The wee ELF is small enough to fit in your back pocket, but possesses a voice that defies its size.
Clip 1 - Amp settings: gain at 2 o’clock, bass at 4 o’clock, mid at 10 o’clock, treble at 12 o’clock, volume at 2 o’clock.
Clip 2 - Amp settings: All controls at noon.
Clip 3 - Amp settings: gain at 5 o’clock, bass at 2 o’clock, mid at 12 o’clock, treble at 2 o’clock, volume at 2 o’clock.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a revolution afoot—with the world getting smaller in so many facets of our lives, from circuits to cars to tiny houses. Music gear is not immune, yet for us bassists, we’ve forever been taught that bigger means better. So it seems a little counter-intuitive for us to want something smaller, since our entire existence revolves around being “big”—be it big tone, moving big air, or playing the big strings on our instruments.
Enter the ELF from Trace Elliot, one of the biggest little amps I have ever seen. Beyond its incredibly small footprint and the initial wow factor, the amp could be one of those gotta-have type products for a myriad of reasons. I say could be, because to get past the initial sideshow attraction aspect of it, it has to sound good, too.
ELF Not on a Shelf
When I opened the ELF’s included carry bag, I was greeted by a straight-ahead-looking design with Trace Elliot’s familiar green adorning the solid-feeling enclosure. Given its size and that it’s lighter than a Carnegie Deli Rueben sandwich at just a hair over 1 1/2 pounds—yes, 1 1/2 pounds—it had better be rugged, since us musician types will likely be shoving it into a gig bag or backpack (or even a pocket). While our test unit did feel solid overall in its construction, the plastic housing where the IEC power cord connects felt a bit loose, which could pose a problem after prolonged use.
The front panel is about as no-nonsense as can be. There are two 1/4" jacks (one for input and one for headphones) that surround the five dials governing the gain, volume, and 3-band EQ. I was happy that Trace Elliot went with “normal-sized” controls rather than the mini variety—a move that will make on-the-fly adjustments in the real world easier. Finally, the ELF houses two small LEDs on opposite ends of the EQ section: one a signal indicator and the other to let you know the amp is powered on.
The back panel is as simple as the front. There’s a rocker power-switch next to the AC power inlet, a 1/4" speaker-out rated at 4 ohms, and a XLR DI (post-EQ) with a neighboring ground-lift switch. No nonsense, indeed.
The ELF That Roared
To check out the ELF’s prowess, I paired it with an Eden D410XLT and plugged in an active Fender Deluxe PJ loaded with Nordstrand pickups. Because this little amp was built with on-the-go portability in mind, I also spent some quality time with it employing a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones.
Starting with the cab to gauge the ELF’s live feel, I dialed all five controls to the straight-up 12 o’clock position. The tone was very much what I expected from a Trace Elliott amp: a little mid-heavy with some bite. This isn’t the most ideal tone for me, so I moved the bass control (centered at 80 Hz) up to about 2 o’clock and rolled back the mids a bit. Then we were cooking with gas. This little adjustment made the amp more transparent and allowed me to hear the voice of my bass. When I dialed in a little more treble by setting its respective knob to 2 o’clock, I found a sweet spot that appealed to my slap and fingerstyle articulation.
Ratings
Pros:
Delightfully compact and powerful, with solid tone.
Cons:
Grab a pedal if you’re going for overdriven tone. Some players will long for more features (like a mute switch).
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$299
Trace Elliot ELF
traceelliot.com
So, you’re probably asking yourself now if the ELF really has enough juice to effectively push a cab. In a word: absolutely. Rated at 200 watts (into 4 ohms) and 130 watts (into 8 ohms), the ELF can shake some floorboards. When I pushed both the gain and volume dials to 3 o’clock, the amp held its own and showed me it could easily take on rehearsals, an intimate gig, or even a club gig, depending on the venue. And let’s not forget that the ELF offers one of the easiest load-ins imaginable.
Whereas the amp shined very brightly in its primary function—to amplify a bass—I felt it fell a little short in the overdrive department, which is a promoted feature. When I dimed the gain and slowly brought up the volume, there wasn’t a ton of overdrive to speak of. Yes, there was some breakup to the tone, but I’d personally opt for a favorite OD pedal and just let the ELF do what it does best: serve as a simple, straightforward, compact bass amp.
