Trace Elliot Super Tramp Twin Stereo Chorus

Not sure what year this one was made. Purchased it on eBay a couple of years ago. This is probably the most versatile amp I've owned. It has nuts-and-bolts flexibility, not the kind of flexibility you get with a lot of DSP emulations.

There are two foot switchable channels, plus a foot switchable boost on the second channel. Each channel has independent gain and volume controls. Although I have a fairly elaborate pedalboard, I've played gigs with this amp using nothing but my guitar and the stock footswitch.

The reverb is par for the course on this class of combo amp. It sounds good enough to keep me from adding a reverb pedal. Same for the chorus. It's a nice bonus that it is a true stereo chorus, ala Roland JC120, but the sounds from this amp are far more versatile.

I play '60's/'70's pop and psychedelic music, some jazz and "neo-country" rock. From Deep Purple to Michael Buble.

The surprise with this amp is how well it manages the extremes. It gets loud enough to play clean on top of the drums and bass without distorting, yet has good tone at clean high volume. Then it'll get downright crunchy for leads or heavy rhythm stuff. The second channel and boost control enable a huge range to anyone who knows anything about gain-structure.

I have used this amp without backup since I've owned it. Never a failure. I also have owned two Tramps (single 12" little 'bro/sis to this amp) and have never had a failure. Been very happy with all things Trace thusfar.

Have never needed service on any of my Traces. Sofah, sogood.

I've been playing for about 39 years. I also own a Vox Cambridge, a number of '85-'87 maple Guild Bluesbirds (all equipped with triple EMG single coils), a custom mahogany Hamer, also with triple EMG's, a couple of Adamas acoustic-electrics, a German Warwick Fortress bass, Hartke Kickback 15, a couple of Trace Elliot Tramps. I use Snarling Dogs wah and distortion pedals (Blue Doo and Tweedie Dog, cascaded), MXR Dynacomp compressor at the front of my board and an Aphex optical compressor at the back end, Boss phaser, Chorus and Vibrato pedals on one leg of a dual-loop switcher and a Danelectro Danecho on the other leg.

Also a pile of live PA and recording gear that is probably impertinent for the purpose of this review.

If this amp were stolen I'd keep an eye out for another one, but the Fender Supersonic looks mighty tasty. So does the Vox Classic Plus AC50 combo. I'm just not sure I'm ready for tube-amp maintenance anymore at my ripe old age. This Trace has spoiled me. Hard to believe it's solid-state and sounds this good.

The only things I wish it had are patching facilities- pre-out and power amp in for inserting into the power chain (it does have en effects loop- not the same thing). That's not a quibble- just a wish thing.

I'd also love it if it were able to drive an additional stereo 2-12" cab. But now I'm really quibbling.

Overall, I'd have to say this is the best amp I've owned due to it's balance in all categories. I've had amps that had a greasier dirty sound, but those amps wouldn't even consider playing as clean as this one. I've had lighter weight amps, but this one is manageable.

This is definitely a great, flexible amp for experienced players who don't expect DSP to do all the work.

Bought this used from a local GC. Made in 1995. 100% solid-state, and factory-loaded with 2 Celestion Vintage 30's. Stereo amp (twin 40W/RMS amps) with reverb and chorus (rate and depth) plus 2 channels, clean and overdrive. Clean channel has Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and Volume controls. Overdrive channel has same controls, w/boost option. This channel is voiced hotter than Ch 1. Best feature is global Master Volume and Presence controls. Comes with footswitch that allows channel switching as well as a gain boost when in Channel 2. Front-panel input jacks for EFX loop. No headphone jack, no line-out. Back-panel jack for chorus and reverb footswitch. No extension speaker jacks (too bad!)

Too-good-to-be-true tone for a solid-state amp. This amp is GREAT for classic and alt-rock styles. Possiblly OK for jazz (not my forte) and perhaps a little too warm for traditional country. Not particulary suited for modern, bottom-heavy stuff, but I suppose if you re-wired the speaker leads out into a 4X12 cab, it would do a pretty respectable job. So within the category of classic and alt-rock styles, this amp really excels.

Just bought it (April, 2006), but seems to be in great working condition for being 12 years old. Beautiful, emerald-green tolex covering is eye-catching. I love the tone of this amp so much that I am most likely going to use this as my primary gigging amp from now on.

Haven't had need to contact them yet, but since this is circa 1995, the latest incarnation of the Trace Elliot company probably couldn't help me very much with this anyway, even if I did need some kind of assistance for any reason.

