TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head 

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

Overall -- this is where I had to dock it a few points. Since I bought this amp, I have noticed a perpetual "hiss" that I can't negate with any EQ or sound adjustment. The loudness of the hiss is commensurate with the main volume: the louder you turn it up, the louder the hiss. It is also more pronounced when you increase the high frequencies. I understand that my passive Fender USA Standard P-Bass will not give me the most modern hi-fi sound, or that transparently clear sound that you find with an active bass, but I do not expect a hiss when I shell out $$$ for an amp head. Considering all the other effort and technology they've put into this head, you'd think they might try to make it sound more clear. I went to GC to A/B several amps some weeks ago, and I found a similar 'hiss' in several other amps when I turned them up. There's a good chance I have it set up wrong, and I do need to do more research on this, but I have seriously considered selling this head and buying a Little Mark, GK, the new Aguilar Tone Hammer or an Orange, just so I don't have to listen to the hiss. If anyone out there knows how to get rid of this hiss on an RH450, please post a comment on this page and I will check back.
I've owned this amp for about 6 months, and I'm fairly pleased with it.

The RH450's features are without peer in its price range, mainly when you incorporate the RC4 footswitch: mute, always-on accurate tuner. Putting those two features on the footswitch qualifies alone for a 10. From what I can tell of the many lightweight Class D power amps comparables in this price range, this one has the best and most useful range of features available. There are many ways to tweak the sound on this amp, and I have yet to find them all. I do very much like the tube tone. It's not quite as gritty a Bass Muff Pi, but it gives you a great old school heavy sound.
Many other reviewers have said that this is amp seems to be very well built, and I wholeheartedly agree. I saw a video of a touring pro who road-tested it and said he's encountered problems with every amp when he's in South America, but he can always depend on this one to work properly. It appears that, as long as I don't drop it on cement or into a mud puddle, this amp will serve me well for many years to come. The electronics are intuitive and solid. A+ on quality.
Since I've never owned an amp with this level of power or output, it's difficult for me to accurately gauge a value rating versus others -- hence the 9 rating. I believe that you get a lot of bang for your buck with this amp.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

I guess here's the meat, right? I have been using the Rebel Head 450 for around 2 months as of 10/17/2011. We have been playing a decent size pub once a week and practicing at my house(carpeted floor, tall ceilings) once a week as well, so the difference in acoustics of the two are 180 degrees apart. Either place, this head can get the tone I want with minimal knob tweaking once you get it dialed in for your personal preferences. I paired this with TC's 212 cabinet and have enjoyed the sound and volume I get at a portability factor second to none for my old back!
I haven't pushed the head past ~11 oclock on the Master yet, but that seems to be loud enough so far. We did play outside for the first time this weekend, and I was told that the bass was coming thru loud and clear, so good deal there...BTW, we are a 3 piece with electrified acoustic guitar and a mid size drum set, but I don't feel I would have any problem being heard on stage with more musicians. Anything more than that, you have the balanced direct out connection to get you in the mains, right?
One exasperating problem I did have was with the footswitch that I bought with this setup.. It took 4 tries to get one that worked. No fault of MF, and they took care of me each time with free returns. I have one that works now with 3 presets and a mute function that kills all output leaving you free to tune quietly an quickly on the fly. Nice feature.
All in all, I'm happy with the head so far. There was some concern with the rated output(450W)on a couple of bass forums, which I will leave you to judge on your own. Oh, some were wondering about a carrying case for the head.. Just get a padded laptop case of the appropriate size, and you are good to go! I finished with an "8" on the overall because of the known footswitch issue which was still a problem up until I recently got one that worked. Maybe that should have been addressed on the ratings on the footswitch page...? Too lazy.
Very versatile. Lots of sound shaping options. 3 presets, mute, "tube emulation". I haven't used the direct out yet, or the headphone input. I have used the effects loop for a chorus pedal.
Very light and portable. I paired with the 212 cabinet. Lovely...
Everything appears A-OK. Smooth knob functions. Good quality connectors. No hiccups.
Value is tough to rate.. We all want the world for free, but do we get it? All in all, the price seems ok.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

