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Double Bass TC Bam200

Greg Clinkingbeard

Greg Clinkingbeard

Commercial User
Apr 4, 2005
4,624
2,337
Kansas City area
Disclosures
Black Dog Bass Works
#1
I don’t know much about this company and wouldn’t expect too much from this new head. But, it’s just slightly larger than the Elf, has a 10 meg input and is rated at 200 watts into 4 ohms. Crazy that it’s about half the size of the MB Nano. Might be a good experiment at $150,
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Edit: I don’t have doubt that the quality is ok but more that it is class D in a really tiny package. In my experience, class D watts can sound a bit light. Still, most of my gigs don’t need much amp and it just might do into a small cabinet.
 
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#4
I played a 4:30-7:30 trio gig in a room I played recently. The only variable was the BAM200 instead of the MB Nano300 driving my little 10” Ibanez Promethean cabinet. I was very happy with my sound, as was a bass player in the back of the room waiting to play at 8:00. I do feel that it sounds just a bit underpowered compared to the Nano, as it actually is. Still amazing for its size.
 
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#5
Greg Clinkingbeard said:
I played a 4:30-7:30 trio gig in a room I played recently. The only variable was the BAM200 instead of the MB Nano300 driving my little 10” Ibanez Promethean cabinet. I was very happy with my sound, as was a bass player in the back of the room waiting to play at 8:00. I do feel that it sounds just a bit underpowered compared to the Nano, as it actually is. Still amazing for its size.
Click to expand...

Greg,
Yeah, 200Watts RMS will only get you so far, depending on the drummer, room acoustics, speaker your using and crowd noise. That said we all played lots of gigs with the GK 200MB and that was 80 Watts RMS.
If you could look inside the Markbass Nano vs the BAM 200 my guess is that the power supply is smaller. I've played many trio gigs and pop bands with a B-15N but when I got the Walter Woods MI-100-8 things
got easier.
 
#6
Ric Vice said:
Greg,
Yeah, 200Watts RMS will only get you so far, depending on the drummer, room acoustics, speaker your using and crowd noise. That said we all played lots of gigs with the GK 200MB and that was 80 Watts RMS.
If you could look inside the Markbass Nano vs the BAM 200 my guess is that the power supply is smaller. I've played many trio gigs and pop bands with a B-15N but when I got the Walter Woods MI-100-8 things
got easier.
Click to expand...
Ric,
Funny you should mention that........
I opened each one last night. It’s obvious that the TC design goals were more about making it as small as possible and minimizing cost. The MosFETs are arranged similarly to the the old Clarus. The components on the board are TINY and squeezed together as closely as I can imagine.

The Nano shows exceptional build quality. There is a lot more heatsinking and virtually anything that could become stressed is covered in white silicone type qlue. Nothing is moving, vibrating or coming loose. The power supply is bigger.

MarkBass claims its design really isn’t class D, but MPT (whatever). Regardless, I sense there is more headroom and reserve. They are another level.

I hang on to the old Clarus because it will drive 2 ohms and it has an old school power supply. It just has something the new ones don’t. I had a series IV which was rated at 650 watts (I think) but didn’t have much, if anything over the old design.

The BAM200 got warm and I don’t think the fan ever came on. It was still warm when I handed it to the other bass player. He just laughed and shook his head in disbelief that an amp could be so small and still get it done.

It’s in the front pocket of my bass bag with: power cable, speaker and instrument cables, XLR cable for DI and iPad. Can’t do that with any other amp.
 
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#7
F9ACCC2B-B8AC-4601-856C-4212975798FF.jpeg A few gigs in and I have nothing but praise for this little amp. The tone is warm and very natural. Last night I used it with a quartet: piano through the house, drums and loud tenor player. This little thing got it done in spades.
A note on the cabinet. This was an Ibanez Promethean 5110 with a missing head so I modified the cabinet. With motivation from kerrycares, I replaced the woofer (just this morning) with an Eminence CA10-4 which is designed to work in such a small box. The tone is similar to the stock driver but it has better low end.
This cab is just a tad smaller than the EA Wizzy 10.
Comparing it to my long standard ACME B1, this cabinet is much more efficient and more open. I hate to say it, but the B1s are going away, as is likely the Clarus.
Really, this BAM200 is a great little amp.
 
