Buying first amp | TC Electronic BH250

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Garun

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Sep 8, 2015
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#1
I have practice amp which is some 15w (or 20w) Aster, which sounds good but just in my room and just for practice.

So far in live situations on stage I used my Markbass Super Booster as active DI box, which is totally transparent.

I upgraded my Squier bass, and sounds amazing now, better than some new Fenders with 800-1200$ price at my local music store.

Now I want an amp, but I don't have a car, so I tought, why not only the head, most venues have at least cabs (mostly 4x10), and place where I have rehearsal have 4x10 cab (SWR Goliath) with some Ampeg head, sounds transparent anyway, so I think having a cab to hook up with is not a problem.

And I've been looking at cheapish amps that sound good, run into this one (as title says, TC Electronic BH250). I think it should do it. It has 6 effects (and I can already see myself playing with 2-3 of them), just master volume, DI out, and preamp which I never use, I just put it on flat.
This heads preamp got my attention because of bass knob, if you turn it CCW, it get's cut at 80Hz, which is great, couse most of rooms have that boomyness to them, right? I cut it a bit, and it's all good.
Also it has AUX and Headphones out, so I can practice silently with my laptop connected.

Do you guys think this is a good idea, good amp and stuff like that? It's the only good one available amp head here in Serbia, we don't have GK sadly... It's light head with a lot of advantages, great wattage (250w) and everything.
And is there anything wrong with this head, did anyone have any issues with it?
I know that I'll only miss efx loop, couse I have looper and would like to put some effects on loop, and play with octave up some solos and stuff like that for fun, but I can live without it :)
 
#3
I own this particular head for 2 years. No problem with it at all in terms of reliability but I take care not throwing it anyhow/anywhere. For quiet practicing/studio recording it may have a bit too noisy cooling fan plus high pitch noise from the power module itself (somewhat similar to notebook noise when it gets really hot). But that's not audible when you play with band or even if you wear good headphones, not to mention the noise is not going into the signal. EQ section is indeed simple but intelligent and it is well tuned for real life bass players. Although, there is no "gain" knob I don't really miss it, some kind of automatic adjustment works well. TonePrint effects - you can only use one at a time with only one knob. There are 2 slots in memory for the toneprints and I recommend getting the TC Switch 3 pedal for controlling the effects/mute by foot, if you desire that functionality. TonePrint already saved me ton of money I would spent on trying different FX :)
 
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#5
Thanks a lot @vaesto :)

There are just few types of cheaper amps, to about 500$ here
Fender, Warwick (combos), TC, Marshall, Hartke, Ampeg, Laney, Line6
and Markbass, which is expensive for me, and it's not totally transparent like my Markbass DI box is, and I've heard TC RH450 and 750 live, played them too, totally transparent, so I think this one will bee transparent too. Also, all of these amps have features that don't suit me, no effects too, and they are heavy(er than TC). I think this one is great.
As for Toneprint slots, I'm planning to make my own footswitch, it just requers stereo jack (and stero cable), 2 diodes and 3 switches, there's a schematic online.
I think it's the best choice, and I'd save up to 4-500$ on pedals that are on Toneprints.
Btw, anyone knows if toneprint effect can be made to custom on this amp, or I can just use the ones on TC website?
 
#6
Not yet. TC doesn't support toneprint editing on bass amps. So you'll have to use their creations :) Switch3 pedal is passive, it has no diodes and I guess amp itself isn't providing any volts to light them up.
 
#7
I didn't say LE diodes, just regular switching diodes, to make current go in one direction, block in other. Here's a picture from internet (where else would I get it, eh?)
footswitch_schematic.jpg

And it's a shame for Toneprint, I'd love to tweak around with my toneprints, but this is cool too, it has a lot of stuff that is useful :)
 
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