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TC Electronic RH450, RS210, RS212 Review Thread

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#22
loend68 said:
From my posting on the other TC thread:


My Test Pilot rig arrived today :hiding:

I chose the two RS210's although I had thought after the fact I should have grabbed one RS212.

I stood it up next to my SVT 4pro and 810 and started playing around and A/B-ing them.

After playing around with the eq points on the parametric my initial reaction is better than I thought it would be. I was able to dial in a pretty decent tone comparing to the fridge sitting next to it. I didn't like the Spectracomp, but I rarely use compressors in my sound. The Tubetone was a little bit of a let down for me, it seemed to sound more like a distortion pedal, but I'll see how it plays out live and play with it some more. I'm playing a medium size club this weekend and that's when all the adjustments get made. I'm keeping up with a hard hitting drummer and a Les Paul/Mesa Rectifier/412.
One thing that popped out was the similarity in the overall sound that I got compared to my Roland Supercube combo that I use on small gigs. It's an old 1x15 combo, 100watts, in a really small cabinet. There's a grindy-ness to it that is similar. Maybe it's the small cabinet?

More later.

BTW, I'll also give the stack a little tip test. It was a concern for me as well....
Click to expand...

Interesting, and this review is pretty close to quite a few others so far. My guess is the 'grind' is due to the drivers in that small speaker cab exceeding xmax (as my buddy Alexclaber described to me). That tone can be kind of cool... a bit tight and compressed in the low end, and a bit of upper mid distortion (grind) coming from the drivers. However, it can also drive you nuts if you are looking for a big, clean, open tone.

Per that very nice review in Guitar Magazine or whatever that magazine is that was posted in the mega thread, it seems that TC is going in a different direction than the typical voicing for these micro rigs (transparent and clean, I assume driven originally by the DB and jazz guys being most interested in the small and lightweight stuff). It seems TC (according to the review) is really after the grit and 'warmth' of a more classic tube amp pushed a bit through a sealed cab type voicing. That might be the disconnect here, and the reason for so many 'eh' or even negative reviews. I myself usually connect 'version 2', 'next generation', and all the marketing blurbs they put out with uber clean and transparent. This seems not to be the direction they are going with this rig. Interesting!
 
#24
FYI - The basses I'll be using in the test. I know it's a lot, but I really want to see how each bass sounds with flat EQ, and accordingly, how much tweaking I'll need. Seeing there are three presets, there will have to be multiple basses happy with one of the sounds I'm able to get.

1) Alleva-Coppolo STD 4 with standard AC preamp. Strung with Sadowsky Nickels (blues)

2) Valenti Jazz 4 with Nordy Big Singles and Sadowsky preamp. Strung with Sadowsky Nickels (blues)

3) Sadowsky Modern 24F5 strung E-C with Sadowsky Nickels (blue)

4) Rob Allen Mouse 30 - strung with LaBella Tapewounds

5) Passive Fender P-Bass strung with flat Roto's.
 
#25
AJ Brown said:
FYI - The basses I'll be using in the test. I know it's a lot, but I really want to see how each bass sounds with flat EQ, and accordingly, how much tweaking I'll need. Seeing there are three presets, there will have to be multiple basses happy with one of the sounds I'm able to get.

1) Alleva-Coppolo STD 4 with standard AC preamp. Strung with Sadowsky Nickels (blues)

2) Valenti Jazz 4 with Nordy Big Singles and Sadowsky preamp. Strung with Sadowsky Nickels (blues)

3) Sadowsky Modern 24F5 strung E-C with Sadowsky Nickels (blue)

4) Rob Allen Mouse 30 - strung with LaBella Tapewounds

5) Passive Fender P-Bass strung with flat Roto's.
Click to expand...

Now that's diversity! How 'bout I piss you off a bit and and ask for soundbites! :hiding:

Looking forward to your posts, 'bites or not!

Ian
 
#26
sixway said:
Now that's diversity! How 'bout I piss you off a bit and and ask for soundbites! :hiding:

Looking forward to your posts, 'bites or not!

Ian
Click to expand...

I'll see what I can do. I have an HD camcorder on the way with a Beachtek DXA-2 audio interface. I'm also going to try to provide samples plugging directly into my computer from the head.
 
#29
KJung said:
[CUT] I myself usually connect 'version 2', 'next generation', and all the marketing blurbs they put out with uber clean and transparent. This seems not to be the direction they are going with this rig. Interesting!
Click to expand...

these are exactly the feelings i've espressed in my little review in one of the billions thread opened round here inTB lately.

just for a summary: i'm an owner of both head and rs212, since day one (early february 2009 indeed). imvho these gear sound everything but modern and uber clean and transparent: at firs time this was a bit an upset for me but, with time and becoming more confident with knob tweaking etc, i've to say that this litlle baby and the cab really sound so warm and loud


Michele
 
#32
Anybody who got one of the RH450s also have any other 12" cabs to try it with? I would love a comparison between the TC 12" and some other 12". Especially a 12" with no tweeter or the tweeter disabled.
 
