Trace Elliot Super Tramp Valve 100 Combo

Made in 1997, now discontinued.
I play a lot of Hillsong and Soul Survivor worship songs in church with the high overdriven guitar riffs and crunchy distorted rhythm. It does not deliver. It has a clean channel and a distortion channels and a gain boost for the 2nd (dirty) channel. Both sections have separate EQs which weirdly are place opposite ways round(treble, mid, bass then bass, mid, treble) which is odd but then this amp does have custom shop printed on the back. It also has reverb and an effects loop on the front along with a two master volumes, the second for a boost. Also Channel/Gain Boost and Master Volume 2/Reverb are switchable. It has one 12" Celestion silver speaker and a ECC83 valve for the preamp section while the rest is transistor. So you could call this amp a hybrid. For rocking out either at church or at gigs this amp has not provided for me which I will say more about in sounds. However with 100w it is very much loud enough and I haven't had to put it past half way with both master volumes turned on. I haven't bought footswitches for this amp so I can't say that it has proved handy but it does have a lot of footswitchable features that should I use would make versitality easy.

This amp absolutely sucks and I am saying this as an amateur that knows very little about amps and trust me it fails the basics. The clean channel has plenty of warm mids which is very nice to listen to however, it has no bass which is ironic for a company that now makes only bass amps and the treble doesn't really make it sound any better. It is like sitting listening to pigs rolling around in sludge. I have used it in bands situations and it does not cut through with the distortion at all. It has no prescence, it just mixes with whoever I'm playing which. I really wish this amp sounded good, I wish that I could get the versitality out of it that other people on harmony central say they can get but I just can't. Also when turned up half way there is a lot of noise while not playing. But the amp is probably not entirely to blame though. I use a Yamaha Pacifica 112 with it and that isn't really great either so I think in combination they make perfect mud. The amp does respond well when the volume is turned up and the master down to produce an ok overdrive on the clean channel but the distortion is unusable. It is muddy the mids overpower and the lack of bass lets it down badly. The bass seems the same from between 4 and 10 and I just put it at 10 the whole time to get as much bass as I can which is not enough. The reverb is decent and sounds alright but to be honest I just want to get rid of this amp as soon as possible.

I haven't had it for very long but I am guessing from the time I have had it it will last for many more years. No problems as yet.

Trace Elliot no longer make this amp so I won't get any help if it does decide to die.

I have been playing guitar for 7 years now and I also own a boss ME-50 which sounds fairly good. You would think the ME-50 could fill in the gaps on the amp but it can't and it really frustrates me. Not because of the ME-50 but because of the amp. I really wish this amp decided to blow up while I'm playing live. That would be really cool and would probably be the most crowd pleasing thing it would ever do. I'm thinking of getting either an Orange Rocker 30 combo or a Vox AC30 CC2 to replace it. I am not sure however if this is just a duff model or not and it well could be. Being a custom shop model who knows what may lurk within its shell. Basically my advice is to stay away from this amp but if you try one and it does the things that i mentioned mine doesn't then it's probably fine. The reason I bought this amp is because of the warm clean tone but it just doesn't do anything else.

Mine is a 1997 Super Tramp, which I bought used from Electromusic in Doncaster. Great shop by the way, which always has interesting used stuff in stock. The amp has a hybrid preamp section with an ECC83 valve in, and a 100w solid state power section. The power section is powerful, loud and clean, and drives the 12" Celestion V12-60 well. It has three channels: a clean channel which is very Fenderish, and two overdrive channels which share the same EQ. The overdrive is very Marshall-like, midrange driven and powerful. It has an effects loop on the front panel. The channels are footswitchable, as is a second master volume and the reverb. The footswitchable master volume is a very useful feature, as it can be used to give a clean boost for solos, and the three channels mean that you can set it up to get a wide variety of tones.

I play a 97 Epiphone Les Paul Classic Birdsye, and have also played a Yamaha Pacifica and an Epiphone Dot through this amp. I play alternative/indie rock mostly, and some classic rock when I'm jamming. It suits these styles well; the clean channel is very Fender-like, and it overdrives nicely with a Boss SD-1 in front of it. The overdrive has a wide range on the gain controls, making it versatile enough for most rock sounds, and the EQ is highly dynamic and responsive, meaning that more modern metal sounds are achieveable. I keep the gain at about 1/4 on channel 2 and 1/2 on channel 3, and between the two I can get all the crunchy tones I desire. Overall, high quality sounds throughout, particularly the clean channel.

