Trace Elliot Speed Twin H100

I have a Trace Elliot speed twin full stack with a spare speed twin H100 head as backup. OH YES BABY! sorry just had to say those words.

I think both my heads were made around 96, they are both the original models with green tolex, and non-midi interface. That part is annoying, but with two footswitches controlling the channels and effects they function well. ideally i'd want a h100 '98 for usual use and a h100 '96 as a backup, cos the midi footswitch would be really, really, really cool.

At the moment I use this amp Jamming with my friend in the garage, but soon I will be back in the band rocking out and using it at full crank the way it rightly should be. We play really mellow round chords and lead with lots of atmosphere, and building up to big riffs in the style of mogwai when the mood takes us. It can get pretty intense when we start down the stoner rock route. That is where my heart is. The amp can cover the amazing powerful high gain distortion, and the beautiful beautiful clean with never an unpleasant sound.

Channel wise, both heads have two power amp channels, clean and gain both with their own volume controls, there are also two master controls too so in a way you get four channels(clean/boost - dirty/boost). The second channel also has a gain boost which is footswitchable, so thats your fifth option. There is also an effects loop which is footswitchable so that's your sixth option.
No redundant headphone jack - if you want headphone use then buy an "amplug", as they are awesome for that.

The amp has an OUTPUT DAMPING attenuator for different speaker cabinet styles and this has an effect on the PRESENCE. Each dialed in seperately.
Effects loop has a level meter so you can change the in and out levels - you may run a seperate cab as a slave from this or as a normal loop. Loop has a parallel and series switch to change the mix/pure options.

Preamp is driven by 5 ecc38 valves, power by 4 el34's as standard. You can use el34's or 6L6's and it has a convenient biasing port for either. amp comes with a mute mode and a standby switch. all cool features. it's loaded with them.
I rated this an 8 because 10 out of 10 is the perfect amp, this isnt perfect cos the footswitch options can be fiddly, but its still nigh on the best amp feature wise ive ever owned.
My personal favourite feature is the cool glowing green light to show it's powered on. I love this amp.

I use two guitars, an ibanez s470ol (same as herman li's old guitar but don't hold that against me) and a yamaha pacifica both fitted with emg 85/81 pickups.
The amp suits my musical style well, but personally i would prefer more grunt and brutality to the distortion, as tube distortion can be a bit unsatisfying sometimes. it needs to be tighter somehow.

Generally the amp is quiet and there is very little hum, but with the amp on big overdrive settings it can feedback quite badly, so i just make sure my volume is down when im not playing.
I find the clean channel distorts lightly after about halfway but it kind of gives the playing dynamics a nice edge.
I havent tried the amp on full yet, so im not sure how this will change the settings.
running the amp at 75 watts using the triode option makes the distortion more satisfying at the lower volumes.

NEVER GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP!!! The amount of times a seemingly reliable amp will crap out at the wrong moment just proves this theory without doubt to me.
Trace elliots have a nasty habit of intermittency when you least expect it, but these two have behaved themselves so far.
My main head has gone pop on me once during practice, and my tech told me it was because these amps were designed for euro voltages and living in the uk they run too hot. He was able to do some current dissipation method preventing a thermal shutdown respose. After the fix, no problems for 6 months so far.

Utter *****. After the gibson buyout the company went bust and you cant get any service from them.
No warranty. You need a GOOD amp tech that knows tube amps.

I've been playing over ten years and this is my favourite head period, not least because of the sound, it looks great too, even though it's vintage and has a few scratches on it.
If it were stolen I wouldnt look for the same model again as they are as rare as gold dust, and my time isnt worth scouting ebay these days. If it were there in front of me I'd buy one in a flash!
In terms of value I have to give it a ten, you get a 100 watt head with fantastic rich warm tone, and so many features I want to puke with confusion. Its a winner.

You've read the blurb about the preamp mode swiching, footswitchable fx loop (parallel and series options!) and master volumes, bias adjust for several valve types and power attuenuator in all the other reviews I assume so I'll not go into detail other than to say that they are all very usefull features rather than having 10 novelty digital delays built into it like some amps try to pass off and must haves.

Power wise it packs enough and then some. With the gain channel level on full and the master on 4 or 5 you'll have enough to go over the drum kit without everything turning into a horrid muddy mess since there is plenty of head room to go.

One thing I must point out is that the EQ is interactive on the gain channel. Just throwing the dials to your regular settings wont produce a favourable tone in most cases. Start with everything at at the 12 o'clock position and then tweek in little by little for the tone you want. Also how the presence control is set is key to how it responds so be sure to fiddle with that too.

