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TC Electronic BG250 Club (Part 2)

#821
BassChap...that is an incredible price. My amps include a Roland CB100 with a 12 inch that has served me very well on so many gigs. I bought it for practive and have used it live more than I ever imagined. My big rig as been an older Markbass head on a SWR 1=15 cab. These days, I have been thinking about selling the head and the Roland and getting the BG250-208. The 208 would be perfect for my Monday night pub gig and for larger venues, I could pop the TC on top of the SWR and go with 1-15 and 2-8 inch speakers.

I am curious to get your review next week after the weekend.
 
#822
BassChap said:
I see you guys are as speechless as I was. :)


As written above: the real testing will be done in the weekend. Here are, however, already some first impressions:
  • It is a great practice amp. My previous amp lost definition when used at low volumes. No such problem here.
  • It can get pretty loud. I now think it is OK for my purpose (see earlier post), but again, the eating of the pudding is this weekend.
  • The toneprint is a cool feature. Using my fretless, the JacoYears Vibrato print is a favorite, which doesn't come as a surprise, I guess.
  • The fan is quite loud.
  • Began to remove the sticker, but the grill coating came off along with it. Left it on for now. What did you guys do with it?
I am fighting my GAS for a B3 for some months now.
Click to expand...
Don't fight ! Be weak and you'll be pleased :)
 
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#824
bmc said:
These days, I have been thinking about selling the head and the Roland and getting the BG250-208. The 208 would be perfect for my Monday night pub gig and for larger venues, I could pop the TC on top of the SWR and go with 1-15 and 2-8 inch speakers.
Click to expand...

Now is the time to order one! :) And, yes, the ability to add a cab gives the ability to come to a flexible set-up. If the 208 works fine in my current band, I can imagine adding a cab later on for all-electric bands.

ticol07 said:
Don't fight ! Be weak and you'll be pleased :)
Click to expand...

:)

Scungilli said:
I removed the sticker and it looked like the coating came off but it's actually the back of the sticker. Just rub it in a diagonal way and it should peel right off
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right! Thanks.
 
#825
Had another rehearsal last night. Brought the B3 and found a great multi-purpose tone setting. I ran this with my jazz bass with the bridge pickup only and tone rolled to off (bass side). I cut the bass on the amp to 1 on the left. Everything else is in the middle. That took out the boom.
IMG_0049.JPG
 
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#828
tubatodd said:
I'm no SVT expert, but I like the SVT sim on the B3. I ran that for the first half of rehearsal and the Aguilar for the last half. I liked them both but obviously they sounded different.
Click to expand...
And you ran these sims with the bassdriver sim on?
I always find it difficult to use the bassdriver without being lost in the mix.

Regarding the b3 vs vtbass, I own both (vt bass v2). And they are quite different.
Vt bass has a really good tone and can have a way higher drive than the b3 svt sim. But it will only give one kind of tone (more than one in fact but all in the same spirit).
With the b3, I find the svt drived tone a little bit less thick but you have many more options : sweepable mids, the amount of cab sim (+ many different cab sims), the capability of blending some dry signal+ 100 more effects.
So if you only want ampeg tones the vtdeluxe may be the best option, but if you want to have infinite tonal capabilities the b3 should be better (with good svt options).
 
#829
ticol07 said:
And you ran these sims with the bassdriver sim on?
I always find it difficult to use the bassdriver without being lost in the mix.
Click to expand...
I have the Bassdriver set to Bass: 0, Mid: 0, Treble: 0, Presence: -3, Gain: 50, Blend: 32, Level: 100. Even with those flat settings, the bassdrive adds some fullness. It's not a huge difference, but it is a noticeable difference. It's like my "enhance" button.
 
#831
Hello
I ordered a mark 1 version of the BG250 online (the one with tube drive and one tone print knob) and they send me the newer version.
I was happy at first since the new one sells for 399$ and I paid 349.99$ but then I realized that you cant combine two effect at the same time!
My plan was to use a bit of tube drive and the spectra comp at the same time...I may send it back.
Which version you guys like better?
 
#833
I had a pretty cool Tone Print idea. It would be awesome if TC Electronics made a tone print that was a mid-range sweap. Where the dial sets the center of the mid-range frequency. I feel like the onboard EQ would be much more useful if you could adjust the mids better. This idea is basically the "Shape" control on my Hartke amp. It's a very useful dial.
 
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#834
BassChap said:
I see you guys are as speechless as I was. :)


As written above: the real testing will be done in the weekend. Here are, however, already some first impressions:
  • It is a great practice amp. My previous amp lost definition when used at low volumes. No such problem here.
  • It can get pretty loud. I now think it is OK for my purpose (see earlier post), but again, the eating of the pudding is this weekend.
  • The toneprint is a cool feature. Using my fretless, the JacoYears Vibrato print is a favorite, which doesn't come as a surprise, I guess.
  • The fan is quite loud.
  • Began to remove the sticker, but the grill coating came off along with it. Left it on for now. What did you guys do with it?
I am fighting my GAS for a B3 for some months now.
Click to expand...

So how did it go?
 
#835
yucafrita said:
Hello
I ordered a mark 1 version of the BG250 online (the one with tube drive and one tone print knob) and they send me the newer version.
I was happy at first since the new one sells for 399$ and I paid 349.99$ but then I realized that you cant combine two effect at the same time!
My plan was to use a bit of tube drive and the spectra comp at the same time...I may send it back.
Which version you guys like better?
Click to expand...

When I had mine, I preferred the TubeDrive/SpectraComp combo and it was on pretty much all the time. I thought that switching to a one-at-a-time TonePrint was a step back and I didn't buy the 210 because of it. YMMV...
 
#836
I just got BG250 208. I don't know if it is just me, but it doesn't seem to be very loud. I would even say it is not loud at all.
I do have two questions for more knowledgeable members here.
First, when I switch gain off it gets considerably louder. Having an active bass I am not sure if this is safe thing to do. Would keeping gain off somehow damage the unit?
And the second question is about the volume again. Is this particular combo design to be used with another cab and that's why the volume is not at the same level as other BG250 combos?
Thanks.
 
#838
felixxx said:
I just got BG250 208. I don't know if it is just me, but it doesn't seem to be very loud. I would even say it is not loud at all.
I do have two questions for more knowledgeable members here.
First, when I switch gain off it gets considerably louder. Having an active bass I am not sure if this is safe thing to do. Would keeping gain off somehow damage the unit?
And the second question is about the volume again. Is this particular combo design to be used with another cab and that's why the volume is not at the same level as other BG250 combos?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

As bmc pointed out, the gain switch isn't most really an "active bass" or "passive bass" switch. It's a two position, "more appropriate level" switch. If you're suffer no ill effects, with it in the high position, then you're fine.

With regard to how loud the 208 can get, it's really difficult to say without knowing what your expectations were or really knowing what you're actually hearing, but it is the case that the 208, standalone, does not have the capacity to be as loud as the other BG250 models, both because of being the same power running at 8 ohms instead of 4 ohms and because of the speakers (number, size and cab dimensions).

Another thing you can do to get more loudness from it is to run the SpectraComp TonePrint.

In my experience (and with the input level of my basses), without SpectraComp and with a middle-of-the-roadish EQ, the power of the amp is not enough to outstrip the capacity of the speakers (i.e., it can run full-out without the speakers complaining). That was loud enough to play with a drummer (not banging - playing a pub kit with sticks) and two guitars on 212 Fender combos. I didn't find it could get loud enough to play with a louder drummer.

Louder situations definitely call for an extension cab.
 

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