Trace Elliot Super Tramp Valve 100 Combo

This head is solid state with a valve in the preamp section as with Marshall Valvestate. It was made in 1998. Features (from left to right) are input, volume, treble, mid, bass, gain, gain boost, bass, mid, treble, level (volume for gain channel/s), effects send and return jacks, reverb, master volume 1 and master volume 2. Gain and gain boost are activated by push buttons. The rear of the head has the power on/off switch, two speaker input jacks, and two footswitch jacks. The amp came with a matching angled Trace Elliot quad.

I use this amp with a G & L S500 (strat style)and an Epiphone Les Paul '56 Goldtop reissue. I have also used a Gibson SG and an Epiphone Les Paul custom through it. To start with, it's loud. I compared it with a Marshall VS100 half stack, a Laney TF800 half stack, and a Fender Roc Pro halfstack. The Trace blew the others down in both volume and tone. I intentionally looked at the "valve state" type amplifiers as I felt I wasn't ready for a valve amp with the associated maintenence. I think the amp has a nice warm tone through the clean channel - the G & L sounds beautiful especially in that mid position between neck and middle pickup. The Goldtop sounds nice through the clean too but sounds magic through the gain channel/s. Heaps of sustain especially through the neck pickup. The clean channel isn't noisy at all however the same can't be said for the gain channel. On it's own the gain channel isn't too bad but becomes noisy when the gain boost is kicked in. As other reviewers have said before though, you don't notice it when you're playing so who cares. I have cranked the amp and it handles high volume really well. The G & L IMHO sounds like crap through the gain channel. Clean is it's forte and it sounds great.

I have only owned the amp for a few months so I can't really comment on reliability. Hasn't failed yet but as it's basically solid state, I don't envisage too many dramas with it.

And this is where we nose dive folks. Getting a reply from this mob is like trying to stick butter up a porcupine's arse with a red hot needle. When I bought the amp, the shop couldn't find the accompanying manual. No problem, I thought. I'll contact Trace Elliot by email with any problems. So far, have emailed them 4 times in the past month or so without success. I'd love to be able to tell you what the two speaker input jacks in the back are for but as I can't get a reply from the manufacturer to the same question, we're all in the dark !! The back of the amp states rated at 100 watts, 200 watts peak. I've tried to find out how to run the amp to reach that peak but can't get a reply. I'd sure hate to be dangling by the cojones waiting for these people to reply to an e-mail. Still, they're in England and I'm in Australia so there's not much hope of my meeting one of their so called customer service people face to face is there? Warranty is 12 months - should be interesting.

I've been playing for about 8 months now after a gap of about 25 years so am basically learning all over again. When I first took it up again, I bought a Marshall JCM 600 head and quad (shit) since then have had a Marshall valvestate 8100 half stack and a Peavey Special 212. This Trace Elliot is the amp I've been looking for. It's got tone, volume, and looks. The quad is heavy so I put a set of castors on it to make it easier to move (I'm getting old !) I think every amp has it's good and bad points so any negative points about this amp I can live with because of the good points. It suits me, it suits my playing style( blues and rock). Great amp if a "valve state" type amp is what you're after.

I think the amp was made recently (last year or so).
It has a single input jack, 3 Channels, although the 3rd is really just a 'gain boost' Channels 1 and 3 are FET (solid state) and 2 is tube. Channel 1 is clean, while 2/3 are dirty.
There is a seperate 3 band EQ for each section (clean/dirty). Although the knobs are reveresed (it goes treble-mid-bass on the clean, then bass-mid-treble on the dirty); it's very wierd.
It has 2 sockets for foot switches, although it only comes with one. The foot switches control a)Channel 1/2 & Channel 2/3 and b)Reverb & Volume Boost
The volume boost is a 2nd master volume that, when engaged adds its level to that of the 1st master. It also has a 3 spring reverb.
It has effects send and receive, and 2 extension speaker jacks, although you'd probably keep one attached to the internal 12" Celestion speaker.
Oh yeah, it's a 100W.
I wish it had a headphone jack, as it sounds so much sweeter than my practice amp.
I got this amp on sale, it was $500 off(!), which was very sweet.

