Trace Elliot Velocette 1x10 Combo

Very basic design. Works well for what it is. Left out the bells and whisltes. It does have a bright switch, but I never use it on purpose. I am not really into bells and whistles, though -- I've seen too many crappy amps that have a ton of features, yet sound like junk.

I like the tone of this amp through a 12" Celestion -- it's pretty good for just about any style, heavy styles included, this way. Not every stomp-box works well with this amp, but some seem to shine through it. A boss DS-1 works nicely through it, but an Ibanez SM-9 does not. All-in-all, a great sounding amp.

Mine blew the output transformer about two months after I got it. After being repaired, it has worked perfectly for more than three years.

Gibson replaced the transformer at their factory in Elgin, Illinois -- it was done in a few minutes while I waited. No charge.

Great amp for the money. Obviously, try to avoid the problematic ones or hope you live near a Gibson factory. I hadn't heard about the problems when I traded around $125 worth of gear that I was no longer using to Music-Go-Round for it. If I lost it, I'd buy another -- I don't use it that often, but I like having several different types of amps to choose from in my studio.

It doesn't have features, but you know that going in. Reverb and effects loop would have been nice

This is the EL84 sound I've been looking for. I've owned a Peavey Classic 30 and a Soldano Atomic (which I traded for this one- paid $400 for the Soldano). Great complex tones with excellent definition. Very lively response that holds clear as the notes decay. Although it gives you better than expected bottom, for a 10" speaker you get what you get. The amp came to life whe run thru my Avatar 2x12 Celestion V30 cab. Unreal! This one is a keeper.

I made sure I had the transformer was replaced before I purchased. It's worked flawlessly for me. I left it on for a few days once (I know- WTF). Kind of easy to do because of the rear contols. It does run hot, but has never let me down. I'm using it live now, so it's taken a few bumps

I've read many great thing about Gibson taking care of folks. That goes a long way and has leaned me towards them, in the future

I wish it had more bells, but even with that I give it a 10. I have a few quality amps that I've swapped around from night to night- this one's been in the rotation for several gigs now. Granted, I need to run it with my 2x12 cab, but I never have to turn it past 2:00 with my 5 pc band. Also, sure is nice to carry it into a get together or open mike night swinging back and forth with ease. Way light. If you can find one- buy it! Like others have said, TE made some design mistakes so it's critical that the transformer was replaced before you go there. This may be my 1st "10" amp rating.

This is an update to my previous review because: I just found a very simple way to greatly increase the tonal versatility of this amp ... stick and Overdrive pedal in front of it (see below)!

This amp is clean and bright and nuanced (it also has amazing bass response for such a small package), but if you want to make the most of that gorgeous warm overdriven amp tone you need to crank it up, and for a small amp this baby can be very LOUD. However, I just stumbled upon a cheap and simple way to make this amp great for all of your needs, including rock and heavy blues at low volume, as well as jazz and clean blues) - put an Overdrive pedal in front. Overdrives produce "soft-clipping" - however with my powerful pickups (DiMarzio's passive SDHB) I can go from clean to blues to classic rock to hard rock without the need for a distortion pedal (which produces harsher "hard clipping"). A Boss SD-1 or any Tubescreamer would probably be ideal. I have a Snarling Dogs Blues Bawl pedal (it has wah, linear pre-amp, overdrive and distortion features) and I jsutused the Overdrive feature of that distortion way down at 2 (distortion has to be on for overdrive to work) -- I couldn't believe how good it sounded, sort of dynamic and alive. I thought using a pedal would make it sound synthetic or solid-state like but it doesn't. Plugging the same pedal in to my (very good) solid state practice amp sounds nothing like the Velocette -- perhaps because of Velocette nuanced Class A behavior. I felt I had to share this discovery because I am sure others will find it useful.

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Good looking, all tube, a quality speaker and with a $50 Overdrive pedal a very versatile and exciting sound proposition. Its compact design means that you can easily carry this in one hand and a guitar in the other without getting a hernia. Apparently it also meets airline hand luggage size restrictions!

Late model with the "improved" output tranny. For a single channel, class A tube amp, it's verasatile enough for me. No effects loop, no headphone jack, no reverb, no digital DSP stuff, no amp modeling. It does have tone. What more could you want? It sounds so good, I don't miss the reverb. I play classic rock and blues and this is just the ticket for me.

