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New TC Elec. BH550 & 800

#241
About the tuner: Are you sure it doesn't work for that string downtuned from E to D? I use BH250, which have a similar tuner, and can tune my DGCF-tuned basses with it (the F string is tuned by using the 7th fret harmonic, which is a C).

The C# is more difficult to tune. I can see that.
 
#242
Low Class said:
How did it sound on your gig?
Click to expand...

I used two GK NEO 2x12 cabinets with the BH550 head at the gig. Plenty of volume and headroom to spare. I was playing with one of my bands which has a loud drummer and guitarist who uses a 50 watt Marshall halfstack, master volume was a set at about the '10:30' position all night long I really like the tone stack of the BH550 head. The low mid control to me responds just like a 'loundness' contol on home stereo amps. It adds a nice fat low end that sits perfect in the mix. The head is very clean and you can not get any type of overdrive sound from it. I guess if you want you can use the various Tone Print Tubedrive effects for that. I'm going to download the Tone Print Editor and tweak some overdrive effects and transfer them to the BH550 to see if I like them. For the time being I was using a DGE BK7 for my overdrive. I plan on using this head instead of the GK MB500 and leave the GK at one of my rehearsal spaces. I'm very pleased with the performance of the BH550. I had tried the TCE RH series of heads but couldn't bond with them, to my ears they have an overly compressed sound, hence the reason for not getting one. I gambled on the BH550 amd feel like I won.
 
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#243
I think both amps look awesome. The only reason I'm not going for one is that I'm still so damn pleased with my BH250, so there's really no reason to upgrade at this early stage of the game.

Having a knob per toneprint is the killer feature here. The big drawback on the 250 is that the output on the toneprints varies greatly, so when you footswitch over mid-song or between songs you usually have to go twiddle the knob to get volume parity anyway (especially when the spectracomp is one of your prints). The fact you can't blend them is not really a thing either. Based on how the toneprints are made (with one good sound in mind) any blended signal would probably sound like a mudfart.

I'd be keen to have one but unless my band started doing larger venues I can't see any real sensible reason to graduate from the good amp I already have. If I didn't already have the 250 I'd probably have gone for the 550 over the 800. The way that TC does their 'perceived volume thing' that you all really hate (regardless of the fact it actually works great in the wild) would mean the 550 would be plenty loud enough.
 
#244
bass4u said:
I used two GK NEO 2x12 cabinets with the BH550 head at the gig. Plenty of volume and headroom to spare. I was playing with one of my bands which has a loud drummer and guitarist who uses a 50 watt Marshall halfstack, master volume was a set at about the '10:30' position all night long I really like the tone stack of the BH550 head. The low mid control to me responds just like a 'loundness' contol on home stereo amps. It adds a nice fat low end that sits perfect in the mix. The head is very clean and you can not get any type of overdrive sound from it. I guess if you want you can use the various Tone Print Tubedrive effects for that. I'm going to download the Tone Print Editor and tweak some overdrive effects and transfer them to the BH550 to see if I like them. For the time being I was using a DGE BK7 for my overdrive. I plan on using this head instead of the GK MB500 and leave the GK at one of my rehearsal spaces. I'm very pleased with the performance of the BH550. I had tried the TCE RH series of heads but couldn't bond with them, to my ears they have an overly compressed sound, hence the reason for not getting one. I gambled on the BH550 amd feel like I won.
Click to expand...

Would you mind giving me the dimensions of the BH550? You're the only guy I've heard of who has one in hand, and they don't have that info on the website. H,W,D not including the feet or those metal protector bars on the front.
 
