Anybody get the TC-100 yet?

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bandit2013

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I ordered mine the day I discovered they were in stock at Sweetwater. However due to winter storm issue I had in NC, things have become interesting and no amp yet. So has anyone else taken the plunge on the new TC-100, if so did you get yours yet?
 
Mine will be here Friday/Saturday. Along with a Marshall JVM 215C. :shock:

Both from Sweetwater.

Then I leave on Sunday to go to Houston, TX for the week - ugh!!

I'll have to give them nice play through before I go. Can't wait to hear those 20,7 and 3 watt modes!
 
Perhaps I am the first to get one. It arrived today, feels a bit heavier than the TC-50 which it should due to the larger transformers and power soak magnetics. Cool, it is reactive power attenuation vs the resistor that is on the RA100. Have not fired it up yet but the amp is ready to sing. Had to de-thron the JP-2C so I could compare the TC-100 to the TC-50. :p
 
Nice! Let us know what you think.

Are you staying with the EL34 tubes or swapping them out?
 
I am going to stick with the Mesa EL34 tubes. Will have to wait for two more 6v6 and 5881 to try in the TC-100. I only ordered one pair of each when I got those. Everything else I have plenty but will stick with Mesa tubes for the time being. Want to make sure the amp works first as I have not powered it up yet.

One thing for sure, I am going to daisy chain the TC-50 and TC-100 together with the midi and use only one footswitch To start, need to explore the amp and see, hear and feel the difference of the two. Looks awesome, just like the TC-50 but more intimidating with the extra controls for the power soak. Awesome that they are on the front panel. The RA100 you had to look around on the other side to set them.

Perhaps when I get time, I will do a review of the TC100, compare that to the TC-50 and most of all (at least for me) how it stacks up to the RA100.
 
Nice that you received yours!

I ordered mine on Monday. It will take a little while to get it because I live outside the US.

Look forward to reading your review!
 
For the time being, I will take some time with it before writing anything negative like I did with the TC-50. The power tubes were the primary complaint but once they get some time in the amp just sounds great. The TC-100 is a bit different tone wise that the TC-50 but yet very similar since they both use the same preamp circuits. TC-50 is a bit more dry in palm muting that the TC-100 but that is comparing tubes in the 50 have had more use than the fresh tubes in the TC-100. The 100 definitely has more kick to it. Lo Gain channel is 8) oooooh yeaaaah 8) Clean channel on drive is OH Boy :p A bit of a twist on the hi gain channel. Had some squeal with the tight mode and high gain setting. Hi gain channel seems a bit thicker (similar to the RA100 but not)I might have to put this amp on the 412 cab and open it up and see what happens.

I did experiment with the power soak set to 50W so I can balance out the TC-100 with the TC-50. Set the controls on each channel as close as I can get them and, well , the two amps nearly sound identical. No surprises to note. The 100 seems to be a tad bit more forward than the 50 but that could be the difference between the two power supplies and larger OT. Definitely need some burn in time on the tubes. The ones installed in the TC-100 are blues and the one's I have in the TC-50 are greens. I do have some blues to throw in so I may do just that since they have not been used more than 30 minutes. That way I can compare two different apples rather than an apple and pear. The blues are a bit brighter with just a hint more headroom. I may have a quad of EL34 in a different color code. I believe I have an old set of reds but not sure if they are any good.

If I had my choice of tubes, it would be for the big bottle 6CA7 variety. Would love to get my hands on some RCA's but at a more affordable cost of course. For now I will stick with Mesa tubes. Definitely have to get a few more of the 6V6 tubes.
 
Joshwah333 said:
Mine will be here Friday/Saturday. Along with a Marshall JVM 215C. :shock:

Both from Sweetwater.

Then I leave on Sunday to go to Houston, TX for the week - ugh!!

I'll have to give them nice play through before I go. Can't wait to hear those 20,7 and 3 watt modes!

Would love to hear a comparison of the JVM to the TC!!
 
golfnguitarz said:
Joshwah333 said:
Mine will be here Friday/Saturday. Along with a Marshall JVM 215C. :shock:

Both from Sweetwater.

