TC Electronic bass combos launch
| Posted in Music Technology
The TC Electronic ComboClassic and ComboStaccato bass combos have been launched today, following the recent arrival of its first bass amplifier the Combo450, which was reviewed here on Musical Notes on December 18th. The two new bass amps are designed to offer very different performances to the 450, which was based on the manufacturer’s RH450 head – a characteristic shared by the new additions.
Described as bringing “classic tones and distinct bass flavours” to the TC range, the two combos have been designed to appeal to very diverse markets, creating a series of amplifiers that appeal to the broadest possible range of bass players.
The Combo Classic is, as its name suggests, aimed squarely at fans of traditional tone, offering users a wide spectrum of classic sounds via a “vintage tone control section” that comprises four straightforward knobs. The amplifier also boasts a TubeTone feature, which TC claims can emulate “all of the rich characteristics” of a tube amplifier, plus SpectraComp technology, which reportedly allows string-by-string compression to the amplifier’s tone, delivering more bite.
Meanwhile, the ComboStaccato has been tailored towards funk players, having been designed around the exact specification of world famous Tower of Power funk bassist Rocco Prestia. The result is a custom-tuned combo boasting Prestia’s own ideas of how bass tone should be shaped, a sound that TC classes as “full-bodied tone” with “ultra fast precision”. Like the Combo Classic, the Combo Staccatto includes TubeTone and SpectraComp.
Creating bass combos with such specific audiences in mind may sound risky, but TC has planned ahead by allowing for the amp heads in either combo to be removed and swapped as desired, including with the Combo450. All three of the amplifiers in TC’s range deliver 450 Watts and include the manufacturer’s Active Power Management system which is reported to make the combos behave like a tube amp when pushed to their limits.
Both of the new combos boast a pair of 10″ Eminence drivers alongside a 1″ tweeter, and can be stacked with further TC combos. Indeed, the manufacturer has also released the RS210C 2×10 bass guitar extension cabinet for players wanting to extend the output of their system.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: ComboClassic, ComboStaccato, TC Electronic Combo450