Trace Elliot Elf Owners: Fan Noise/Issues?

sargebaker

sargebaker

Builder - Island Instruments
Supporting Member
Commercial User
May 2, 2004
2,862
224
4,926
36
Montreal QC CA
www.island-instruments.com
Disclosures
owner/builder, ISLAND Instrument Mfg.
#1
Hey folks. I recently picked up an Elf here in the classifieds. It's from 2018 and seemed in mint condition. When I first plugged it in the fan was making a pretty violent ticking/rattling noise. I turned it off/on once or twice and it went away. Took it to jam and it ran flawlessly. Sounded great and just made normal fan noises. Plugged it in the day after and the tick was back, albeit a little less intense, but didn't seem to go away. I popped the hood to see if anything was in there and nothing jumped out as suspicious. Reassembled and plugged it back in and it was pretty quiet except for when the fan really revved up, then the noise was back, but even less noticeable. It's pretty high pitched and somewhere between a tick and a rattle. I've emailed Peavey repairs but am still waiting on an answer. I did correspond with someone from Peavey (not specifically from the repair dept.) and the response was "don't know what it could be, it's probably okay as long as the fan is working. Maybe you'll need to change the fan down the line." Which isn't super reassuring. I've taken a couple videos but can't seem to upload them directly here. I may put them on YouTube later tonight and link them.

I did a search and found a few people complaining about fan noise and a bunch of people who said theirs doesn't make any noise. To be clear, I don't care about the noise itself as it doesn't interfere and isn't audible at playing volume but I don't want to run the amp with something wrong and risk damaging it. Has anyone had similar issues? Is it "normal" or am I right to be concerned about it? I'm in Montreal, Canada and not sure what Peavey service is like. They're no longer with their distributor here and their website doesn't list any Canadian service centers, which also kind of sucks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bobo
#4
sargebaker said:
Hey folks. I recently picked up an Elf here in the classifieds. It's from 2018 and seemed in mint condition. When I first plugged it in the fan was making a pretty violent ticking/rattling noise. I turned it off/on once or twice and it went away. Took it to jam and it ran flawlessly. Sounded great and just made normal fan noises. Plugged it in the day after and the tick was back, albeit a little less intense, but didn't seem to go away. I popped the hood to see if anything was in there and nothing jumped out as suspicious. Reassembled and plugged it back in and it was pretty quiet except for when the fan really revved up, then the noise was back, but even less noticeable. It's pretty high pitched and somewhere between a tick and a rattle. I've emailed Peavey repairs but am still waiting on an answer. I did correspond with someone from Peavey (not specifically from the repair dept.) and the response was "don't know what it could be, it's probably okay as long as the fan is working. Maybe you'll need to change the fan down the line." Which isn't super reassuring. I've taken a couple videos but can't seem to upload them directly here. I may put them on YouTube later tonight and link them.

I did a search and found a few people complaining about fan noise and a bunch of people who said theirs doesn't make any noise. To be clear, I don't care about the noise itself as it doesn't interfere and isn't audible at playing volume but I don't want to run the amp with something wrong and risk damaging it. Has anyone had similar issues? Is it "normal" or am I right to be concerned about it? I'm in Montreal, Canada and not sure what Peavey service is like. They're no longer with their distributor here and their website doesn't list any Canadian service centers, which also kind of sucks.
Click to expand...
I haven’t had any issues with mine. Is it possible the case may have a slight dimple in it from being moved around? I always transport mine in the case with a small piece of foam on each side to avoid mishaps to and from gigs. So far, so good.
 
#5
The original owner said he didn't notice any noise. The amp came with all the original packaging and padding, was wrapped very well, double boxed, and showed no signs of taking any abuse during shipping. The amp itself looks totally mint, like it could've been sold to me as brand new and I wouldn't question it.

Still waiting on an answer from Peavey.
 
#6
I bought an ELF brand new in 2020. Returned it in 2 weeks because I couldn't stand the gawdawful loud fan, as well as the aggressive compression.

I have a Warwick Gnome iPro now and am VERY happy with it. Silent operation, more power on tap, no heavy-handed compression. The downsides vs the Elf: no cool gain/OD tones, a bit bigger, a bit heavier.

