TC Electronic RH450 Bass Amp Head (450 Watts)

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Meet Bass Amp 2.0. The TC Electronic RH450 includes storable presets, tweakable tube modeling, a built-in tuner, and even RCA input jacks for rehearsals.

Bassists, it's time to punch through the mix! RH450 is here to give bassists a voice. From the moment you experience its sounds, the raw power, and its many amazing features you realize that the bass team at TC Electronic has delivered what you as a bass player have always wanted: an amp system without compromise.

With decades of cutting edge amp design and signal processing development, no other company could bring you this much power, flexibility and tone within a bass amp system.

At TC Electronic, bass gear is developed for bass players by bass players. They have accumulated years and years of live and recording experience - hard-earned experience they've harvested out there on the road and in studios. After countless hours of playing, tweaking, listening - well, living bass, they truly understand your needs and desires when it comes to gigs, rehearsals and studio work. They're proud to bring you RH450 - the bass innovation that will define Bass Amp 2.0.

Accommodating apparent needs that we all have, RH450's impressive feature set is bound to make you go "why didn't someone think of this before?" TC calls it Bass Amp 2.0.

Rehearsal inputs
Playing any instrument on its own can be a little dull, but everyone needs time to practice, which is why RH450 has rehearsal inputs. This rear panel-mounted feature allows you to plug in your iPod, phone, computer or MP3 player via the supplied mini-jack to RCA cable adapter for easy practicing and playing along with recorded music. read more The headphone amp is a high quality model taken straight from TC Electronic's Studio Konnekt 48 and includes a speaker filter on the bass signal.

Integrated Tuner
Every bass player needs a tuner, but virtually no other amp offers anything other than a 'tuner out' feature... until now. Simply push the Mute button to get a full-resolution tuner 'light ring' to help you tune your instrument quickly and accurately. You can also use the RC4 for easy remote access to this functionality.

On board User Memories
You might not use presets, but only because you've never had the chance! Anyone who's used different basses on stage knows that a few user memories on your amp would be welcome. With RH450 you can easily switch between, for example, your 4- and 5-string basses, or your Rickenbacker and Fender Jazz. Just plug in the bass and use the 'car radio' style Store & Recall controls to easily switch between presets for your chosen model. There are three bass user memories, remote control access and visual indicators for Mute and the Tuner.

Flexible Tone Control
Straightforward controls like you know them from traditional amps. Voiced to give you plenty of tweaking options to nail the perfect tone. Chances are that this is all you're ever gonna need. However, if you're not fully satisfied with the default frequency areas, fear not - they've given you the option to change the focus of each of the tone controls.

The nerdy term for this feature is semi-parametric bands, but let's just refer to it as "hidden parameters" or "the magnifying glass". It allows you to pinpoint a frequency you either want to remove or boost for each tone control and then store the settings.

TubeTone(TM)
Most transistor designs have tried to replicate the tube sound using one small pre-amp tube, but they generally fail as they don't take into account the crucial characteristics of the full pre-amp and power amp sections - both of which are essential to the sound. TubeTone(TM) emulates all characteristics to deliver the full tube sound.

Spectra Comp(TM)
Most bass players know that integrated compressors generally don't sound that good. A regular compressor tends to be dominated by the lower string, but RH450's SpectraComp technology allows virtually 'per string' multi-band compression that evens out the compression across all strings.

World Ready power supply
The ultimate in convenience for the traveling musician. The built-in power supply operates from 90 to 240 Volts, making life a lot easier for anyone on the road as there's no complicated fuse changing - just plug and play!

Digital Recording output
The AES/EBU connector means you can record straight into your DAW, such as
Pro Tools or Logic. For maximum flexibility it's also S/PDIF compatible and switchable from pre to post in the pre-amp section.

Integrated DI box
Quality can vary wildly with built-in DIs, but RH450's DI is transformer balanced and galvanically isolated from the rest of the amp, which means no ground loops or hum. And don't worry about long cable runs - RH450 will draw at least 100m of cable with zero drop in audio quality.

Even though the integrated DI in RH450 does not need 48v phantom to operate, it does not get harmed either if your sound engineer accidently leaves it on.

Portability
The versatility of RH450 wouldn't really make sense if it came in an oversized, bulky box. Its stylish design with the smooth grab'n'go handle just spells out portability. It sets your creativity free and screams for you to bring it along wherever your bass talent takes you. Bring your own sound for whatever show or studio session you're involved in or jam out on the tour bus, at the hotel room, at home - and hey, it works for rehearsals too.

