at sensible volumes. There are cheaper amps from bigger names, but I spent 3 moths of Saturdays trying them and they just don't come up to scratch. The only hitch is a lack dedicated EQ, but you can't have everything can you ?