When I plugged in the headphones, the tone got even better, because I could better hear the true representation of the amp and the EQ. Again, I found my sweet spot by setting the EQ with a slight mid scoop, which delivered the most authentic, uncolored bass tone. I personally love the 1/4" headphone out, but, in this iPhone age, many will likely have to pony up for an 1/8" to 1/4" adapter. All said, when you also consider the post-EQ DI, you’ve got a wonderfully convenient practice-to-rehearsal-to-gig amp with the ELF—literally at your fingertips.
The Verdict
If you told me years ago I could own a bass amp that weighs less than a book, I would have called you loony. It’s exciting to see technology push forward like this, and the fact that the ELF sounds good certainly helps its case. Its overdrive isn’t the greatest, but with the amp coming in at 300 bucks, you can afford to buy yourself a pedal or two. One more time: The ELF weighs just a hair over 1 1/2 pounds. This fact alone will likely make it a staple in many a player’s gig bag. If your ego can handle having such a diminutive amp onstage, then go out and give the ELF a look and listen. And guess what? You don’t have to wait until Christmas.
Watch the Review Demo:
The National New Yorker lived at the forefront of the emerging electric guitar industry, and in Memphis Minnie’s hands, it came alive.
This National electric is just the tip of the iceberg of electric guitar history.
On a summer day in 1897, a girl named Lizzie Douglas was born on a farm in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, the first of 13 siblings. When she was seven, her family moved closer to Memphis, Tennessee, and little Lizzie took up the banjo. Banjo led to guitar, guitar led to gigs, and gigs led to dreams. She was a prodigious talent, and “Kid” Douglas ran away from home to play for tips on Beale Street when she was just a teenager. She began touring around the South, adopted the moniker Memphis Minnie, and eventually joined the circus for a few years.
(Are you not totally intrigued by the story of this incredible woman? Why did she run away from home? Why did she fall in love with the guitar? We haven’t even touched on how remarkable her songwriting is. This is a singular pioneer of guitar history, and we beseech you to read Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie’s Blues by Beth and Paul Garon.)
Following the end of World War I, Hawaiian music enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity. On their travels around the U.S., musicians like Sol Ho’opi’i became fans of Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, leading to a great cross-pollination of Hawaiian music with jazz and blues. This potent combination proved popular and drew ever-larger audiences, which created a significant problem: How on earth would an audience of thousands hear the sound from a wimpy little acoustic guitar?
This art deco pickguard offers just a bit of pizzazz to an otherwise demure instrument.
In the late 1920s, George Beauchamp, John and Rudy Dopyera, Adolph Rickenbacker, and John Dopyera’s nephew Paul Barth endeavored to answer that question with a mechanically amplified guitar. Working together under Beauchamp and John Dopyera’s National String Instrument Corporation, they designed the first resonator guitar, which, like a Victrola, used a cone-shaped resonator built into the guitar to amplify the sound. It was definitely louder, but not quite loud enough—especially for the Hawaiian slide musicians. With the guitars laid on their laps, much of the sound projected straight up at the ceiling instead of toward the audience.
Barth and Beauchamp tackled this problem in the 1930s by designing a magnetic pickup, and Rickenbacker installed it in the first commercially successful electric instrument: a lap-steel guitar known affectionately as the “Frying Pan” due to its distinctive shape. Suddenly, any stringed instrument could be as loud as your amplifier allowed, setting off a flurry of innovation. Electric guitars were born!
“At the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.”
By this time, Memphis Minnie was a bona fide star. She recorded for Columbia, Vocalion, and Decca Records. Her song “Bumble Bee,” featuring her driving guitar technique, became hugely popular and earned her a new nickname: the Queen of Country Blues. She was officially royalty, and her subjects needed to hear her game-changing playing. This is where she crossed paths with our old pals over at National.
National and other companies began adding pickups to so-called Spanish guitars, which they naturally called “Electric Spanish.” (This term was famously abbreviated ES by the Gibson Guitar Corporation and used as a prefix on a wide variety of models.) In 1935, National made its first Electric Spanish guitar, renamed the New Yorker three years later. By today’s standards, it’s modestly appointed. At the time it was positively futuristic, with its lack of f-holes and way-cool art deco design on the pickup.
