The GP12SMX is my favorite amp overall! So clean and vibrant sounding amp. The low band compressor and the ability to cut 30hz cleans up the low B string exponentially. No speaker flubblegarble. (flubblegarble - the sound a speaker makes right before it overextends the voicecoil thus rendering the speaker useless- flubblegarble)
Interesting story - I would love to see more of it. Especially because the Trace Elliot company was an absolute legend in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, you can't find much information about the brand and the products on the net today. I myself played an AH500 in the 80s (the one with the black light tube). Recently I bought another Trace, an AH500-12 GP12, serial number TO66/190/29 in top condition. It's basically the same preamp as in your video, but with small graphical differences in the front layout. I wish there was an overview of all Trace amps on the web.... (btw. I love the Scraper demos - great stuff....)
There were so many different variations across the different series. I actually started to try and document them a few years (I know that's pretty sad, isn't it?) but I just kept finding more and more! Given the old company is long gone, you are right, not a lot of info out there, although some of the people are still around and pop up on the internet from time to time. It would be great if one of them wrote a book!!
Hey Paul, I'm over in NZ and have a British made GP 1210H which has been great but just recently it seems to lose a bit of volume and bottom end all of a sudden after an hour or so of use. I've never replaced the tube, do you think that may be my issue?
You could try turning the blend all the way to solid state - if no change then it may be something else. tbh its likely going to need a tech to diagnose as there are many things it could be.
Yes, most definitely, valve sounds a bit warmer. I should have demoed the sound too, but given its distorting problem, it wouldn't have been a true representation!!
