Bass Gear Mag issue 6

[OldogNewTrick]

If I haven't overlooked some other thread on this issue, let me start this thread by congratulating Tom and the gang on their excellent work !

Just finished reading their excellent work on amp testing.
I enjoyed particularly the most informatice article on the TCE RH450 and its "creative" use of power claims.

You guys get better from issue to issue - congrats !

[Bassflute]

Originally Posted by OldogNewTrick

If I haven't overlooked some other thread on this issue, let me start this thread by congratulating Tom and the gang on their excellent work !

Just finished reading their excellent work on amp testing.
I enjoyed particularly the most informatice article on the TCE RH450 and its "creative" use of power claims.

You guys get better from issue to issue - congrats !

hope people are supporting them by buying in or it won't be around forever.

And I was shocked at the power level of the tc amp...never thought they'd stoop to that...and I always did think it was a bit anaemic; now we know why. Good one, Tom and the boys....Keeping 'em Honest!

Cheers,
Cameron

[VisualShock]

Care to post a link, or give the general overview of the article?

[Bassflute]

Originally Posted by VisualShock

Care to post a link, or give the general overview of the article?

but till you know how to work that, here you go...

Bass gear magazine - All the gear, all time.

Cheers,
Cameron

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by VisualShock

Care to post a link, or give the general overview of the article?

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! You can link directly to issue #6 via the link in my sig line, but of course, if you subscribe to the free e-book, then that'd be even better.

As far as whether or not we will be around forever, we did just get a big shot in the arm. Beginning with issue #7 (the next issue), our distribution in music stores world wide will be handled by the Hal Leonard Corp. We are very excited about this, as HLC is choosing to enter this market with a limited number of titles, including Premier Guitar and Modern Drummer, in addition to Bass Gear Magazine.

As always, we appreciate your support!

Tom.

[JimmyM]

Holy crap! That TC amp took a real drubbing! Good. They think the sun shines out of their ass.

[4-string]

Still waiting for mine. I am overseas after all, so some extra time is to be expected.

It is my only mag subscription, love it.

And Jimmy, there's more to an amp than watts as you know, and more importantly more to the TC article than power ratings. Time to let go of that test pilot episode.

[JimmyM]

If they hose you on that, they'll hose you on other stuff. There IS more to an amp than watts, but I expect semi-legit numbers. According to BGM, they're not even close.

[Smallequestrian]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Holy crap! That TC amp took a real drubbing! Good. They think the sun shines out of their ass.

In most respects the article makes it look like quite a technological achievement.

[4-string]

I haven't had the chance to play thru the RH450 myself, but one thing everyone seemed to agree upon (at least until that article came out.....placebo works wonders with more than power cords was that that amp was loud, even for its 450w rating. Whether or not the tone was good is another story, but I can't recall even once that someone complained about it being underpowered.

Which makes it even more impressive in a way. Not saying that I encourage anyone to knowingly mislead customers, but it might perhaps say something about how irrelevant the standard power ratings are? Don't know, but it takes some cool engineering to sell a 240w amp as 450w and even then owners feel that their amp is conservatively rated.

[rodl2005]

Congrats on the HLG signing Tom!
And on what I think is the best issue so far!
Excellent articles & an altogether great read. Well done to Tom & All BGM staff/writers, BASSISTS! :-P

re the RH450, I think they actually make it to first
-Look like a bit of a sham. Then, after further reading,
-Look like a darn well engineered piece of gear.

& finally, as stated above, I, too, never heard ppl complain that they didn't feel it had the power of a 450w amp.
I don't have that amp, does it actually SAY 450w @ 4 ohms on it?
I heard a lot of ppl say they like it! Why just because of some No.s should that opinion change? We listen with our ears...........
If it says a different wattage than what it actually is, then things are a bit diff. But haven't many amps over the yrs put a number on ' em that wasn't 'quite' spot on?

[lookiel]

Another Thank you to TomB and the team for their fantastic mag!
There was a good bit of discussion over in the RH450 thread, I justed wanted to say I greatly enjoyed the article on it as well the sister article on the TC power management.
Very interesting stuff indeed! It's too bad some people will take this to mean that TC is dishonest instead of applauding the engineering going on behind the curtain and judging the amp perhaps without having heard it...
Jimmy, still holding a grudge from the test pilot thing are we?
Friendly jab, I much appreciate your presence on TB! You're one of those staple TB'ers who keeps things rollin'

[B-string]

Renewed my printed sub yesterday!

[JimmyM]

An offer for a free footswitch with purchase of a head is no consolation prize for a contest. That's arrogant. Might as well not even offer a consolation prize. Plus I don't like what they did to Jeff Berlin, sending him rude letters telling him to bring his own pedal from now on after asking to borrow one of their choruses to do a NAMM show exhibition.

[bb03]

Tom,

Thanks for such a great mag!

I just signed up for the print version.

[Mad Maestro]

Still waiting for the printed copy to arrive in the mail but this looks like another stellar issue after flipping through the digital edition. Really liked the behind the scenes Markbass article, which was much better then the Mesa Boogie factory tour.

[Smallequestrian]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

An offer for a free footswitch with purchase of a head is no consolation prize for a contest. That's arrogant. Might as well not even offer a consolation prize. Plus I don't like what they did to Jeff Berlin, sending him rude letters telling him to bring his own pedal from now on after asking to borrow one of their choruses to do a NAMM show exhibition.

lols

[Derek Kiernan]

I'm glad to see a publication that brings some honesty the public's way! We've long been used to the fiction speaker manufacturers give us with their specs. We can't let the amps have nonsense ratings too

[4-string]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Plus I don't like what they did to Jeff Berlin, sending him rude letters telling him to bring his own pedal from now on after asking to borrow one of their choruses to do a NAMM show exhibition.

Something is definitely wrong with those people at TC, how can they be rude to such a sweet and nonconfrontational character as Jeff Berlin?

I would love to hear both sides of that story, and what really happened. Would think that any company would love to have Jeff Berlin's endorsement.

[Dekker]

It is interesting to see how different people read the same article and interpret the results differently... Some slam TC for marketing obfuscation, others applaud the psychoacoustic technology. As stated, it is the final tone that people crave, and SPLs.

Consider for comparison light bulbs.

A 100W light bulb is pretty bright.

Then along comes a 22W CFL light bulb. Just as bright. But what? It's not 100W? But it puts out approx 1600 lumen, same as the old bulb.

It all goes to show that watts aren't the deciding factor for loudness. Get over it. Technology changes. That said, TC's marketing should have spun it differently so it came off better, but that's another story...

Anyway, nice magazine. Only read the last couple issues online, but will have to look through the archives. Love the depth and tests!

Dekker