TC Electronic BG250 Club

[Troph]

Originally Posted by soulman969

I doubt you'll find much if any difference between an MB112-II and the former model as far as what they sounds like. The major change are cosmetic and the addition of that line out to attach it to a powered cab. The power amp section, cab and speaker are still the same.

OK, so I played through both the GK MB115-II and the TC BG250 today, as they got them in stock at the local GC.

I must admit, the BG250 has more power available, and that makes it sound better. I was not a fan of the TonePrint effect that was loaded. Very cheesy and I had to disable it.

I did notice that below "4" on the Master, the BG250 was really quiet. Then suddenly it takes off. I was able to get good R&B tone, and a good modern slap tone too.

I will say that I liked the high-end and mid-heavy tones a bit more on the GK. In particular, I was able to dial in a really nice string pop sound on the GK that I couldn't find on the TC, and the mids were a little more refined when I rolled back the bass. But then again, I didn't spend a ton of time playing with settings.

However, the extra headroom the BG250 seems to have gives it a definite edge. It has some serious volume for a lightweight 1x15 combo.

At the discount price, it's a good deal.

[stepswork4me]

Originally Posted by plankspanker13

No PA help for me, or the guitarist, just my BG250, and a G&L JB-2 equipped with DiMarzio Model J's. No effects, although I do ramp up the volume pedal, a bit, in this live band karaoke performance. Singerbabe jumps the gun, in the second verse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Vbg...ature=youtu.be

Sounds good, Man. After my own experience playing more aggressive music I'd expect nothing less.

[ErnieD]

Well, I had some issues trying to get a good sound out of my BG250 tonite at the small nite club we gig about twice a month. First time I tried this bass there too, so coulda been that. And I'm ready to admit coulda been user error as I was dialing things in on the fly-mid-songs n stuff.

In the past I've used GB Neox 212T cab w/STM-900+55-02D, then same STM-900 w/older Eden D210T cab that's been modded with Deltalite II 2510's+P5 w/tapes. The P5/Eden rig has sounded best so far. I do get good PA support, FOH/Monitors and the sound of my rig is mostly for me and drummer.

But singer decided to setup different tonite and I think I was bleeding into his vocal mic. Just horrible boom and these bass after-tones when I'd play certain notes harder/louder. They thought it was the kick drum but once turned down, still happened. I'm thinking the keysplayers left-hand was doing it thru his Bose tower. But I was def causing the feedback too.

I kept reaching back and adjusting knobs on BG250 and on my bass. Tonite was my MTD KZ5 modded w/Agi OBP-3 & Bartolini jazz pups. THis bass can get very strong mids and big lows but it can get grindy when pushed. But I either had all boom or very thin lows with alot of nasty grind when I dug in. This with all the adjustments I was making on bass and amp. I used some of the preset settings that came with the combo, mainly the Jazz preset, tho I used abit more bass knob and def more gain/master than the pic showed.

Now, I'm thinking this combo has to be raised up off floor to be heard well. This is a tight setup area so amp was right behind my knees. 2nd set I tilted it back against wall and was able to dial in better tones. But still that boom was there. Pretty sure I was in vox mic with combo tilted back like that. At some point I just turned myself down, was up around 6-7 on gain/master. And the overall sound got better.

I think I forced the band come down so they could hear me. I just brought my gain/master knobs down to about 4-5 to help me get a decent tone and stop the bleed. They/we were quite loud tonite and I told them so. Course you know how that went. It got better once we turned down. But either vox or keys kept dialing up their volume and the feedback would start again.

So I've still got the 3 rehearsals and 2-3 gigs next week. THis time with different bands. So I'll see how it goes. Once I dialed in a good tone; this little amp did kick some butt tonite.

Next gig, starting off with it elevated to see if that helps. Then again, tonite first was gig with this entire rig so I imagine I could use some time to tweak it better. Practicing here at home with PC speakers when it arrived Friday, I was dialing in all kinds of nice tones with 3 different basses. Hope I can make this combo gig-able; it was such an easy schlep to setup/tear down tonite. That was sweet.

[McGryff]

Last night I played a short gig with a roughly 15-piece big band. I played my P-Bass through it. I had the gain at about noon, and I had the master volume around 11:00, for the most part. I don't know exactly how it sounded out front, but I got a(n undeserved) compliment on a bass solo I took, so I was certainly audible. It was a large room in a community center, FWIW. I'm glad I could keep up with a rhythm section & horns without going past 12:00 on either gain or volume though!

