Trace Elliot Commando Bass amp, any info?

Neil

I'm not a bass player but the reason I have an interest is that I saw a weird carpet covered amp at the boot sale today.

On close inspection it was a TE Commando. Quite large but I didn't have my glasses on so couldn't read the specs.

It was in good nick and £30. If it had been a guitar amp I would have given it a go.

Bargain or not?

There was also a big Carlsboro PA type amp there too. 

ICBM

Unreliable, and don't sound loud for their rated power. If it was working and you need a practice amp, not a bad price. I probably wouldn't pay more than £50 even then. You might be able to sell one for about £100 on a good day if it was in nice condition.

Old Carlsbro PA amps are almost worthless even in full working order - especially the early ones with no XLR mic inputs. They actually make very good emergency backup heads for guitar or bass - they're reliable, loud and cheap. I recently literally gave one away to a practice studio, because no-one wanted to buy it and I have a couple of spare heads already...

MartinB

If the Carlsbro PA head was old enough to be a valve model, those are quite cool.  I used one for bass for a while, and it was loud, clean and solidly built. 

bigjon

I've used a Trace Elliott Commando 1x15 combo as my main gigging bass amp for 22 years. No problem with the power. I had to have it repaired once: the repairer said it was shoddily put together with poor quality components. Nothing that's given me any trouble, though! :-)

ICBM

bigjon said:

I've used a Trace Elliott Commando 1x15 combo as my main gigging bass amp for 22 years. No problem with the power. I had to have it repaired once: the repairer said it was shoddily put together with poor quality components. Nothing that's given me any trouble, though! :-)

There's always one .

Neil

Thanks, as usual, for the excellent info gents.

You have quelled my curiosity.