As far as tone, I really discovered the character
of the RH450 while A/B’ing with another brand
of mini-amp. One note and I was struck with
the transparency of that other amp—nearly to
the point of sounding sterile. In contrast, the
RH450 had a warmth and tonal character that
were very pleasant, yet assertive. Besides the
Tube Tone effect, the RH450 has Active Power
Management (APM), a circuit that kicks in when
the amp gets close to maximum performance,
compressing and limiting peaks of the bass signal much like a tube amp would. TC Electronic
explains that APM makes its solid state watts
sound more like tube watts.
that the manual can be understood by non
tech-heads—good job there, too.
Finally, one small quibble. Because of their location just under the upper lip of the amp case,
the preset and mute buttons can be difficult
to see in lower light. Going to buttons that
shift from red to green when activated might
be an easy way around this problem. And the
problem would be resolved if you added the
optional footswitch.
Soundwise, the RS210 cabs are focused
and punchy, especially in the vertical stack
configuration. Plenty of clarity, but not
harsh in any way. Knobs, you ask? Sturdy
and wiggle free, yet easy to turn with precision. And with all these features, it’s good
Buy If...
You need a innovative, high-quali-ty, lightweight, powerful amp with
a great set of built-in features.
Skip If...
You’re a tube die-hard, prefer a
no-frills rig, and have a modest
gear budget.
Rating...
5.0
ONTHEWeb
Click the speaker button for sound
samples of the RH450. For a
descriptions of the clips,
head to
premierguitar.com
TC Electronic
MSRP RH450 $999; RS210 $449 each
tcelectronic.com
