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TC Electronic RH450, RS210, RS212 Review Thread

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Andy Brown

Andy Brown

Commercial User
Jul 23, 2004
5,675
312
Rhode Island
www.winginstruments.com
Disclosures
Founder/Owner: Wing Instruments
#1
I just got the rig yesterday, so I thought I'd start a new thread for these reviews.

First impressions (mainly physical) out of the box:

* The head is lighter than I imagined.
* The cabs are a little larger than I imagined, albeit compact for 2x'sd. The weight is definitely manageable.

I'll probably have a chance to spend some plugged-in time with it today or tomorrow. First practice is on Monday.

My main goal here is to see if any of these pieces would be able to replace what I currently have which is a MarkBass LMII, a G-K MB2-500 (mainly a backup), a Schroeder Mini 12, and a Schroeder Mini 12+. I'm also going to judge if I can let go of my Korg pitchblack tuner, my VT Bass, and my BBE Compressor as all of this functionality is in the head.

I'll be trying out all combinations of heads and cabs along the way. If anyone has any specific questions, please let me know. Thanks.
 
#10
AJ Brown said:
Yes, I chose of each. For lower volume gigs I'd probably be using only one cab and I wanted to see if the 2x10 would hold up.
Click to expand...
Perfect.

As for questions, some of the things I'm curious about are:

__ Using the amp as a preamp for recording into a computer.

__ Using the amp as a preamp for a more powerful amp while gigging live.

__ How quiet is the amp, particularly with long cables? This is something we take for granted until we are confronted with noise, so it is something we might forget to mention if it is quite silent.

__ There are questions about whether or not this rig has the umph to be loud enough. Do you (or does someone you know) have a sound level meter so you can check the SPL of the rig at say 20 feet in front of it, and compare the loudness (and the sound quality at those volumes) to your other reference rigs?

__ Do the user memories vanish at power down, or are they still there to be used when you power on in that venue again the next night?

__ Did TC send the gear to you in the flight cases? In the gig bags? If so, do you have some words to say about them as well?

__ I'm a fan of vertical column speaker arrays (thanks to Bose), so I already like the idea of how the cabinets stack. But how stable are they like that, with the head perched on top?

__ How quickly does the tuner track? Do you think it would be useful in helping train intonation for careful scales on an unlined fretless?

Anyway, that's enough for now I'm sure. :bassist:

Thanks for doing this for all of us. In fact, you might be real sorry real soon you were selected for this! :bawl:
 
#11
Hey Tom,

I can answer some of your questions already...

Tom7 said:
__ Using the amp as a preamp for recording into a computer.
Click to expand...

This I can do. I may be able to get something up tomorrow.

Tom7 said:
__ Using the amp as a preamp for a more powerful amp while gigging live.
Click to expand...

This is definitely possible, however I don't have access to a power amp. I'll try to find out is someone close to me has one and wants to help with the experiment.

Tom7 said:
__ How quiet is the amp, particularly with long cables? This is something we take for granted until we are confronted with noise, so it is something we might forget to mention if it is quite silent.
Click to expand...

The cabs ship with 6' speakons. I believe i have a 20' hanging around somewhere. Were you thinking longer than this?

Tom7 said:
__ There are questions about whether or not this rig has the umph to be loud enough. Do you (or does someone you know) have a sound level meter so you can check the SPL of the rig at say 20 feet in front of it, and compare the loudness (and the sound quality at those volumes) to your other reference rigs?
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I'll have to find someone locally who has one. This would be an interesting experiment. Maybe I'll take a look in Radio Shack.

Tom7 said:
__ Do the user memories vanish at power down, or are they still there to be used when you power on in that venue again the next night?
Click to expand...

Memories hold after power down. It wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Tom7 said:
__ Did TC send the gear to you in the flight cases? In the gig bags? If so, do you have some words to say about them as well?
Click to expand...

No flight cases or bags.

Tom7 said:
__ I'm a fan of vertical column speaker arrays (thanks to Bose), so I
already like the idea of how the cabinets stack. But how stable are they like that, with the head perched on top?
Click to expand...

There are no grooves on the cabs to make them interlock, however the textured finish is suprisingly very stable. I wouldn't worry about anything sliding off.

Tom7 said:
__ How quickly does the tuner track? Do you think it would be useful in helping train intonation for careful scales on an unlined fretless?
Click to expand...

