TC Electronic BG250 Combo Amplifier

[Muppet]

[i]Features 8/10[/i]

Remember, this is a budget small combo.

There are the standard bass, mid and treble controls (apparently these are intelligent contouring functions whatever those are), 3.5mm aux in and headphone sockets and balanced line out with pre/post eq switch. A very basic tuner and mute function is also included. In addition there’s the variable Tubedrive effect (think MarkBass VLE) and the TC hyped Toneprint function.

This Toneprint facility allows you to select predefined effects patches and upload them to your amp via iPhone/iPad/Android wirelessly or via USB cable from a computer. Sounds a bit complicated but actually you select the patch on your phone from the Toneprint app, press a button, hold the phone close to the guitar pickup and within 5 seconds the patch is loaded. The Toneprint knob then allows the effect to be applied to a greater or lesser extent. The range of effects available is currently flanger, octave, chorus, vibrato, overdrive and compression, with many variations of each.

This amplifier retails for around £300. I bought a five month old one for £200.


[i]Sound Quality 7/10[/i]

I play Fender Precisions and Jazzes, Rickenbackers and a Tanglewood semi acoustic through this.

Firstly volume. Let’s not get in to an argument about stated power and whether its 250 watts, 200 watts or 25 watts with some amazing trickery involved. What matters is the volume that you need it to perform at, and the sound quality at that volume. For such a light, cheap and small amp the volume is very good indeed. I also have a Ampeg BA 115HP (stated 220w) and this out performs that combo. I can easily hold my own against a DW thumping manic and two Marshall 4x12 smitten loonies.

The sound changes slightly depending on the master volume and sounds best at setting 4 and above. It’s a reasonably tight sound for a 15” driver in a thin cabinet. The Tubedrive is excellent and I found myself playing around with it just for fun. I can get a really good Trace sound out of it. The Toneprint is fun to play with but given you can only have one stored at a time then choosing that one is difficult. The shipped effect is a Chorus, but I found that the compressor, modelled on the one in the RH450/750 is far more practical.


[i]Reliability/Build Quality 6/10[/i]

Made in China but still fairly new so I’d hope there’s no issues with it so far. Scores are for build quality rather than reliability.

It is very light (16kg) and as such does feel a little flimsy. The tolex is thin as are the corner bumpers. I also have a Roland Cube 30 and that feels much more substantial, despite being much smaller. The control panel is recessed nicely and all the operations are on the top, although the power switch is on the rear. The input for the optional three button footswitch (mute, Tubedrive and Toneprint on/off) is also on the top.


[i]Customer Support 9/10[/i]

I had a RH450 and now have a RH750. I contacted them once about one of the knobs being loose and they sent me some new ones within 48 hours. Other than that, I’ve had no issues with any TC products so far.


[i]Overall Rating 7/10[/i]

It’s not as nicely designed as the RH heads and RS cabs; in fact it looks a bit bland but you can’t fault the value for money. The sound quality is excellent as is the Tubedrive. The Toneprint is a bit gimmicky and I can’t see myself rushing for my iPhone mid song to switch from overdrive to chorus, however the useable patch for compression is a nice touch and will remain as my default. If there was the option to store a number of different patches it would make it much more useable.

Build quality is good overall but doesn’t give that comfort feeling of something you know will stand up to day to day rigours of gigging and rehearsals. The weight is the big plus point here – definitely a one hand carry and a comfortable one at that.

The tuner is ok if you play standard tuning and referenced against a Peterson it holds up well and it’s quiet and gets to a decent overall volume.

Overall, given what I paid, I think it is a very good amplifier and suits my practice requirements if not a number of my small gigs. If I were to play exclusively though the PA this would be perfect for monitoring. I guess the P3115 Promethean is its closest competitor in terms of price, size and output and if I were buying new I would definitely try both these before deciding.

[irvined]

I bought mine at the bass show in London for a really good price.

Used it at a number of rehearsals and I'm really happy.

I built the tree way foot switch and it's really useful.

Looking forward to using it for a real gig.