I'm sure you can get whatever it is you're looking for out of this with the right gear to stick infront of it.

I'm using this amp for doom and sludge. It delivers. The clean channel can be very clean. the words fender blackface have been thrown around. Crips cleans found in karates work can be achieved with the right EQ setting and level. But forget all that. If you turn the channel level to full it will saturate and produce an awesome low gain distortion with bags of low end rumble. Very classic doom. I've not ran a fuzz pedal into the clean yet but I imagine it will be like soup.

The gain channel is a two headed beast featuring a medium (m) and high (h) gain preamp configuration. The m setting uses 3 of the 5 12ax7s and produces a subtle moderate distortion when combined with the el34 output stage (i've not had the plasure of running 6L6s in it yet. Think 70's rock with a stoner feel to it. Flicking over to h (remeber its footswitchable!) fires up all 5 preamp valves and will make all the under 18's in a 2 mile radius cry for their mothers. If you like to tune down and play slower than most you can not go wrong. It ouzes low end chunk without being tonally mis-shapen. It just goes and goes. It makes you want to see how slow you can get away with playing a riff just because it sounds that damn rich and thick. It doesnt do thrash metal or shred tones in the configuration I have it in and to be honest I havent tried for that kind of tone yet. I imagine you'll need a pedal to drive it for that to be honest . its much more of a fuzz/distortion you get from driving the preamp hard.

Guitar wise I run a dean Z79 in B with a swineshead venom pu in the bridge. The amp is run into a marshal 1960 and a who knows what no name cab. The guy who runs the rehersal space came into our room when I first got it to see what the ungodly loud madness was. The master was on 5.

I can see this being a big thing in the Doom scene if people pick up on it. I'd love a matamp green or a sunn model-t but they cost several times what I shelled out for this.

Dont know. Its point to point handwired so if something goes bad it shouldnt be hard to fix. Fingers crossed anyway.

Pass.

I'd buy this amp again in an instant and run two side by side just to see the look on peoples faces. It'd be nothing short of sheer terror.

For what I paid (and I'd gladly pay alot more than I did) it does much more than I could have dreamed of.

This amp I have had for many years It has been very versital. It has two chanels with dual chanel master volume for each chanel. So far I could not ask for any better amp although like every one else im always looking. I cut this amp down to 5watts and get a wholelot better sound(like any 100watta tube amp will do)

I use many difereant guitars with this amp. Mainly a Gibson Les Paul or a Gibson Fire Bird V. I play mostly rock with the acasonal blues. This amp has plenty of distortion when and were it is needed. Clean chanel is great crisp and clear.

So far in the years Ive owned this amp it has never given me any problems unlike some of the other Trace Amps I have been around. I always have a back up amp but I have never used one while I play through this amp.

I have never had to deal with the Trace Elliot company with this amp but I have dealt with the them on a Vellocete. They were quick with the new part replace ment

I have been playing guitar for twelve years and have found only a few amps that can compare. But Im very happy with this one and in no hurry to replace it any time soon. If I could by a Trace Elliot Bonaville I would. This was the three chanel version of the Speed Twin. I comared this with a Marshal jcm 900 and it blew the doors off it. Also it was a close draw with a saldono slo and a Bogner head. I feel for the money I got the right Amp for me

See other reviews. Dual master volumes is key. User adjustable bias is great. Loop works very well. Non-midi model. Tons of gain if you want it.

This amp sounds great with all my guitars, single or humbucker. Very organic sounding. Gain channel sounds very good using a little or a lot of gain. Very dynamic. My H&K Triamp gets a 9, this gets a 10.

Had to be repaired once after about 2 years, something in the output section. Gibson charged about $160.

They have been helpfull. I live about a mile from the service center and they were nice when the amp was being repaired. Took about 3 weeks to get fixed and during that time I bought another.

Been playing for about 25 years and have quite a bit of nice gear. If you get a chance to try one of these, give it a shot. Try the gain channel with the gain at 9-10 o'clock, mid and treble in that range and bass around 5. On the clean channel find where it starts to break up and back off a hair. Presence almost off. Like most amps, there is way more treble available then you should ever use. Would give it a 10 if hadn't broken once.

