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.

Fit and finish are excellent. Good weight, yet fits in the palm of my hand (very compact). Great looking - well designed. Tonal possibilities are all there with the provided controls. At just 130 watts @ 8 ohms, it powers my 115 cabinet with very loud volume! I can't wait for my Schroeder Mini 12+L (4 ohm) to arrive so that I can hear what the full 200 watts from this head sounds like! Recommended!

The amp is well made, has great tone and is extremely compact, but the fan is noisy and the noise modulates with input level, not heat generated or output wattage. So even if used with headphones, the fan undulates up and down in noise and frequency as you play, and is easily heard across the room. Personally I found it very annoying for my application which is for a small, high quality practice setup. However, if you're looking for a cheap, efficient amp that you can use when performing with a band, I would expect the fan will be drowned out by everything else going on.

ive been using this at different gigs and it fits in my case. Small venue cab is tc 2x10 and i can add 2x12 if needed. this lil amp is cool AF. plenty loud and powerful even with a loud drummer, take the time to work and understand the input gain /power amp power staging structure, its kind of unique to this amp and its great once you get it. the DI is solid as well.

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.

I am very satisfied. Plenty of power.

great sound

Awesome Bass amp

Very nice amp. Love the sound, portability and ease of use. I play a lot of small to medium size gigs and this amp handles them (paired with my Eden 210 XLT) quite easily without PA support.

Sounds alright but the fan is very noisy, other then that ok