How did I miss this? Not that I was out buying their product every month, but I don't every remeber hearing that production had completely stopped. My tax refund money that did not go toward the SR5 was going toward upgrading some of my rig. I contacted Gibson to find out where I could find TE products and sure enough, they are gone.
Trace Elliot gone?
- Thread starter joe boom
- Start date
bovinehost
Administrator
Another victory for Gibson.
No doubt. They are the Rappaccini's Daughter of musical equipment.bovinehost said:
I read an unsubstantiated post on another forum stating that Gibson was looking into buying Samick. I doubt they have the capital to pull this off even if they were interested. The post went on to project a future post to expect to see if such a deal did happen:
"Wanted: Samick 4 string bass in the $300 range. Pre-Gibson only."
cgworkman
Well-known member
Yep. Check out his site here: http://www.daddyosmusicshack.com/
dlloyd
Well-known member
joe boom said:
I don't know that I entirely buy the evil Gibson story.
Kaman ditched Trace Elliot in 1997, announcing that they would cease production forthwith. This was one of those profit streamlining exercises that megacorporations often go through. Trace hadn't been as profitable as had been hoped, apparently largely due to a large number of warranty returns. These were due to Trace Elliot having been sold faulty transformers for their SMX series and design issues with their new guitar valve amps. Despite the removal of a number of persons (who shall remain un-named) including those involved in the fiasco with the valve amps, Kaman threw in the towel.
Rather than accept closure, a group of the upper management got together to buy Kaman out. They fought on valiantly, but couldn't keep Trace Elliot above the water. Rather than let it sink without trace (pun only half-intended) they approached Gibson, showing them a new valve amp they had developed based on the old Gibson Goldtone amps. Gibson bought them out saving the company for the meantime.
Trace Elliot amps continued to be produced until the end of 2001, but they were financially unviable as they were still being built in the UK. They couldn't compete in the US market. You got more bang-for-buck by buying SWR etc. The amps built in this time, at least in the mid to upper price ranges were among the best Trace ever built, but a myth has arisen that post-gibson takeover amps were lower quality, partly because of the issues with Kaman-era mosfet bass amps and guitar valve amps, partly because they tried to expand into the practice amp market.
I suspect that, had Trace been managed and marketed better by Gibson, they might still be around.
Trace Elliot amps didn't disappear altogether... Gibson/Trace Elliot are currently building Goldtone amps. The Trace factory are making Orange amps, IIRC. One of the persons removed by Kaman went on to form Ashdown amps, which are quite like trace amps (no expicit link with faulty Trace equipment of that period intended). The guy who started Trace up in the 1970s is making portable PA equipment, but has no intention of starting up instrument amplification.
dlloyd said:
Appreciate the info.
I'm not sure what you mean by the evil Gibson story.
For whatever reason, once Gibson touches it, it dies or is at best a shadow of what it once was (much like the effects of the aforementioned Hawthorne character). Steinberger, Tobias, Trace Elliot all withered and/or died on Gibson's watch.
Gibson has managed their flagship brand to command an astronomical premium in the market place. However, they have not successfully expanded to any significant degree in spite of the number of brands they have acquired. Infact, they have retrenched their product offering in some segments.
The critique is more of their business accumen and not their practices.
roballanson
Well-known member
trace - ashdown
The spirit of the of Trace stuff is still alive here in the UK. Many of you will know the two brains behind Trace have started ashdown.
Check out their website - seriously these amps are the mutts!!
The spirit of the of Trace stuff is still alive here in the UK. Many of you will know the two brains behind Trace have started ashdown.
Check out their website - seriously these amps are the mutts!!
dlloyd
Well-known member
roballanson said:
Slightly inaccurate.
The first brain behind Trace Elliot, Fred Friedlein, makes Soundranger PA systems
http://www.soundranger.com
The Managing Director of Trace Elliot from 1986 to 1997 was Mark Gooday. Who now owns Ashdown. Trace's Manufacturing Director at the time said Edit: some stuff about him that wasn't particularly complimentary.
For the story, do a search on [email protected] in google groups. That will bring up the public domain stuff that Paul Sturgess, the manufacturing director said at the time. /Edit
That was in 1999. I guess more ex-employees may have gone over since then.
Mark Gooday put it differently:
All a bit political.
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