Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of a Trace Elliot Tramp Tube guitar amplifier. The Tramp Tube range has
been designed using a combination of valve (tube) and FET (field effect transistor) technology to provide a
wide range of warm and responsive guitar tones. With care it will provide many years of reliable and
satisfying service. In order to get the best from your amplifier, please take a little time to read this guide
before using it for the first time.
Circuit Design
Guitarists have always recognised the warmth, tone and responsive character of a valve amplifier. The Tramp
Tube range achieves the ‘feel’ of a valve amplifier in three important ways:
Firstly, the main preamplifier overdrive gain is derived by using both halves of an ECC83 (12AX7) twin triode
valve in a cascaded gain configuration (just like a high gain valve amp).
Secondly, FETs have been used for the other gain stages in the main preamp section. An FET is a
semiconductor device that inherently has many of the non-linear dynamic properties of a valve; it has a high
input impedance and a soft asymmetrical overdrive characteristic that naturally adds a lot of even order
harmonics and ‘warmth’ to the sound.
Thirdly, the 100% discrete power output stage has been designed to ‘couple loosely’ into the loudspeaker
(akin to a valve output stage), giving a low ‘damping factor’, lots of warm bass resonance and ‘musical’
power amp overdrive.
The tone networks in the Tramp Tube are all of the traditional passive kind - this type of interactive EQ was
chosen as the best and most natural sounding for an electric guitar. It has been designed to ‘colour’ the
inherent character and tone of the guitar and amplifier, rather than radically or artificially change the
fundamental sound.
Main features and functions
Your amplifier has three basic ‘channels’ or available sounds (clean, vintage gain and high gain), each of
which can be played at two independent master volume levels, giving six overall foot switchable sound
options.
Reverb is provided courtesy of an in-built three spring reverb tray.
A series effects loop is provided, which operates between the ‘channel’ and ‘master’ sections of the
preamplifier, enabling you to use post-overdrive effects such as delay, chorus or digital reverb.
3
To Next Page
Loading...