The amp is now 8 years old and, other than some dusty pots, I've never had a problem with it. I bought it from a shop used, and when they received it the EQ on channel 1 was not functioning. Turned out to be one loose soldering joint, easily repaired by their tech. Just like all the Trace gear, it seems this is well built and easily maintained.

Overall, a great amp. Well built, reliable and great-sounding piece of gear, which I really enjoy playing through. It's versatile enough to be useable by a wide range of players, and because Trace no longer exist, it's becoming rarer. I like to play gear that's a little different to most peoples', and this stands out from the endless Marshalls and Line6s that populate the midrange amp market in the UK. Sounds better too, in my opinion. I compared it at length to my bandmate's Marshall AVT150, and I prefer this amp's clean and overdriven tones. I played a Laney LC30, Fender Hotrod Deluxe, Marshall DSL401 and Line6 Spider II before coming across this amp 2nd hand, and I prefer it to all of them. If you see one used, try it!

As far as i know, this amp was made in the early 2000s, but im not sure. I play pretty much everything, rock, blues, metal, punk, intrumental, jazz, ethnic, religeous, ect. and this amp can handle everthing I need to do. It has two and half channels (clean, od, and od boost)and is footswitchable. The only thing i dont like is that you have to keep your foot on the frickin pedal and cant just turn it on or off. It doesnt have a head phone jack, which is ok for now coz i have a small battery powered amp for practicing in my room. This amp is probably more powerful than im ever going to need it to be. A real tight valve-state amp.

i play an ibanez rg series with dimarzio PAFs. The tone never comes out muddy, unless i want it to be. The clean is simply amazing. One thing i dont like is the od boost does affect the way it sounds in a bad way. there is unnecessary reverb and buzzing in the background. That is the only realy problem i have had. I plug my guitar through a zoom gfx4 processor and a morley bad horsie. The Eq is really nice, but i use a rack eq, so i dont mess around too much with the clean channel. I have nver played this at really high volumes (probably around seven, which bordered on the TOP) but the amp has never fuzzed out on me. really nice distortion. bluesy or heavy, what ever you need, its all right there.

I havent had this for too long (2 months now) so i cant really say anything bad about it. I will be replacing the tube, however, and hopefully, that can only help. i'd gig with it in a second, but it is really heavy to lug around.

This is a really nice amp, but i would use an od pedal, just to be sure. of course, there are other amps out there (all tube) that could be better but i am going to stick with my trace. If it was stolen, it the theif would have to be pretty strong to get it out of my house quick enough, but i would get another one, depending on availability, since they arent being made any more.

The combo was made in 2001 from memory although I bought it new in 2003 - last of the old stock after Gibson bought them.These amps are not being made at the moment as Gibson are still trying to get it together and are concentrating on the accoustics at the moment I believe.
The unit has a 3 channels, in reality 2 - 1 clean, 1 overdriven valve and the third is just adds more ss distortion to the second channel.
As it is a combo it has 2 x 12 inch Celestion speakers in a rather large cabinet. This makes it a large size combo and rather heavy to carry around but the awesome sound makes up for the carrying hassle.
It is a 100 watt MINIMUM ON CLEAN and uses a valve preamp with a mosfet power amp and you get a footswitch with it - very useful. It also has an effects loop which I am about to try out with a Digitech rp100 but does not have a headphone socket hence purchase of RP100.
It has a more than usual amount of controls which can be a bit confusing till you get used to it as they are all very interactive.
This unit is very powerful - have tried outputs on 7 maximum which is just below the pain threshold but it is also musical at low volume

