TC Electronic BAM200 Review

Hey all! So I don't post a lot on here but since I couldn't find any information, here's a quick review of the BAM 200 amp that recently came out.

I was looking for an absolutely "no frills" amp that I could use for DI for studio and live use. Because I might be the only one here that hates having unused and extra gear lying around, I wanted to sell off my old rig and have something perfect for live and studio DI and practicing both solo and with live acts. However, I wanted something loud enough for small gigs, like coffee shops or small bars that don't have their own PA.

Enter the BAM 200.

I won't waste time writing up the specs because you can look them up on your own. Fast breakdown: bass and treble shelving on the EQ with a mid at a decent spot. Not sure the Q but seems to be wide, so you can really scoop out the middle of your sound. I personally rarely use the EQ and as such, I played with it all set at 12 o'clock for the flattest response I could.

If you listen, this is literally just me playing random poopie but this is on a 5-string stiletto with passive EMG 40's and onboard pre set at nominal. I also have the gain set to almost max on the BAM200, with no clipping to be heard of. In fact, this makes me think you could easily get away with strong active basses and still have some headroom.

I have to say, I am absolutely in love, so much that I am immediately selling my PF350, which was purchased for the same reason (needed light amp for tracking and practice, but I HATE the sound of it).

One word though, for my personal tastes, I would not recommend pushing it into clipping looking for a good overdrive. This is meant for clean and it delivers beyond my expectations. I'll stick with ol' stubby if I want that overdriven magic.

For $150 I am over-the-moon with this little guy. Absolutely sweet sound, extremely transparent which is what I love.

 

None at all. If there is a fan in this little package, it definitely didn't fire up after playing at moderate small room levels... and if it did actually turn on I didn't hear it at all. I actually love how silent it is because if I want to track through a mic I can do it at low-ish levels without that noise.

 

So I tried both conditions after this post to get a feel for how to answer. I first drove my onboard preamp to max and played through a pigtronix envelope phaser (notoriously hot from the 18v input). From what I can tell, the input overloading didn't have a good characteristic tone, but it wasn't "harsh" initially. The harder I pushed it (taking my tech21 red ripper pedal and maxing the volume), in my opinion the worse it sounded. For that, I would say that pushing the input gain well into the red didn't give me a good "usable" tone. I'll see if I can get a good recording to capture what I mean. It sounded more like the kinda bad buzz you get from overloading a standard FET preamp (say, if you took a Scarlett preamp on an interface and overloaded it).

It makes me think they didn't design this to have good overdrive from the gain channel, but rather they designed it to handle various input levels (it doesn't have an active/passive switch by the way). If I had to guess, adjustable input gain with a lot of headroom was their solution to using this as a very nice DI. I don't feel they pursued any character in the preamp stage that would give a good overdrive or even a good saturation. If I look at the price point and the capability as a very handy active DI with 3 band EQ, and as a backup 200 watt amp (or for me, a perfect practice amp), I think it absolutely nails this market space.

With that said, I "almost" think there might be some kind of compression happening at higher gains because the punch really stands out vs. the PF350 or direct into a FET style preamp. It actually seems more compressed than direct to an 12AX7 tube pre too. If I can find the time, I'll show some pictures of the inputs to see if we can actually see that compression happening (I'll probably take a fresh input signal and re-amp to see that).

 

I'd say the volume "could" be loud enough for a full band, as I use it in practice and it's loud enough for everyone to hear it over the drums, etc. I wouldn't expect to play a larger venue, but for a <150 person bar/club, it could probably work.