I almost always run a Gibson "The Paul II" (a no frills Les Paul). I play mostly blues, and this amp is wonderful! The clean sound is rich and beautiful, and the dirty channel is perfect for your down and dirty Chicago sound. I also play various types of rock (rock'n'roll to alternative) and this amp works great for that too. I don't play any heavy metal, really, so I can't make any claims about that. I do know the amp can produce lots of distortion if that's what you're after. Make sure you try it out before you buy it!!

I've only had it for just over a month, and I'm a little concerned about knocking the tube around too much. Everyone else seems to think that Trace Elliot's are really good, but I just don't know.

Never dealt with them, hope I won't have to.

I've been playing for 11 years or so (close to 12, I think) and I've been playing electric for about 6 or 7. This is the second amp I've ever owned, and I love it. I was aiming to spend between 5-6 hundred, as that was my 'surplus' after my first year of school. I'm glad this amp was on sale, as I wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise, and it's better than anything else for that price that I looked at.

I've only owned two amps in my life but I can say that this is probably by far the better of the two and one of the best amps that i will ever own. The three channels (well, two and a half really) are really handy, and the quality of the "dirty" channels virtually erase the need for any sort of a distortion pedal. I can use this amp at pretty much any gig that I play, it is one of the loudest 100w combos i have ever heard. There is a footswitch for the amp, with two outputs at the back to use it for either the different channels or to control reverb. The only problem with this is that there is only one foot switch! you can't control both reverb and distortion at the same time, which can be drag on occasions.

I am playing a wasburn BT10 with this amp, with two humbucking pickups. This makes the dirty channels sound great, and the clean channel is good also except that when the gutiar volume is at 10, there is a little bit of "fuzz" coming through, so if you have humbuckers you will have to turn your guitar down to about 6/7/8 or so to get a perfectly clean sound.

This amp suits my music styles perfectly- I play anything from jazz to hard rock. I am in a rock band and also I am attending music college (a jazz school), and I can use this amp for both without any problems. There is a little bit of hum coming from the amp, but in most settings this probably wont be a problem.

I was considering buying some variety or a stack before i bought this amp, but I don't see the need for one now- I can play almost any gig without having to be miked through a PA(although I don't play any arenas just yet!)

I just bought this amp about a month and a half ago, and i have not seen any problems just yet, and from what i have heard from other trace owners, i probably never will. I also have a peavey studio pro 40 watt solid state, which i take to all of my gigs as a backup, but i have never had to use it since i bought my new trace.

a 1 year warranty, so far I haven't had to deal with the company yet, as I can go to the msuic shop i bought it from to get it serviced if ever needed.

Overall, this amp is extremely versatile, from jazz to heavy metal it sounds great. The amp is really heavy- I am still considering putting wheels on the bottom just so i don't ever drop it while carrying it.....but it is worth it. With the exception of a few minute design flaws, such as only being able to use one footswtich, and the clean channel getting a tad distorted, it is a great sounding amp and I would recommend it. The price i paid ($1000 cdn) was a bit steep, but in the long run i believe it will be a GREAT investment.

I presume it was built in 1999 as I got it about a month ago and its a great improvement over the succession of amp disasters I had from Crate (Blown transformers, fx loop self destruction and general unreliability I really like the warm tone of this amp, at first I was a bit dubious with it only having one speaker (celestion silver) I am used to 2*12s but cosidering my last crate (GXT100) had 2 of them I was pleasantly surprised to find it just as loud if not louder!
mos tof the time I am a "bedroom guitarist" but i do get out for the odd jam session and my friends have commented on how good this amp sounds I play blues, rock, pretty mainstream stuff AC/DC thin lizzy gay moore and try to play the stuff of my hero Satch but as an idiot who will try anything this amp has stood up to my imitations of Metallica Black sabbath and a few others and then with an acoustic simulator (courtesy of Zoom 505) played a pretty good stairway to heaven