Cheers,

Doug

[LeftyBiskit]

I've had mine for just over a year now,
because of its weight
use it for home rehearsals,band rehearsals and gigging,
The build quality is pretty solid as I find myself sitting on it near the end of a 4hr rehearsal-and its not collapsed yet!
and yes I agree with the OP about the spectracomp patch ,I have it as my default setting.
I did find the tuner to be a little flakey tho'.
I still use my trusty TU2,never leave home without it
I have recently bought a Gramma Pad as I play mainly on stages these days as i found the BG250 to be a trifle"boomy"
so after the next gig I'll know whether the GP works well with the BG.

[haysy]

Had mine about a month or so and something has blown in it and gone back for repair! Not good.

[tonyquipment]

Driving it hard or just turned it on a pop! Gone?

[timhiggins]

ive had mine a week and it sounded very good overall ,only issue for me was the so called intelligent eq doesnt really let you dial down mids and boost lows for a reggae dub sound,however today it seems to have frozen' lights on and nobody home'no sound at all so its going back .needless to say im not impressed has anyone else had same problem?

[Phil White]

Had mine a month now, so far no problems, I play in a blues rock band with a guitarist who uses a 100 watt Marshal, keeps up whith him fine. Band loves the tone of this thing and have warned me they will lynch me if i change it
I have found that the tubedrive is fairly useless, unless you are in a Motorhead tribute band. I have the gain at 5, the bass at centre 0, middle at +2, and treble at -4, and not had to to take the master past 5 yet ( on threats from the drummer,lol,lol). A wonderful clear punchy tone.
I use the inbuilt chorus toneprint because it actually sounds better than my EBS Unichorus, and that sucker cost me £135!!!! how about that for value for money from TC.
Like everyone else that owns a TC i have tried all the effects, but can only find a use for two, the Spectracomp and the default chorus, pity TC didn't allow for the use of two effects or more at the same time, but hey, if they did that would increase the price.
Totally agree with LeftyBiskit, the tuner is only good for an emergency.
I rate this purchase my best ever, and consider i just got rid of a full EBS rig, Fafner head, Proline 4x10, Proline 1x15.
For those that say it is muddy or fluffy, i suggest they learn how to set an amp up, and for those that suggest it should have been fitted with a 12" instead of a 15, its all down to your personal prefences.
The BG250 combo is the perfect combo for any gig situation, if you can't hear this thing on stage sack the sound engineer, or the rest of the band is too loud!

[timhiggins]

took mine back to shop after it seemed to freeze and it worked perfectly and has done ever since .'maybe i just had a mature moment ' I tend to agree with phil white theres nothing muddy or fluffy about this amp i find it really clear and articulate . I would also recommend andrew levys basement bash for the toneprint its subtle and very usable. Great amp.

[haysy]

I wasnt driving mine hard. Just switched it on. Contacted Dawsons where I got it from and they sent it back to TCE and they shipped me a new one. Can't fault that but lucky it blew at the start of a gig sound check and didn't blow in the middle of a song. I had a pod xt as a DI backup anyway, but still the reliability issue is still there. Maybe I was unlucky with a rogue unit.

[Tripehound]

Make that two rogue units!

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bought one on Saturday after reading and watching a lot of good things said about this amp. I love my Bassman TV15 but I can feel my dodgy knee going when I lift it so the BG250-112 looked just the ticket for smaller gigs, home practice, messing with the effects and so on. Drove from Derby to Sheffield to get it and took it straight to the gig. [/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I should have known better. [/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Twenty minutes into the gig, said amp (which everyone had been admiring and commenting on what a smart chap I am) decides to cut out mid song.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I did what any self-respecting bass player would do under the circumstances - I accused the keyboard player of touching it. He proclaimed his innocence, we switched it off and on again and it started working. A situation that lasted around 5 minutes before it did it again. Then again. Abandoned set and took 20 minute break whilst we shot back to our rehearsal rooms to pick up the trusty Fender. Played the rest of the gig through that and of course it sounded great.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Went back to Richtone who exchanged it without a quibble and number two awaits a more thorough QA session at this week's rehearsal. I'm sure lightning can't strike twice....[/font][/color]

[font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]Before all the BS started it seemed pretty competent and certainly held its own in a large-ish pub room with guitar, drums and keyboard/sax. Shifts plenty of air through a single 12" speaker and, although I just went with flat settings having not had chance to experiment, sounded pretty good. The weight thing does seem to trade off against ruggedness and think it will need a decent padded cover at the very least. A flightcase would rather defeat the object.[/color][/font]

[skydivepaul]

Overall Rating 9/10

I've had mine for just over 6 months now and am really pleased with it
I got rid of an ashdown mag300 210 and replaced it with this.

