diff --git a/cmd/evm/internal/t8ntool/transition.go b/cmd/evm/internal/t8ntool/transition.go
index 819c7eca86..4af201abe3 100644
--- a/cmd/evm/internal/t8ntool/transition.go
+++ b/cmd/evm/internal/t8ntool/transition.go
@@ -99,15 +99,15 @@ func Transition(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 			if ctx.IsSet(TraceTracerConfigFlag.Name) {
 				config = []byte(ctx.String(TraceTracerConfigFlag.Name))
 			}
+			tracer, err := tracers.DefaultDirectory.New(ctx.String(TraceTracerFlag.Name), nil, config)
+			if err != nil {
+				return NewError(ErrorConfig, fmt.Errorf("failed instantiating tracer: %w", err))
+			}
 			getTracer = func(txIndex int, txHash common.Hash) (vm.EVMLogger, error) {
 				traceFile, err := os.Create(path.Join(baseDir, fmt.Sprintf("trace-%d-%v.json", txIndex, txHash.String())))
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, NewError(ErrorIO, fmt.Errorf("failed creating trace-file: %v", err))
 				}
-				tracer, err := tracers.DefaultDirectory.New(ctx.String(TraceTracerFlag.Name), nil, config)
-				if err != nil {
-					return nil, NewError(ErrorConfig, fmt.Errorf("failed instantiating tracer: %w", err))
-				}
 				return &traceWriter{tracer, traceFile}, nil
 			}
 		} else {