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New tc electronic. Amps bh550. And. 800


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I've only had a brief look at the website for these, but so far I'm in two minds about these.

On the plus side, they're lightweight. The volume & tone of heads should be good too, being a BH500 owner and having demoed the BH250 & RH450 in the past. The capability of having Two Tone Prints at the same time is appealing too.

However, I do have a couple of grumbles. I can see reasons for discontinuing the BH500 for reasons of size, weight and aesthetics, but I don't actually agree with ANY of those arguments(The BH500 is not overly heavy at 13kgs, and it's appearance has always favourably reminded me of the SWR Redhead amp-if it wasn't part of a combo.)! Also, I think dropping the Spectracomp and Tube Tone dials is a bad idea, as I think they are awesome features! Then there's the power output settings/uprating. Won't 550 watts @ 4 ohms risk blowing the speakers in the BC cabs that TC Electronic make?

Only my opinion mind. I'll also look at the website again in case I've missed any details. I also would not be against trying these heads out either!

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[quote name='indiegrungesound' timestamp='1412277184' post='2567486']
Then there's the power output settings/uprating. Won't 550 watts @ 4 ohms risk blowing the speakers in the BC cabs that TC Electronic make?

Only my opinion mind. I'll also look at the website again in case I've missed any details. I also would not be against trying these heads out either!
[/quote]

Also just looked at the TC website, I own a BH500, and also the 410 and a 212 cab, and the new amps WON'T power these cabs together according to the site, they'll only power a 4 ohm load i.e. the 410 alone or 2x212 ( or 2x210 ). The BH 500 will power up to 3 of the 212 or 210 cabs, or 2 of the 410s, or a combination of these, which is great as I gig with no pa support and when playing big clubs I do use both my cabs together, although this is rare. So yay for lighter, cuter amp, nay for less speaker capability!!

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I think that must be a misprint or misinterpretation. Any solid state amp that can run at 4ohms will be stressed less by running it at 8ohms, never heard of one that will only work at 4ohms. It's just the design of a tube power section that needs the correct impedance hooked up to the correct output socket.

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No, sorry, I meant it will only run at a minimum 4 ohm, obviously it will work fine with a single 8 ohm cab, whereas theBH500, although it says it will only run down to 4 ohm, if you use TCs own cabs you can run three 8 ohm cabs, or one 4 ohm plus one 8 ohm. Same with the RH 450/750, they can run the multi cabs as long as they're TCs own cabs. I've asked on here why that is, but noones quite sure! There are useful picture diagrams on TCs website showing which of their cabs you can run from each of their amps, and the new ones are more limited.

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I'm seeing these amps as a nice addition to a RH450 : use the rh450 as a preamp (presets, tube tone, spectra comp) and then feed into the BH800 as pedal board and power amp : lots of power (if not TC emphasis) and two more tone prints if needed (chorus and octaver for me please) :)

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[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1412665870' post='2570779']
Yeah, before I'd ever consider buying one I'd need to know the real power output.
[/quote]
I've asked them on their forums : [url="http://forum.tcelectronic.com/post/93955/#p93955"]http://forum.tcelectronic.com/post/93955/#p93955[/url]

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Actually if you read their white paper about active power management, they're not lying that much. Yes the watt numbers they announce in the product codename is not the RMS_8Ohms wattage, but nobody would buy their products if they done that, Who would buy a RH236 top of line amp ? ;) It is completely ok to do power management in order to maximise the perceived output by the end-user (humans are not good a measuring RMS power, but feel the power). If you take a multimeter and measure real power output from various high end amps you would be surprised.

However TC have published a white-paper with numbers and scientific measurements of the amp section that explain how they do they power management and how to repro the experience. They are pretty transparent about it and that's really good to them. They have done it for the RH series and the Blacksmith, now it's time to ask for the BH series. :)

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[quote name='phatbass787' timestamp='1412636247' post='2570728']
So how many real watts will these be... Or are we talking TC super quasi compressed watts
[/quote]

Quasi watts or otherwise, my BH500-which I was pleased to find out hasn't been discontinued! B-)-has plenty of oomph for my needs(My Hartke LH500 is marginally louder, but both do the job brilliant for my band.)!

I think, for all interested parties, it's all a case of testing the new heads, seeing if you like them, then seeing if they go with the cabs you use.

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