TC Electronic BH500 rig review

GRAHAM SG1 · #1 07-09-2011, 07:12 PM

I bought a TC Electronic rig today after the failure of my GK MB210 passive input, I bought the rig as I had a gig this evening, I am extremely happy with my choice .
TC Electronic dealers are doing a deal with the BH500 where you buy a half stack and they give you a free extra cab so I got the BH500 with two 2x12 cabs for £664 Sterling .
My first thoughts were favourable, this set up sounds so good and has a lot of great features, built in tuner, compressor, tube tone control tweetertone control, gain input light, 2 contour settings and 3 EQ presets which are very easy to set and work brilliantly, all features that were not on my GK .
The cabs are pretty lightweight which is nice and have some good bracing and lining, this rig sounded so good during the gig, plenty of scope for adjustment and the push button presets made it easy for altering the sound to suit different basses, fingers or pick or different songs, I consider this amp to be a good step up from the GKMB210, it bought out a lot of good things in my playing and gave me more confidence because I could hear my tone better, I think you call this `note articulation` ?
I think this rig is a steal at the money

Photos to follow as its late now and I want to go to bed !

Musicman20 · #2 07-10-2011, 03:22 AM

Did you get a refund on your GK combo, or are they repairing?

GRAHAM SG1 · #3 07-10-2011, 11:04 AM

I found the cause of the `problem` with my GK today !
Yesterday was a huge rush with the gig in the evening and family all requiring my time so I did not have time to really tackle the GK issue, I did try a few leads but to no avail, today I took the scratchplate off my MIM P (which I was using when I found the `prob`, and found a connection to the input jack coming off, I changed the plate recently so must have twisted the input or whatever when putting the jack on the new plate ? although I tried a few leads I did not try another bass in my haste

so a bit of solder and its all fine after I have bought a new rig LOL
To be honest I was going to buy the TC rig anyway as its was a good deal with a free 2x12 cab, it certainly sounds better than the GK and has nice features so I am happy with the situation

stevend94 · #4 07-19-2011, 08:05 AM

I am considering buying one of these amps with two 4 x 10 cabs, using the deal where you buy the head and one cab and get a second free... does anyone know if this will work alright? the head runs 500 watts at 4 ohms and the 4 x 10 cab is rated at 4 ohms but TC says that that works alright with the head, anyone have experience with this set up?

thanks

GRAHAM SG1 · #5 07-21-2011, 03:19 PM

Steven, check out the link below;

TC Electronic | BC410 - Step up to bass amp 2.0

I have the head with two BC212s and it is great, the amp has great features that you will love, I have gigged it and it was awesome

The TC spec says 500 Watts with 1000 Watts peak so whether that means 1000 Watts with two 410 cabs at 500 Watts@4 ohms each I dont know, usually amps give more Watts at lower ohms so maybe it is right ?
I am thinking of getting a GK MBE410 4ohms for mine to use at rehearsal to save lugging two cabs around, I would get the 4 ohm cab to get the 500 Watts .
I wish I knew about all this electrical stuff so I dont have to rely on all the clever people on here

This BH500 deal is excellent IMO, the amp sounds good and the presets, tuner, tube tone, tweetertone and spectracomp are nice features .

stevend94 · #6 07-24-2011, 02:25 PM

Yeah im going to get it all soon, cant wait to test it out

didgeribass · #7 08-19-2011, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRAHAM SG1

TC Electronic dealers are doing a deal with the BH500 where you buy a half stack and they give you a free extra cab so I got the BH500 with two 2x12 cabs for £664 Sterling .... I think this rig is a steal at the money

Got a similar deal for BH500 with two 212 cabs last weak! Can't wait to gig with it

Finally upgraded from a Warwick Sweet 25.1, which wasn't actually mine anyway.

GRAHAM SG1 · #8 08-19-2011, 01:59 PM

My rig BH500 really brings out some great tones from my Fender PDLX, I love the presets which give great tone versatility, push a button and go from mellow warm tone to heavy rock sounds

As for power, I have found it necessary to start using earplugs LOL

tlaubs · #9 08-23-2011, 12:58 PM

Where are you guys getting this deal?

GRAHAM SG1 · #10 08-27-2011, 11:14 AM

In the good old UK

, I dont know if they are doing it where you are from ?

krstko · #11 09-08-2011, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlaubs

Where are you guys getting this deal?

