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TC ELECTRONIC BG250

#83
Thanks Morten for clarifying the voicing of the amp. It's great to know that you guys are here and responding to the feedback. I knew tone controls were unconventional, but hadn't really had time to play with it much yesterday before I had to go to work. And yes, I have a passive Jazz with well-seasoned flats. I don't own an active bass, but that's in the works so we'll see the difference then.

Today I was able to spend several quality hours with the amp and I LOVE it. I did confirm that the tweeter control DOES work as TC intended. After some time to get a feel for how the tone controls worked, I was able to dial in some nice tones and played with the Toneprint for quite awhile. I, like others, would really love to have access to the software to create my own custom effects though. Hopefully that will be possible in the future.

Overall I'm pumped about the amp!!!
 
#84
morten0310 said:
Hi fellow bass players,
I’m glad that there are so many BG250 reviews here on Talkbass and I hope that you all are happy with your BG250s.
On a note regarding the voicing of the BG250
The thing is that the treble knob frequency was designed for the players out there who want a more modern sound out of the BG250.
This means the frequency is set pretty high on the piezo tweeter compared to a ceramic speaker that has more upper mids in its sound.
So if you for example have a passive bass with some pretty old strings, the results you get from turning the knob will be more subtle than with an active bass sporting brand-new strings.
We at Tc Electronic do read a lot of Talkbass and love hearing from you so keep posting!

Morten Ehlers
Click to expand...

Great to see TC on here again :)
 
#85
Thanks for posting Morten,

Can you explain in more detail what the treble control is doing. I under stand it controls the tweeter level but does it do any EQ at all. If it does is it a shelving or peak filter? -24db at 1800hz should be noticeable. Just trying to figure out whats going on....

I wish I waited a day to pack up, I would have run some pink noise thru the amp and recorded the results.

morten0310 said:
Hi fellow bass players,
I’m glad that there are so many BG250 reviews here on Talkbass and I hope that you all are happy with your BG250s.
On a note regarding the voicing of the BG250
The thing is that the treble knob frequency was designed for the players out there who want a more modern sound out of the BG250.
This means the frequency is set pretty high on the piezo tweeter compared to a ceramic speaker that has more upper mids in its sound.
So if you for example have a passive bass with some pretty old strings, the results you get from turning the knob will be more subtle than with an active bass sporting brand-new strings.
We at Tc Electronic do read a lot of Talkbass and love hearing from you so keep posting!

Morten Ehlers
Click to expand...
 
#87
RichardCranium said:
Anyone having problems with the Tone Print app? I d/l it to check it out and it worked fine the first time I messed with but but crashes every time now. Several people on the iTunes store complained about the same thing.
Click to expand...

Yep! Loaded it two days ago. Seemed to work OK. Tried it again yesterday. Crashed at startup. Tried several times. Deleted it off the iPod Touch.
 
#89
So i picked one of these up today. I got home plugged it into my american standard jazz and damn! I can get some sweet tones out of this thing! It can get pretty loud. Only problem i can say is treble can cause hissing mixed with the gain (which is kind of to be expected but still annoying) and im sure an EQ and some messing around could fix that right up. The whole smart phone thing is a gimmick which i did try out. Could be cool if they updated the library. Im pretty sure i can do small gigs with this amp. may need to be mic'ed though which is no big deal.
 
#90
Ironfingers said:
... I, like others, would really love to have access to the software to create my own custom effects though. Hopefully that will be possible in the future.

Overall I'm pumped about the amp!!!
Click to expand...

I've been resisting ranting about the "presets only" approach, so I'll take this opportunity to rant just a little... ;)

Until someone rips apart a BG250 and a couple of TonePrint pedals, it isn't clear if the effects "guts" of the BG250's TonePrint system is the same as what's in the pedals, but it seems there's a good chance that they are at least very similar. (One crucial difference is that the BG250's can be switched among different effects, where the pedals can't.)

Over at The Gear Page, folks have grabbed frames from TC's videos of stars working on their TonePrint presets:
Invalid Link Removed

You can see that the TC folks who set up the presets are dealing with a ton of possible variables. I assume that's the issue when TC says that they can't yet release software that lets us twiddle the knobs ourselves. But for the pedals, at least, it would still be useful if the software did nothing more than re-created the physical knobs so that you could save/load presets, that would be great.

On the BG250 side, it would be great if there was phone and computer software that simulated the core knobs/switch(es) for each effect (chorus, octave, etc.) and let the user assign the white TonePrint knob to one of those slots. Frankly, I don't need access to 30 or 40 variables. For example, just having a set of blend/rate/depth knobs for the chorus effect, and letting TC use its best judgement on all the other settings would make me happy.

