Trace Elliot Speed Twin Guitar Amp Series
January 29, 1998
The Speed Twin is the flagship of the Trace Elliot all valve guitar range - a modern, professional amplifier designed to cope with the most demanding conditions and deliver unrivalled tone every time.
The Speed Twin range has been upgraded for 1998 - the result of which is several new features designed to further enhance the usability of what has been universally acclaimed as an outstanding guitar amplifier.
The layout of the Speed Twins remains the same - two totally independent channels, with switchable high/low gain on Channel 2 and two Master Volumes and either 50 or 100 watt power sections. The sound of the amplifiers also stays broadly similar to the models that they supercede, with the benefit of a significantly uprated reverb section, now using the classic three spring Accutronics tray.
The new features come in the shape of the following:
- 100 watt heads and combos have a Full/Half Power switch, in addition to the existing Triode/Pentode modes, allowing 100, 75 and 50 watts of output power to be selected
- A separate, optional 5-way non-latching footswitch is now available which allows for control of channels, Master Volume, Preamp Style, effects loop on/off and reverb on/off. Switching from this footswitch is 'intelligent' and enables the user to switch one amplifier from more than one controller and/or switch more than one amplifier from the same controller
- Power amp valves benefit from an external biasing facility enabling the user to check and reset bias at any time without removing the chassis; other types of valves, 6L6s and 6550s for example, may also be used easily as a result
- The Speed Twin C50 combo is now housed in a smaller cabinet than previously for improved tone and portability.
The Speed Twins continue to be designed and constructed to extremely high standards and boast features often seen on only the most esoteric of amplifiers from the USA. The chassis itself is made from black stove epoxy coated 16 gauge zintec, whilst all cabinets are built from 3/4" plywood for tonal quality and strength; all jack sockets are gold plated. Internal attention to detail is second none as well - porcelain octal base valve sockets are used for EL34s and ceramic nine pin sockets are used for ECC83s and EL84s.
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| Speed Twin C30 |
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| Speed Twin C50 |
PCBs are laid out using point to point wiring principles for superb tonal quality and internal wiring and glass epoxy circuit board lay-outs use multiple return star earthing for low noise and hum. All power and output transformers and chokes are custom made for maximum performance using high grade laminations and windings are resin soaked and pass international approvals. In order to min-imise hum levels, a DC supply is used for heater filaments in all preamp valves.
Speed Twin H100
100 watt RMS amplifier head. Two independent channels. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switchable series/parallel. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points.
Speed Twin H50
50 watt RMS amplifier head. Two independent channels. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switchable series/parallel. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points.
GSC412A, GSC412F
4x12" angled guitar speaker cabinet. 240 watt handling. 12" Celestion speakers. Switchable 4 or 16W. Mono/stereo switch (dual 8W)
GSC212A
2x12" angled guitar speaker cabinet. 200 watt handling. 12" Celestion speakers. Switchable 4 or 16W. Mono/stereo switch (dual 8W)
Speed Twin C100
100 watt RMS combo. 2x12" Celestion speakers. Two independent channels. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switch-able series/parallel. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points.
Speed Twin C50
50 watt RMS combo. 1x12" Celestion speaker. Two independent channels. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switchable series/parallel. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points.
Speed Twin C30
30 watt RMS combo. 1x12" Celestion speaker. Two independent channels. Three spring Accutronics reverb. Effects loop, switchable series/parallel. Two Master Volumes. Output Damping. Full/Half Power switch. Triode/Pentode switch. Bias Adjust trimmer and output biasing test points. For more information, visit their web site at www.trace-elliot.com. | 