For me, the novelty of a micro amp was not enough to overcome the fact that I didn't really like it as an amp on those merits. The Gnome just works better for me and I'm willing to put up with the size/weight penalties.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spatters and sargebaker
#7
musicman556 said:
I bought an ELF brand new in 2020. Returned it in 2 weeks because I couldn't stand the gawdawful loud fan, as well as the aggressive compression.
.
Click to expand...

When you say "gawdawful loud fan" did it compare to the sound of mine (see videos above) or did it just sound like a loud fan?

It's interesting/a little bit sus that there seems to be so many "loud fan" comments as there are "no noise" comments...
 
#9
sargebaker said:
Hey folks. I recently picked up an Elf here in the classifieds. It's from 2018 and seemed in mint condition. When I first plugged it in the fan was making a pretty violent ticking/rattling noise. I turned it off/on once or twice and it went away. Took it to jam and it ran flawlessly. Sounded great and just made normal fan noises. Plugged it in the day after and the tick was back, albeit a little less intense, but didn't seem to go away. I popped the hood to see if anything was in there and nothing jumped out as suspicious. Reassembled and plugged it back in and it was pretty quiet except for when the fan really revved up, then the noise was back, but even less noticeable. It's pretty high pitched and somewhere between a tick and a rattle. I've emailed Peavey repairs but am still waiting on an answer. I did correspond with someone from Peavey (not specifically from the repair dept.) and the response was "don't know what it could be, it's probably okay as long as the fan is working. Maybe you'll need to change the fan down the line." Which isn't super reassuring. I've taken a couple videos but can't seem to upload them directly here. I may put them on YouTube later tonight and link them.

I did a search and found a few people complaining about fan noise and a bunch of people who said theirs doesn't make any noise. To be clear, I don't care about the noise itself as it doesn't interfere and isn't audible at playing volume but I don't want to run the amp with something wrong and risk damaging it. Has anyone had similar issues? Is it "normal" or am I right to be concerned about it? I'm in Montreal, Canada and not sure what Peavey service is like. They're no longer with their distributor here and their website doesn't list any Canadian service centers, which also kind of sucks.
Click to expand...
I have an Elf that I purchased from new. The fan is a bit noisy when played very quietly but, once I am at playing volumes, it becomes inconsequential. I am not sure about the ticking noise in your amp but, I would suspect as has been written, some tolerance ha s been exceeded and a fan blade is rubbing on another part. Good luck on sorting it all out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LowEZ and sargebaker
#10
Philip McAdam said:
I have an Elf that I purchased from new. The fan is a bit noisy when played very quietly but, once I am at playing volumes, it becomes inconsequential. I am not sure about the ticking noise in your amp but, I would suspect as has been written, some tolerance ha s been exceeded and a fan blade is rubbing on another part. Good luck on sorting it all out.
Click to expand...
The noise itself is inconsequential to me as well (provided it's actually normal - and I wish peavey repairs would get back to me on this). My concern is damaging the amp further if I'm running it and it's not operating as intended. I didn't see anything in the pathway of the fan blades when I opened it up and the fact that the issue is somewhat intermittent and the sound isn't always the same is really getting me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spatters
#15
I had an ELF for a while, mine didn't sound like this but I have spent plenty of time working on electronics (PC, pos, etc) to know that fan just needs to be replaced. They are REALLY cheap and easy to swap. The fan blade is making contact sometimes and that is the loud ticking. It's perfectly operational and likely will be for a long time, but if it bothers you replacing it will be a simple inexpensive task.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spatters, musicman556 and Philip McAdam
#16
Gustopher said:
I had an ELF for a while, mine didn't sound like this but I have spent plenty of time working on electronics (PC, pos, etc) to know that fan just needs to be replaced. They are REALLY cheap and easy to swap. The fan blade is making contact sometimes and that is the loud ticking. It's perfectly operational and likely will be for a long time, but if it bothers you replacing it will be a simple inexpensive task.
Click to expand...
Thanks! That's the conclusion I was coming to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gustopher
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back