TC Electronics RebelHead 450 - Rebel with a Cause

[akaTRENT]

Drinks on stage aside, this looks to be a well thought out bass head. R&D time well spent, just hope it competes tone wise. Companies seem to forget, even if the amp has every feature you will need, most bass players will still hover towards the tone monger even if it only does that one thing right.

You know at first at looked at the amp and said meh, junk. as usual.
After reading all the spects and watching the videos, you know what I do think its bassamp 2.0. Its a thought in the right direction with features most companies don't think to do. I mean hell, you can even get flight cases from tc. They are at least trying to cover every angle. The amp sounds pretty mean too that tube emulation was REALLY good.

Did anyone else notice the Di box can run on low energy, and that the amp can handle different power sources. EG worlwide tour with one amp that wont blow up moving from london to new york, What a great add! The simple presets, Lighted knobs, etc etc. Its like a mark bass beefed up.

But at a 999.00 asking price, I would just buy an ampeg used at 1,200. but thats me at this moment in time.

I could very well see myself purchasing this amp If i ever get the chance to demo it. after all Christmas is only a few months away.

 

[MingusBass]

i have the impression that, if you're kind of a walkinbass guy then these products can make your day, but if you dig in slapping and funky stuffs then my initial feel is that tc has not aimed to your point

That's interesting. I thought it sounded great slapping and really digging in and funking it up with an active bass. It also seems like most of the videos from TC feature some soft of slapping to demo the RH450.

 

[Krügmeister]

Ironically in a band situation 99% isn't slapping.. TC has some GREAT R&D but I would love to hear it in a band situation... another thing is the 450 watts.. I'm not 100% sure it would be enough to drive my Berg NV610

 

[meekee73_2008]

That's interesting. I thought it sounded great slapping and really digging in and funking it up with an active bass. It also seems like most of the videos from TC feature some soft of slapping to demo the RH450.

mmm....i think this is the real bottom line, anyway, to be true, i've never tried playing with a fender jazz since i bought my new head and cabinet: i've used my les paul standard bass in a gig last saturday (not proper your slapping bass) and also i tried with my mex precision classic 57 fiesta red

in both the cases i felt kind of "slow attack" if you know what i mean and a not so bright and cutting edge response in the trebly area

but, i repeat, i've a lot to do in diggin wiht controls ..semi parametric eq and so on...but for the moment those are my feelings

Michele

 

[jdwinva]

OK guys, FedEX just dropped off my new RH450 and I've spent an hour playing with it. I have not played it with the band. I will do that this evening. My initial reaction .....

Pros:
Very nice interface, size, tech, etc....

Cons:
If you play a five string anything below Eb loses punch and definition. Translation - it craps out for five string users that are expecting it to hold up below Eb. Flat it is a tad bit "honky" but this can be corrected with the EQ.

More later.

 

[MingusBass]

another thing is the 450 watts.. I'm not 100% sure it would be enough to drive my Berg NV610

As someone who owns a NV610 and a similar powered bass head(Little Mark II), I can tell you that you'll be missing out on the full glory of the NV610. That sucker craves power.

 

[jdwinva]

OK so I tried it with a full band tonight and it cuts through no problem. Overall it seems increibly flat and the compressor works well. No frequencies stand out which is good. The tuner is nicer than I thought it would be. It is VERY quiet. No noise and no fan! It sounds more Aguilar-centric than MarkBass-centric if that means anything.

 

[David Wilson]

Cons:
If you play a five string anything below Eb loses punch and definition. Translation - it craps out for five string users that are expecting it to hold up below Eb.

I'd agree that at low volumes the low notes don't stand out. I think this is partly because the flat sound doesn't have enough low end in it for my liking.

Flat it is a tad bit "honky" but this can be corrected with the EQ.

More later.

Agreed, I need to boost bass 25-30%. I also have a LM II, and I usually leave that flat apart from a small bass nudge and roll off a bit of the high end with the VL filter.

The overdrive on this is excellent, less so when you go above 50%. I have a gig next Friday, think I'll take this and the LM II and do alternating sets with them.

 

[seamonkey]

I know it's a gimmick, but maybe loudness compensation/ couture knob would help for low to high level EQ matching. Something automatic that the user wouldn't have to think to adjust.
Who knows, Since this head is software based, maybe they could come out with some updates for it eventually? It would be nice to see a editor/librarian to share patches. It doesn't look like this could happen with this head, since there's no input except the foot controller.

 

[jdwinva]

The lack of punch and volume with low notes on the B-string seemed to me to just be a lack of headroom.