But for the time being, I'm really bugged by the idea of only having presets available. Still, if the compressor works well for me, then that's something like $100 or more of pedal that I won't buy (for a while...) With a 15% off coupon in my sweaty fist, and some I-didn't-expect-that cash burning a hole in my pocket, I'm probably going to pick one up in next few days.
 
#91
An update on my BG250,,,, as cool as it was I ended up shipping it back yesterday,,,,,, reason, just to muddy in the sound for my taste.

I like a brighter sound such as what I get from all my GK amps and cabs,,,,, no matter how much I tried I just could not get a good tone I liked from the BG250,,,,,, I did love the built in tuner and the tone print but that was not enough to justifie keeping it.

Cheers
Davyo
 
#92
these are listed for the "4th of July list" sale at my local GC combined with $50 in gift cards, may be worth me checking out:bassist:

I'll see if I can put it through it's paces a bit there, played one when they just came out in a quiet store and I liked what I heard
 
#93
I've done a test drive and really like this amp. The TonePrint app crashed on my iPhone, but after deleting and reinstalling it, all of the TonePrint effects are available and I've been trying them out. I wish there were more filter/synthy TonePrints available. I'll be using this amp on a two month pit orchestra gig, and am looking forward to getting a great sound out of it.

P.S. I did not (yet) get the three function footswitch. I was able to toggle the TonePrint and TubeDrive functions using a standard 1/4" keyboard sustain pedal I had in the music room. TC Electronic provides onboard switches for those funtions, and I was able to select either or both of those functions using the onboard switches and the foot switch.
 
#94
TC is actually nice enough to provide a schematic for the 3-button foot switch:
Link Removed

It uses a TRS (stereo) cable, and the amp is "listening" for a connection on either the tip, the ring or both together to turn the various functions on or off. I don't know how the sustain pedal is wired, but it sounds about right that as momentary switches, they would activate some of the functions.
 
#96
morten0310 said:
On a note regarding the voicing of the BG250
The thing is that the treble knob frequency was designed for the players out there who want a more modern sound out of the BG250.
This means the frequency is set pretty high on the piezo tweeter compared to a ceramic speaker that has more upper mids in its sound.
So if you for example have a passive bass with some pretty old strings, the results you get from turning the knob will be more subtle than with an active bass sporting brand-new strings.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification, but the two BG250s I've tried had nada, zero, zilch treble control. I spent a fair amount of time experimenting with both passive and active basses, EQ combinations, comparing with that Uriah Duffy "tone contouring" video ... just about everything short of attaching an oscilloscope. Fact remains, the treble control did absolutely nothing.

Really killed me, since I love everything else about the combo. In fact, I plan on waiting another month -- or until the next 15% off coupon -- and trek out to Guitar Center to try again, on the theory that the initial erratic production run will have cleared the distribution channel.
 
#97
Just played one at GC. I preferred it to the MB115 in the store. The mids were more present and natural sounding. Th treble control didn't seem to do anything. I almosted jumped but the treble control worried me. And I wanted to a trade in with my Aggie GS112. However if I returned the new amp in the 30 day trial period, I would not get any of my trade-in value back. I would bascially have given them my GS-112 for free if I returned the BG250. So I walked away.
 
#98
Been scoping it out for a while and picked one up today at GC took advantage of the sale and a gear trade.

So far so good I really like the tone and the features. The toneprint works and it's easy to change the effects with the app. I reinstalled it and it seems ok now. Did the firmware update and it's all good. Super light and manageable

As far as the tweeter goes like it was stated above the voicings are a little different. If you have a passive bass with older strings you won't notice it a lot but playing my Spector with fresh Rotosounds it's noticeable more.

Can't wait to try it out in a band setting this weekend I'll report back when I do.

I know no pic no amp.

IMG_0591.jpg
 
#99
Got my BG250 today!

Great sounding little amp .... def lite weight & will get loader than I expected.
Changed the toneprint to a compressor ... this is a really cool feature for sure .. crazy that you can change it with a phone!!

Personally I think I would like a standard EQ section better but it does sound good & I'll wait till I gig it a time or 2 before deciding if I think its a negative or not. .. oh yeah the highs nob def works on mine ...

The tuner is useless for me as I hardly ever tune 440 ... not a big deal though ... of course there may be a way to calibrate it that I haven't seen yet.


Gigging with this tonight ... well see how it goes.
 
#100
My treble control is definitely working, but is very subtle. I'm still not having any luck getting the tone print app to change the tones. I did the software update this morning, but nothing yet. Has anyone else had this issue and found a cure? I'd like to hear something more than the chorus preset! Other than that, still liking the amp.
 

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