OK, I kid you not that i have spent not less than two years researching my ultimate rig. In between i have owned A GK rig (the old 400rb head coubled with a backline 2X10 cab) and currently own an acoustic rig (B200H head and acoustis 4X10 Cab). Am on a tight budtet and was considering upgrading my B200H head to an ampeg PF-500 head to get more headroom to push my acoustic 4X10 cab this month! I was planning to work my way up to a Genz Benz shuttlemax 9.2 with their corresponding 2X12 uber cabs. Now the Genz Benz rig will cost more and weigh more with their cabs. Dont get me wrong, Genz Benz have one of the finest sounding amps out their but TC Electronics outsmarted them this time. You can get the same tone for a cheaper price with half the weight with the TC Electonic cabs!!! Look at the shuttlemax controls man, very complicated compared to this amp. You get the same options with the push of a button as opposed to tweaking numerous knowbs!! I have stumbled upon their cabs in my two years researching but never gave them a second look coz i had never heard about TC electronics and was not going to chance a thousand bucks on a company without a solid track record with bass amps like Genz Benz, SWR, Ampeg, GK, Aguilar, Eden, or Markbass - All these are comnpanies i have been closely monitoring in my two years of research. OK, What made me a believer? built in compressor, tube emulation, adjustable EQ to your taste, built in tuner,and 3 programmable custom settings. Come on! Please, I almost bought a Tech 21 programable bass driver/DI for 210 bucks to improve my B200H tone and to be able to footswitch between three custom settings. Then i thought maybe i should just get the Ampeg PF-500 for better headroom and tone. Am done researching. I will not even get the Ampeg. Am going straight for this baby even if it takes me another year. Think about it. How many pedals will you need to simulate this. Am on a really tight budget but I will close my eyes and get it once. Are you researching? Save yourself some time. If you are a serious bass player or an intermidiate who really loves playing and are working your way up, use the junk rig you have and keep saving until you get this amp. I hope this helps someone out there.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

the RH450 is one of the best pieces of equipment a modern bass player could ask for, at any price range. it's one of those things where once you buy it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. as for the features, that was the easiest 5.0 rating i've ever given. this thing has the best bass compressor on the market built right into it, 3 memory preset channels, a tube emulator that actually sounds legit, a semi-parametric EQ, reliable tuner, a headphone amp where you can play along with an ipod, etc, etc, etc. and all of it is ridiculously easy to use. it even has the ability to handle any voltage from any outlet in the world without the need for an adapter...useful for a guy playing bars in new hampshire? ehh maybe not. awesome nonetheless? absolutely! and the most important thing? it sounds FANTASTIC. TC decided to avoid the "transparency" trend among a lot of their competitors and instead decided to give the RH450 a sound of its own, sort of like an old ampeg tube amp. you really get that classic-meets-modern vibe; it can go from old fashioned to hi-fi with the press of a button and stop anywhere in between. also noteworthy is that it sounds amazing both loud and quiet, so it's perfect for almost any setting. the amp is also extremely well-made. you can feel and see the quality before you even turn it on. all this, and it only weighs 9 pounds. i highly recommend this ingeniously designed amp.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

i bought this amp a couple of weeks ago with the rs212 and rc4 footswitch. I ordered online without actually trying the thing, and had been researching amps in this category for a couple of months. when i finally got to plug into it, i was blown away. the controls are incredibly intuitive, making it not only easy but fun to twiddle knobs and dial in your sound. The construction is very solid, it weighs less than the average housecat, and it didn't heat up at all after a slammin 4 hour gig. i have preset 1 for fingerstyle, 2 for slap, and 3 for overdrive, all of them sound killer. the tubetone is the best sounding tube emulation i've heard, and spectracomp is the first usable built-in compression i've come across. i'm hoping to add the rs210 soon, but the 212 by itself can really thump, while still putting out good high frequency response. if you're in the market for a versatile, lightweight, great sounding amp, the rh450 will not let you down. my own expectations were very high, and they were definitely exceeded.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

