• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The new tc electronic BG500.

#101
Grabbed one from GC after a little confusion and difficulty. Went with the 2x10, planing on using it for upright primarily, so far it's fantastic for that. Honestly you just set all the knobs at noon and it's good to go. I really just meant to use it for the dog house, but setting it kinda dirty and it's been a blast with my Dano Longhorn.

The GC price around $350 is stupid cheap for what you get, plus they were very generous on my SWR trade in, and gave me the "trade in trade up" 10% off. I wound up getting the extended warranty added on, and still had to go look for something else to buy to use up the rest of my credit.
 
#102
These amps were completely off my radar until yesterday's impulse buy. I was out on the hunt for an RH450 and ran into this deal. $349 (at GC) for what you get with this thing was too much to pass up. When I got to GC, there was another bass player in the room trying out all the amps, so I got a little A/B action. While I was playing the BG 500 2x10, he played the Mesa M6 or 9 through Mesa cabs, Ampeg amp of some sort, couple of Markbass amps. Finally coming over and saying, what is that you are playing, it sounds good :) I let him play through it for a while and really liked it. He was eying the 15 combo as I wheeled out the 2x10, hehe.

I went straight from there to Home Depot and got a little folding dolly for it. That makes moving it solo feasible for me. Still getting 70lbs in and out of the back of my truck solo is a PITA. I went straight from Home Depot to my gig. Set it up, sounded checked, sounded really good. Sound guy really liked it. Told him I just got it for $349, he and the other sound guy immediately came over and started closely examining the amp and reading the name of it :)

Did 3 hours on it last night, slap and fingerstyle. I was really impressed with it. Love the tone. The amp sounds big, really big to me. Don't think I've ever heard that much coming from a 2x10 before. I had the tone controls around noon. Little past on the bass control. Maybe a fuzz back on the low mid. The controls are really sensitive! Input was around 3-4 (had to roll it back a little for the sound guy since no DI level control). I'm not sure where the master was, probably 2-3 somewhere in there but plenty loud. I played on it like that all night, heard lots of positive feedback, sounded good in the mix, etc. Another bass player in the audience came up to check it out. All in all, I was quite pleased with the tone and punch it was putting out. I kept thinking, "dang, all that for $349?!"

The downside for me is lifting in and out of the truck. If I have someone there, its a non issue, but if its just me its a PITA. The small dolly makes it easy to move as long as you have a decent surface to roll it across. Didn't know about the buttons, all of mine work at this point. I don't really have a use for the memory or contour buttons, but I need that mute/tuner button to continue working for me. All in all a great buy so far.

Today I am going to A/B it with my Carvin BX500. I'll do some direct recorded clips and stuff.
 
#104
Jarrett said:
So can the RH450 get the same tones that I am getting out of my BG500? If so, I might be interested. If not, then I'm a "B" man :)
Click to expand...

With a comparable cab, yes. The head in your combo is basically the same as in the RH series, but reduced in cost by using a simpler faceplate. And it's heavier than the RS series cabs as well. But those are acceptable trades considering the bang for the buck you get.

But if you like the sound from your BG, there is a very strong likelihood that you will like an RH series head, regardless of what cab it is playing through. My personal recommendation would be to get the RH750 if you can. The Tweeter Tone knob is the reason I say this. But the RH450 is still a fantastic little powerhouse in it's own right.
 
#106
I just heard about this amp. I looked it up on the GC website and it shows it as being $649.00. I hope i didnt miss out on the half price sale on these. Im gonna go to GC and see how much they have it for there in the store. anyone have any ammo i can throw at them to honor the $349 price some of you were getting yesterday?
 
#107
Jarrett said:
I ask because I've read a few folks that have played both say that the R and B amps don't sound the same. R being more old school growl and wooly and B being modern hi fi punchy.
Click to expand...

This could be a function of the voicings in the EQ. The BG has fixed EQ points, right? The RH series is parametric so you should be able to dial in what you want, including matching it to the fixed settings of the BG. And again, a lot will have to do with what cab you pair the RH with. The RH450 also has the fixed low-pass filter that bothers some people, somthing that might also contribute to people thinking they sound different. But with the RH750, that concern goes away.

In the end, your best bet is to try sampling one if you can find a shop/whatever near you that will let you have a go on it.
 
#110
Okay, my question is this:

If the head is basically the RH with a simple faceplate change, and the drivers are neo...WHY IS IT SO DAMNED HEAVY?!?!? What, they had a few bricks laying around the factory and they wanted to get rid of them by stashing them in the cab?!?!? No, wait...they used leaded screws!