There’s buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but that just goes to show how well-loved this guitar has been.
Memphis Minnie had finally found an axe fit for a Queen. She was among the first blues guitarists to go electric, and the New Yorker fueled her already-upward trajectory. She recorded over 200 songs in her 25-year career, cementing her and the National New Yorker’s place in musical history.
Our National New Yorker was made in 1939 and shows perfect play wear as far as we’re concerned. Sure, there’s buckle rash and the finish on the back of the neck is rubbed clean off in spots, but structurally, this guitar is in great shape. It’s easy to imagine this guitar was lovingly wiped down each time it was put back in the case.
There’s magic in this guitar, y’all. Every time we pick it up, we can feel Memphis Minnie’s spirit enter the room. This guitar sounds fearless. It’s a survivor. This is a guitar that could inspire you to run away and join the circus, transcend genre and gender, and leave your own mark on music history. As a guitar store, watching guitars pass from musician to musician gives us a beautiful physical reminder of how history moves through generations. We can’t wait to see who joins this guitar’s remarkable legacy.
SOURCES: blackpast.org, nps.gov, worldmusic.net, historylink.org, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, “Memphis Minnie’s ‘Scientific Sound’: Afro-Sonic Modernity and the Jukebox Era of the Blues” from American Quarterly, “The History of the Development of Electric Stringed Musical Instruments” by Stephen Errede, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Featuring torrefied solid Sitka Spruce tops, mahogany neck, back, and sides, and Fishman Presys VT EQ System, these guitars are designed to deliver quality tone and playability at an affordable price point.
Cort Guitars, acclaimed for creating instruments that exceed in value and quality, introduces the Essence Series. This stunning set of acoustic guitars is designed for musicians looking for the quintessential classic acoustic guitar with fabulous tone all at an exceptional price point. The Essence Series features two distinct body shapes: The Grand Auditorium and the OM Cutaway. Whatever the flavor, the Essence Series has the style to suit.
The Essence-GA-4 is the perfect Grand Auditorium acoustic. Wider than a dreadnought, the Essence-GA-4 features a deep body with a narrower waist and a width of 1 ¾” (45mm) at the nut. The result is an instrument that is ideal for any number of playing styles: Picking… strumming… the Essence GA-4 is completely up for the task.
The Essence-OM-4 features a shallower body creating a closer connection to the player allowing for ease of use on stage. With its 1 11/16’th (43mm) nut width, this Orchestra Model is great for fingerpickers or singer/guitarists looking for better body contact for an overall better playing experience.
Both acoustics are topped with a torrefied solid Sitka Spruce top using Cort’s ATV process. The ATV process or “Aged to Vintage”, “ages” the Spruce top to give it the big and open tone of older, highly-sought-after acoustics. To further enhance those vintage tones, the tops bracing is also made of torrefied spruce. The mahogany neck, back, and sides create a warm, robust midrange and bright highs. A rosewood fingerboard and bridge add for a more balanced sound and sustain. The result is amazing tone at first strum. 18:1 Vintage Open Gear Tuners on the mahogany headstock offer precise tuning with vintage styling. The herringbone rosette & purfling accentuates the aesthetics of these instruments adding to their appeal. Both acoustics come in two choices of finish. Natural Semi-Gloss allows the Sitka spruce’s natural beauty to shine through and classic Black Top Semi-Gloss.
A Fishman® Presys VT EQ System is installed inside the body versus other systems that cut into the body to be installed. This means the instrument keeps its natural resonance and acoustic flair. The Presys VT EQ System keeps it simple with only Volume and Tone controls resulting in a true, crisp acoustic sound. Lastly, Elixir® Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze Light .012-.053 Acoustic Strings round out these acoustics. This Number 1 acoustic guitar string delivers consistent performance and extended tone life with phosphor bronze sparkle and warmth. The Essence Series takes all these elements, combines them, and exceeds in playability, looks, and affordability.
Street Price: $449.00
For more information, please visit cortguitars.com.
Cort Essence-GA4 Demo - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Moth Electric's C. regalis overdrive pedal offers massive boost, natural overdrive, and searing distortion for guitar and bass. With active treble and bass controls, clean blend, Smooth/Crunch modes, and true-bypass switching, this USA-made pedal is a versatile addition to any pedalboard.