I've got a Mark I H100 paired with a GSC412A cabinet. As far as the head goes, I cannot say enough about it... the plethora of sounds you can get from this amp is amazing. The features of the Mark I are more or less identical to the Mark II (see the Trace Elliot website), with a few exceptions, most notably the absence of MIDI control. Instead, the Mark I uses two stereo footswitch jacks... I've been unable to find a footswitch that works succesfully, although I easily built a few of my own with a trip or two to Radio Shack.

Right now I play in a punk rock / alternative rock band... I put a number of guitars through it depending on what we're playing. The amp puts out a very distinct sound for each individual guitar put through it - I use an Ibanez GAX70 (fitted with Sperzel locking tuners and Seymour Duncan SH-6 pickups), a Parker Nitefly-M (the mahogany body gives a much fuller sound... I love it), and two acoustics from Ibanez and Washburn. Actually, it's interesting with the Parker because of just how versatile that guitar is... no matter what setting I use, the amp can easily adapt to it. Even with the acoustics, toggling the pull switch on the clean channel can change the sound from having more focus on the brighter frequencies of the guitar to a more even response in the mids. As far as channel 2 goes... anything from "just enough" to "shred paint off the walls" distortion is possible, particularly with the switch to change gain modes from lower to higher. Playing with the EQ in this channel gives you even more potential for versatility. And one of the coolest features is the footswitchable dual-master volumes... there are two knobs labeled "Master 1" and "Master 2"... with a footswitch, you can switch between the two settings. (And with a customized footswitch, you can switch the master volume and a channel at the same time.)

Now, I'm going to knock on wood, because I'm the type to do that. However, I can tell you that of all the things that have gone wrong, failed, broken, fallen over (don't ask...), etc. at a gig, this amp was not one of them. It works all the time, every time.

Never had to contact Trace... although, for what it's worth, I hear their support is very good.

It's GREAT. If it were stolen or lost, I'd be broke from buying it in the first place (I'm 16), so I'd have to replace it with something else. If I won the lottery, I'd get six of them. All powering full stacks, of course, eh?

100 watt RMS amplifier head. Two independent channels. Switchable hi/lo gain on Ch2. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switchable series/parallel. MIDI Control. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points. Factory fitted with 5x12AX7/ECC83 and 4xEL34. My model is one of the first Speed Twins without the switch that allows you to run at half-power(50 watts). As stated, it has many great features. I run this with the Tramp 412A quad box loaded with Silver Series Celestions.

This amp has a killer sound, I am totally impressed with the power and clarity. It has a black face Fender sound on the clean channel and Marshall/Soldano on the 2nd channel. The preamp gain switching via the footpedal allows this. The Tramp quad box has awesome speakers, great for rock and blues (Celestion G12-60's). I will buy one or two more of these amps for storage because I have found my dream in my 15 years of professional playing. I usually use a Fender 52 Tele reissue but recently bought a 93 Jap Squire from a pawnbroker. This Squire sounds twice as better than my old USA Standard Strat.

This amp is so well built and I haven't heard any complaints about their reliability. I would assume it would be as reliable as a Marshall due to its cabinet structure. The vinyl is coming off the back of the quad box due to its age.

Gibson has bought out Trace Elliot. Gibson are highly regarded in their support.

This is such a versatile amp. It has the best clean channel and surprisingly, an amp that has a tonally nice kick-ass overdrive channel. I smile from the inside everytime I play with my band. I was going to get a Boogie and Marshall and run stereo via A/B switching, but this amp compensates for both. After spending 7 years in a full time touring band and hearing many guitar rigs, I have found my resting place with this amp. Guys, if you see one of these (or the Speed Twin Combo) GRAB THE SUCKER, IT OOZES WITH BEAUTIFUL TONE.

Look at the other reviews.

I play mostly metallica,creed,and a little 311 and this amp did it all.You can start off playing masters of puppets on the second channel,then switch to the clean channel and play the begining to what if, it does it all.Sometime i like to turn the gain knob to about 4 and play the solo to whole lotta love and sound just like the(jimmie page)god himself;and dont worry about volume this amp has vo

my amp is about 1 year old, and replaced a big trace elliot stack which i sold 'cos my band split and i was poor! it has three channels, tho' the eq is shared on the two distorted channels.....there is also a second volume pot which is foot switchable, for those who like to solo(fools!).the clever thing about the two distortion channels is that they are linked so that when you switch from the first (tube drive) to the second(mosfet) both the tube and mosfet circuits are employed...neat?i should say so!the amp is really really loud....like really..there is no way you would need more power. the clean chanel is very fenderish and warm/sparkly.

