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TC Electronics Rebel Head. Spec gave me a laugh.

dj150888

dj150888

Feb 25, 2008
1,417
11
Belfast, Ireland
#1
I was just reading up on this head and two things in their published specifications gave me a bit of a giggle. Struck me as something that would alienate those a little less thick skinned who might be in their market.


In their EQ description, theres a bit of a dig at the intelligence of bass players

" Simplicity is always important to bass players and the Rebelhead is no exception. The front panel features the usual suspects, input gain, 4 tone controls and master level - every bass player can now use this!"

....because bass players can't use anything remotely complex or our little brains would hurt! :D

And then, near the end

"Rehearsal Input - Bass is a pretty boring instrument on its own. Every player recognises the need for background music when practicing"

....because we're all just the boring guys who are there to make the lead guitar player look good.

It doesn't particularly bother me and I'm intentionally looking a little too deeply into their words, but it made me laugh.
 
#4
Yeah, TC sure seems to have it in for us bass players. I could argue that they have a point about simplicity...I know I hate amps with too many knobs and switches. But since it's TC, I'm not going to argue, because they're lame and arrogant.

That's a shame, too...TC has made many really nice products. Their chorus was the best you could get at one time, and still may be. But who cares when they obviously have disdain for the buyers of this amp? From the lame "free footswitch with purchase" offer they gave as a consolation prize to the bassists they told weren't good enough to try out their stuff, to calling bass "boring" and insinuating that they're dumbing down the controls so bass players can use them, I'm completely and totally fed up with these arrogant upstarts in the bass world.
 
#8
ettsn said:
Why all the vitriol? I bought one of these and think it's fantastic. Their humor comes across as very Danish. I took no offense, and I think many others will see it the same.
Click to expand...

+1 I haven't had the pleasure to try one of these rigs yet, and the 'design goals' don't seem to match my needs, but the product seems solid and the company seems pretty first rate to me.
 
#10
In Denmark we have a very dry sarcastic humor. And we are not afraid to make fun of ourselves. I've talked to some of the guys behind the Rebelhead - most of them just fellow bassplayers like you and me.
It's just danish humor! Don't take it so seriuosly!
Actually the danish word for mood is "humør" or humor so we have fun in our DNA. Or something like that.... he he
Best regards from Denmark,
Jesper
 
#11
Well, regardless of their literature or the opinions of the nay sayers here, I simply love this head. I've had it for I guess around 5 weeks now and I am still having a blast creating different sounds and mucking around with the tube emulator and the really great compressor.
I find that the head is very responsive to any and all changes I make to it.
I've had a few folks ask me about the sound of it and I describe it as such"
"It's like looking into a clear lake and being able to see every nuance of the bottom, 30ft down.
I get that some here have been put off by the product launch. It probably could have been done better, but I fail to see the relevance of that, in choosing gear that you like and works for your needs.
Perhaps swallowing a little pride and giving it a try out is more in line with the basic philosophy here at TB.
Fishheadjoe
 
#13
JimmyM said:
to the bassists they told weren't good enough to try out their stuff
Click to expand...

You've said this in every thread on this product, Jimmy. What exactly did they tell you to make you think this? They had 1700 people apply for a program where they chose about 30 players from varying regions, styles and experience levels. At no point did it appear to be a favorites contest. What could have been an acceptable outcome? Loan out 1700 sets? You were interested enough to apply, but by luck of the draw you didn't get to participate so you've made it your mission to badmouth tc at every opportunity? I just don't understand. :confused:

I'm not picking a fight here, either. You're opinion is one of my favorites on TB. You generally shoot straight, and while sometimes come across as a little curmudgeonly, you also rarely seem snide. You're a good dude. This is a good product. You hating this product seems strange to me. :help:

Anyway, I'm very enthusiastic about this head. So much so, I think I'm gonna grab one of the 212 cabs to check out (I've been playing it through my pair of pre-Fender Goliath Jrs). Love me some 12s though! :cool:
 
#14
The only thing I thought was funny is the impedance. As reported in BP magazine, the amp's minimum impedance is 4 ohms. The two cabinets are both rated at 4 ohms. So, despite the pictures showing the head on top of a stack of both cabinets, you can't run it that way.

Word- play ain't a good way to do thing in the US. Most people are to dense to get real humor. Witness Randy Newman. Notice how many people who think Sting's "Every Breath You Take" is a touching love song. Now bassists offended because TC says bass is "boring on its own". Ya know, it really can be, and we've seen enough threads hear about "bedroom tone" to support this.

John
 
#15
JTE... according to literature I have read on the impedance issue you raise, I belive their response was something like this.
We are fully aware of the impedence of our cabinets and can recommend running two cabinets without impedence issues. The cabinets were designed specifically for this head. (Or is it the other way around?)
They do however say that running other manufacturers cabinets below the 4 ohm limit is not suggested.
Hope this helps?
Fishheadjoe
 
#17
JTE said:
Now bassists offended because TC says bass is "boring on its own". Ya know, it really can be, and we've seen enough threads here about "bedroom tone" to support this...
Click to expand...

+1

it's just a joke--i doubt anything honestly slanderous was meant by that manual lol and I am sure that if anybody here's friends were to make a dumb bass player joke, we'd laugh right with them, plus they didn't really even imply bass players were dumb, they just said no *all* the bass players can play this--implying the dumb ones can join the smart ones in purchasing this amp ;)
 
#18
I get that it's a joke, but it's a strange time to introduce humor into their marketing. This is a company that's been around a long time and has a tremendous amount of industry respect. However, since they're relatively new to the "bass-tools" market, and simultaneously new to using humor in their product descriptions, it does come across a bit differently than if the humor didn't seem to correspond with the new product lines.

I personally like TC gear, but haven't found an application for it that made sense for my own needs. That's not to say I wouldn't find one in the future.
 
#19
Fishheadjoe said:
JTE... according to literature I have read on the impedance issue you raise, I belive their response was something like this.
We are fully aware of the impedence of our cabinets and can recommend running two cabinets without impedence issues. The cabinets were designed specifically for this head. (Or is it the other way around?)
They do however say that running other manufacturers cabinets below the 4 ohm limit is not suggested.
Hope this helps?
Fishheadjoe
Click to expand...

That doesn't make any sense. A user can only run the amp at 2 ohms as long as the cabinents are TC? That's just silly.
 

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