Conference napalm::guitar

    
    The original Sting Rays from the seventies (before Ernie Ball bought
    Music Man) had only two tones, bass and treble (both active).  The
    third knob on new ones is for mids, and is a factory option.
    
    $1200 for a *four*string Sting Ray is high by US standards, about
    $700 is more to the point here.
    
    Trace stuff here in the US is real expensive, I never priced the
    big rigs, but a 100 watt combo (single 15) two years ago was about
    $1500, so the prices you quote seem reasonable by comparison.
    
    Editorial Comment: I once had a salesman chide me when I asked how much
    a Trace unit cost; I said it was too expensive, he said I must not care
    about my sound.  Sorry, a $4000 bass stack doesn't strike me as
    affordable for the average guy. 

    Hi, I noticed you're a Trace Elliot fan...I live in Rochester, N.Y. and
    I've got one for sale CHEAP. It's a AH300 series 6 head and a 1048 4-10
    bottom. The bottom lists for $1000. US and the top lists for $1895.
    
    The top has 300 watts, a switchable graphic EQ and mid contour, DI out,
    and a very cool green flourescent light. The bottom has 4-10 celestians.
      
    Its only been out of the house twice and has covers and is mint. I'm
    selling for $1500. US  this is way less than dealer cost!
    
     

    
    
    re: .-1
    
    	I'm sorry, but $1.9K on a bass rig is just way too much. I've never
    heard/played TE gear, but it *can't* be so much better than most stuff.
    
    -T
    PV Man (Cheap and sounds good too!)
    

    cheap and blows up good!!!!!
    

    Rather a generalistic statement me thinks...
    
    (This from the king of generalizations)
    
    :)

    	Ampeg Rules the bass world (if you can lift them)
    
    		SVT addict

    
    I just wanted to stop in here and say that Trace Elliot Roolz.
    
    I just can't believe the sounds I get outta my GMX12 preamp
    (12 band eq, switchable "pre-emphasis", ss/valve input section
    with balance, separate high and low end compressors with
    "eq balance" control, 2 effects loops, crossover, 3 DI
    sends, and a wide variety of outputs).
    
    Coupled with the TE 600 watt power amp (300 watts / channel
    stereo), driving a 4x10 and a 1x18 cab (unfortunately, these
    are SWR, not TE, but will be TE as soon as I can afford to
    unload them), the sound is ultra friggin' awesome.
    
    _The_ best bass sound, I have ever heard, anytime, anywhere.
    Nothing else comes close. My Music Man 5 string sounds so
    good through this rig, it's scary.
    
    I've also been using the DI feeds from the preamp in recording
    and the sound is _to die for_. I'm listening to a DAT tape
    I made through my studio's console of my band playing...
    the bass sound is jaw dropping. Can you say "Tony Levin"?
    I knew you could...
    
    I've got some cool stuff happening in the effects loop too.
    I've taken out the H3000 and the T/C 2290 and put them back
    in my studio's rack where they belong, and replaced it
    in the bass rack with a Digitech 2101 (yep, the one I
    purchased from our good Mr. Reume). The 2101 is wired into
    the stereo effects loop of the TE GMX12, as a stereo
    effects device (delay, chorus, reverb, pitch change, etc.).
    The front end (the guitar pre) of the 2101 is used for the
    upper end of my Chapman Stick, and is pugged into an 8-
    input line mixer which is connected in the GMX12's mono
    effects loop. My sampler and MIDI modules (which are
    driven by merged outputs from my keyboards and my Peavey
    Midibase) are also plugged into the line mixer...
    
    Here's a diagram of my rig:
    
    
    bass/stick                     samper/midi modules/keys
      |                                 | | | | | |
      |                                 | | | | | |
      v                                 v v v v v v
    +---------------+                 +--------------+
    |               |  mono fx loop   |              |
+---|  T/E GMX12    |<----------------| line mixer   |
|   |               |---------------->|              |
|   +---------------+                 +--------------+
|     ^ |                               ^
|     | | (stereo fx loop)              |
|     | v                               |
|   +---------------+                   |
|   |               |                   |  (guitar preamp out)
|   | Digitech 2101 |-------------------+
|   |               |
|   +---------------+
|     ^
|     |
|     |
|   stick
|
|
|   +---------------+
|   |               |-------------------> 4 x 10
+-->| TE Power Amp  |
    |               |-------------------> 1 x 18
    +---------------+

    Sounds cool.  I gotta admit, I've never spent much time with a Trace
    rig.  How would you describe the characteristic "Trace" sound (as
    opposed the "SVT" sound or the "SWR" sound, which I know)?
    

    I have a really hard time describing sound, but I'll try...
    
    The Ampeg stuff has a fat, woofy kind of sound. Great, but
    not my thing.
    
    The SWR stuff (heads I mean, not cabs), have a very muddy
    sound to my ears.
    
    The Trace stuff stands on its own. It has a tremendous
    transient response, which gives both a lot of power to
    the very low notes, as well as a great deal of clarity.
    It's that Tony Levin/Doug Wimbish kinda thwak/whump kinda
    sound...
    
    -b

    I'm with you on the Ampeg, but I confess I've never thought of the SWR
    as muddy.  There's a certain edginess, even abrasiveness, that I think
    of as being representative of SWR; almost the opposite of muddy.  Very
    hi-fi.
    
    In any event, sounds like I should check out some Trace gear.
    

    
    You're right Rick, "muddy" was the wrong word to use for
    SWR. Let me try again, the SWR amps seem to accentuate
    everything I don't want to hear and completely lack
    definition on everything that I do want to hear (that
    lack of definition is what I was talking about when
    I said muddy).
    
    A simple example is to play the open E string on an
    SWR head. What you get is not that chest pounding
    thud, it's more of a "honk". I hate it when my bass
    rig goes "honk". :-) :-) :-)
    
    BTW, I've played crummy sounding Trace stuff. I don't
    like the sound of the GMX 7 preamp or heads all that
    much. The real added sound value is in the GMX12 lines.
    (IMHO, of course). I also don't like their choice of
    cabinet design on some of the combos.
    
    So, it's not like I'm saying "it says Trace on the
    front, it's wonderful". It's just that the particular
    combo of the GMX12 and the 600 watt amp is, in my
    opinion, the best sounding bass rig I've ever heard.
    
    Prepare to get major dollars sucked out of your wallet
    though...
    
    -b

    I agree, SWR sounds like mud to my ears.  I always liked the SVTs,
    but, I didn't have to move them, either!  8^)
    
    The Trace stuff is ok -- I laos like the Mesa bass systems and those
    GK 800s
    
    
    ytsejam/