I have a Fender Classic 50s with Fat 50s pickups, a Peavey Firenza with P90s, a Godin Radiator with Dearmond 2Ks, an old Kay semi-hollowbody and a Kramer Pacer. All sound great.

Time will tell. Just got it recently but had been jonsing for one since playing through one a while back.

I don't expect to deal with the company since the amp is no longer made.

26 years of playing. Solo, groups, church but no gigging per se. My only real comparison for this amp is trying to acheive what I have in my head vs what my past amp experiences have been. This is closest yet. I say "yet" because it's never really over. The only thing I wish it had was an 8 ohm impedence rather than 16 ohm so my speaker cab could be compatible with my other amps. Big, toneful sound in a small, tasteful package.

1996/7 New Old Stock. Simple, affordable, Vintage-style all tube amp. Volume, tone, bright-switch, speaker output. Celestion Vintage 10 speaker. The excellent power-to-size ratio will allow this amp to go where others would be impractical, such as carry-on luggage for example. It is the size of a practice amp but more powerful. Famous jazz/country finger-picker Adrian Legg used a Velocette to record his recent Master Class in Guitar Techniques magazine. Damon Gough of Badly Drawn Boy apparently uses one too. I have heard of pros. using two together as a small, powerful stereo setup too.

I use it for blues. It would make an excellent Jazz amp -- a tube alternative to the solid state mini brute for example. It has a clean, bright sound and being a class-A amp, it will capture all the nuances of your playing. At higher volumes a subtle, warm overdrive can be achieved.

As with any tube amp, change the output tubes once a year. The original Tesla output tubes work well. I would gig without a backup, but would take a spare pair of output tubes.

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I have been playing 4 years. If it were stolen I would buy it again. Fine for home use, even better for small gigs/studio use. Good value.

This amp has only a volume and tone control plus a bright switch (for "scooped" tone) and standby switch. That should be pretty much all you need. Oh yes, it has a Celestion Vintage 10 speaker -- very nice -- a good speaker is a very important feature. Oh, one more thing this is perhaps the greatest looking amp I have ever seen (bar maybe only the hyper-expensive Belov) - mine is bright red -- looks awesome. This amp is the predecessor the the current Gibson boutique-style Gold Tone GA15 amp ... the circuit is basically the same (3 minor capacitor value changes and 2 new protection diodes are the only differences I could see) although I think construction quality may be a little higher (e.g. the use ceramic tube holders -- as if you cared!). Oh, one more thing, having the controls on the back makes adjustments inconvenient -- they did it to keep the authentic vintage vibe (it looks great)-- so either set it and forget it or just use and external pedal to control it (e.g. graphic eq, overdrive, volume pedal).

Using it with a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Japanese original (sort of Les Paul style) with DiMarzio SDHB pick-up. This bright and clean sounding amp is a good complement for the more mid/bass -rich sound of the Les Paul. The amp works well for blues (think BB King tone), but would probably be awesome for Jazz, Brit-pop, Queen-rock (or Country even)...or any music where a clean/bright Vox/Fender sound might be desired. I use it at home as a practice amp -- although this amp is really designed for (and plenty loud enough for) live use -- you could blast out the local coffee shop with this & mic it for big gigs. You get "tube tone" at all settings but to get that desirable overdriven sound you really need to crank this up beyond the #1 volume that I normally use at home! I researched tubes a bit and now use chinese 12AX7 (from the Tube Store) to warm-up the input and Sovtek green-code EL84s for medium break up at lower volume levels. In truth the change is subtle especially at low volume, but pleasing. I tried using the blues distortion/overdrive of the Blues Bawl -- only problem with that is that it really pushed the volume up a lot even at low settings. I also tried using my wah, which seems to produce gain and that seemed to work better (for home use). The amp is very bright ... it can be piercing (it would be interesting to see what a Telecaster bridge pick-up would do through this!). I hear that one famous amp-building Vintage Gibson amp fan often uses a graphic eq. pedal (which can also act as a clean overdrive) to get the most out of the amp with any guitar. I normally prefer a more distorted, mid-range based sound -- but after playing the Velocette I find myself turning up the Contour switch on my (wonderful) Marshall practice amp... because it sounds dull by comparison!