Sound quality is excellent, I can get he tone I like out of this with no messing around
We play rock covers ac/dc, Metallica, Bon jovi plus some more modern stuff arctic monkeys, gossip etc and it performs great
My regular settings are
Gain 12 o'clock
Bass 2 o'clock
Mid 11 o'clock
Treble 1 o'clock
Tube drive 1 o'clock

Volume, whether it is 250 watts I don't know, but it holds its own with our very enthusiastic drummer and our competing guitarists with Marshall valvestate combos
Volume is usually set a 1 o'clock and as stated before it sounds better when turned past 4 o the dial

Tube drive works well for me and I always add a bit more .... Well turn it to full when we play Motörhead !
Tone print is useful, I leave it on the duff chorus and switch on when we play gnr

The aux input is really Useful for jamming along with tracks, just plug in the iPhone and off you go, however I find some tracks quieter than others so have to play around with the gain to get the level right
Headphone output us fairly quiet too, the master volume has to push up a bit to work right for me

The Inbuilt tuner is ok and accurate. However we mostly play in E flat and the tuner only works with standard settings so I don't really use the built in tuner much

Not used the di function yet so can't comment on that

The combo is really light for the power output so easy for shifting around
I wouldn't call it flimsy as others have said. It is not built like a tank like a trace Elliot amp though

One thing I would like to see is a speaker output so you could run another cab.

All in all very happy with the amp, light years better than the ashdown I had, plenty loud bough for pub gigs etc
Didn't score it a 10/10 for the speaker output and tuner

Paul

[timhiggins]

mine froze again ,took it back to shop where it done the same thing [lights on and no sound] they sorted it out apparently with a software update !
so my worry now is what if it needs software update mid gig ? Not impressed

[timhiggins]

A week later i was back in the shop it having frozen again this time they finally sent it to t.c. where they apparently changed a 'module/board' !
it has worked with no problems since ,that was 6 months ago ......

[ribbetingfrog]

I've got the 2x8 version, had it six months, has worked faultlessly.
Love the lightness, love the tone, love the toneprints.
It only has one toneprint accessible from the amp but two with the foot switch.
Icm 17 stone and sit on it regularly, never an issue.

We have a pretty loud drummer, with my Warwick it easily matches him at 11 o'clock on the volume and sounds incredible. With my mate's Traben I have to max it and struggle to get a nice tone.

The 2x8 does come with a speaker out. It runs at 175 watts through internal speakers and 250 watt with extension cab. I have an Ashdown 4x8 which gives it a good bass boost, deeper tone and a good chunk more volume. The tone is pretty epic without the ext. cab though.

[colgraff]

I have the 210 version. I bought it a couple of months ago and it is excellent. It does everything that I need of it without a hitch.

[Tonteee]

Hi all,

I've had a BG250 since they first came out - I have a Mk1 BG250, which only came with a 15" speaker.

The reason they don't have an option for an extension cab on the larger combos is (as you've probably guessed) the amp is already working at 4 ohms.

There have been quite a few reported electronic failures for these (releasing the magic smoke), but at the same time there's been a lot of units sold. 1% of 10,000 units, and all that.

I've regularly gigged this combo for all sorts of styles - Rock, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz/Funk - and it's always performed well. However, it's probably worth saying that I flightcased this right at the start. These combos aren't made of glass, but they're not tanks either. I do feel that some of the problems people experience might be related to the relative fragility of the components. It is noticeable that PCBs are clearly visible through the rear vent panel.

If I were to criticise, there is a clear voicing to the combo, leaning towards to boomy bottom end. It works great for flatwounds and RnB, but less so for slappy or 'hi-fi' tones. Saying that, the diaphragm tweeter is effective, and much less harsh than bullet or horn options. The EQ section is not as it seems, and each knob controls more than one frequency. I originally liked this, but as I've gone on I've felt less able to accurately control the tone. The volume and gain controls (like other TC stuff) do not feel very linear. I suspect that at 60% volume, you're getting 75% of the power.