[ErnieD]

My review prolly showed more my inexperience with this combo than any fault of the combo itself.

I will be using the combo with my P5 in a blues rock band next weekend, no PA for me, quite small wine bar. I'll take alot more time this week getting used to the settings this combo offers.

I guess practicing at home wtih cover music thru PC speakers is still playing alone where even my big scooped settings sounded good in my living room. Those same settings and a few others I tried at home, did not work in the live (loud) band context I attempted to use on Sat nite. I think I'll get better with time spent this next week.

[timber22]

My BG250 was just delivered and I got to try it at home for about an hour. So far, I'm impressed. Really nice tone, and seems like plenty of volume. I'll try it at band practice to really see how it performs.
The tubetone is nice. The toneprint for me would only have limited use on certain songs.

[ErnieD]

I was first hesitant to use BG250 on my Sat gig as it was just delivered Friday. Only played low volume at home. I was hoping I would not have really crank it if the band got loud, they did, so that I could give speaker time to break in from new.

Anyone notice any "sound/tone/feel" change the more they used their BG250? As in speaker was now broken in?

[stepswork4me]

Originally Posted by ErnieD

I was first hesitant to use BG250 on my Sat gig as it was just delivered Friday. Only played low volume at home. I was hoping I would not have really crank it if the band got loud, they did, so that I could give speaker time to break in from new.

Anyone notice any "sound/tone/feel" change the more they used their BG250? As in speaker was now broken in?

I didn't really notice anything. I played it with a fretless that I had and an EAB for a little while with other acoustic players before ramping it up with a prog metal band. The second one came straight into the metal band. Hard to tell. I will say that the Spectracomp really brought this amp to "top notch" for me.

[TheEmptyCell]

The only things keeping me from getting one of these are feeling like TCE will come out with a new version right after I get the current model, and that I haven't found any of the popular 15" combos in Columbia, SC to try out. The two features I wish the BG250 had are an output for an extension cab and a higher wattage. A powered extension like the GK MBP series would send me right to the interwebz to with my wallet open.

[stepswork4me]

If you get the chance.... try one. The wattage vs volume is surprising. Also, those powered cabs cost more than my second BG-250. I now run them both ABY style.

[BassMorpheus]

Originally Posted by McGryff

Last night I played a short gig with a roughly 15-piece big band. I played my P-Bass through it. I had the gain at about noon, and I had the master volume around 11:00, for the most part. I don't know exactly how it sounded out front, but I got a(n undeserved) compliment on a bass solo I took, so I was certainly audible. It was a large room in a community center, FWIW. I'm glad I could keep up with a rhythm section & horns without going past 12:00 on either gain or volume though!

+1 similar to my own experience. The combo really pushes air.

[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by stepswork4me

If you get the chance.... try one. The wattage vs volume is surprising. Also, those powered cabs cost more than my second BG-250. I now run them both ABY style.

Yes I agree. For example, GC is selling a 15 inch GK powered cab for $399. It provides 200 watts. It weighs 37 pounds.

I bought my second BG250, with all the sales, for about $290, including state tax. So that's more than $100 less.

It gives me another 250 watts, 50 more than the GK. Plus I have all of the side advantages, such as I can run one TonePrint on one unit (say the SpectraComp) and something different, like a chorus, on the other.

It also weighs 2 pounds less.

Plus I can take one unit to a jam or practice or use both when playing in a large venue or if I want as much headroom as possible for a clean sound.

Again, folks, for less than $600 I got 500 watts, two 15-inch speakers and two tweeters plus being able to use one or both units. And everything weighs a total of 70 pounds.

So I'm very happy with this arrangement.

[soulman969]

Originally Posted by Troph

OK, so I played through both the GK MB115-II and the TC BG250 today, as they got them in stock at the local GC.

I must admit, the BG250 has more power available, and that makes it sound better. I was not a fan of the TonePrint effect that was loaded. Very cheesy and I had to disable it.

I did notice that below "4" on the Master, the BG250 was really quiet. Then suddenly it takes off. I was able to get good R&B tone, and a good modern slap tone too.

I will say that I liked the high-end and mid-heavy tones a bit more on the GK. In particular, I was able to dial in a really nice string pop sound on the GK that I couldn't find on the TC, and the mids were a little more refined when I rolled back the bass. But then again, I didn't spend a ton of time playing with settings.

