tc electronic BQ500 Bass Head

this Bass Head is realy small, it dosnt weight anything so its easy to carry around when needed
no sounds when powered on what so ever, and it does pack some power
the sound you get from it is in my opinion great and you do notice a huge diffrence when using the EQ,
the HeadPhone jack on the backside is silent, and the sound you get from it is clean without hissing or buzzing
the passive and Active switch on the front does what it sez and it works great, the only thing i dont find any use for (dosnt eaven hear any diffrence) is the Compressor/Thrust but since i have a compressor pedal aswell as a HxStomp its nothing that i miss eather, but thats why i gave the function 4 of 5 stars

the quality of the amp head looks and feels great, it realy feels like it could take a pounding without damage,

i had a Harley benton 300C solid state bass combo, but the amp stoped working so i removed it and used this Head instead, and i could realy hear the diffrence before and after,
its not like the HarleyBenton is bad in anyway, but you get a bettre response and a bit snappier tone with the BQ500 head

would i recomend this head? yes i would i think its great for the price and so far i havnt seen any downsides with it so good job TCElectronics

Har använt denna top tillsammans med en två-tia + en 15" från tc electronic i mer än över ett år nu både i replokal och live på mindre scener. Det är förbluffande hur bra den jobbar. Kör normalt på endast 15-20% av kapaciteten och det räcker gott för ett klart och kraftfullt ljud. Inställningsmöjligheterna är stora och EQ:n jobbar snyggt så det är lätt att forma sitt eget ljud. Tappa ljudet via D.I:n (efter EQ) till mixern och du får ut "ditt" ljud till PA:t.
Lägger man sen till den låga vikten och smidigheten så är det en klar vinnare. Helnöjd!

There’s a lot of different opinions online regarding bass rig set setups on what you should use and what to avoid. I got lost in the noise on many different forums speaking about this, but I decided to purchase this on reviews from people with the same outlook as myself.

I’m a very simple ‘plug in and play’ bassist, and this amp stood out to me because that’s what it allows me to do. With the pedals I use (distortion, chorus and an EQ pedal) it just amps up my tone and keeps things simple. 99% of the gigs I play have a sound guy and use a DI for FOH so it’s more than loud enough with a single cab that I use for monitoring on stage. Very responsive EQ to fine tune your tone! The ‘thrust’ compressor seems to have a minimal impact on the sound but it’s a nice feature to have (it’s still early days so it may be better than I give it credit) A compressor pedal would be more beneficial but for the price of this amp I don’t expect it to be groundbreaking.

Overall, this head is fantastic if you’re on a budget and want to upgrade from a very heavy combo amp (like myself) I can’t wait to get gigging with this thing and break it in!

I bought this just before Christmas intending to use it in the house as a practice amp plugged into my computer. At the same time I was looking to buy a decent DI box but having read the specs and for the price, I thought I might be able to use it live.

One of the things that attracted me to this amp was the line in and headphone socket, something every amp should have but some don`t which is crazy in this day and age when playing through a amp isn`t practical due to noise.

Using as a practice amp, this unit is ideal, small with lots of sound available via the eq and a nice compressor via the Thrust function.

Usually I gig with a Ashdown ABM 500 but on my last gig at the last min, I decided to take along the TC as a back up. As it fits in a laptop bag, I stuck it under the car seat. At the soundcheck, my ABM started to play up, a loud buzzing noise making it unusable. "Have you got a di box?" asked the sound man, I have a spare amp I said. Got the TC out of the cab and plugged it into the Barefaced cab not knowing what to expect.

Well, after a bit of tweaking with the eq, I got a sound I liked and I must say the small TC done good. Even the band mentioned how good the sound was. Good sound out front as well.

So what I have is a small class D amp that saved the day for the the price of a decent effects pedal, a great home practice amp and a 3 year warranty from Thomman.

Will it replace the ABM? I don`t know as I love the kick I get from a old style amp but I would have no hesitation in taking the TC along and gigging it in the future. And even if I use the ABM the TC will be coming along just in case.

Basses used: Fender Nate Mendel P bass, Sandberg California P bass.