TC Electronic RH450 Compact Bass Head Reviews

3.5/5.0 based on 3 customer reviews

Write your own review for this product

Sort By Date Sort By Rating

Customer Reviews

Robert
from Corning, NY USA
March 29, 2012Music Background:
Jazz Bassist. Home recording enthusiast.

Great piece of gear!!

Sounds fantastic. the compression is the best integrated compression I've ever heard in a bass amp. the EQ is infinitely tweakable. There is plenty of power for a small to medium gig. The overall sound is beefy but clean. I play electric and upright bass which have completely different EQ and compression requirements. I've been looking for an amp for quite some time that will accommodate both my needs. Now I can switch my settings by hitting a button and calling up a preset. How easy is that? This thing is a major step up from any other amp in its price range.
Criticisms: 1. The shift button allows the user to change the center frequencies of each EQ band but there is nothing that tells the user what frequency he/she has selected. You can use your ear of course but if you're looking to dial in a specific frequency you can only guess. Not a show-stopper but a little inconvenient. The manual does supply you with the default center frequencies and ranges.
2. Not a big fan of the tube tone so far. Maybe as I familiarize myself with it I'll grow to like it. Even at the lowest setting I get distortion as opposed to 'warmth'. When it is completely off the tone is clean and full/balanced.
This was definitely money well spent.

Art Narvaez
from Marshfield, WI USA
October 15, 2011Music Background:
Semi-Pro Musician

Awesome Sound!

Unbelievable sound - just watch the videos on YouTube. I agree with Steve Bailey and can't believe how loud this sounds for the rating (bass player for Public Enemy was gonna use two RH450 heads running 2 RS212 cabs each, but it was too loud and opted for 1 RH450 running 3 RS212 cabs).

You can run 3 tc electronic 8 ohm RS cabs with this head (for a total impedance of 2.6667 ohms) or two 8 ohm cabs from another manufacturer (total impedance of 4 ohms). I am currently using it with a RS 212 (which is amazing as well and it has plenty of bottom and overall volume). There is a review out on the internet somewhere that stated that the overall volume was around 230 watts but that it felt like a 450 watt amp, thus the 450 watt rating. I usually can't turn it past 9 or 10 o'clock when I'm at home (and that's just using the RS212, let alone with the RS410 also).

I love the preset option and use the optional footcontroller with it as well. I use the headphones with the RCA inputs in the back of the amp to play along with my iPhone or laptop. The TubeTone is great as well especially since you can save the level as part of a preset. So, I can have a slap tone, finger funk tone, and a picking rock tone saved and switch back and forth. The tuner is handy as well especially with the foot controller since it also displays the tuning notes and has the mute switch to engage silent tuning.

I cannot say enough good things about this amp. My EBMM Bongo 5HH and Carvin SB5000 both sound amazing through this amp. I get full useability of my onboard preamps on both basses. And if that isn't precise enough, I can make use of the semi-parametric EQs for each of the 4 bands (I think they overlap from 75Hz to 6kHz, so they cover alot of frequencies).

If you live in central Wisconsin, feel free to look me up and I'll let you hear how good this amp sounds (and how loud it is!)

If you really need something louder than this amp, go with the RH750.

Charles
from
August 23, 2011

236 Watts for real

Wow, TC advertises this as a 450 watt amp. Some companies fib a little and fudge specs but TC has taken it to a new level. 236 glorious watts at 4 ohms, people. That's right, just over half of what TC claims. Perhaps if I had paid half the price for mine I wouldn't be so sore about it. Will not deal with TC again.