Adding a new model to their line of overdrives, Moth Electric has released the C. regalis. Equally suited for guitar and bass, the meticulously designed C.regalis is capable of massive boost, natural, singing overdrive, and searing mid-gain distortion. Its six op-amps power a dynamic, crunchy overdrive circuit with a suite of features including:
- Active treble and bass controls that allow for +/- 15db boost and cut. Perfect for tailoring the C. regalis to your instrument and amp.
- A powerful clean blend for introducing either your amp’s natural character or another effect into the equation. Allows the C. regalis to become a more transparent overdrive.
- Smooth/Crunch modes, provide a subtle change in feel with ‘Smooth’ increasing sustain and ‘Crunch’ introducing high-order harmonics for additional texture.
The C. regalis offers the following features:
- Bass, Treble, Blend, Volume, Drive controls
- Smooth/Crunch modes● More volume than you’ll ever need
- True-bypass switching, top-mounted jacks for easy placement on crowded pedalboards
- 9-volt DC operation with external power supply – no battery compartment
- Designed and hand-built in the USA using through-hole components
The C. regalis carries a $179.99 price and is available for purchase at mothelectric.com.
For more information, please visit mothelectric.com.
OK WOW. Moth Electric C.REGALIS - Pedals and Tea EP 57 - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.The long-running noise rockers detail what they packed for their January 2025 run across the U.K.
When the Jesus Lizard released their seventh studio record, Rack, last September, it ended a 26-year hiatus between recordings, and lovers of raucous, steely rock music around the world rejoiced. As guitarist Duane Denison told PG’s Nick Millevoi in our feature story, the key to the album’s vitality—and reviving the band’s brutal sound—was simple: “Practice loud.”
Ahead of a hotly anticipated U.K. tour celebrating the record, the band gathered at SIR’s rehearsal space in Nashville to do exactly that. PG’s Chris Kies stopped by to see what Denison and bassist David Wm. Sims were stuffing into their suitcases for the trip across the pond.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Higher Powers
The last time Denison invited us to his Nashville home for a Rig Rundown, he was using Electrical Guitar Company models. This time around, he’s smitten with this Powers Electric Type A. Most of the guitar’s features are proprietary, including the bridge, pickups, and the vibrato system. The trussed hollowbody is made from urban ash with a solid maple top, and comes with a compound radius Honduran rosewood fretboard.
Denison digs the definition and articulation in the attack of the discrete FF42 single-coil pickups, which bridge the gap between a humbucker’s hot output and a traditional single-coil’s brightness. He goes through four different tunings in the current Lizard set: E standard, drop D (for “Hide & Seek”), drop G (on “Thumbscrews”), and a strange tuning with flat E and D strings for “Thumper.” Coated Stringjoy Orbiters (.105–0.50) handle the changes, as well as the Stringjoy Jumbo Jazz picks Denison uses.
Sweet Victory
Denison has switched from Blackstar amps to this 2-channel Victory VS100 Super Sheriff. He’s always preferred British amps: “American guitars and English amps make the world go round,” he says. Denison also uses a Marshall JCM900, which he appreciates for its simplicity compared to the JVM series, and its versatility compared to the JCM800.
Helix Help
Denison sets up this Line 6 Helix as a pedalboard, with tweaked versions of his favorite analog delay pedals programmed in. Among his go-to effects are reverb, slapback delay, tremolo, chorus, wah, longer delay, and what he calls a “wildcare effect,” which comes into play for “What If?”
The Best $250 Ever Spent
Sims bought this Memphis brand Jazz-style bass in 1981 for $250, and it’s still his No. 1. He strings it with Rotosound RS66LDs, which he needs to change every three or four shows; once he senses the attack softening, he slaps new ones on.
Boomtown Brightness
Sims blasts his bass through this Gallien-Krueger 800RB, set for a classic midrange scoop with plenty of bite and bottom end. He prefers Ampeg 8x10 cabinets, or 2x15 speaker cabs.
Triple Combo
No fancy floor unit for Sims. He’s got a Boss ODB-3, an MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, and an MXR Phase 90, all of which are used sparingly throughout the set.