It was a summer event and you can't get it anymore..

krstko · #12 09-08-2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevend94

I am considering buying one of these amps with two 4 x 10 cabs, using the deal where you buy the head and one cab and get a second free... does anyone know if this will work alright? the head runs 500 watts at 4 ohms and the 4 x 10 cab is rated at 4 ohms but TC says that that works alright with the head, anyone have experience with this set up?

thanks

Bh 500 is 2 ohm stable, but you probably won't get 1000w ..you will get about 800-900w which also ok

GRAHAM SG1 · #13 09-09-2011, 01:10 AM

Had another rehearsal last night and the BH500/BC212 x2 is getting better and better, I am finding more great tones with each play and it seems to be getting louder and clearer (speakers broken in ?), I tried a different cab position with one 2x12 horizontal on the floor and the other vertical on top and the bottom end sound increased nicely with the benefit of having the top speaker a bit lower, due to the height of the 2x12s when stacked and my 5 foot 6", I was getting too much in my ears, this set up has helped .
Plus, I have not lost any buttons

Andy_D · #14 09-09-2011, 07:38 AM

I just purchased a BH500 recently and I am extremely pleased with the sounds I am getting from this head. At $350 shipped with all of it's features I feel it's a lot of value for the money.

On the 2 Amp stability. I presently have a single 4 ohm 2 x 10 cabinet. Does this mean that I could safely add another 4 ohm cabinet in the future? I was curious that TC stated that you could run a single 4 ohm cabinet. However if you use TC cabinets you could use two of them. That sure seemed kind of odd unless the cabinets had some sort of dual wiring capability which seems unlikely.

deluxeg · #15 09-09-2011, 08:20 AM

You can use two of the TC cabinets since TC knows the exact specs of their speaker cabinets and the actual ohm reading of speaker cabinets varies by frequency, so put those two things together and you are allowed to use multiple TC cabinets. However TC does not know the exact specs of every speaker cab on the market so they can't guarantee that you can do the same with other brands of speakers/cabinets.

4-string · #16 09-09-2011, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deluxeg

You can use two of the TC cabinets since TC knows the exact specs of their speaker cabinets and the actual ohm reading of speaker cabinets varies by frequency, so put those two things together and you are allowed to use multiple TC cabinets. However TC does not know the exact specs of every speaker cab on the market so they can't guarantee that you can do the same with other brands of speakers/cabinets.

You can use two of TC's BC cabs, because they are 8 Ohms. Or you can use one single 4 Ohms cab or two 8 Ohms cabs from any other cab maker.

Using up to three TC cabs only applies to the RH series heads and with RS cabs AFAIK.

deluxeg · #17 09-09-2011, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4-string

You can use two of TC's BC cabs, because they are 8 Ohms. Or you can use one single 4 Ohms cab or two 8 Ohms cabs from any other cab maker.

Using up to three TC cabs only applies to the RH series heads and with RS cabs AFAIK.

Not quite correct, you can use any 3 of the RS cabs with the RH amps or the BH amps. You can use any combination of three BC210’s or BC212’s with either amp. A BC 212 or 210 with a 410 with either or 2 x BC410's with the BH amp.

The BC410 is a 4ohm cabinet.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/tc...abs-config.pdf

4-string · #18 09-09-2011, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deluxeg

Not quite correct, you can use any 3 of the RS cabs with the RH amps or the BH amps. You can use any combination of three BC210’s or BC212’s with either amp. A BC 212 or 210 with a 410 with either or 2 x BC410's with the BH amp.

The BC410 is a 4ohm cabinet.

http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/tc...abs-config.pdf

I stand corrected! Thanks, that is great info. I know I have read somewhere (probably here

that the three-cab-rule is just for RH/RS gear, but evidently that was wrong.

That BH500 with three of the BC cabs must be a killer rig at a great price point.

The Arsonist · #19 09-09-2011, 06:01 PM

Since we're on the topic... The back of the BH500 head says 4 Ohm Minimum. I've kind of questioned that one because I can't think of a clear answer. In Ohm's way of thinking, isn't the higher the number, the lower the resistance? That would mean that the head can take anything 4 Ohms or higher, correct? Or do they mean 4 Ohms and/or 2 Ohms? I'm not sure if that's clear, but hopefully you get what I'm saying.

**peledog** · #20 09-09-2011, 06:57 PM

I'm confused by that too. I'm thinking any lower, numerically speaking, than 4 ohms. 8ohms shouldn't be a problem, since I believe the RS212, as a single cab hooked up to the RH450, runs at 8 ohms, or thereabouts...then when you add an RS210 or two, you won't get into 2ohm territory (if you were running two 4 ohm cabs)