I think some reviewers comments below may be a little misleading ...please read on. Well, the power tubes went on mine unusually quickly with very little use -- although I bought the amp as "new old stock" and had it shipped. I am very careful to use the standby switch to pre-warm the tubes. That can happen to any amp. However the tubes took out two power stage resistors -- I checked the tube websites, apparently "peripheral damage" is not uncommon in tube amps when the power tubes fail ...that's why they recommend that you re-new them periodically. However I do not think this is a design flaw (as stated by an ealrier reviewer) as I noticed that the output resistors that failed were not up to the Trace Elliot specification (circuit diagram) -- it was manufactured with tiny 1/4 Watt resistors even though the circuit diagram/component list clearly calls for large 1 Watt resistors (which I now have installed on my amp). It seems likely to me that at least one batch of later amps will have this manufacturing defect(judging by one of the earlier reviews). Some have complained about transformers -- apparently only a small number of early models suffered with the undersized transformer, later models (like mine) have a larger transformer (and a safety grill on the back). I found the build quality to otherwise be quite high (despite early comments) -- although they did use a mass-production rather than boutique-level approach. For example, they use a (clean and well layed out) circuit board rather than point-to-point wiring and decent plastic tube holders rather than ceramic -- however the impact of the user is negligible, and on the repair technician small (since the circuit is relatively simple). [Note: tube amps contain large capacitors that can store enough charge to shock and possibly even kill even when the amp is turned off -- have an experienced technician do your work].

Support is very good. Gibson bought Trace Elliot and they stand behind all their products. Gibson is a GREAT company - you pay through the nose for their products but you get what you pay for. They make circuit diagrams available on their website, and the original amp designer in the UK answered a couple of questions for me! The USA support manager also went out of his way to help me -- within reason. I hear that they will usually supply replacement transformers if faulty transformers fail (good for them!). So why not 10 points? Well, I think they should eat the repair costs for the component spec. issues with the transformer and output resistor issues (apparently this was a problem for some previous reviewers)-- the repairs are relatively simple. I also wonder if they "off loaded" some of these amps knowing their were manufacturing problems with them -- we are at the epoch of a new age corporate accountability, so they might live to regret it.

I have been playing for a couple of years (spaced over 24 years!). If it were lost or stolen, I would be upset - it looks great on the wooden floors of my family room! However, I probably would not replace it -- they are too hard to find (I have a nice but rare red one), and I really bought this to learn about tube amps, tube tone/overdrive and tube characteristics -- which it has been great for. By next year I will likely be ready to move to something else (keep your eye on ebay!). I like to play classic rock as well as blues, so I would likely just stick with my Marshall practice amp...and if that were stolen too (likely!) then I would probably buy a Marshall, Boogie or Cornford -- although in truth I have not yet identified the ideal amp for me. I find the overhyped modelling technology underwhelming. I am actually gaining new respect for solid-state analog amplifiers (as well as tube amps) though -- some sound very good and some tube amps sound very "ornary" -- the Fender Blues Junior has an awful speaker for example...wobble, wobble, wobble! The Velocette has a very good, solid Celestion Vintage 10 speaker -- no complaints there. The speaker is a critically important part of the sound.

Bought my amp in 1997 - perfect features, only 2 knobs to worry about and as I chain it through a Marshall classic celestian speaker, no worries about the controls being round the back.

I bought it soley on the sound it made. It's fantastic. So much noise out of such a little thing. I have started using a bigger speaker cab through the speaker output (a marshall classic 12" celestian) to get a slightly more rounded sound.

I've been touring round Europe with it a few times, played probably over 100 gigs with it and used it as my primary amp in the studio, left it dormant for a year, and still haven't had to replace a single thing in 5 years.

Just spoke to Paul Stevens at Trace who designed it, trying to find out where I can get an additional velocette or bonneville from, and he was really helpful.

I've been playing probably about 10 years. I use the velocette with a gain pedal and a Big Muff with a Les Paul and occasionally a telecaster. I love it. I also have a bonneville which is fantastic too, but I've been using that for a pianette in the live environment. Used to use a marshall but that sucked so I flogged it. Viva la velocetter.