Then I leave on Sunday to go to Houston, TX for the week - ugh!!

I'll have to give them nice play through before I go. Can't wait to hear those 20,7 and 3 watt modes!

Would love to hear a comparison of the JVM to the TC!!

Not a bad idea! It will have to wait a couple weeks as delivery on mine has been paused.

Sweetwater shipped mine to an old address and I won't be able to intercept it next week as I'll be in Houston, TX. So it should arrive Monday 1/22/18. But the JVM will be here tomorrow! 8)

I've been experimenting in recording lately so I really like this suggestion.

Any advice on what websites would be best to host sound clips? I've never done this before, so any help is appreciated!
 
I use sound cloud. does not cost anything. the free version is limited to total number of songs or sound files. Does not seem to be limited to length of recording yet. Still trying to recover everything on my PC as it died after posting my last post prior to this one.
 
I can say one thing for sure, the TC-100 is a beast running at 100W. :p Even with the blue color coded tubes. Tone is more juicy than the TC-50. Rich midrange, strong bottom and bottom end. I can actually dial in more treble on CH2 and CH3. Also a bit less bass on CH3. Awesome that this amp has separate tone controls for Lo and Hi gain channels unlike the RA100 that shares them. The TC-100 is definitely going to take over. I may have stated that the TC-50 will not replace the RA100, I still feel the same. However, the TC-100 I believe already has replaced the RA100. My need to take some extra vitamins so I can move the RA100 off of the OS Recto 412. Holy S*** batman, that is one sweet amp. I still love the TC-50 as that is a great amp to have. I can get similar tone and gain character with the TC-100 set to 50W with a slight adjustment to the tone controls due to the extra iron and subtle tone differences. I am so glad I jumped on it when they became available (in-stock) at Sweetwater. Now I have to try out my other cabs, newer stock OS Recto 412 (V30), 18yr old OS Recto 412 (refurbished with EVM12L black label speakers), and then there is the inexpensive Egnator trad 412 that I installed Celestion G12H75 Creambacks into. Ah yes, need to run both vert 212 cabs and see if that blows my mind like it did with the JP-2C. Those who are thinking about the TC-100, it is worth it.

Have to get another set of 6V6 and 5881's for this amp. May even get another pair of NOS Siemens
 
Yesterday while I was down loading more and more updates to the native op on the computer (definitely need to get windows 10 again, win7 is not vey good) I had to hear the effect of running the two Mesa Vert 212 cabs. When I did this with the JP-2C I was blown away. Not so much satisfying with the TC-50, was not bad but seemed like it was too much for the amp. Well, the TC-100 has plenty of power to push the 4 ohm total load. WOW, now that is an experience to repeat. Still have not moved on to the OS Recto 412 cab yet. Perhaps later on today I will hear the difference. Definitely want to run the TC-100 though the EV loaded 412 cab I use with the Roadster.

As for the power soak, set to 50W it is almost a dead ringer for the TC-50 but with some tone differences. At 20W still sounds quite the same but lower volume. I did not notice any tonal shift even at 7W. When it comes to external power attenuators there generally is some tone loss. I have the Rivera Rock Crusher Recording attenuator but that unit has bass and treble compensation in the even the tone is affected by the reactive circuit. I have tried it with the RA100 some time ago but thought the tone seems to loose top end and more midrange is present. However, the Rock worked really good with the Roadster, Mark V as well as the JP-2C. I would recommend that if you do use an external power attenuator or load box to keep the amp set to 100W.

I can say this, I am very satisfied with the TC-100. Out of box experience was much better than I expected it to be. Now that I had the experience of the TC-50 behind me I knew what to expect with the TC-100. Actually I did not get what I expected from the TC-100 :roll: Instead I got a big surprise that this amp is more than I expected. A beast.

Clean channel on drive with moderate gain setting. :shock: Now I have found heaven. The clean channel almost seems to have the most power in its voice. You do not need high gain to be satisfied. So far I have been overjoyed by its authoritative punch, demanding grind and growl. I am getting this out of the clean channel? :p This is almost like the Lo gain on steroids. Let me just say this, the TC-100 has topped the RA100 with spades just on the clean channel alone. Take it out of drive and you get much cleaner tone (that is obvious) Keep in mind I am not running this amp all the way up as I like my hearing to remain intact. Nice warm rich tone with bold bottom end and chime on the top. There is no doubt you are running EL34 but still it will trick you to think twice. Just like the TC-50, the clean channel in normal mode is about the same. Nice.