Been playing a lot longer than I care to admit. I should be a virtuoso by now, but have to settle for being a weekend, local gigging musician. This amp has unbelievably good tone....the combination of the 2-12" Celestion Vintage 30's and the electronics of this amp quite simply yield the best-sounding, most natural tube-like overdrive and distortion I've EVER heard out of a non-tube amp. No kidding. Simply stunning. In fact, several customers in the GC store who were listening to me try this amp out thought this was an all-tube, absolute gem. They couldn't believe it when they realized this was 12-year old solid-state technology. If you come across one of these, GRAB IT!!! You won't be sorry.

2 channels, clean and dist., stereo chorus, reverb, 2x40 watts, a boost feature for the distorted channel and all in one of the most beautiful amps i've ever seen.
A headphone or a line output would not have been a bad idea, though.

I play a japanese '62 reissue tele, through a tubescreamer and a vox wah, and i used to run one of those crappy zoom 505s. I got rid of it 'cause it was cramping everything with high-mids. Great clean sound, and a great o.d./distortion with the tubescreamer driving the clean channel. The second channel isn't much to my liking, though. The distortion is too metal for me, but it is very 'usable'.
I don't use the reverb, and I stopped using the chorus 'cause I got the rate pot broken in one of those 'music for beer' gigs for a bikers convention. The chorus sounds alot like the lead guitar in U2's 'Staring at the sun'.
Overall the amp sounds great. The stock Celestion Vintage 30's also have a word to say in the sound quality.

I've never had a backup, but I'm lucky enough to say I've never needed one. The only problems I had with this amp were all metioned in other reviews already: they were a broken footswitch and a broken wire that fed one of the speakers. The 6 is for the stuff that got broken.

Don't know/don't answer.

Trace Elliot makes amps expensive, but believe me, they're worth every penny. I've opened my amp a lot of times. They only use the best materials, they pay attention to detail and the sound rocks. If I ever sell this one, it is only to buy a new Trace Elliot.

I believe this amp was made in 1996 when TE was still under the commandof KAMAN. This amp is serious about what it does. Two channels, clean and dirty. This amp is all solid state and has built in chorus and reverb. It also has an effects loop and an external out sans hp jack.

I play both ESP electrics with hot humbuckers and Ovation acoustics with the piezo 'whing' through this thing and seriously....it sounds tremendous. Even cheap guitars can contend with this amp. i can't say enough about the distortion....my my. It does like a mini-marshall and you look up and there's this green thing sitting there....very cool to mess with people. Put a Les Paul through it and watch people's jaw drop. I agree with another reviewer 'This amp can do anything with the right operator.' I also have used more effects than I can count.....tube, digital, other and you really can't make this amp sound bad.

I have never had a problem with this amp at all....I gig without backup (I guess I'm stupid!) and don't think twice about hauling it around like a sack of potatoes. This amp is a brick!

Have never needed them.

I've been playing for quite a few years, have owned and own quite a few amps and play through (now) exclusively ESP and Ovation guitars. I absolutely love the overall tone of this amp and if it were lost or stolen I would consider it a life quest to find another. The only thing I have ever found questionable about the amp is the chorus. Most of the time, I can get it to sound decent and others it is like rolling a water balloon around on the floor ad listening to it. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!! Buy one (if you can find one!!) as fast as you can.

I have owned this amp since '97. It was from the last shipment of Traces before Kaman music dropped the company from its roster. Consequently, the final stage of quality control never happened (see details below). Two channels, chorus, and reverb. Effects loop, but no headphone jack (still haven't figured that one out). It's got 80 watts, but it seems to be a soft 80 watts. I might just have to buy one or two more to get a wall of sound... It's loud enough for rehearsals and jazz gigs but could be louder for rock gigs. BTW, it is solid state, but don't be tricked into thinking that's a bad thing. Just listen to it.

I bought it for the clean channel to go with my Les Paul, but it works great with single coils and archtops as well (good jazz tone in addition to shimmering, crystalline cleans...very nice). Much to my suprise, the distortion turned out to be amazing...Eddie and Slash both seem to be hanging out nearby. The chorus works great with both channels. The clean channel is designed to distort at higher volume levels (this is true when you turn up the CHANNEL volume. the MASTER volume keeps it clean). Many nice, dark, semi-distorted tones can be found by turning up the gain on the clean channel as well. As for channel two, there are lots of good sounds, but I just keep the gain at ten. That's where it sounds the best. For a little extra lead boost, I use a Tube Screamer. It smooths out the tone, Warren DeMartino style. This amp can do anything with the right operator.