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#9
I have only used it with my Chinese carved bass and Lifeline pickup. The bass is strung with Spiro Mitt E and A, Obligato D and Olive G.
Thursday night I did resort to the Fdeck HPF but only reversing the phase because I was getting a bit of feedback from the room and boomy bandstand.

Once I got that sorted out, I thought the sound was ideal. The piano player (who also plays bass) loved it.
 
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#11
I posted the following in this thread: NHD (BAM200) & Cab comparison w Soundclips

So I found a BAM200 on Sweatwater for $130 w/free shipping as a demo model (it was an open box/return in mint condition), so I pulled the trigger to see. I used it last night to rehearse with my acoustic guitar duo partner. I have a K&K Bass Max piezo in the bridge, ran it directly in the BAM, and the BAM into a 4 ohm Eden EX110 (it has a 10" whizzy speaker). I was really surprised. It sounded great, the EQ provided tons of room to operate, and it could get loud, enough I think that it could handle a drummer and band at moderate levels, although I did not test that. Nice little backup or regular use amp for $130, especially for upright, she's a keeper
 
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#12
Greg Clinkingbeard said:
I have only used it with my Chinese carved bass and Lifeline pickup. The bass is strung with Spiro Mitt E and A, Obligato D and Olive G.
Thursday night I did resort to the Fdeck HPF but only reversing the phase because I was getting a bit of feedback from the room and boomy bandstand.

Once I got that sorted out, I thought the sound was ideal. The piano player (who also plays bass) loved it.
Click to expand...

I’m gonna shut up about this thing soon. I played the same room last night and switched to the MB Nano after the first set. The tone was beefier and cleaner, still using the Fdeck. If the BAM has a weakness, it is a lack of attack. The tone just kind of blooms out. All of the gear we use is somewhat different, not necessarily better or worse.
 
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#14
I played through the BAM200 last night and will again tonight.

I have it attached with 3m Dual Lock (industrial strength velcro) to the top of my MAS 16 and it makes a killer little 15-pound combo.

The sound was awesome (I credit this far more to the speaker, but the head did nothing to hold things back).

For the quiet gigs I play (vocalist, bass, and unamplified grand piano) it is a perfect combination.

TC BAM200 and MAS 16.jpg
 
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#17
So here's a question for the pannel. Can I take the DI out from the BAM 200 and run it into my powered MAS 1/8 that has a combo jack?

That would make for a great in and out mini rig? My assumption is that the DI's circuit is inserted somewhere after the EQ section of the Pre Amp

but before Bam's power amp.
 
#18
Ric Vice said:
So here's a question for the pannel. Can I take the DI out from the BAM 200 and run it into my powered MAS 1/8 that has a combo jack?

That would make for a great in and out mini rig? My assumption is that the DI's circuit is inserted somewhere after the EQ section of the Pre Amp

but before Bam's power amp.
Click to expand...
Like the Elf, the DI on the BAM is indeed post EQ. However, I'm not sure if the signal is hot enough to drive a power amp. Normally, I wouldn't expect the DI out of an amp to drive a power amp, but IIRC, some of Mike's power amps are designed to work with even with pretty low signal levels. Sorry, guess that's not a lot of help.

Curious though, why bother with the BAM if you have a powered speaker? There are plenty of options for preamps, and it's not like the 3-band EQ on the BAM offers tons of features (that's not a criticism, I get that simplicity IS the design concept here). I'll go out on a limb and guess you've got some GAS ;). I don't blame you, the BAM200 is just cute. I was GASing for one too until I came across a BQ250 B-stock for $115! I strongly suggest keeping an eye on Music Tribe's store on Reverb.
 
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#19
bassically_eli said:
Curious though, why bother with the BAM if you have a powered speaker? There are plenty of options for preamps, and it's not like the 3-band EQ on the BAM offers tons of features (that's not a criticism, I get that simplicity IS the design concept here). I'll go out on a limb and guess you've got some GAS ;). I don't blame you, the BAM200 is just cute. I was GASing for one too until I came across a BQ250 B-stock for $115! I strongly suggest keeping an eye on Music Tribe's store on Reverb.
Click to expand...

I have a Grace Designs Felix for my powered MAS 1/8. I purchased the BAM 200 for my backup Audiokinesis Birdhaus 4x6. I was just curious if I could use it with the powered MAS 1/8 as well, it accepts any line level input.
 

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