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TC Electronic BG250-115 MKII 1x15" 250-Watt Bass Combo Reviews

250-watt 1 x 15" Combo Bass Amplifier with 3-band Intelligent EQ, Dual TonePrint Effects, Built-in Tuner, and Direct XLR Output

Bring your bass rig up to date with the sate-of-the-art TC Electronic BG250-115 bass amp combo. Weighing in at less than 40 lbs., the BG250-115 pounds out 250 watts through a single 15" speaker. Now, it's easier than ever to dial in perfect bass tones with the BG250-115's intelligent tone contouring controls. You have everything from old school Motown to overdriven rock tones at your fingertips. TC Electronic built in two of their innovative TonePrint technology slots, so you can upload new effects to your amp in just a few seconds via your smartphone. Get a state-of-the-art bass amp with the TC Electronic BG250-115 combo!

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TC Electronics BASS Amp is clean!

By ChaZ on March 24, 2017 Music Background: Regular gigs

Fantastic sound out of this small bass amp. Lots of nice features; eg. tones, contours, switch inputs, etc. Would like to have seen the switch unit come with it.

ehh

By Daniel Klassen from Virginia on February 28, 2017

Well.. It's loud. plenty of bottom end. But sounds cold and lifeless. If you care about tone, don't get this. If you just want a lot of volume for cheap then this is for you.

Better than expected

By Eric from Georgia on November 1, 2016

I love this amp. It sounds great and I love the tone print options.

Great combo for the price

By Coop from Northeast Florida on August 22, 2016 Music Background: Keeping the low end since 1974

I got this amp to use for small venues and for practice, and it's been a great combo. Light, great features, and loud enough for small clubs. The only negative I have with the sound is it seems a bit muffled. It does have a good 4-band EQ, but I seem to have some controls boosting the high-mid and high frequencies at an unusually high level. It's easy to work around, but with the EQ set flat, it's not as full as I am accustomed to. YMMV. The TonePrint feature is cool, but I miss having control over the effects-the only control is the amount of effect on the signal, and you can only use one at a time. Being able to change them during a gig using your phone is a nifty feature. My only real complaint with this combo is that there is no capability to add a second cabinet. That extends the utility of a combo and is a feature of other combos that I have used extensively in the past. One of the best features of this combo is its value. I can't think of another small combo at the price point that even comes close. Just the TCE DI in the amp his worth the price. I also own a TCE RH750 and can tell you from lots of playing time, the TCE stuff is clean, great sounding, and built to last. This would be a perfect combo for starting bassists or as a practice rig because it won't break the bank and (with some EQ tweaking) sounds fantastic.

Love it!

By Cary Long on August 4, 2016

Bought this from Paul at Sweetwater. Love the Aux in to audio from YouTube or whatever to play along with. Tone Print is cool. Appreciate the Sweetwater staff and their attentiveness to customers.

TC Electronic BG 250 115 Combo

By Sweetwater Customer on May 10, 2016

More than lives up to its description. A great bass amp at a great price point. The bonus...it's light.

New Amp!

By Jon Colombo from Romulus Mi on April 9, 2016 Music Background: Professional Musician

Nice amp,... Light,, Enough Power for stage,, Needs a few more Tone Print FX, Needs a little more High End Tweeter not that efficient, ! Maybe needs a horn not tweeter! Over all I,m Happy

Good amp

By Jackson on March 27, 2016

It's a great amp for it's price. Loud enough for bed room and small gig.
And tone print is pretty fun.

Why only 3.5 stars?
Two things, tweeter and EQ.
Tweeter seems to take all the highs from 15 rather than assisting the 15.
When I use distortions and fuzz, tweeter projects all of the highs and driver projects bass and middle.
But because of the volume difference, whole thing sound muddy.

I was really looking into their intelligent EQ but highs seem to not work effective as other two.
The bass and middle works pretty amazing. They add and cut well.
But the high seems to work insignificant compare to other two.

Two of these seems not to be a problem when you plug in your headphone or record it from amp's DI out.
Intelligent EQ works pretty well too with DI out. It's just the cabinet seems to not work well.
If you are into intelligent EQ and tone print, I'll recommend you getting BH250 or 500 and get separate cab.

Great amp for working bassist.

By John Birkenheuer from Charleston S.C. on November 29, 2015 Music Background: 30 years playing bass

I play out 2-4 times a week in a cover band and was using a MarkBass 2x10 combo for a number of years, it was and still is an awesome amp.
I bought this after using one as a backline. So far I'm blown away. The size and sound are incredible. I really like the two Toneprint effects and the tuner is great for my 5 string Yamaha TRB.
The weight is also very manageable.
I' rating it at 4.5 because of no speaker out and non included footswitch.

