here's the skinny with Trace Elliot

[SteveB]

Hey bass playing brethren..

It appears that Peavey will be the distributor for Trace Elliot here in North America. See the article here for details.

 

[xcental34x]

It seems Trace Elliot is the bass amp whore that cant find its place. First it was own by Matamp, then I believe Genz Benz, then Gibson, now Peavey? Geez.

 

[SteveB]

Not owned, just distributed in North America. All the amps will still be made in the UK and stocked at Peavey in Alabama until they are sold.

This is good. Trace can get back on their feet and tap into Peavey for major US distribution. Sounds like a win-win to me.

 

[xcental34x]

No, from what I've heard, Peavey owns Trace Elliot, now.

 

[maddog]

I found this

Should clarify things a bit

MD

 

[dlloyd]

It seems Trace Elliot is the bass amp whore that cant find its place. First it was own by Matamp, then I believe Genz Benz, then Gibson, now Peavey? Geez.

From what I understand, the original owner sold Trace to Kaman and it was thoroughly mismanaged for the next five years. Kaman then sold it to a consortium of three Trace Directors, who then sold the business to Gibson, who wanted Trace's expertise to reissue the Gibson Goldtone amps of the 50s. It looks like they bought the bass amp rights back from Gibson.

The relationship with Matamp is that Orange amps are made in the old Trace Elliot factory, I don't think Matamp own any stakes in Trace. I wasn't aware of any relationship with Genz Benz. The Peavey relationship is just a distribution deal.

There is a good chance some of these details are incorrect

 

[JB1]

Interesting....

I'm from Thurrock, where TE apparantly started, does anyone have any more on this (i.e. who started thecO & where)?

J

 

[roballanson]

J,

I used to work for the Yellow Advertiser series and covered Thurrock...cannot remember for the life of me where the factory was.
From what I remember they did have a main place at the Blackwater industrial estate in Maldon, closed some time in 2002. The Thurrock connection may have been an HQ or something....

From what I remember, in 2002, Clive Roberts was the MD at the time.

Mark Gooday, now the main mover with Ashdown (based in Maldon as well) was involved but not sure when.

TE was one of our great british companies.......now we look to ashdown!!!

 

[cgworkman]

The real question is:

Will these 'new' Trace models be able to compare to the originals? Other than that, I don't care if Bill Gates is making them.

I guess we'll see.

 

[bovinehost]

Other than that, I don't care if Bill Gates is making them.

Okay, let's not go crazy.

Or give that Gates guy any more ideas.

 

[cgworkman]

Okay, let's not go crazy.

Or give that Gates guy any more ideas.

Careful now. Bill and I are good friends.

 

[xcental34x]

I'm not 100 percent on the ownership by Genz Benz, but I do remember Roger Hart stating that Genz did used to own them. But then again, Kaman music owns Genz Benz.

 

[Aragorn35016]

Not owned, just distributed in North America. All the amps will still be made in the UK and stocked at Peavey in Alabama until they are sold.

This is good. Trace can get back on their feet and tap into Peavey for major US distribution. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Alabama? I thought Peavey was in Mississippi?

 

[Mobay45]

Alabama? I thought Peavey was in Mississippi?

It is. Meridan to be exact.

 

[bovinehost]

Meridan? Now see, I thought it was in Meridian.

the hey i'm from mississippi and used to get peavey CHEEP,

JW

 

[SteveB]

Alabama? I thought Peavey was in Mississippi?

Oops~! My bad. I guess I should proofread at night.

 

[Mobay45]

Yeah, and I missed the other i in Meridian.

 

[Freddy-G.]

Meridan? Now see, I thought it was in Meridian.

the hey i'm from mississippi and used to get peavey CHEEP,

JW

I was born and raised in Jackson. When I was 20, my band used to play six nights a week at a Holiday Inn in Meridian. Hartley Peavey came out to see us a couple of nights. We were invited to tour the Peavey factory and saw the very first Peavey bass guitar prototype. It was heavy! This was around '76. Now, if you do the math, you'll know how old I am.

 

[Mobay45]

I was born and raised in Jackson. When I was 20, my band used to play six nights a week at a Holiday Inn in Meridian. Hartley Peavey came out to see us a couple of nights. We were invited to tour the Peavey factory and saw the very first Peavey bass guitar prototype. It was heavy! This was around '76. Now, if you do the math, you'll know how old I am.

About a year younger than me.

 

[dlloyd]

Interesting....

I'm from Thurrock, where TE apparantly started, does anyone have any more on this (i.e. who started thecO & where)?

J

Fred Friedlein, who now runs a PA systems company called Soundranger

http://www.soundranger.com/about/about.html

...in Romford.

http://www.rane.com/pronames.html

TRACE ELLIOT No Mr. Trace; no Mr. Elliot; only a late night in a British pub, The Victoria, in 1979, where Fred Friedlein proclaimed he wanted a serious, professional sounding, double-barreled name (like Klark-Teknik, Mesa/Boogie, or Seymour Duncan). He selected "trace" since it referred to a sine wave and a wave was featured on Fred's other company's logo, the Soundwave music shop in Romford Essex/East London. Wanting the second name to sound very classy and British he accepted "Elliot" suggested by Andy Perry, their Australian technical designer. The company was sold to Kaman in 1992; bought back by management in 1997; and then sold again in 1998 to Gibson, the current owner.