Well, the tuner tracks well, however I'm not sure it's any kind of replacement for a strobe. I'd be on the fence in regard to intonation training on a fretless.

Tom7 said:
Anyway, that's enough for now I'm sure. :bassist:

Thanks for doing this for all of us. In fact, you might be real sorry real soon you were selected for this! :bawl:
Click to expand...

Not a problem at all. I feel pretty lucky I'm able to do this. I've always been 'all about the bass' (axe that is) and this gives me a chance to get down and dirty with the other half of the tone equation.
 
#12
Rats, I can't quote you as you did me and have it make sense, so I'm going to have to do this another way.

--- Line Driver Out

Sorry for not being clear enough about this question. I meant to ask about the balanced line out, not the cab out... the right most jack when you are looking at the RH450 from the back.

TC's videos talk about how this connection as a transformer balanced output completely isolated from the rest of the amp to eliminate hum or noise so you can make long runs from the amp to a mixing console. I was wondering if it was as silent as advertised.

BTW, I love that this also has the pre- and post- switch so we can choose to take the processed signal from the preamp, or a signal prior to the preamp to the console.
 
#13
--- Stack Stability

Again, I wasn't very clear. What worries me is bumping the stack inadvertently on a crowded stage. The wide footprint of my El Whappo cabinet would hurt me (or my bass) more than I'd hurt it if I were to bump it, but the TC cabs look like they could be bumped over if I (or a bandmate) loses track of where we are on stage and bumps into it.

BTW, too bad about the flight cases; that would have been an interesting bit of intel.
 
#14
Tom7 said:
Rats, I can't quote you as you did me and have it make sense, so I'm going to have to do this another way.

--- Line Driver Out

Sorry for not being clear enough about this question. I meant to ask about the balanced line out, not the cab out... the right most jack when you are looking at the RH450 from the back.

TC's videos talk about how this connection as a transformer balanced output completely isolated from the rest of the amp to eliminate hum or noise so you can make long runs from the amp to a mixing console. I was wondering if it was as silent as advertised.

BTW, I love that this also has the pre- and post- switch so we can choose to take the processed signal from the preamp, or a signal prior to the preamp to the console.
Click to expand...

Ah... got it. I can't predict what situations I'll be in, but for the most part a 20' cable will be it.
 
#15
Tom7 said:
--- Stack Stability

Again, I wasn't very clear. What worries me is bumping the stack inadvertently on a crowded stage. The wide footprint of my El Whappo cabinet would hurt me (or my bass) more than I'd hurt it if I were to bump it, but the TC cabs look like they could be bumped over if I (or a bandmate) loses track of where we are on stage and bumps into it.

BTW, too bad about the flight cases; that would have been an interesting bit of intel.
Click to expand...

Well, this pretty much depends on where you would bump the stack, and with how much force. I'm not sure I can answer this question with certainty.
 
#16
From my posting on the other TC thread:


My Test Pilot rig arrived today :hiding:

I chose the two RS210's although I had thought after the fact I should have grabbed one RS212.

I stood it up next to my SVT 4pro and 810 and started playing around and A/B-ing them.

After playing around with the eq points on the parametric my initial reaction is better than I thought it would be. I was able to dial in a pretty decent tone comparing to the fridge sitting next to it. I didn't like the Spectracomp, but I rarely use compressors in my sound. The Tubetone was a little bit of a let down for me, it seemed to sound more like a distortion pedal, but I'll see how it plays out live and play with it some more. I'm playing a medium size club this weekend and that's when all the adjustments get made. I'm keeping up with a hard hitting drummer and a Les Paul/Mesa Rectifier/412.
One thing that popped out was the similarity in the overall sound that I got compared to my Roland Supercube combo that I use on small gigs. It's an old 1x15 combo, 100watts, in a really small cabinet. There's a grindy-ness to it that is similar. Maybe it's the small cabinet?

More later.

BTW, I'll also give the stack a little tip test. It was a concern for me as well....
 
#17
loend68 said:
BTW, I'll also give the stack a little tip test. It was a concern for me as well....
Click to expand...
Cool. Thanks.

BTW, perhaps the Spectra comp is more sizzle than steak, but I at least liked the concept behind it. That would be too bad if the execution of the concept doesn't live up to the promise.

Would you guys also mention the basses (and strings) you use through the gear as well?

Cheers!
 
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