Lo gain is where there are differences between the TC-50 and the TC-100. This is all due to the different power supply and more iron in the OT. I generally set the bass around 1 PM, midrange at the same and cut back on the treble. Recently I have been setting more treble with the TC-50. I found I can get similar tone with the TC-100 but need to cut the bass back just a bit but not much. Holy crap does this 100W version Rock. I have tried running the TC-50 preamp and slaved the RA100 as well as the JP-2C just to get an idea what a 100W version would sound like. That just did not get close enough. Experimented with change in midrange to null and then much higher than noon. This amp is not whistling Dixie, reserve that for the Lone Star. It is just as impressive as the clean channel in drive mode with more crunch. The Mark V could not top this, ever. (well perhaps on par would be better word choice). The TC-100 is still the TC-50 but with a change in power supply and transformers and two extra juice bottles. There seems to be a hint of more modern tone with the TC-100 on the lo gain (CH2). I did not get the thinning effect with the tight mode turned on. Still had the characteristic reduction in the bass, sounds just as good. Perhaps the extra thump from the speakers makes a difference. Really liking the tight mode just as much as the normal mode with 100W on reserve.

Hi gain. Not things are really heating up. I am noticing a similar effect with the TC-100 as with the RA100 between the lo and hi gain settings. Change in saturation and bass response. With the TC-50 I am running the bass control around 2pm or higher. With the TC-100 I need to reduce it, especially with more gain dialed in as this reduces the saturation effect on the bottom end. Also I am running the treble a bit higher to keep the tone crisp. Tight mode can become a feedback mayhem if you are too aggressive on the gain setting but easily controlled with gain and presence adjustment. Much heavier tone and quite aggressive.

Overall, it dawned on my why some may be jumping off the Rectos in favor of the TC series. I was definitely hearing the Recto voice (all depends on what amp you are referencing ) in the TC-100, a bit more than I had noticed in the TC-50. You guessed it, the TC-100 made my top list. Now I have to press it against the RA100 and find out which one wins (spoiler alert: they both win but I think I am favoring the TC-100 at the moment).
 
Update: Compared the Mesa Vertical 212 to the OS Recto 412 (stock) with the TC-100. I much prefer the Vertical 212 over the OSR 412. The smaller cab keeps it tight and bold especially when using the 100W power. The Vert is one impressive cabinet just like the horizontal 212. The slant front OS 412 seems to loose the focal characteristic. Hard to explain perhaps. Nothing wrong with the larger cabinet. For some reason or another it fits better with the RA100. Sure I like it with the other amps but the one I had refurbished with the EV speaker seems to be the choice especially for the Roadster, JP-2C or the Mark V. I will have to roll out the Egnator cab loaded with the creambacks and see how I like it with the TC-100. May have to get another Vertical 212 as that cab tends to be the go to cab for the TC-50, TC-100 and the JP-2C. Not quite done comparing the TC-100 to the other amps. Why am I comparing in the first place? Perhaps if I want to thin out the herd I can figure out what may go, but that will not happen as I like all of my amps, even if they are outdated. RA100 (head and combo) are keepers as is the Roadster, JP-2C, obviously the TC 50/100 are keepers too. Then there is the Mark V, not bad but where it stands at the moment on the keep list is uncertain.
 
