I had my first studio experience recording through the new TC-RH450 during May 09.
This was on the new Steve Hackett (Ex Genesis) album ‘Out of the tunnels mouth’.
I use Logic 9 in my home studio and go in through a Focus right compressor. But I thought I would try a different approach this time and go direct and see just how good the inbuilt compression and digital sound card in the amp was.
Well after our first show and all it’s mayhem last night was much better.
The RH450 was configured correctly this time allowing me to tune mid show without coming over the PA. The direct feed came from the balanced D. I. out put.
The show last night in Munich wasn’t a great personal triumph.
We’ve all been fitted out with brand new in ear monitor systems
Which saw their first live show last night and although the crowd went mad I found myself wrestling to enjoy the proceedings.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn yesterday, which gave me chance to run over the new material in my room.
This is the first time I’ve carried a bass head with me as part of my luggage and happily the RH450 survived the British Airways baggage handlers very well. This is due mainly to the light but durable optional RH450 flight case.
I got to the studio early this morning, before every one else so I could try a couple of new features out on the TC (Rebel Head.) This is the first opportunity I’ve had to tinker with the amps’ parameters since the rig first arrived about two weeks ago.
The new Kim Wilde set is still a bit unfamiliar to me in places so I plugged my i-pod into the back of the RH450 and used the headphones out to have some private practice time.
It’s GREAT! I love the way it all sounds in the cans. I love the accuracy of the built in tuner I love the portability and streamline quality the whole package comes in.
We actually started rehearsals three days ago but as my back line and instruments were still in return transit from the Steve Hackett Italian tour I had to use an Ampeg BR2 system and my old faithful Rickenbacker bass.
Not a bad sound combination in general but for anyone who has a Ric, it’s not always easy to get a great sound out of. However I wrestled onward and finally got an angry bight that suited my needs.
I carried on with this configuration until today when my stuff arrived back and I set up the TC Electronic RH450 head.
We opened the tour with a show at the large Pala Vaillant auditorium in Genova. My tech instantly took to the ease of setting up my new rig.
The TC electronic RH450 bass system appeared quite small on this large sound stage, standing next to the drum riser. However the sound was anything but diminutive
as Ben Fenner the sound engineer quickly commented.
“The on stage level was very linear and didn’t seem to interfere with the other instruments making the bass easy to place in the audio picture.
The multi band compressor was noticeably helpful right away I didn’t need to add any additional compression what so ever.
It sounded wonderful
By day two I was feeling secure in the knowledge that my new system had improved my sound and so my confidence. The Steve Hackett set is incredibly complex and it seemed a blessing that I now didn’t need to worry about the quality of signal going to the PA.
Although the HR450 has three programmable presets on the front panel I elected to use just one basic overall sound as I had spent time in preproduction finding a suitable amp modelled sound in the Roland V-Bass system for each piece in the set.
The despatch company delivered the flight-cased unit directly to me at the rehearsal studio after it had been flight cased up by TC Electronic and flown to Heathrow. It’s quite surprising how streamlined the flight cased rig is, appearing to be not much bigger than a Roland JC120. Once I opened the case I could see how they had configured this. The two speaker cabinets fit snugly into the rolling flight case with the 2 x 12 taking up two thirds of the internal space and the 2×10 the other third. Both sets of drivers have been developed in conjuction with Tannoy which goes a long way to explain why they are so audibly concise.
I’ve been very excited about the arrival of the new RH450 system from TC Electronic.
After trying it out at their factory in Denmark last year I was hooked from the moment I plugged in. Even at that early stage of production it was clear that TC were clearly onto something new.
So lucky for me they offered to send a rig to coincide with the start of the Steve Hackett tour commencing on March 12th 09 Genoa Italy.
(I’ll be performing on bass guitars, Chapman stick, Taurus bass peddles and vocals.)