I use a Fender Stratocaster (Mexican) into which I have installed Seymour Duncan vintage pickups and have just bought a Digitech RP100 as a bit of a toy.
I am more interested in blues and rock than anything else for which this amp is most suitable. Great creamy tones can be had out of the clean and dirty channels and the controls allow you to dial in the just the right mix.I don't really use the 3rd channel much as I haven't spent much time trying to get the right sound out of it yet because it can sound a bit hissy. Probably just a matter of spending a bit of time trialling the levels.
The overall sound is very musical with a lot of depth partly due I guess to the large cabinet and speakers I .It sounds fantastic for blues and rock but not that great for metal due to the single coils in my guitar more than the amp, a case of too much tone.
One thing I did straight away was to put the bass settings on full as the cabinet is open backed. Sometimes this is a bit much on clean but is normally fine.
The only down side is that when you are not playing and in a quiet room you can hear a faint crackle which I have been told is caused by the tube and is considered normal. I will probably replace the tube with a groove tube later on.
Compared to other amps I have listened too including Fenders,Marshalls,Peaveys etc this amp sounds so much better. The sound is warm and lush sounding but still dynamic.

It has been reliable the only nag is the noise I get from the tube sometimes

Have tried to contact customer support at Trace Elliot with a technical question but they were a bit slack with their response

I basically bought it as it was on sale and I considered it a bargain
for an English large great sounding combo that was also very versatile.The fact that it is a large unit and rather heavy would have put some people off but as it sits mostly in my study it is not a concern.
I am very happy with this and I know it sounds a whole lot better than most of the more common brands. Nice to have something a bit different.

Kao prvo pozdrav ekipi from Croatia! moj trejs proizveden je 1999. godine i prvo je pojaealo koje zadovoljava sve moje potrebe. svi?aju mi se dva dupla foot-switch-a. Sviramo (grupa IZVAN ZAKONA) od rocka preko hard funk-a do heavy-a i cijelo vrijeme sviram na malo jaeim drajvovima. Posebno mi se svi?aju boost volume koji ukljueujem kad sviram solo dionice. ?to se tiee snage zadovoljava prostore do 200-tinjak ljudi bez ozvueivanja, naravno ako ne patite na kvalitetu zvuka. line out i utienica za slu?alice mi uop?e ne nedostaju jer isto i ne koristim. pojaealo ozvueujem preko majka-obvezno.

svaka east na tri kanala i solidnoj distorziji, no kod kori?tenja boost gaina ueestala je mikrofonija.

slu?i me dobro vee dugo i nije se kvarilo. istina pregorijela je originalna lampa, ali i phillipsova slu?i svrsi.

po?to se nije kvarilo servisi mi nisu trebali, a u Hrvatskoj, (Croatia), sumnjam da i postoji ovl. servis. ?IVJELI PRIUEENI MAJSTORI.

do sada sam svirao na puno pojaeala (pevey, marshall, crate, yamaha), no tek ovo zadovoljava moje potrebe kod svirke u?ivo, bez kori?tenja skupih efekata. isto pojaealo bi kupio ponovno kada bi ga mogao prona?i i platiti.

Made in 2002 I asume, I got it in April 2003. It is a valve preamp SS power amp 100watt combo with a 12 inch speaker. It has 2 channels (Clean and OD) with a gain boost for the OD channel. I play mostly metal but at the time I wanted an amp that could get me a good rock distortion, this isn't really an amp for metal (although put an overdrive pedal infront of it to boost the OD channel and you might be in business) but its good. There is no headphone jack however, this is quite annoying. ne feture i like is the volume, it has two knobs one can be footswichable so you can boost your volume for solos or whatever, you can also footswtich reverb.

I play an Epiphone g-400>Boss Mt-2 Metal zone>Boss Ce-5 Chorus ensemble>(soon a boss Ns-2 noise supressor)>This amp.The clean channel is great, the distortion isn't very brutal and dosent appeal to my tapes but would probably be better with an overdrive pedal to push it. The amp is generally is quite bassy, i have the bass quite low and the trebble on full on both channels.

This amp is pretty reliable, the footswitch can get a bit stiff sometimes but taprt from that its fine.

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Overall i think this amp is great if you are going to be using it for rock and maybe punk. For metal though i just don't think its the right thing unless you are prepared to use pedals (I use a Metalzone). If it were stolen i would probably not buy another one i would get a nice all tube one, probably a peavey tripple XXX 212 combo (probably cost me twice as much too), but this amp was pretty cheap and in my opinion worth the money, i could probably sell it for a similar price that i paid for it.