 

[Smallequestrian]

I took the cab over to Kindness' place today. It sounds good, not as good as my Mesa 1x12's. A single one of the Mesa's is actually about the same volume. We cranked the volume on the cab, low b sounds relatively decent at the cabs loudest volume. I would have no issues using this cab for my band. That said, I have two issues with it:

1. The cab is awkward to carry. When you combine how narrow it is with how deep it is, there is no good/easy way to carry it using the handles. It would be easier to just carry width wise using your hands but for...

2. That non skid surface, while useful, is really god awful to deal with. Rather abrasive, I scraped one of my thumb knuckles not that hard and it drew a little blood.

If it was a 4 ohm cab and could offer me more volume or much better sound than one of my Mesas, I could look past the above two issues, unfortunately its not going to happen for me. If I was looking to start from scratch though, I would definitely consider one of these cabs very hard.

 

[jdwinva]

Update: Tried the RH450 with the headphones and the low B sounded fine. So I thought it must be the power section of the amp that is causing notes below Eb to sound weak. I then tried a Bergantino HT322 cabinet and the problem was much less pronounced. So it appears that the TC RH450 and the Bergantino NV610 are not a good match if you plan on using a five string. MingusBass was right - the NV610 craves power that the RH450 just can't deliver.

 

[jdwinva]

Now that I've had a chance to play the RH450 is a few live situations I can say that all-in-all I like it a lot. I do wish it handled my low B sting a bit better but other than that it is a well-though out design and most importantly sounds great. I will say that if you have a passive bass, like I do, running the RH450 flat will sound honky. I ran the RH450 flat with a Sadowsky equipped bass and it sounds great!! On my passive Nordy I just had to tweak the EQ a bit to get it sound terrific.

Oh yeah, it can also peel paint off the walls!

 

[seamonkey]

Now that I've had a chance to play the RH450 is a few live situations I can say that all-in-all I like it a lot.

Gotta love these real life gig and rehearsal reviews!
They are much more telling than the "tried in a store" reviews.
I think with any amp (head) use there is a periods of adjusting to the sound and tweaking of technique possibly to get the full experience from the amp. Nothing is more telling than real life use. Thanks!

 

[Smallequestrian]

BTW,
I thought that was a bit awkward to carry especially for its weight. Well, I just sent it back and they weighed it, my RS212 most certainly did not weigh 44lbs, lets go with more like 54lbs. Not crazy heavy, but a huge difference from the listed spec.

 

[KJung]

BTW,
I thought that was a bit awkward to carry especially for its weight. Well, I just sent it back and they weighed it, my RS212 most certainly did not weigh 44lbs, lets go with more like 54lbs. Not crazy heavy, but a huge difference from the listed spec.

There is nothing I hate more than fudging a weight spec For a small cab, 10 pounds IS crazy.

 

[greenboy]

If it was a year on the market, I'd be concerned that I was dealing with the typical bass cab company liars. But right after NAMM and product introduction, I'd say prototype target figures still haven't been taken out of the lit. Benefit of the doubt here, I say.

That's a good weight for any 212 cab that actually has the rigidity to dish out a lot of bass. Can they in fact perform below 63 Hz?

 

[Mingus Addict]

I just used one at a gig. It was the back-line at Arlene's Grocery, so to be clear, I don't own one. I just used it on stage for an hour. The tuner was pretty cool, very fast... If they offered a stand alone tuner I'd be into it. The amp it self was very useful but not very exciting. It got the job done but it was pretty bland. I wouldn't buy one. BTW, they had the 212 cabs stacked vertically. I could have used a little more power from it too.

 

[Smallequestrian]

If it was a year on the market, I'd be concerned that I was dealing with the typical bass cab company liars. But right after NAMM and product introduction, I'd say prototype target figures still haven't been taken out of the lit. Benefit of the doubt here, I say.

That's a good weight for any 212 cab that actually has the rigidity to dish out a lot of bass. Can they in fact perform below 63 Hz?

Well, I agree that its still not a bad weight for a 2x12, and I am usually pretty forgiving when it comes to fudging of specs, but a 20% difference is more than I am willing to forgive. I sell passive components for a living, I don't think my customers would be very happy we shipped them 20% tolerance capacitors instead of 10%...I know this sounds pretty silly, but I think cabinet companies should probably start listing tolerances on their cab weights.

As far as I could tell the cab handled my low B well at the peak of its headroom.

 

[greenboy]

{...}I don't think my customers would be very happy we shipped them 20% tolerance capacitors instead of 10%...{...}

Just skimmed their spec and also noted their 22 kilo to 44 pound conversion. Seems to me that would be more like 48.4 pounds. Looking forward to seeing if they update specs now that retailers are getting product, and prototype and trade show period behind them.