:confused::rollno::crying:


:cool:
 
#112
jowens004 said:
I just heard about this amp. I looked it up on the GC website and it shows it as being $649.00. I hope i didnt miss out on the half price sale on these. Im gonna go to GC and see how much they have it for there in the store. anyone have any ammo i can throw at them to honor the $349 price some of you were getting yesterday?
Click to expand...

GuitarCenter
 
#113
Billy Low said:
Okay, my question is this:

If the head is basically the RH with a simple faceplate change, and the drivers are neo...WHY IS IT SO DAMNED HEAVY?!?!? What, they had a few bricks laying around the factory and they wanted to get rid of them by stashing them in the cab?!?!? No, wait...they used leaded screws!
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing, and e-mailed the tech support at TC. They got back to me and said the BG500 is not SMPS, nor is it class D. Its an old-school transformer power amp with a class A/B power section. That tells me that the RH amps and the BG amps are certainly not the same thing at all.



Also, I'm happy to report that my wedding gig last night went very well give the circumstances. It was the first time using my BG500/115 at a gig, and it gave me great tone. The gig was supposed to be outside, but an ominous rain cloud forced us to move our gear inside into a tiny room with a dance floor. The band I played with ended up getting pretty darn loud, but the BG hung in there just fine with the master at about 4 o'clock.

I left the eq section at noon at the beginning of the night, and wasn't thrilled with it. A few songs in, I hit the contour button to setting #1, and BAM! Awesome tone! I never, ever use scoop setting on an amp, but on this thing it was magic! Even the contour #2 setting sounded incredible for slap. I also want to reiterate how cool the Tweetertone, Spectracomp, and Tubetone controls are. Those three features are worth the $350 alone.

The only other downside was that I had to haul it up two flights of stairs at the gig. :(

I haven't tried the DI signal live yet. I'm a little worried that its going to be too hot of a signal. I put it through my recording interface, and it was super hot. I really want the chance to try it out live to see what happens.
 
#114
Here are some clips I recorded this afternoon with the BG500. The bass is a Carvin SB5000 with a new set of DR Hi-Beams on it. It's recording directly from the XLR out to my computer by way of a Line6 Toneport UX-2 set as flat as possible. I did post eq out and used the memory presets on each.

Link Removed - pretty flat eq, little comp, bass bumped, little tube tone
Link Removed - contour 1, no tube tone, little more bass and tweeter tone
Link Removed - same settings as Finger above
Link Removed - this is much cleaner than what came out of the speakers, I guess Tubetone doesn't pass through the DI?

I've been using a Carvin BX500 as my amp since December. I made some similar clips with it to A/B the two. The BX500 does not have a post eq option so these are all straight through. Here they are in case that is of interest as well:

Link Removed
Link Removed
Link Removed
 
#115
CapnSev said:
I haven't tried the DI signal live yet. I'm a little worried that its going to be too hot of a signal. I put it through my recording interface, and it was super hot. I really want the chance to try it out live to see what happens.
Click to expand...
The gain knob controls the DI output. Somewhere between 3-4 my soundguy and recording console was happy.


Another side note, I am A/Bing my amps in the house today and have them cranked past my normal gigging levels and my BG500 2x10 combo is hanging quite well with my Carvin BX500 running into my 4ohm SWR Golight Marcus Miller 4x10. This little sucker moves some air, man.
 
#118
Jarrett said:
Link Removed - this is much cleaner than what came out of the speakers, I guess Tubetone doesn't pass through the DI?[/URL]
Click to expand...

You sure you didn't accidentally have it on a different preset or something for this? Tubetone passes through on my DI just fine.

Yeah that was my concern as well last night. So far so good. This little thing has watts to spare.
Click to expand...

That's really good news! How loud was the band?
 
#119
CapnSev said:
You sure you didn't accidentally have it on a different preset or something for this? Tubetone passes through on my DI just fine.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if my pre/post switch is jacked. It was crazy distorting bass coming out of the speakers, but pretty clean recorded (which made what I was playing sound dumb :D) Next time I mess with the amp I will investigate a bit.
 
#120
Jarrett said:
Another side note, I am A/Bing my amps in the house today and have them cranked past my normal gigging levels and my BG500 2x10 combo is hanging quite well with my Carvin BX500 running into my 4ohm SWR Golight Marcus Miller 4x10. This little sucker moves some air, man.
Click to expand...

I was sharing a similar sentiment with Jauqo after hearing him with it Friday night. I stated that I thought that the BG 500 could easily hang with most 310's out on the market. It could get close to the volume as a few 410's out there, but would lack the breadth and girth tone wise
.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back