Volume, Tone.

Great tone for a "one trick pony" type of amp.

THIS AMP SUFFERS FROM DESIGN ERRORS AT THE FACTORY AND HAS A HORRIBLE RELIABILITY RECORD!

DO NOT CONSIDER BUYING ONE UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT THE REPAIRS DEFINED BELOW HAVE BEEN PERFORMED! (this information also applies to the Gibson GA-15 line of amplifiers.)

First, the amplifier was designed with a 400 volt high voltage secondary winding at the power transformer. As a result of this high voltage transformer and the excessively high B+ voltages, the amp produces a nice, bright sound, but its design puts B+ voltages on the power tubes that are FAR BEYOND the maximum safe operating specs for the tubes.

As a result, most EL84 tubes that are placed in this amp will ?cherry plate? in a matter of seconds, and they will burn out in short order. The only tubes that will hold-up in this amp are NOS mil-spec tubes. Unfortunately, these kinds of tubes are expensive and hard to find. New production tubes just won?t hold up.

As a result of these excessive B+ voltages, some specimens of this amp have measured power dissipation values of 18-WATTS per EACH EL84. I mean, WTF?!? There is no way that this amp could do anything but blow up with this kind of overvoltage on the tubes.

This results in two problems: 1) too much heat retention in the chassis, and 2) blown output transformers.

HEAT RETENTION and MELTED TUBE SOCKETS -- Too much heat retention in the chassis causes these amps to melt the plastic tube sockets that are mounted on the circuit boards. Later versions of this amp rectified this problem by replacing the plastic sockets with ceramic sockets. Amp techs will frequently install a small fan inside of the amp to help the socket melting problem. Unfortunately, the fan only helps to keep the sockets from melting. There?s still the problem of blown output transformers.

BLOWN TUBES and BLOWN OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS -- The serious overvoltage in the power section forces the tubes to work FAR BEYOND their rated specs. This results in way too much power dissipation and early tube failure. So you end up replacing a lot of tubes. If you get tired of replacing today?s wimpy tubes and spend the extra money to get good NOS (new old stock) military-spec tubes, you?ll fry the output transformer.

The output transformer (OT) is only designed to dissipate so much power from the amp. Unfortunately, when the tubes are overworked, they pass this insult along to the output transformer, which blows up and causes an expensive repair. All of the Velocettes are famous for this problem. The problem has become so prevalent that Trace Elliot/Gibson has redesigned the power transformer and replaced it with a heavier duty unit.

Unfortunately, replacing the output transformer amounts to treating the symptom, and not the disease. To correct this problem, you have to replace the PT (power transformer) inside of the amp with a transformer that produces a lower secondary voltage, one that does not put an unsafe voltage on the tubes. Replacing the power transformer is absolutely necessary to fix the problems inherent in the design of this amp.

All in all, DO NOT buy a Velocette unless you can assure that all of the following service items have been performed:

1. replacing the plastic tube sockets with ceramic ones
2. replacing the original underspec OT with a heavier duty OT
3. replacing the original overspec PT with a lower voltage secondary PT
4. replacing power tubes and rebiasing the amp.

These are nice sounding little amps, but they are UNSTABLE and UNRELIABLE unless they have been serviced to address these issues. Don?t ever consider buying one that is factory original. Some of these amps in mint condition are selling to idiots on eBay for over $250, even though you could buy them as NEW closeouts for $200. There is a reason that these amps were sold as closeouts at low prices. Don?t pay more than $200 unless the amp has been properly serviced and repaired.

No experience

This is a nice little amp if an only if it has been professionally rebuilt.

I have two Trace Elliot Vellocettes made in 1998 and 2000. My style is that of a beginner. However I can hear. One Channel. No effects loop.I t has an extension out jack but you need a mix board between the amp and the headphones.It doesn't need any other features. I use all the features it has. I use this amp at home in a 50 sq.ft room. With some soundboard to contain the sound. One has more that enough power for me. I have had them in bi-mono and there is an airiness that I like.
It has a bright swithch which works very well. I'm tempted to give it
a ten but I lack the experience with a lot of other equipment.