In closing, I would still recommend the combo (knowing the sonic limitations), but also recommend buying a good cover.

[Kevin Dean]

I've known 3 friends in a relatively small area where their combos shut down on gigs . I had the 250w head & it certainly wasn't 250 w .

[Stingrayman]

On 02/12/2013 at 21:26, Tripehound said:

Make that two rogue units!

Bought one on Saturday after reading and watching a lot of good things said about this amp. I love my Bassman TV15 but I can feel my dodgy knee going when I lift it so the BG250-112 looked just the ticket for smaller gigs, home practice, messing with the effects and so on. Drove from Derby to Sheffield to get it and took it straight to the gig.

I should have known better.

Twenty minutes into the gig, said amp (which everyone had been admiring and commenting on what a smart chap I am) decides to cut out mid song.

I did what any self-respecting bass player would do under the circumstances - I accused the keyboard player of touching it. He proclaimed his innocence, we switched it off and on again and it started working. A situation that lasted around 5 minutes before it did it again. Then again. Abandoned set and took 20 minute break whilst we shot back to our rehearsal rooms to pick up the trusty Fender. Played the rest of the gig through that and of course it sounded great.

Went back to Richtone who exchanged it without a quibble and number two awaits a more thorough QA session at this week's rehearsal. I'm sure lightning can't strike twice....

Before all the BS started it seemed pretty competent and certainly held its own in a large-ish pub room with guitar, drums and keyboard/sax. Shifts plenty of air through a single 12" speaker and, although I just went with flat settings having not had chance to experiment, sounded pretty good. The weight thing does seem to trade off against ruggedness and think it will need a decent padded cover at the very least. A flightcase would rather defeat the object.

I have had 2 of these amps now that both had the exact same symptoms. I bought a second hand one and after several gigs it started to give a moment of speaker rattle and buzz then cutoff completely. After 10 or fifteen seconds it would come back on. I tell you, in the middle of a busy gig it felt like it was off for a lifetime! Being unreliable, I replaced it with a brand new unit. The same thing started happening in the middle of a gig. So it had to go back. 

It’s a real shame, as for the price point, the amp is of good build, is very light, powerful and loud. The toneprint feature is a bit gimmicky and has little practical value.

[grandad]

I've had my BG250-208 for over 12 months and am very pleased with it. I gig a couple of times a month with a Jazz quartet and we practice usually once a week. As I approach my 70th birthday I don't want to lug anything more than about 30lbs about and the 208 is a comfortable lift. It's a very convenient little amp, built in tuner, simple controls, spectra-comp loaded and small footprint. A good little amp as it is, I have up-graded the speakers. This is very easily done and does improve the bottom end.

4 options:

1. Leave it as it is and use the ext spkr with a cab of your own choice. I was pleasantly surprised when I connected my Ampeg BC115E.

2. Replace both speakers with these: http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=FANSOV8-125

This will increase the available power but negate the ext spkr skt. Added weight = a couple of pounds. This is my present setup.

3. Replace both with these: http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=FANSOV8225

This adds about 6lbs in weight and also negates using the speaker extension skt.

4. Having acquired a second BG250-208 I shall this week replace just the lower speaker with a 225, (8 ohm), and leave the top speaker as it is, (16 ohm). Replacing both with 225's made the amp a bit heavy for me. This will put a 5.6 ohm load on the amp so if I were to connect an ext spkr of 8 ohms I overload the amp slightly with 3.2 ohms but that would be OK I think as I rarely have the volume over 12o'clock. The cabinet is not vented so the only spec's I looked at were the recommended volume enclosure and the Xmax.

So, the TCE BG250 - I'm very happy with mine, it suits my needs perfectly.

Having said that, I've parked my old gig-rig, (Peavey head into an Ampeg B115E),  at the community centre and play through it on our twice monthly music club nights. Stills sounds good.

Edited January 21, 2018 by grandad

[EssentialTension]

I've had the 208 version for a couple of years. I only use it for learning stuff with guitarist. I did upgrade the speakers to the Fane's mentioned above, which wasn't really necessary. I've had no problems with it at all.