I bought this amp months ago without playing it first. I just went with the reviews I'd read. As everyone stated it IS fantastic and totally versatile. I bought it with the 2x10 and I play through it with a Spector czech 5 string (active) and a fretless P/J (passive). They both sound incredible. I even ab'd it with my Ampeg svt 2 head with 4x10's and 1x15 and couldn't believe I still preferred the RH450 with 2x10 cab. It kept up no problem. Read that again, it's true. I will be adding a 2x12 at some point for the usual reasons and to bring the head up to a useable height (it's just so pretty to look at). Not that you need to fiddle with it much after you set your tones. I have 1 set flat, 2 set for my go to tone with just a little grit, and 3 set for all out distortion. I could break down all the controls for you but I'll just say they work and sound wonderful. Get the foot switch too. Having the tuner in two places is very handy. I could not be happier and don't think I could have made a better choice. It has the features, looks, portability, and sound that I love. I'd say TC Electronic hit a home run with this one. I got to play the Staccato 51' for a week, because they sent it to me by mistake, and it rocks just as hard. Just a slightly different color of sound and not the color (red) I was looking for. If your like me and don't have a dozen amps at your disposal to try out but are considering something in this category, buy this amp. You will not be disappointed. 5 stars across the board. I'm sure the other class D amps are great but I love the memory settings and range of tone the RH450 has to offer. I have not gigged it yet but even with the 2x10 I would have no doubts it could fill any venue with more than enough thump. The only negative is that the mp3 input only works through the headphones. So just use your stereo or PA and you're set. Golf clap.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

I use this amp with the rs210. I was skeptical the single cab would have enough grunt but this is a great combinaion! One trip from the car to the stage. Great tight punchy sound that holds together up to very high levels. Sounds really warm & organic but punchy with both my Jazz & Alembic basses and a friends Stingray.The preset idea is so SIMPLE- why didn't anyone think of it before on a bass amp? Well it's a great idea and I keep presets for a 4 string, 5 string, and a "Slappy" tone that get me in the ball park then just tweek for the room. SpectraComp works great as well. I dial it in just to grab the peaks (or more on the Slappy tone) and it smooths things out but still punches through. I use other TC gear in my studio and have never had a problem with it so I suspect this will be the same. Great sounding amp and Cab!

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

I just finished putting the RH450 through its paces in my professional studio environment. I have to say that it has great sound, excellent features, and plenty of power (more than you would expect from its conservative 450w rating). I am also a fan of the RS210 cab I recorded with. Thus, this unit receives my highest possible recommendation.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

this is the best amp i have ever played off of. the portability is amazing and the sound is incredible. i bought it with the 2x10 cab and foot pedal. the 3 memory option is great for playing in different styles with different instruments. I use it with a 5 string, a fretless, and an acoustic and the amp delivers with all of them. you get great clean tone, amazing pops and thumps, and amazing tube tone.if you are interested in portability and versitility with an all around good sound. and if you buy this amp the foot pedal is worth it. and the onboard tuner and pedal tuner is perfect for changing tunings and improving accuracy for the fretless.

Comments about TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head:

this is in fact my first review on this site. The reson why I decided to take the step was to help out this fabulous amp's reputation. I bought this amp despite the lacking amount of reviews. I drove two hours to simply hear it, and MAN! it was fantastic. I didn't even plan on buying it that day, but after hearing it I was loading it up into my car that very day. Let me tell you I quickly learned one of the huge plus's of this product: its weight. Having to lug it as well as the matching 2X10 cab over three blocks to my car would have been impossible if it wasn't so light. Don't get me wrong, its still not a feather, but the weight is much appreciated.When I got it home and set it up(which was extremely simple I might add) I got to fully shape the tone I wanted. I love the tube simulator even though I hardly ever use it. Just to clarify, theres nothing wrong with it, in fact its quite impressive, however I perfer a clean tone.Some of the other plus's are the always shown tuner, the rewritable presets (GREAT feature I must say), the HUGE sound, and the quality overall. I also like the mp3 player adapter, however I wish I could play it out of my speakers instead of just headphones.My only complaint, besides the headphones issue, is that the on/off switch is in the back. For my home setup this is an inconvenience.Did I mention this thing is loud? I only need to crank this thing to 9 o'clock to have my windows and walls shaking. My fan light has shaken so much its unscrewed itself on many occasions.I played a warwick, Steinberger, and a Music Man through this bass and each sounded simply amazing. The steinberger is a 5 string fretless, so anyone with concerns regarding either one should rest assure, the amp works perfectly with them. Honestly, stop reading my review and buy this! I played through almost every amp head/cab combination out there and this is by far my favorite. I wouldn't replace it if you offered me anything I wanted free of charge.BUY THIS! you'll certainly not regret it