PRODUCT REVIEW
TC ELECTRONIC
RH450/RS210 Bass Rig
BY DAN BERKOWITZ
In the past few years, lots of well-known bass
amp makers have been putting out sub-10-
pound heads that pack a punch: Eden, Genz-Benz, MarkBass, Euphonic Audio, Acoustic
Image, Gallien-Krueger—the list goes on. If yet
another mini-powerhouse amp wants to find a
spot in this niche, the manufacturer better make
sure it stands out.
With the RH450 bass amp, TC Electronic—a
Danish company long known for quality guitar
effects and studio gear—has succeeded in that
mission. To do so, the RH450 packs just about
everything a working bassist could want into an
8. 8 pound, 450-watt head. And it’s surprisingly
easy to use, too.
Adding to that, TC Electronic has come up with
a pair of cabs—a 2x10 and a 2x12—that are
easy to manage and put out plenty of sound…
a total package. In case you’re wondering, yes,
this is the same rig that was originally introduced as the RebelHead and RebelStack. Right
before introduction, TC Electronic learned there
were US trademark problems and had to drop
that moniker (I prefer model numbers over
names anyhow!).
So What’s the Diff?
TC Electronic bills this rig as “bass amp 2.0,”
suggesting a new take on what a bass amp is
all about. In a lot of ways, I’d have to agree—
they’ve come up with a new way of packaging
familiar tools, and they’ve made those tools
work more easily and sound better than most
I’ve run across. And while most of these little,
new-generation amps shoot for sonic transparency, the RH450 takes the spirit of a tube amp
and recreates that sound and feel via lightweight
solid-state design in both the preamp and the
Class D power amp sections.
What’s included in the RH450 head? Four
bands of EQ, a tweakable compressor, a tube
amp emulator, a tuner, a headphone amp,
a direct out and three user-defined presets.
Those are the big things. Standard stuff, but
each with a twist that takes it to the uncommon. And it all seems to be high quality,
durable and without noticeable quirks. Frankly,
when an amp maker tries to do something
different, there’s a risk that it’ll flop. Settings
might not be intuitive, a built-in effect might
sound hokey, or a knob can look ready to break