I use a couple of strats one is a squier but its the better guitar perhaps it because of the Kent Armstrong mini humbucker in the bridge and standard single coils elsewhere these are fine on the clean channel but get a bit noisy on the dirty channelI also have an Epiphone SG400 which could have been made for this amp I cant fault it I also have a couple of Epiphone "super strat" type guitars tha also work well.. the next thig I want to do is get hold of semi and sse how it works with that

so far it hasnt broken down but its onlt 2 months still that about 3 weeks longer than the series of Crate amps I had before (ok I'm exaggerating a bit But 5 amps in 12 months what do you think?)

Ive been playing about 4 years I have 10 guitars (been collecting them for about 10 years) I am something of an fx nutter I went through the card on Boss stuff then got into Zoom Ive got a 505, a 508 delay and a 510 driver. the just when I thought I had enough those swine at Zoom produced the GFX707 so I had to and get one its fantastic but thats another story

when I bought this amp it was sort of Hobsons choice I had taken yet another busted crate back to the shop and said No more I want a Marshall or my money back! htat panicked them as they do not stock Marshall stuff so rather than part with actual money they asked me to try this supertramp they had just had in so now they are back in my good books
the only other thing I would like incorporated in this amp is a line level output for recording because I do a lot of messing with computer generated stuff and it would be easier than mic'ing the thing up other than that I cant fault it.
Comparisons Its head and shoulders above the Crate amps I tried
I liked it better than the Fender twin the H&k Hybrid I tried at the time of buying the first Crate I had I also reckon it sounds better than my mates Marshall VS100r valvestate whic is what I wanted originally. About the only amp I would give this up for is a Mesa Boogie but then who wouldnt? oh well perhaps I'll win the lottery...

With two channels, one clean and a two stage drive channel it,s a ideal amp for gigging and recording. This one get's as loud as an 1 x 12" 100 watt combo can get. Though the clean channel ain't tube, it's still nice. With two sockets in the rear for shifting channels or boost and reverb combined with a little DIY you build a floorboard with four switches to control the amp on stage! The two master volumes are great to.

I use a selfbuilt Stratocaster with a single coil sized humbucker (bill lawrence) at the bridge and two original strat single coils and a fixed bridge for better sustain. I try to play all styles, helped by the fact my amp and guitar are capeable to do so. The amp goes from jazzy clean to over the edge in your face heavy metal. Even played extreme loud the clean channel stays clean for a long way up.

Being also a bassplayer and using trace bass amps for a long time, makes me sure there the best in the world when it comes to reliability. They simply never let you down.

Warranty for a Trace.....no need for that! OK you have a one year warranty. The customer support is more then helpful, they build their gear the way the customers want to.....

Owning a homestudio, I own from three guitars, two basses, all kinds of amps and effectgear and all what you need in a small homestudio like mic's and stuff. I certainly would buy trace gear again, for the pricebracket the are in, there is no other stuff like that.

2 channel amp, with boost (3rd channel). (ECC83 powered overdrive channel, boost is non linear FET circuit). Remote channel switching via f/s (supplied :) ) 100 watt, and loud. When overdriven it can supposedly peak at 200 watt. And yes thats about it !!

Used with humbuckers or even single coils, sound is really VERY good. Pretty good for any style of music, I suppose, more rock type stuff. It is reasonably quiet until you crank it, but thats to be expected. The Clean channel is brilliant, its doesn't distort unless you want it too (which is nice). Overdrive is vintage (esque) until you use boost when it can become quite growling and harmoniccy ????!!

I always take spares, but that is no reflection on this amp. It is very solid and reliable (and it smells nice when its new.)

Overall, I love this amp. Its pretty, smells nice, sounds very good indeed, is bloody versatile erm..........OH yeah, its liable to feedback if u get too close which may become a problem on some occasions, but nevermind. I was considering a Marshall VS65 or 100 or Laney GC80 instead, but this is better by far !