i play loud stuff mostly, and the distorted sound is very powerful, even tho' i use a strat. i think the clean chanel is probably more versatile than the over drives which might not sound so good to blues or mainstream rock fans.the clean chanel can easily be set up to break up which sounds very natural and not too transistery, but the power stage is very pokey, so loud clean sounds are not a problem either.
for metal/punk/grunge etc this amp is killer.

the amp itself is very well made, the problems are with the covering and speaker leads which are prone to getting knocked in transit.
the cover material is very pretty but gets torn easily.

na

the amp is the best i have owned...and i have owned many more fashionable brands. i have been playing for15 years and and i think there isn't much about that rivals it for the money.i play a strat, tele and yamaha through it and it suits all.

2 channels: both with bass, mid, treble knobs; on the clean channel
the treble knob pulls out for a 'bright' setting; similarly on the
'gain' channel; (the gain channel, of course, has a gain knob).
Both channels use the same reverb setting. The footswitch has two
buttons, and can switch between the two channels, and between two
volume levels. It has an effects loop.

I'd give it a 10 if each channel had it's own reverb. Otherwise, it's pretty much everything you need in a tube preamp.

I have several guitars. My best sounding set-up is playing a McInturff Polaris Pro guitar into the H100, then I have a Digitech RP-7 in the effects loop, and a Trace-Elliot speaker cabinet that has 4 Vintage Celestions in it. I can get pretty much any sound I want that way, and it's VERY clean... let me re-iterate: it is incredibly, amazingly clean, even at VERY high volumes: this is extraordinarily high quality stuff.

Now, I still only gave it an 8: if you take away the Digitech, you have big problems, especially if you like solid state, "crunchy" distortion. This has tubes - it can tear your head off and the clean channel is absolutely beautiful. The reverb cannot be beat; (again: the reverb cannot be beat - I've never heard better). However, the distortion leaves me wanting. I get my good distortions using the Digitech RP-7.

Styles - I play everything. I do like clean tones, and this has a real good clean tone... if you attack the guitar hard it will give you just a tidge of natural distortion. When I want to play screaming-guitar hard-rock/heavy-metal, I need the Digitech. (I should comment - I'm not into death/gothic/dark metal. This thing would play that stuff very well, because it does have a very warm tube sound that, when overdrive, does sound very heavy and dark.... someone else might give it high marks for that... me - I grew up in the days of screaming guitars (80's), and I want something that screams).

It's durable. No complaints or praises.

Never dealt with them.

I paid $800 for both this head and the matching cabinet. I've been playing for close to 12 years, and have owned quite a pile of gear in that duration. I used to have a shitload of pedals but replaced them all with the RP-7 I mentioned above. Guitar-wise, I currently have 4 electrics (two whammy-equipped Yamaha RG-series, an ESP LTD-H300, and a McInturff Polaris Pro that kicks ass)... I also have a Washburn 12 string acoustic, Takamine 6-string NP-15C, and a Takamine classical CD-132SC... and a mandolin to boot).

If I lost it (!?) I would probably try something else -either a Marshall rig or a 5150 half-stack; (only because I haven't actually *owned* either yet, and I'm curious by nature!)

If you're looking at one of these and have listened to it and you like it: my advice is by all means: buy it! The quality is through the roof - if it has the sound you're after, then you cannot beat it.

Trace Elliot, custom-shop "speed twin H100" (1997) 100W all-tube (5x 12Ax7--4x EL34, or 4x 6L6- mine has EL34's), triode/pentode switching (50 or 100W), 3-spring accutronics reverb, effects loop w/ sent return vols, clean ch 3-eq w/ pull-bright treb knob; drive ch w/ gain knob and med/high gain switch, & 3-eq, trebble knob pull for phase reverse (sort of a trebble gaiting effect for single-coils)), 2 preamp vols, 2 master vols, foot-switchable: master-vol 1/2, clean/gain ch, gain level, effect loop; ceramic/gold jacks, EL84/6L6 biasing switch, 4/8/16 ohm impedance switch, speaker power-dampening knob, standby switch, leather handle, green-letherette covering, chrome vents, aluminum knobs. Features may have been left out, but the above are just off the top of my head (no pun intended).

