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TC Electronic BH500 - Good or Bad Choice?

If it has great tone, then I'll be happy with it. When I'm at home, it'll be used out in the garage on rather low volume, simply because of the neighbours whom I do have respect for. And for now, the only gigs it'll see will be with the college orchestra, so I wont ever go near the full wattage. But I'm okay with that, because from what I've read, seen and heard, this amp will do the job for me perfectly.

And paying £37.50 a month, is much better than paying £375 in one go. Why I didn't think of this straight away, I don't know.
 
Enjoy :bassist:
You will spend many a happy hour experimenting with all the tones and features, remember, subtle changes are good, I resist the temptation to whack the bass up, I prefer more low mid than bass, it seems to keep the sound tight and punchy .
The head phone and CD/MP3 input are good too :D
 
Enjoy :bassist:
You will spend many a happy hour experimenting with all the tones and features, remember, subtle changes are good, I resist the temptation to whack the bass up, I prefer more low mid than bass, it seems to keep the sound tight and punchy .
The head phone and CD/MP3 input are good too :D


I agree with the CD input. My Orange guitar amp has one too, when my iPod dock broke it came in handy. Plus, when I wanted to play my music loud, it came in handy then too.

I certainly shall I enjoy it. Right now, purely out of convenience, and amount of features this is as good as it's going to get. Can't really afford to go for anything more expensive, and I can't really risk waiting on a used deal, especially when gigs are on their way in the next couple of weeks. The College band is going to be so busy, we've got a few gigs every week leading up to Christmas, all in an attempt to fund to European Tour next year, which is expensive too.
 
This is working pretty well for me......BH500, dbx 163x, a jbl pa cabinet, and a eden 2x10 cab that i loaded with celestions that they used in trace elliot cabs from avatar. I traded a eden 1x15 ombo for the bin brand new, and reloaded the eden cab. The eden combo sounded great but just wasnt loud enough for a club, even after i added the 2x10 cab and rewrired the speaker out to parallel rather than series.
I just recorded like 40 songs with a band using the DI on the bh500 and everyone is saying how sweet the bass/drum mix sounds ....
 

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jmastanduno said:
This is working pretty well for me......BH500, dbx 163x, a jbl pa cabinet, and a eden 2x10 cab that i loaded with celestions that they used in trace elliot cabs from avatar. I traded a eden 1x15 ombo for the bin brand new, and reloaded the eden cab. The eden combo sounded great but just wasnt loud enough for a club, even after i added the 2x10 cab and rewrired the speaker out to parallel rather than series.
I just recorded like 40 songs with a band using the DI on the bh500 and everyone is saying how sweet the bass/drum mix sounds ....

That's a nice set up. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it, and that it sounds good. The more I read, and the more I listen and look, the more I want. I think I'm convinced :)
 
I am very pleased with my rh450 head. I have also heard good things about the bh500.
I have never been able to really push my amp though, I have had it up to the 11:00 range with 2 electric guitarist and some custom yamaha drums, they asked me to turn it down. Love my rig.
 
Sit back and try to relax...you made the right choice !...
You are going to be very pleased with this head .
I was a bit reluctant at first , because of the wattage rambling on this same forum , but decided to make my own opinion...
I was very pleased with the features and the sound coming out of this head in the store , but was even more happy when I played in a band situation....
Enjoy !!!
 
THCbass said:
Sit back and try to relax...you made the right choice !...
You are going to be very pleased with this head .
I was a bit reluctant at first , because of the wattage rambling on this same forum , but decided to make my own opinion...
I was very pleased with the features and the sound coming out of this head in the store , but was even more happy when I played in a band situation....
Enjoy !!!

I certainly shall enjoy. I just won't be able to use it yet as my cabs are stacked up in the living room, taking up space. They will be vacating to the garage (which I'm told is safe. But may have to confirm) as soon as some of the space is cleared up. We just emptied the loft while the roof was being completely re-tiled before winter kicks in. Also, I don't own speaker cables, so I'll need to sort some money out for them, and thats alongside new uniform and shoes for the college band. Saving once more, woo!

But, I'll be sure to fire this thing up as soon as I can. Arrives tomorrow, as far as I'm told. I look forward to it.

Anthony.
 
Bass Gear Magazine recently did tests on the RH450 and found out the 450w at 4 ohms they claimed was really 236w RMS at 4 ohms with a complex compression circuit designed to make it perform closer to a 450w RMS amp, so they called it 450w. TC not only signed off on the review, they came on here and admitted that all their bass amps have significantly lower RMS wattage than the wattage they say in their advertising. This has been talked about a lot on here, and a search will reveal those threads if you're interested in further reading.

A buddy of mine has one he uses as a backup...I remember trying it and thinking, "there's no way this thing is 450 watts." I was playing upright at an outdoor festival, and in that case I want me some watts! I love the features for it's size and weight, but for me it was underpowered and I just couldn't get into the sound...not that I fussed with it for a week...maybe 5 minutes, but I just couldn't dial anything I liked into it.
 
If you're looking for warm and tubey, I don't think GK will do it for ya. Then again, they are crisp with really quick response.

I played a GK for years...they sound shockingly warm if you dial them in right...so many folks describe amps as though they only do one thing...just aint so :) Different hands, basses, strings, cabs make a huge difference. And if we're taking about the best real bang for the buck amp, I'd say some of the GK stuff for sure...lightweight, usually some of the most reliable amps ever made and they sound pretty darn nice to me. Didn't mean to come off as an attack bro...no offense meant :)

I agree with whoever questioned the build quality of those TC's...I love the concept, but my buddy has had knobs busted off, mystery power issues...a few things in the first few months? Not a great value to me if the thing won't be around in a year of touring at best.
 
I have played the BH500 on 2 gigs now and have found it to be lacking in power. It sounds great at my house but in actual playing conditions it's not doing it for me. Granted I'm not using it with one of their cabs but an Avatar 2x10 neo which I think is a great cab. I'm putting it on Ebay.
Just thought...

BH500 is using same power management as other TC amps ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]).
but, IMO.. judging of amp loudness with one 2x10 enclosure is not so good idea. Speaker area involves precieved volume more than amp power. For sure it depends on more variables (tone settings, band style, venue, availability of pa support). IME, one 2x10 is usually enough only for small club gigs. Although I'm not TC fanboy, maybe it is worth of another test with more speakers, before Ebay, if you like its sound.
Maybe you have better experience with another head powering your single 2x10 box...
Personally, i've heard BH 500 with TCs 4x10 and it was plenty loud.

Michal
 
Just thought...

BH500 is using same power management as other TC amps ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]).
but, IMO.. judging of amp loudness with one 2x10 enclosure is not so good idea. Speaker area involves precieved volume more than amp power. For sure it depends on more variables (tone settings, band style, venue, availability of pa support). IME, one 2x10 is usually enough only for small club gigs. Although I'm not TC fanboy, maybe it is worth of another test with more speakers, before Ebay, if you like its sound.
Maybe you have better experience with another head powering your single 2x10 box...
Personally, i've heard BH 500 with TCs 4x10 and it was plenty loud.

Michal
Thanks for your input. I have used that cab with peavey power amp and my sansamp and the sansamp with a little mark and it sounds more powerful to me. But you are right 2x10 is good for small rooms.