However, the extra headroom the BG250 seems to have gives it a definite edge. It has some serious volume for a lightweight 1x15 combo.

At the discount price, it's a good deal.

That's GK's signature tone. It's a more modern sounding mid accentuated amp and cabinet. The BG250 has a fuller and rounder bottom end with a little more old school tonality to it. Two different approaches and both very good amps.

I like my GK MB112 because it's very punchy and mid focused but I preferred the BG250 to an MB 115 because I wanted that rounder bottom end and it's better features. It's still a very punchy amp and the added volume is a very nice bonus.

Oh, and the Tone Print effect options are very easy to change. I don't use a chorus so I changed it a Spectra Comp setting. Once you have it all set up and the software downloaded it takes a minute to do it.

[soulman969]

Originally Posted by timber22

My BG250 was just delivered and I got to try it at home for about an hour. So far, I'm impressed. Really nice tone, and seems like plenty of volume. I'll try it at band practice to really see how it performs.
The tubetone is nice. The toneprint for me would only have limited use on certain songs.

They ship it with a chorus effect installed in the Tone Print and if you seldom us a chorus effect you can change it to something more useful. Quite a few of us installed one of the compressors instead.

The whole idea of the Tone Print is to allow you to have whatever on board effect YOU want. It's not difficult to change it.

[soulman969]

Originally Posted by TheEmptyCell

The only things keeping me from getting one of these are feeling like TCE will come out with a new version right after I get the current model, and that I haven't found any of the popular 15" combos in Columbia, SC to try out. The two features I wish the BG250 had are an output for an extension cab and a higher wattage. A powered extension like the GK MBP series would send me right to the interwebz to with my wallet open.

At their current price you can buy two BG250 like some guys have and spend less than you would on a GK MB115-II and the 115 powered cabinet and be running a louder 500w rig for less money than you would combining the GK combo and powered cabinet at 400w.

You also have the added advantage of being able to eq each separately as well which you couldn't do with a GK rig. So if that was your only objection if I was selling them now I'd just ask you if you wanted the two BG250 delivered to your home or would you like to pick them up at the store nearest you.

[TheEmptyCell]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I'm gonna try and see if a local shop will order one in so I can give it a test drive with my Dingwall before committing to anything.

[Jethropayson]

I just got a b-stock of the bg250. I can crank it to the point where the tweeter rattles. I can also get plenty of volume turing down the volume on my bass and the gain input without the tweeter rattling. Should i send it back or is this to be expected?

[mystic38]

the BG250 is certainly plenty loud but lets not all get caught up in the "250W" of the BG250.. we know from the testing of their amps that they are redefining specifications to be the "TC-Watt".. something i hope that they get forced out of.

I seriously doubt this amp is capable of driving any additional speaker, but its a simple (and inexpensive) matter to buy two, lay them on their sides (at least then you can read the logo!) and run them both.

[Aeko]

Originally Posted by Jethropayson

I just got a b-stock of the bg250. I can crank it to the point where the tweeter rattles. I can also get plenty of volume turing down the volume on my bass and the gain input without the tweeter rattling. Should i send it back or is this to be expected?

My twitter is also rattling from 3 rehearsals ago. Two rehearsals ago it didn't.

Before going with it to the shop I must check:

· Updates of software
· Certain connection chain of pedals
· The AC connector.
· Use the line to check if the tweeter is working fine.

I will not have other rehearsal in 10 days, so at this point I must be patient, and despite the call of disconnecting the twitter, I don't do because the amp is under warranty. Only one month of use.

I don't know if you and I have the same problem.

[stepswork4me]

Originally Posted by mystic38

the BG250 is certainly plenty loud but lets not all get caught up in the "250W" of the BG250.. we know from the testing of their amps that they are redefining specifications to be the "TC-Watt".. something i hope that they get forced out of.

I honestly don't think they should be pushed out of rating the way they do. Many musicians use the wattage rating to guage volume range. I know BG-250 blows everything else that I've tried in the 200-300 watt range out of the water, volume wise. As I've mentioned before it's louder than the GB 400 Neox combo that I used to own. It serves as to what to compare and contrast against.

Originally Posted by mystic38

I seriously doubt this amp is capable of driving any additional speaker, but its a simple (and inexpensive) matter to buy two, lay them on their sides (at least then you can read the logo!) and run them both.

It's not designed to push another cab and isn't adverstised to do so. With that said, I still wonder if ANY powered cab would work with it?