Use the EASY Button

By James Southwood from Terre Haute, IN on September 22, 2015

I bought this amp at another store, before I found Sweetwater and their excellent service. I wasn't for sure what to think of it at first. Then I took it to a local club. "Oh my" the other band members commented. You
changed your sound." They were somewhat worried. Plugged in, tuned up the 5 string with the built in tuner
and we began to gig. "Oh My" the other members said. What a nice change." This amp is nice, light and
louder than it first appears to be. If damaged I would miss it, I would replace it. Mine is the first version but
I'm sure they both sound the same. It's hard to beat at $400.00. Easy to carry and has tone for my Jazz,
blues, rock and country that sits in the mix with personality to spare. I have serious back problems, this
amp is a blessing for that problem. Find one, demo it and order it from Sweetwater today.

Buyer Beware!

By Sweetwater Customer on March 16, 2015

Failed after a few months of use. First problem, the tweeter starting buzzing horribly especially when using a 5 string bass. A few months later turned it on and it I got solid LEDs and no sound from either the 15" speaker or going direct out. With a year warranty that already expired and only 3 TC authorized repair centers on the east coast I have a paperweight. Because I would have to cover shipping costs and a board replacement it would be around $200, not worth it for this crap build. Get a Peavey instead.

AWESOME PLUS AWESOME !

By James Dail from Beltsville,MD on August 2, 2014 Music Background: Musician ( stage , studio )

This is the best sounding amp I had ever used ! Over the last 40 years I have used every mega bass amp made and for my money , this is it ! I use two cabs with a A/B box running at 4/5 on the master with a Musicman Stingray with flatwound strings(SIT/Power Flats) and it's pushing nothing but rock solid deep bass with a nice bite . How can you beat the sound,weight and the price . Because of the price , buy two cabs and rule the world.

Great Buy. Totally Worth it.

By Joshua Flynn from Milford, OH on July 23, 2014 Music Background: Church Musician, Working Jazz Bassist.

This amp is beefy, with great features and a great sound. That being said, it is LIGHT! Under 40 pounds, no pedals to carry around (other than the footswitch...which is a must).

The best way to describe the sound of this amp is "Tight" The notes are crystal clear and the attack is very poignant. no bottom end loss and I dont really see any top end loss either. If you are talking about top end loss it is starting to get away from the original tonality of the Bass. I play an Ibanez Gio 206B and I am in love. (Also from sweetwater :) )

Sweetwater service is on point. Calls to confirm order, emails to keep you updated BEST PRICES ON THE MARKET I PROMISE YOU THAT. I had to get my foot-switch elsewhere because I had a gig right away and needed it.

Bottom line about the amp...If you are looking for a great combo...you dont want to buy and carry around a tuner, a seperate head..seperate cab...effects pedals (Tone print through the phone is totes) and you dont want to carry 110 pounds just for a gig...BUY THIS AMP!

Great amp! But…

By Jesse from Leverett, MA on July 14, 2014

I have had the privilege of playing with the original model of the BG250 & this current model. Merely identical, so both interfaces are almost exactly the same, so if you're upgrading from the original to this, it will likely not be a problem.

Keeping in mind that this is a digital amplifier, I am quite impressed. This is a loud, clean, full-sounding amp. But it's a digital amp; analog components have a much warmer tone. This is something that both 15” models lack, this current one more than the original. However, it is not a cold, earth-less sound; some amps do have that disappointing quality, but this is not one of them.

Another great thing, this is a TANK. I have dropped it down stairs & gotten snow in the circuit board, and it still works just as it did when I bought it.

When I bought this amp, I did first because I had previously purchased the original and was rather impressed, second that there are some noted updated features. First and foremost, not one TonePrint like the original, but TWO. This seems like a great idea, until one finds out that both of them could not used at the same time. Although the original came with only one TonePrint (with a fixed TubeDrive), you could use both at the same time, particularly helpful as of when this review was written, there was a clean octaver & a really distorted octaver; no way to get in between. This is where the TubeDrive was really handy. The current model supports two TonePrints (which is not a bad thing), but only one at a time. My suspected reasoning of this is so that one can't load the same TonePrint to both spaces by mistake, but there may be other reasoning. This is an ongoing problem for me, although others I know don't really care.