#251
I'm a former RH450 owner. I thought it was a quality head with a great feature set. I have about 100 gigs with one so I think I know the head pretty well. The sound was pretty good, vintagey. I did have a big problem with TC lying to me about the capabilities of the amp. (it was a blatant lie that was repeated by a rep. from TC on this forum) They used a module capable of 450 watts BURST not RMS like every other respectable amp manufacturer. They don't rate their high end power amps (lab gruppen) with that criteria. The only amp company that does is Behringer and the put the word peak behind their ratings. I expected more from a company like TC. I payed more for extra quality over other companies that were building everything in china (or so I thought). Why they decided to take the cheap route on the internals is beyond me. They used the same module that other amp manufacturers use in their 250 watt amps and hard limit it to 230 something watts. Had they gone the whole way and used one of the nicer 450 RMS modules along with a sufficient power supply to deliver the goods I would probably still have mine. After a while the excessive compression just got fatiguing to listen to and I traded it for a used GK 700rbii. That's been a couple of years ago and I'm still happy with it. IMO the GK beats the TC on every front but I do miss the tuner.

That said, the BH series is definately built to a lower price point than the RH so marketing embellishments wouldn't bother me as much for a $300 head vs. $1000. I hope TC learned its lesson and operates in good faith in the future, but they'll never get another dollar from me. Just my two cents, I don't have anything against anyone who wants to deal with TC.
 
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#252
CrackBass said:
I'm a former RH450 owner. I thought it was a quality head with a great feature set. I have about 100 gigs with one so I think I know the head pretty well. The sound was pretty good, vintagey. I did have a big problem with TC lying to me about the capabilities of the amp. (it was a blatant lie that was repeated by a rep. from TC on this forum) They used a module capable of 450 watts BURST not RMS like every other respectable amp manufacturer. They don't rate their high end power amps (lab gruppen) with that criteria. The only amp company that does is Behringer and the put the word peak behind their ratings. I expected more from a company like TC. I payed more for extra quality over other companies that were building everything in china (or so I thought). Why they decided to take the cheap route on the internals is beyond me. They used the same module that other amp manufacturers use in their 250 watt amps and hard limit it to 230 something watts. Had they gone the whole way and used one of the nicer 450 RMS modules along with a sufficient power supply to deliver the goods I would probably still have mine. After a while the excessive compression just got fatiguing to listen to and I traded it for a used GK 700rbii. That's been a couple of years ago and I'm still happy with it. IMO the GK beats the TC on every front but I do miss the tuner.

That said, the BH series is definately built to a lower price point than the RH so marketing embellishments wouldn't bother me as much for a $300 head vs. $1000. I hope TC learned its lesson and operates in good faith in the future, but they'll never get another dollar from me. Just my two cents, I don't have anything against anyone who wants to deal with TC.
Click to expand...

I went from TC to GK back to TC a little Fender and Aguilar in between. I'm very happy with my TC stuff.
 
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#253
I messaged TCE through their website with the following query:
"I only saw a power rating for a 4 ohm load in the BH800 owner's manual.
How much power does it have with an 8 ohm load?
What type power rating methodology are your power ratings based on (RMS, IHF, etc..)?"
Of course their manual actually doesn't give an impedance for the power rating, but I thought I would ask.
Will post here when/if I get a response.
 
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#257
I used the BH550 today in an outdoor gig through a Barefaced Super Midget. Plenty of power on tap. The EQ worked nicely to control some boominess. It was digging the tone w/ the "subtle compression + drive" toneprint. I had gain and volume at noon and it cut nicely.

I did some comparisons at home to my Teacamp Puma 500 through a mixing board to my headphones this afternoon. The voicing is actually very nice - compares well to the Puma 500 with the toneprints off. I will say, though, that it starts clipping at a much lower gain level than the Teacamp. IE the DI level is more constrained than the Puma 500 and the starting "baseline" for the volume knob is lower. Not sure if this would matter as I haven't tested the full range of EITHER volume knob in a live setting.

Other observations:
- The BH550 is HEAVY. It is nearly as heavy as the Rh450 by feel. I haven't weighed them or looked at the specs.
- The BH550 is bigger than I expected. I was thinking it would be lighter and smaller than the RH450 (at least I was hoping it would be)
- The tone controls do not have a center detente (an annoyance for me)
- The two tone prints cannot function simultaneously (a bummer)
- The tuner is UBER responsive. It locked into the B string FAST. Loved it.
- The mute switch is small and right next to the volume knob and it looks identical to the tone print switch - easy to mistake one for the other if you are moving too fast (a minor inconvenience)
- I really like the EQ points for boost and cut - lots of options here

So:
- I like the voicing
- It's heavier and bigger than I'd like
- The tone print and tuner are nice
- The EQ is very musical

So bottom line - a fantastic backup amp, a great amp to bring if you don't want to haul your pedalboard and want a quick set up, or - no reason why it can't be a good primary. For the money I think a no-brainer particularly if you can get at 10-15% off the $499 MSRP during a sale. For me, it will be my back up.
 
