TC Electronic introduces BQ250 & BQ500 Ultra-Lightweight Bass Heads

Finally ordered the same "combo" (without any proper review, but the price won ). Now they are out of stock, so i can wait as well... What can i say, it's really hard

 

Got mine yesterday. As mentioned, the active/passive switch seems to be reversed. But I wonder if the whole gain circuit has a problem.

I have a passive bass. In the "passive" position, the gain can go all the way up with little or no indication from the light. However, on the "active" position, the tiniest amount of gain immediately clips. So I've been using it on passive with a lot of gain.

I wrote to both TC and Sweetwater but no response yet.

Otherwise, tons of power. I'm fairly new to the bass so am not very qualified to review the tone.

Also can't really tell what the Thrust knob is doing. According to the manual, the Thrust light should indicate when the compressor is operating but it comes on when i flip the switch (amber) and never changes regardless of the knob position or my playing.

Everything else seems to do what you'd expect.

More to follow.

 

Can you hear the clipping as well or just see the led? Isn't it a multi colored led? In the rehearsal place where we practice the gain led can go from nothing to green and from green to red, where the clipping kicks in.

Anyway i'm curious about the response from TC or Sweetwater. Please keep us updated, really sparse info about the head on the net

 

The light goes from nothing to red. Can't hear it. Never see green. Per their instructions, I'm trying to set the gain with no master volume. Turn up the gain and play until you see the light, then back off slightly. Then turn up the volume. With a passive bass, on the passive position, that's about 4 o'clock. On the active position, it's barely above zero.

 

I was looking at the specs, and it says 500 watts MAX power. So it isn't really 500 watts. Who knows what it really is? I was hoping to grab one, but not until I have some idea how much power it really has.

 

UPDATE!
Played through my BXR410H----eh....
Played through my 112B Hartke---meh....
Played through a friend's UL310----SAWEEEEEEET.

Apparently, all I was missing was a tweeter! Its a great amp, but I play in a fairly loud group and may need a few more drivers in order to cut through. I'm hoping to find one of those sweet, low wattage 610's or 810's. You know, the Ashdown Mag 810T's or the Kustom DE810H's. they may not have tweeter's, but they'll make up for it in the air they move! Maybe an old SWR Henry??

Anybody? Anybody?

 

i got the bq250 and got the same results that u get as far as gain and peak light and all ... i also have a passive jazz bass (stock) i did spoke to tc electronic and after trouble shooting here and there , they said the amp was working like it was supposed to ...

 

It's sad to hear that what TC replied In few posts before (maybe in other thread) someone addressed this issues to TC as well and he got that answer, the next batch of the amps will be corrected. (At least active/passive switch wise).

I'm still waiting for my BQ500, the latest estimated arrival date is 18th of this month. I really hoped it will be from the "corrected second batch". But in the view of your reply from TC i'm a bit worried. ( Who am i kidding, i don't have illusions I bet they won't fix it... )

 

I have my self a SWR Sm-400 and after bying/trying couple of Class-D nothing come close to SWR . Until it dies !

 

So what's the best cab to use this with?
I have an old Carvin B500 head with a 212 cab that's 15 years old.
It still works fine,but I'm expecting it to fail and I'll need to replace it in the future.

Can I use it with my 212.
Or maybe I should find a smaller cab that matches the TC.

 

You can use it with anything. Whatever you like. There was an awesome deal on tc 212s for 200 some dollars. It's over, but some are selling them for good prices on the forum (they apparently just tried them out quick). They're pro level. I'd get something smaller and lighter, but that's me ;-)

How about a ampeg svt210av? 200 or less, sounds great, lightweight, and they look nice. Not very loud though.

 

I just bought the BQ250 (07/2019) and the passive/active switch is still backwards. Go Figure. But for under $160 it sounds really good. Great bang for your buck. But you have to keep that thrust comp turned down pretty low so it doesn't squeeze all the tone out of your bass.

 

And the mute switch which I really like.

 

It seems like TC Electronics is no longer making the BQ250. So, if you were one of the people to pick one up before they disappeared, consider yourself lucky. TC seems to still have the BQ500 available. But I got mine from Sweetwater mid 2019. then the next week they were gone.

 

Makes sense to me. The BQ250 didn't really make sense in the line up between the BAM200 and the BQ500. the prices are all pretty dang close and all super cheap. If you don't need the power and features of the 500, get the BAM. If you need more features than the BAM offers, get the BQ500 even if the extra power is just a bonus.

Ironically, I actually own the BQ250. I had my eye on the 500 when a B-stock 250 popped up on Reverb for something like $115. So I jumped on it, and it's my backup head now. I'm curious if the 500 actually sounds and feels twice as powerful.

 

Funny, It's my BQ250 is my backup power amp as well, I picked it up from Sweetwater on sale. I think $129. Easy to carry in my gig bag. I'm playing thru a Carvin MB12 combo. Carvin went out of the bass amp business in 2017. So if it craps out. I have a backup.