The two channels are totally independent using different valves and circuitry, and are also voiced independently with different Eq. There are also TWO master volumes, both footswitchable, as with channels, gain style, and effects loop (reverb). The trebble knob on the clean chan pulls for "bright" voicing, as does the trebble knob on the dirty chan for phase reversal. There is a biassing switch for EL34's or 6L6's, so the tube voicing is up to you. This amp is VERY loud, clean and driven, and it would easily blow my Ampeg/celestion 4x12 cab out if not for the handy output dampening knob on the back which allows a "power-soak" like effect to be used, just so you don't overload your cab. Smart, with such a powerful head. Chan's are as follows in sound: ch 1) Very "black-faced Twin" sounding when preamp is below 2 or 3 o'clock (with zero being 7 o'clock), but can be driven to a nice blues distortion with the pre-amp past 3 o'clock and a hot pick-up feeding. Best clean channel I've ever heard for both ultra-clean and class-A style distortion, hands down. Brittle or deep, its all here. The accutronics reverb is perfect, and in addition to reverb level, there is a presence control for the effects loop. If the Ch1 Fender tone range was an indicator of what's to come, you might expect a conservative ch2 but......... Ch 2) This is one versatile high-gain chan. Imagine the gain range of vintage Vox, Marshall, Mesa Dual Rectafier, Soldano SLO, and an Orange Graphic 80 in one channel of one amp! Thats what you get here. The degree of distortion is set with the gain control, and further control over the tone and amount of overdrive is provided by the preamp style switch. In the Up position, 'M', the tone and level of gain is reminiscent of traditional British valve amplifiers, while the down position, 'H', restructures the circuit with an additional valve stage and more gain, like the custom level American monsters. This produces a modern, smooth, high gain sound which remains highly responsive to the player's touch. Once again, the Eq is passive with bass, middle and treble controls, this time with a pull shift switch on the treble control. This quite literally shifts the operating frequency of the treble control down, helping to fatten the sound - particularly useful with single coil pickups. In addition to gain level control, you also have a preamp volume knob on this side. Any real-tube distortion level can be dialed in with the many adjustments provided, but it is still pretty simple to change sounds when between songs. The gain range begins like a warm, dimed-out Twin-Reverb and goes up to insane feed-back ridden buzz/grind.... way more than most can stand. This is the one amp that I could see Van Halen, Sonic Youth, and Elvis Costello sharing. The dual master volumes, combined with independent preamp vols, allows for FOUR foot-switchable volumes (2 clean 2 dirty)!! This thing is will do anything but sound solid-state flimsy. Throughout the gain range, the Eq is present, and you can get as deep, warm, or compressed and you want. The toughest thing about owinig this head is choosing speekers!! I've got vintage-style Eminance right now, but am going to get another cab w/ celestion 75's for a crisper sound when desired.
****I play a 73 SG and a harem of 70's Kramer aluminum-necks, all w/ HB's, rarely I use a single-coil set-up. My EH mem-man and Ibanez TS9 and analog-delay all work well w/ the effects loop. ***

I've had this head for 6 mos and am pleased, but we'll see. Its about 2+ years old and the prev owner retubed it w/ mesa tubes just before sale. With the amount of distortion that this thing will deal out, I'd say that tube consumption may be above average, but thats the norm with high-gain amps. Everything on this unit is of the highest quality available, so I don't see any reliability issues in the future. I have a little 15W trace Velocette class-A amp, which had a defectice output stage. Trace fixed it quickly for free (better than new & even cleaned it) 2yrs after I bought it and it has been fine since. Gibson owns Trace now, so I imagine that service will rebain good. Trace always answers my e-mails quickly. Gibson is not continuing the custom-shop line (including the Speed-Twin series) as they are for the Velocette (under Gibson brand), so these amps are very hard to find.

See "reliability" comments. Excellent.

I got a screaming deal on this head (e-bay) because so few folks know about the Custom-shop amps Trace made in the late 90's. It was in mint condition w/fresh tubes. There aren'too many around and nobody bid on it but me. **e-mail me and I'll tell you how much I paid, if you must know, but I didn't state it because its a poor indicator of the price that this head usually goes for. The rest of the Trace guitar line, excluding the velocette, is solidstate w/tube preamping (ie Tramp series) and there is a world of difference in both sound and workmanship between the two. For an all-tube point-to point handwired, 100W, 2 chan, reverb, incredibly voiced head, this is the best deal going. If I had 3 grand to blow on a head, I'd buy this amp again and pocket the change. I've demo'd Soldano (SLO & 50xl) Rivera (Knucklehead), Mesa (dual rectafier), and Orange (overdrive 120), and this Trace and here is where I settled. I never thought I'd find a deal on one of these, but they're out there, unlike the other amps mentioned.