Trace Elliot® ELF Ultra Compact Bass Amplifier

Nice compact unit , fan not noisy at all . Plugged it in to Mark Bass 15” cab . Nice punch plenty of power. Used at a good size bar gig more than enough volume. I like the simplicity of the controls. The volume knob has some gain and compression as you increase it .

Very nice amp. Love the sound, portability and ease of use. I play a lot of small to medium size gigs and this amp handles them (paired with my Eden 210 XLT) quite easily without PA support.

Sounds alright but the fan is very noisy, other then that ok

I am very pleased with this little amp. The sound is very clean and true. It carries the resonance of my flatwound fretless bass better than any amp I've heard. The steel brilliance of my Jazz bass shines through, the pops and snaps of my slaps are like firecrackers. When I plug in my mic'd upright bass, the whispers of my fingers on the string are audible with each pluck. Clean, rich notes, or trebley popping sounds are all possible here . I was planning to get a pre-amp but now I'm not sure I'd need it. The gain knob is where all the action is at. You can crank the gain to 9 and lower the volume to 2 or 3 and get a big overdrive sound. There must be a limiter and compressor in the pre-amp, because when the gain is way up high, it catches the big sounds and keeps them from clipping but also avoids the low-end notes from running together and becoming muddy. Turn the gain down for a smooth rich tone. The Bad; Paired with the 10" speaker, there is excellent high end coverage. I'm not sure why anyone would want the 5", becasue this has all the high end one should need. BUT, the low end leaves something to be desired. It fails to get the really big boom sound. I am tempted to find a 15" speaker cab just to see how it would sound. Maybe thats the answer. Also limiting is the headroom. Without pushing this amp it won't be enough to compete with a loud drummer. Maybe with a lighter jazz setting or backing a singer. The amp is loud, but not as big of a low end sound as a true 15". Finally, using it as a practice amp with headphones, it puts out an incredibly clear and perfect sound. This leads me to believe that when I send the DI signal out to the sound system, it will deliver to the PA the best quality sound I have ever been able to achieve with other pre-amps or DI's. End of story, I am ecstatic about this little amp, Trace Elliott makes great products, so no surprise here.

Fit and finish are excellent. Good weight, yet fits in the palm of my hand (very compact). Great looking - well designed. Tonal possibilities are all there with the provided controls. At just 130 watts @ 8 ohms, it powers my 115 cabinet with very loud volume! I can't wait for my Schroeder Mini 12+L (4 ohm) to arrive so that I can hear what the full 200 watts from this head sounds like! Recommended!