#34
AJ Brown said:
I'll be comparing the RS212 with a Schroeder Mini 12 and Schroeder Mini 12+.
Click to expand...

few days ago i've had the chance to compare my rs212 with a 2x12 ATS (italian brand from Sicily)

well: if you dig into kinda of "hard sounding" cabinet with a great attack, punch and ultra clean/modern treble..than 2x12 ATS wins hands down

rs212 has, imho, a warmer sound, a "more rounded" attack and gives a general impression of less "brute power"


my 2c

Michele
 
#35
For grins I plugged the head into my Ampeg 8x10 and it sounded pretty damn good. Lots of lows popped out. Although it looks pretty funny with that tiny head sitting on that huge cab.

I'll be gigging it tonight and will have more comments tomorrow...
 
#37
meekee73_2008 said:
few days ago i've had the chance to compare my rs212 with a 2x12 ATS (italian brand from Sicily)

well: if you dig into kinda of "hard sounding" cabinet with a great attack, punch and ultra clean/modern treble..than 2x12 ATS wins hands down

rs212 has, imho, a warmer sound, a "more rounded" attack and gives a general impression of less "brute power"
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. The ATS sounds like the polar opposite of the sound I want. Sounds like it would be good in a heavy band where you really needed to punch through a wall of guitars.
 
#38
Looks like we're gonna have a shootout this afternoon. Freddels is coming down with his Shuttle and F1, so we have the following at our disposal...

Heads:
* RH450
* LMII
* F1
* Shuttle
* MB2-500

Cabs:
* RS210
* RS212
* Schroeder Mini 12
* Schroeder Mini 12+

Should be interesting.
 
#39
Did my first gig with the TC Electronic RH450.

First off, here is a list of what I require from a bass rig.

1. Sound

2. Portability

3. Value

4. Durability


This is definately the best sounding amp I have ever used.
Plugged in my jazz-bass, set the level, turned it up about half-way and WOW!
EQ set flat--no comp. or tubetone.
I used this setting most of the night. Set this as pre-set #1.

For preset #2, I dialed in some "tubetone" (9 o'clock) and some "spectracomp" (10 o'clock) and slightly boosted 800hz on the EQ....instant SVT!

For preset #3...Slight boost in the lows, low-mids "flat" slightly cut high-mids and boosted the highs a little bit---add compression (10 o'clock) and it's "Slap-City".

I had the tweeters on both the 2x12 and the 2x10 half-way up.
I'm not a tweeter kind of guy usually, but these are sweet. Since they are "coaxial" with the top speaker of each cab--they are not harsh sounding at all.
(I usually shut the tweeter off, or barely have it on with other cabs)

The footswitch is a nice addition.
the mute switch also mutes the DI for silent tuning (and you don't have to turn your back on the audience)

So--very versitile, GREAT sounding amp.

The DI is super sounding also. The sound-man had me "off" most of the night in the medium sized venue. The RH450 was pleny loud on its own at less than half volumn. I had absolutey no problem hearing with the cabs stacked verticaly...This was going up against a VOX AC30--A Marshall 4x12 and drums (all miced through through P.A.)


Portability--The head goes withoput saying. The heaviest piece is the 2x12, and at under 50 lbs., my wife unloaded and carried it in without breaking a sweat.


Value--To match this amp you would have to purchase a rack tuner, 3 band compressor (pricey),, A TC tube effect, an EQ, a GOOD DI, arack to put it all in, and cables to hook it all up. As well as buying a class D light-weight amp head.
The Value is there.
The EQ is the best I have used-using the "shift" button you can set the center frequency of any of the EQ knobs wherever you want. This feature does away with all of the "shift" knobs and switched.

Durability--We will have to wait and see on this one.
All of the components are extremely well-made and just look & feel "quality" all around.
I'm really tired of maintaining and lugging around tube amps & heavy speakers!


As you can probably tell, this amp seems like it was made for my personal style and needs in a bass amp.

I love it, and recommend it highly.

If I have time this week, I'll try to get some sound clips of the "Digital-out"
I have a session with a guitar player and drummer, and we are going to record a 3-piece version of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" with no keyboards or over-dubs! Might be a good example.

I will be posting weekly blogs on my myspace (link below) on the RH450.
Please invte me as your myspace freind.
 
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