#258
srcTW said:
I used the BH550 today in an outdoor gig through a Barefaced Super Midget. Plenty of power on tap. The EQ worked nicely to control some boominess. It was digging the tone w/ the "subtle compression + drive" toneprint. I had gain and volume at noon and it cut nicely.

I did some comparisons at home to my Teacamp Puma 500 through a mixing board to my headphones this afternoon. The voicing is actually very nice - compares well to the Puma 500 with the toneprints off. I will say, though, that it starts clipping at a much lower gain level than the Teacamp. IE the DI level is more constrained than the Puma 500 and the starting "baseline" for the volume knob is lower. Not sure if this would matter as I haven't tested the full range of EITHER volume knob in a live setting.

Other observations:
- The BH550 is HEAVY. It is nearly as heavy as the Rh450 by feel. I haven't weighed them or looked at the specs.
- The BH550 is bigger than I expected. I was thinking it would be lighter and smaller than the RH450 (at least I was hoping it would be)
- The tone controls do not have a center detente (an annoyance for me)
- The two tone prints cannot function simultaneously (a bummer)
- The tuner is UBER responsive. It locked into the B string FAST. Loved it.
- The mute switch is small and right next to the volume knob and it looks identical to the tone print switch - easy to mistake one for the other if you are moving too fast (a minor inconvenience)
- I really like the EQ points for boost and cut - lots of options here

So:
- I like the voicing
- It's heavier and bigger than I'd like
- The tone print and tuner are nice
- The EQ is very musical

So bottom line - a fantastic backup amp, a great amp to bring if you don't want to haul your pedalboard and want a quick set up, or - no reason why it can't be a good primary. For the money I think a no-brainer particularly if you can get at 10-15% off the $499 MSRP during a sale. For me, it will be my back up.
Click to expand...
Cool! Thanks for the report.
Here's the specs on size & weight for the 500 & 800:
----------------------------------------------------------
Dimensions --
241 x 55 x 279 mm / 11” x 9.5” x 2.2”
Weight --
BH550: 2.8 kg / 6.1 pounds
BH800: 3.0 kg / 6.6 pounds
----------------------------------------------------------
I think the form factor is great (some micro amps are just scary light).
 
#259
John D Harris said:
Cool! Thanks for the report.
Here's the specs on size & weight for the 500 & 800:
----------------------------------------------------------
Dimensions --
241 x 55 x 279 mm / 11” x 9.5” x 2.2”
Weight --
BH550: 2.8 kg / 6.1 pounds
BH800: 3.0 kg / 6.6 pounds
----------------------------------------------------------
I think the form factor is great (some micro amps are just scary light).
Click to expand...
Looks like the metric measurements are width, height, depth, but out of that order for the non-metric.
Should be 9.5" w x 2.2" h x 11" d...
I think...
 
#260
I'm quite impressed with the BH550. I, too, thought it would be lighter - but it's not really that heavy. It feels very sturdy to me. The sound of the amp seems less 'filtered' than the RH450. Cleaner but not sterile. I played it through one my RS210 cabs and was really pleased with the output. Didn't push the master volume past 10 o' clock. The peak light comes on with the gain knob at about 11 o' clock and me smashing the E string on my NS-2A. The tuner works just like I thought it would and is very precise. The tone prints are the main reason I wanted to check the amp out. The two tone prints can't run simultaneously, but you can combine toneprints before beaming them in. I have not tried the DI, nor have I tried it in rehearsal or a live setting. But, to my ears, this can be a solid work horse and it sounds great. The EQ is amazing. Not exactly sure how it's shelved and what not, but it seems to boost and cut exactly what's needed.

I'm quite happy with it.
 
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