Review: Trace Elliot AH 1200-12 Head and 1048 and 1818 Cabinets

Features
By published

This video is bonus content related to the August 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the August 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now!

This month, Ed Friedland reviews a bass stack from Trace Elliot, which features the AH 1200-12 head and 1048 and 1818 cabs. The amp's low-band compression can fatten up bottom end sounds without obscuring the attack, while the high-band can smooth out slap techniques or make harmonics pop better in the mix.

Ed Friedland
More about gear
Lerxst Grace [left] and Godin 5th Avenue TL Gold Foil: Grace is a red HSS S-style with a mirror pickguard and a Vega tremolo system. The 5th Avenue model to its right sits beside a houseplant and is an arch-topped hollowbody with f-holes and gold-foil pickups.

“If you thought Godin only did lower-end ‘functional’ guitars, this might make you think differently. We certainly did”: Godin 5th Avenue TL Gold Foil and Lerxst by Godin Grace review
A pair of Audio-Technica ATH-R70XA headphones on a brightly lit wooden table

"Brilliantly precise monitoring headphones with wide open-back sound": Audio-Technica ATH-R70XA review
Ace Frehley

“A lot of the misconceptions were created by Paul and Gene. They still say in interviews that they fired me, but I was never fired from Kiss”: Ace Frehley sets the record straight on his multiple departures from Kiss
See more latest
Most Popular
Captain Beefheart performs onstage with The Magic Band at The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on April 8, 1972
“He would beat the crap out of the guitar. The result can best be described as Jackson Pollock trying to play like John Lee Hooker”: Aggressively bizarre, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica remains one of the craziest guitar-driven albums ever made
Randy Resnick
“In the end, I did it too much – I was a one-trick pony! EVH brought that fire to the guitar”: He was an early two-hand tapping pioneer and one of John Mayall’s favorite guitarists, but Randy Resnick doesn’t consider himself an influential figure
George Harrison, suited, booted, in the Fab Four's trademark mop-top hairstyle, plays a Gretsch live onstage in South Australia with the Beatles in 1964.
“If we had tried to plan it, it would’ve never happened. The thing happened just by magic”: From Beatlemania to All Things Must Pass and beyond – the definitive guitar history of George Harrison's greatest recorded works
Nigel Tufnel (left) and Joe Satriani perform onstage
“He was very frightened, mostly from the volume. My new amplifiers now go to infinity, and I think that idea was very scary to him”: Nigel Tufnel had plenty of volume when he jammed with Joe Satriani, but “couldn't fathom” what the guitar hero was doing
A portrait of Warren Haynes holding a P-90 loaded Gibson Firebird, which the Gov't Mule frontman and Allman Brothers Band alumnus reveals is a future signature model.
“I always wanted to do one more Allman Brothers studio record, but that just wasn’t meant to be”: How Warren Haynes is finishing what Gregg Allman started with Derek Trucks’ help – and why he’s fallen for J Mascis’ Squier Jazzmaster
Max Keyes of Spiral XP sits on top of the world—at least a sculpture of it. The picture is grayscale black-and-white and he plays an offset guitar.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to move my hand around the guitar until it makes sense and sounds similar to the melodies in my head”: Meet Spiral XP, the indie shoegazers sparked by a game-changing guitar breakthrough
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND - AUGUST 03: Stanley Clarke of Stanley Clarke N 4Ever performs during the 2024 Newport Jazz Festival at Fort Adams State Park on August 03, 2024 in Newport, Rhode Island.
“I got rid of a lot of my electric basses – at one point I had over 100!” After five decades at the low-end, Stanley Clarke decided to part ways with his astonishing bass collection
Martin Mendéz from Opeth performs on stage at Tons Of Rock Festival 2024 on June 27, 2024 in Oslo.
“It’s difficult to hear bass playing in metal, but players like Geezer Butler stand out – they try to do something different with their parts. If they don’t, I usually find it a bit boring”: Opeth’s Martín Méndez names the 5 albums that shaped his sound
Stevie Ray Vaughan (left) and Lonnie Mack perform onstage in the mid-1980s
“Lonnie came into an Austin club where we were playing. I asked him if he would play, but Lonnie, the master of the Flying V, said he wouldn't touch anything but a Gibson”: When Stevie Ray Vaughan met his oft-overlooked, pioneering, V-wielding guitar hero
George Harrison (left) and John Lennon play the song Something in a scene from the 2021 film, Get Back
“I think I sort of smoked something, and I didn't really know what I was doing”: George Harrison typically sketched out his solos in advance – his iconic lead break on this classic Beatles track was a notable exception