The first year and a half I owned this amp I hardly saw it. It was in the repair shop four days after I bought it for a faulty transistor. Loose wire problems followed, and eventually the effects loop bypass wire gave out altogether, forcing me to run an empty line through the effects loop just to get a sound. It had to go back to the factory in Britain (!) for that one. A month later I recieved it back, only to find new problems with the wiring--a deafening crackle had developed. I didn't use the amp for the next 6 months and was contemplating either selling it or setting fire to it. Finally I took it to Mike Metz, former engineer for Sequential Circuits and resident genius in this area of the country. He opened it up and found only one minor problem: a single loose connector. He charged me nothing for the repair, and in the year since then my amp and I have happily gone everywhere together. With that in mind, I send a one-finger salute to the wonderful support staff at Kaman Music (stick to helicopters), but I trust this amp very much. No backup necessary.

If you have read my above comments, this will make perfect sense:
To the Trace Eliot Factory: If the amp didn't come back completely fixed, at least you guys paid the shipping both ways.
To the authorized repairman in town: You're good at keyboard stuff...
To Kaman Music: how about another salute?

After having this amp, I bought a 40w version of it so I had a good sound in a smaller package. Also a good buy. I plan on buying more of these as they become available. I will also buy the newer tube versions. I work part time in a music store as a salesman and guitar instructor, so I have played literally hundreds of different amps. I can honestly say that my amp has very little competition. On the distorted side, it surpasses Marshalls and Mesa Boogies-it is surpassed only by something like a VHT. On the clean side, an older Fender or Ampeg is of the same caliber. Basically, it's as good as any single amp can get.

I believe this amp was made in '96. It is all solid state but really has a great sound- very tube like. It has a clean and distorted channel, and the latter has a boost footswitch function for solos. the distortion channel a single or dual gain switch for medium or heavy distortion. I love the chorus, reminds me of a Roland Jazz chorus. The reverb is fine for my purposes. It has 80W- plenty for my purposes. I play anything from country to blues to classic rock. guitars that I play through it include a Fender tele with Barden pickups, a Gibson Chet Atkins Tennessean (twin humbuckers), and a Yamaha strat copy with active single coils- all sound great, though you have to back off the bass for the humbuckers. For lead work on the distorted channel I can get a very nice singing type of sustain that will feed back on an even harmonic if I let it- very cool

See above

the only problem I've had with it was stupidity on my part- I was monkeying around with a cranky multi effects processor which ended up sending a nasty spikey signal through the amp, frying a fuse and some other small components. Trace sent the parts by overnight mail to my tech- no problems

see above. I've had the amp for 3 years. maybe If I get rich I'll move up to a boutique amp someday. So far this amp does everything I need it to do...

I've been playing guitar for 30 years. I've owned or regularly played through Fender, Yamaha, Lab Series, Peavy and Music Man amps. This amp is the best I've owned, the most versatile, and I think a fantastic value for the money

Made in 1995. I bought it in 1999 - it was on display at the local music store for quite a while. I test-drove this amp till the paint peeled off the walls. To my surprise, this amp has no tubes in it, yet it is comparable to the warmth of a Fender Twin. I play country/southern rock so I get to use clean to hevy dirt tones and this green monster of an amp is fantastic. The amp has two channels w/channel swithcing and effects loop. I wish it had a headphone jack. I do not use the amp's reverb or its chorus - not warm and sweet enough respectively. The amp has plenty of power at 80 watts. I use this amp for all my gigs (smoky, smoky bars/smoky bars/occasional outdoor gig) I mic the amp with a pair of SM57s.

Chorus and Reverb suck, hence, my rig: US custom-built Tele w/Lace Sensors and Lonestar Strat w/Texas Specials (neck & middle) and Seymour Duncan Humbucker (bridge) into Boss CS-3 to Alesis Quadraverb GT (for chours, delay, reverb, and a touch of overdrive) to amp. I use the amp's distortion for some songs while for others I use the QVGTs dirt features. The amp is very quiet. Variety of sounds encompasses ultra clean to raunchy dirt. Quite a versatile amp.

I've used this amp since April 1999. I've always gigged without a backup. So far so good; of course, I expect that the roadcase I had to have custom built for it should help preserve its sleek look and quality sound.

The channel selector switch stopped working two days after I bought the amp. I am awaiting warranty replacement. Gibson now owns Trace Elliott - US owners can deal directly with Gibson. They seem friendly enough.

I've been playing for 23 years. I also own two Roland 88-key digital pianos, plus loads of other crap that lets me do my job and simultaneously annoys my wife :-). If the amp were stolen, yeah, I'd try to buy another one. Eventually, I will be getting into a Fender Twin (can't beat that Fender>Fender sound). This amp is really a step up for me as having the necessary funds to acquire such gear in the past was, at best, difficult to obtain. Two reasons for the purchase: TONE (sans effects - just my guitars, the Tele & Strat) and PRICE. Retail, this baby listed for over $1100.00! The price tag on this amp, at the the time of purchase, was just $525.00! I could not pass it up. Overall, and because I think the chorus and reverb sucks, I rate the amp an 8.