Power Handling
The 450w high power output level of RH450 is accomplished by using Class D amplifier technology in combination with TC Electronic's Active Power Management(TM). APM effectively means that the amp behaves very much like a tube amp when getting close to maximum performance by optimizing the power impact, contrary to the hard-clipping tendencies of transistor amps and most other Class D amps.

Active Power Management
This abstract outlines the background and basics for the TC Electronic Active Power Management(TM) introduced on the RH450 Bass amp.
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Input connector: 1/4 in. jack

Input impedance: 1 Mohm / 100 pF

Gain range: -96 to 32dB

Bass: Center Freq: 280Hz (range: 71-1120Hz, Gain: +15/-24dB)

Low Mid: Center Freq: 400Hz (range: 100-1600Hz, Gain: +15/-24dB)

High Mid: Center Freq: 800Hz (range: 200-3150Hz, Gain: +15/-24dB)

Treble: Center Freq: 1600Hz (range: 400-6300Hz, Gain: +12/-24dB)

Tube Tone: 0 to12, Tube amp Recreation

Spectra Comp: 3 band Spectral Compression Preset Level

-12 dB to 0 gain attenuation

User Memories: 3 memory locations storing all front panel controls except Mute & Master Level

Tuner Tuning range: Chromatic, constant on A0 (27.50Hz) to E5 (659.26Hz)

Mute: Mutes speaker out, Phones out and Balanced out

Master Level Headphone Output: Studio quality headphone amp

Impedance: 40 to 600 Ohm

Mains supply: Universal 100 - 240V 50/60Hz (80w @ 1/8 Power)

Speaker out: Combined Speakon / 1/4" jack

Power rating: 450w (800w Peak)

Balanced output: Transformer Balanced XLR, Pre/Post Pre-amp

Max. Output: +0dBu

Optimal Load Impedance: 600 Ohm

Preamp out: 1/4" Jack, Balanced Output, Max Output Level = +8dBu

Power amp in: 1/4" Jack, balanced input, impedance = 10 kOhm, Max Input Level = +8dBu

Rehearsal input: RCA, Left/Right input, fits to iPod (R)

Digital Recording out: Balanced XLR, AES/EBU, (24-bit)

Remote connection: 5 pin DIN, Cable with shield

Dimensions: 275 x 290 x 66 mm / 10.8 x 11.4 x 2.6"

Weight: 4kg / 8.8 pounds

Finish: Sandblasted die-cast aluminum

Due to continuous development, these specifications are subject to change without notice.

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Web: https://www.tcelectronic.com/service.html

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (24 ratings)
Submitted May 21, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com

"YAY for tone!!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I think the only other amp I would get is the bigger one. I've always wanted 2 8x10's on stage at the same time.

Sound
I've owned GK, Ampeg, Acoustic, Swr, and eden bass amps and this one destroys all of them. I was able to dial in a crisp and clear low end and sparkling top end with no problem. Once I added the tubetone I was able to get all the attitude and anger of an ampeg with out the overly low envelope that comes with leaving an svt on for 3 days and cranking all the knobs. TC Electronics truly thought of gigging musicians when developing this amp. I truly could not be happier with this amp.

Features
I record on a regular basis and the outputs for this amp truly do recording justice. the foot switch (which does come in handy and is worth it to get it) is very well constructed and felt like it could take a bomb hit and keep rolling. The switching buttons are the nice kind that just switch, not the kind where you have to put all your weight in to hitting it and listen for a click.

Ease of Use
It took me all of 5 min to figure this amp out. The youtube videos help as well but it really is very natural to get going fairly quick.

Quality
The amp feels like a tank with a sturdy metal case and rugged good looks. The lights for the controls and settings are bright so even the darkest club has no chance of making you guess if your turning the right knob. read more

Value
An SVT head alone cost over $1000. This amp is few hundred less and can get the same and better tones in a smaller package. With the cabs I can take one trip from my car to the stage with no sweat needed.

Manufacturer Support
Haven't needed it so its wonderful.

The Wow Factor
It's shinny and new and has tone for days.

Musical Background:
Active muscian

Musical Style:
Rock, pop, indy, jazz, electronic
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