An important thing to be aware of is what looks like the EQ. TC Electronic's name for it is the Dynamic Tone Contouring Filter Section, with the additional TweeterTone. This is basically an EQ, but it does not behave like one. One thing to know is that while this is basically a 3-band EQ, it boosts & cuts different frequencies. This is a confusing system at first, but proves to be somewhat helpful when tuning to your space:

Bass |+100 Hz/-80 Hz
Middle |+800 Hz/-300-800 Hz
Treble |+Tweeter/-Tweeter

The built-in tuner is basically the same, although the new model supports 6-string tuning; there are still five red LEDs, so when tuning your c string, the D & G lights are engaged & the green lights do the work. Maybe you'll use it, maybe not; I've found it on my amp to be a few cents sharp, but each one is different.

There is a footswitch jack (1.4”) which (same with the input jack) has never worked loose in the time I've had it. There is also an 1/8” Aux input which is handy for practice, but not much music sounds good through the amp. I haven't a word besides “lightly filtered” to describe the sound, but it is a great tool for practice.

One last thing to know about is the line out jack. XLR male, pre- & post-EQ. I've tried it & it sure doesn't sound great to me, but that's for you to decide.

Long story short, this is a decent practice amp. I've used it on the road & currently as a subwoofer for my computer. It is a decent sounding amp, but a better sounding speaker. One can detach the amplifier should they feel so inclined, but it is most cooperative left alone. Out of five stars, I give it a three; the Sweetwater definition of three stars is “Really Good!”, and it is really good. If you're really leaning towards this amp, I suggest trying to find the original BG250; in short, it's a better sound. However, both are digital amps that sound pretty damn good.

BG250-115

By Michael Levy from Long Island, New York on March 28, 2014 Music Background: Hobbyist

Pros:
Great sound.
Love not having to carry pedals
Light weight
Built in tuner
Aux input
Cons:
Top handle is cheap
Maybe should have side handles/grips
Sticker on front looks cheap and mine was crooked. I took it off
Missing corner guards on top rear
Should have a tilt back feature.

BG250 BASS AMP GOOD LOWS BUT NO HIGHS

By Mr. B. from Spanish Fort, Al usa on March 13, 2014 Music Background: recording, engineer, performing musician.

I purchased the BG250-115 mainly because of it's light weight. Even so, I put wheels on it right out of the box! Got the Sweetwater credit card on this purchase. That was a breeze! The 15 inch speaker allows very good solid lows even at low volume. I use a Schector Diamond C-4 bass. Be aware though, that the built in tweeter is a no-show! I think a 'horn' would perform better. Slap-funk style players will be dissappointed with the lack of bright-high end loss. Also, there is no provision to add an external speaker. If you could add a ten or 8 inch cabinet on top, it would be great! I mentioned this to Sweetwater and their response was to bump up the midrange tone knob. I did and that helped slightly. There is an xlr feed on it and I may add a powered pa speaker to pickup some more string pops!
However, if you don't 'pop' your strings, you'll enjoy this amp. It will shake the floor! I also obtained the foot switch accessory. This allows me to mute the amp and tune anytime I want. I find the tuner very handy and adequate. I can also turn on tone print instantly if I want the built in fuzz sound or chorus.

TC Electronic BG250-115 MKII Bass Combo

By Ted from Florida on January 6, 2014 Music Background: Night-time musician...

I play in a band that covers music from the 1960's and early 70s. I've been using a period correct Vox bass amplifier for a couple years but wanted a more modern amp that has more clean headroom. For what we do this amp has adequate power and I appreciate that it only weighs 39 pounds. I play a Jaguar bass with flatwounds through a Peterson tuner, an Eden WTDI pedal and then into the TC amp. This amp has enough preamp gain adjustment and EQ that I suspect I would be happy without the Eden in front of it but I've been using the Eden for a little EQ and it also has a decent single knob compressor .....back to the amp. I'm still experimenting with the settings on it but I've used it for two outdoor gigs so far and have been pretty pleased. I haven't turned the master past 5 and it keeps up well with two guitarists, keys, drums, and vocals. The preamp gain knob helps you adjust your input level and the EQ section is good for dialing in the sound you want. The toneprint section I've used with TCs "comp in the middle" compressor toneprint and am happy with it. I don't go for much effects on bass guitar so I just use compression and EQ and I'm happy. The XLR direct out goes to the house pa and gives a choice of pre EQ/effects or post. The amp has a headphone jack I've used to practice with and a built in tuner that seems to work OK but I'll stick with my Peterson tuner for gigs.... I suspect that this combo might be disappointing for players that are accustomed to using larger gear but so far it seems to be a good fit for the band and gigs I play in.

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