Yamaha Pacifica HH 112.Seagull SM6 Demo. There is a hum but hardly noisy. I like it. It certainly suits my beginners style. Sounds? Clean yes. It is beautiful to hear. Distortion yes. Just turn it up and quite a range of increasing distortion. I use a Boss OD 2 and or
a Boss 7 band EQ. These two pedals produce a lot of sweet spots. I've
also used a Pandora and the amp seem able to take on what ever I send
it. Fine definition. The point I want to make is: the amp is like a box full of sweet spots.With or without effects. I have not heard a
rattle.

spots with or without pedals and boxes. Or a lot of talent at the strings.

I don't perform. I can depend on it to practice and occasionally play with others. SEE BELOW.

A month after I started playing them they both made bad noise and went silent. I had heard this would happen before I bought them. I called Trace Elliot and was referred to two service centers in my region.
One refused to do the service because Gibson only pays $7.00 to do the output transformer replacement. The other wanted fees in advance. His telephone demeanor did not inspire confidence in me. I called the Trace Elliot people in Elgin, Illinois. There I spoke to person, no
doubt an old hand at self-medication. I wouln't be suprisd if Fender is happy he works for Gibson. A few days later I called Trace Elliot
again and spoke to a receptionist who directed me to another tech.
He offered to do the work if I pay UPS from CAL. to Illinois. I shipped UPS. He called me to apologise to a delay. But within 4 to 6 weeks they were back. Carefully packed. All the tubes looked bad to him and he replaced them with Rubys.(Read Chinese?)

Playing two years. Not much. See above. I would definitly buy again.It makes a beutiful sound. It is just a pleasure to listen to. I don't hate anything about. I compared it with Fender Pro Junior, Blues Jr.,
Pignose, a couple forgotten others.

15 LOUD Class A watts. One input, one volume, one tone, one bright switch. Celestion Vintage 10" speaker. Simple and no frills.

I read about this amp back in '96 in a Guitar Player amp shootout (it won). I use a Squire Jap Tele with Joe Barden pickups and it sounds just fantastic, going into a nice overdrive at 60% of full CW on the volume. I like playing Hendrix and SRV stuff so switched to a Jensen P10R for a more bluesy sound, but I'm thinking about going back to the Celestion as it has that "crang" sound to it, very cutting. What really stuck me about the amp is the "spank" it has. However this is not an extremely overdriven amp, not for the metal crowd.

Not exactly the Toyota of guitar amps. The output transformer for the speaker blew. I followed the advise of another Velocette owner on this thread and contacted Gibson. Even though the amp was 4 years past the warranty expiration they sent me a new transformer! They initially offered to fix it but I'm an electronics tech and just asked for the transformer. Unbelievable! The tech also recommended that I switch out the screen resistors from the 100 ohm/1 watt to 100 ohm/5 watt. Lately I bought an oscope off off eBay and I was checking the amp out and noticed that the output was very peculiar looking, as if only one output tube was working (this after installing a matched set of NOS EL84 Matsushita tubes). Then I noticed that one of the EL84 power tubes was cherry red, appearing to have an internal short! Damn, so much for my matched set of EL84's! Took it apart and discovered that one of the aforementioned screen resistors was blown, but you'd never know it, as it didn't look burned (plus I've never seen normally big 1 watt resistors that are smaller than typical 1/4 watt resistors, this must be a high-tech, but low reliable, resistor). Switched both of the screen resistors with some hefty 100 ohm/5 watt resistors made out of ceramic or something like it. I'm used to point-to-point wiring, and these circuit boards are a pain.

Fabulous! When was the last time you successfully received factory assistance on something that was 4 years beyond its warranty and got it??

I've been playing 20 years on and off. I've got the Squire Japanese Tele with the Barden pickups, '62 reissue Tele, Japanese Strat, Yamaha MG (bought in Japan), Carvin AC-175, Gibson SG. As for amps I've got a bunch of Harmonys (H303, H303A, H303B, H303C, H304A, H305A) I've been collecting off eBay and tinkering with. I've also got a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Boogie Studio .22, and a SF Champ. This amp is just awesome and probably my overall favorite when I want to crank it up (it's loud).