I bought this amp in December '99. Two channel: clean and dirty, with a boost channel for the dirty (so, sorty of three). FX loop, reverb, plenty of knobs. A Fair amount of features for the price.
Good Celestion speakers. The cabinet on this combo has a good sound....but that's about it.

I use a Fender Strat, American for Guitar Rock and Pop.
This is the muddiest amp I have every heard. It has absolutely no cut. The clean channel is dull and the dirty is unusable. I bought pedals for distortion. I lugged this around for six months and then I had to replace it. If it ain't bass, don't buy Trace.

The amp crapped out a few times and I had to bring it into the shop, but they fixed it under warrenty with no questions asked. Too bad they didn't come fix it at my gigs....

I can't complain about the service -- they fixed everything under warranty without complaint.

If it ain't bass, don't buy Trace. This amp is useless to any working musician, and more than you need for anyone just practicing. If you need a cheap gig amp for around 400, check out the Fender Hot Rod Delux, which is about the best amp for the money and 100% reliable. Anyone wanting a high-end amp is cheating themselves if they don't check out a MesaBoogie.

Made in late 1990's. 100 watt twin combo. Valve preamp with clean, gain, and higain channels. Solid state power stage. Channel switching, effects loop, and reverb also included. 2 Celestion Silver series 12" speakers. Solid cabinet. Loud. Good for large halls.

Original 12AX7 (ECC83) tube had problems: noisy bad tone; higain was like gain, but with more hiss and white noise. Replaced original tube with JJ Tesla ECC83S. Much better. Very little noise; even higain is reasonable for what it is. I play single coils mostly, Fernandes Strat copy and G&L ASAT. Clean is nice and usable; not fendery exactly, but more than useful with good dynamics and a tone all its own. Gain and higain are great: good controllable feedback, marshall comes to mind. Reverb is good. The Celestions are nice and articulate even at high volumes. Tone controls are problematic, especially the clean bass control: gets too boomy. Solid State output is a what's to be expected. I've plugged Digitech RP-100 directly into the loop return with good results. Overall, a very good sounding amplifier.

Apart from a dodgy tube, no problems at all. I don't abuse my equipment and try to take good care of it. I gig without a backup

A great hybrid combo. The single tube preamp provides a good deal of warmth, and the solid state power stage adds reliability. I think it would be a good touring amp. It fills a hi volume need I have occasionally, although if stolen I probably wouldn't replace it. It weighs too much, but that's to be expected.

basic 2and a half channel, 1 input.hybrid.clean channel (quiet as a mouse) and gain channnel with rather useful footswich operated boost.
the amp is listed as 100 watt but it says it can push to 200 watt.
this i do not dought, as volume it has in abundance.
i use this amp without backup for regular gigging.when i first bought
it did need servicing.it was about 4 years old at that time.cost

the guitars i use are strat and an old eko electric. and i have fallen in love with me eko again.the tone out of this amp are excellent. my fav being the gain without the boost on. very warm and fluid.

as i said when bought it needed servicing.ive owned other trace amps b4 and not yet had to contact the company.

ive been playing for 20+ years and had lots of amps. if this was lost or stolen i wud buy another

Fairly standard 2 channel hybrid amplifier with Split ECC83 @ 100W.
Full eq on both clean and Overdive channels gain and level etc. Belton spring Reverb, switchable channels and switchable reverb and volume. c/w channel switcher similar to that found with Vox AC30. Effects loop.

I use it with an Epiphone LP with seymour duncan pickups and VERY customised Yamaha Pacifica. Clean channel is very much akin to Fender amps. Sounds absolutely amazing with Fender style guitars, paticularly Telecasters. Sound is fair-good with Gibson style Humbucking pickups. The distortion is fantastic with both guitars, although obviously more so with a humbucking guitar. Although I have to admit I can get a very good Graham Coxon distortion sound using my Yamaha. Overall very good sound, responsive EQ, the treble control being particularly 'responsive' on the distortion channel. Have never, nor will ever need to use the FET boost channel. Sounds better still if the ECC83 is exchanged for a Groove Tube for example.

Overall relatively reliable. The tube went in quite an interesting way taking about 10 resistor with it a little while ago, fortunately a lovely man in Birmingham was able to fix it.

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Marvelmouse