Trace Elliot® ELF Ultra Compact Bass Amplifier

I am very pleased with this little amp. The sound is very clean and true.It carries the resonance of my flatwound fretless bass better than any amp I've heard.The steel brilliance of my Jazz bass shines through, the pops and snaps of my slaps are like firecrackers.When I plug in my mic'd upright bass, the whispers of my fingers on the string are audible with each pluck.Clean, rich notes, or trebley popping sounds are all possible here . I was planning to get a pre-amp but now I'm not sure I'd need it.The gain knob is where all the action is at. You can crank the gain to 9 and lower the volume to 2 or 3 and get a big overdrive sound. There must be a limiter and compressor in the pre-amp, because when the gain is way up high, it catches the big sounds and keeps them from clipping but also avoids the low-end notes from running together and becoming muddy. Turn the gain down for a smooth rich tone.The Bad; Paired with the 10" speaker, there is excellent high end coverage. I'm not sure why anyone would want the 5", becasue this has all the high end one should need. BUT, the low end leaves something to be desired. It fails to get the really big boom sound. I am tempted to find a 15" speaker cab just to see how it would sound. Maybe thats the answer.Also limiting is the headroom. Without pushing this amp it won't be enough to compete with a loud drummer. Maybe with a lighter jazz setting or backing a singer. The amp is loud, but not as big of a low end sound as a true 15".Finally, using it as a practice amp with headphones, it puts out an incredibly clear and perfect sound. This leads me to believe that when I send the DI signal out to the sound system, it will deliver to the PA the best quality sound I have ever been able to achieve with other pre-amps or DI's.End of story, I am ecstatic about this little amp, Trace Elliott makes great products, so no surprise here.

Wow, this little thing is just amazing and built like a little tank. It's definitely got enough power to gig in a smaller venue, I never have to push the amp past about 3 for enough volume at rehearsals. I have it mounted on my pedal board with my pedals and pre-amp running into it. The EQ is pretty flexible and has decent tone, I keep the drive fairly low - just enough to add some volume (if I need drive I use my AG TH from the pedal). I use this mainly for rehearsal and as a backup amp.Size is awesome, no power brick is also pretty awesome. Comes with a nice little carry bag that is also very good quality. If you're looking for a small, powerful and versatile amp then this IS your solution. I'm also considering the 2x8" cabinet, which seems to get very good reviews on TalkBass forums.

Used it with a MarkBass 102 4 Ohm cabinet. It sounded pretty good. It got very warm but not hot. It was about 1/2 way up in volume with plenty of headroom.Although the carting case is nice, there’s only room for the amp and AC cable. It would have been nice to have room for a speaker cable. I wish it had a speakon output, because now I have to carry a cable that works for it too. I will probably use this for small stage/small gigs. And as a backup.

After taking it out on several gigs I'm pleased with the Elf. Running it into 8 ohms (120 watts output) yields a lot of sound. Running it into 4 ohms (200 watts output) yields a bit more.I find it a bit too 'whiney'. It wants to give me more mids than I care for. With my active basses I find myself turning the bass knob up on the amp which I don't do with other amps. (I leave my tone settings on other amps flat when I'm using an active bass.)I bought it as a backup amp and it's great to have. It actually does fit in the pocket of my cargo shorts. I have shown up for gigs with the amp in my pocket and other musicians assume that it's a pre-amp when I show it to them.

Great, smallest bass amp I've purchased. Gigged it 3 times w different bass cabs, different 5 string basses. Small-Med sized rooms w no PA support, worked fine. All knobs at noon. Gavee plenty volume in one loud band.I almost bought a B stock Elf on Reverb.com. But i found this new one on Amazon for less money. Very happy with this Trace Elliot Elf bass amp so far.

an amazing amp. Small, hilariously portable and yet more beefy than it's 200 watt rating implies. I confidently bring this as a back up to my 500 watts markbass amp that I use to drive 2 cabs. I also use it as the primary amp in my rehearsal studio as i LOVE how it sounds.If you happen to run mostly smaller rigs on stage and then through a PA....this is literally your amp.......anything else would be sheer stupidity

The fan is extremely noisy - so noisy that I can hear it 3 rooms away. Other than that, it's perfect. The noise was a deal killer for me though. I have other portable amps like this one, and none of them are noisy like that.

What a neat little yet powerful bass amplifier. Output is clean and easily adjustable. Amp comes equipped with an XLR output as well. Best value for the price! I have this connected to it’s matching 10” elf bass cabinet for band rehearsals and smaller gigs. It’s a great combination.