OH boy, I am learning something new and old at the same time :p

For starters: Daisy Chaining two amps using Midi. I did not check the mode switches on the TC-50 except for the front panel. Had the reverb turned on with the 50 and was set to ftsw on the 100. Wound up with an inversion of reverb function on the 50. Changing the switch to match the 100 did not make a difference unless you powered both down and restarted them so the midi can link up properly. Not sure that could be useful but I think the same would apply with the FX switch on the back. One set to on and the other off would invert the function so you could enable the loop on one vs the other if that makes any sense. I would rather have all the functions to be consistent even if I have different effects on each amp. Blending the Strymon BigSky reverb pedal with the octave function and the Strymon DIG delay pedal does not work very well when they are both on the same loop as it gets quite muddy. However using BigSky on one and the DIG on the other does work as I have done this with recording (my digital recorder has two separate FX loops that can be run in parallel). Now I can do that with the amps without getting into a sound mess. Sweet :p

Now for the old trick but may be different with other Mesa tubes. Regarding the EL34's and their associated color codes to match tubes. My TC-50 originally came with Gray or GRY coded tubes. A while back I had ordered a quad of tubes (two sets of match pairs), one pair was blue and the other was green. Sure the colors do have meaning based on distortion characteristics. Starting from early distortion: Red, Yellow, Green, Gray, Blue, White. Where as Reds would tend to distort at lower levels and the whites would provide the highest head room. If this is true. There is something else I have noticed. The colors also may be associated with tone. Warmer to colder would be the same as the distortion character, Red being the warmer tube up to white the brightest. (long shot). My reasoning for this is that I found the green colored tubes to be much warmer in tone than the grays that came in the TC-50. Not by much but I think I did notice the difference. There was definitely a tonal difference between the TC-50 with the greens and the TC-100 with the blues (set to 50W power). I had a pair of blues so I stuffed them into the TC-50 before I tried the daisy chain thing above. Now both amps sound identical such that I could not tell them apart from each other tone wise (both amps having the controls set as close as possible in a viewing perspective). In either case, both amps have good uniformity of tone, well balanced bass to treble. Palm muting was consistent and not notably different as it was with the green tubes in the 50 vs the blue in the 100. So far the blues sound great. Kudo's to Mesa for taking the time to make the TC series what it is. I may jump camp entirely onto the Crown and abandon the Mark series all together. (well except for the JP-2C, that you may need to pry from my corpse as I really love that amp I want to be buried with it, not. would rather pass it on to someone who would enjoy it as much as I do when that time comes, hopefully much later than sooner :roll: )

note: I did notice a ping when changing channels with the TC-100 last night (no signal on the input). I knew exactly what that was so I pulled the chassis this morning to find the sensitive preamp tube. Turned out to be V3 (first stage for CH2 and CH3). Since I have a surplus of new mesa tubes, I just changed both V3 and V4. Also wanted to take the opportunity to look inside while the chassis was out of its shell. Same PC board as the TC-50 but with all components installed. If you saw the internals of the TC-50 there are many areas in the amp that are unpopulated. There is a lot more going on in the TC-100 including much larger power supply caps. Nice work actually. I have some admiration for the design and layout of the PCB. I do that for a living anyways as I am an Electrical Engineer although the products I create are based heavily on control theory, digital and analog circuits but not in the audio spectrum of signal frequency.

I find it so tempting to get yet another Vertical 212 cab. :shock: that would open up a reason to get another TC-50 8) to complete my super rig. Then again I am thinking on the traditional sized 412 in straight format for the TC-100 and use the two verts with the TC-50's. I do not think there is a limit on how many amps can be daisy chained so this is a possible opportunity. Perhaps a bit of overkill on my part. Sure I could get a 2:50 or 2:90 power amp. For some reason I like having the heads and cabs as I can scale that down if needed.

I think I am hooked on the TC series.
 
Here is a picture of both TC-50 and the TC-100 together.

38983310704_58a86b3cb4_k.jpg


39661085652_dc32ca0fc7_z.jpg
 
Had a revelation. Get another TC-100 and forget the second TC-50. That would be more scalable with the power soak than having to switch to 6V6 tubes with the TC-50. Oh man dose the TC-100 sound so good at 100W. :p and you do not have to push it into insane volumes to get it there.

I have no plans on selling the TC-50 currently have. If I do such and get another TC-100, something has to go. Mark V or the two RA100's? I think I like the RA's so may be easier to let go of the Mark V when that time comes. Something to think about. Since I do not gig, no point in making any changes to what I have now. If there is another Mark series amp to come out of Mesa, I hope it is better than the V.
 
Perhaps I can wait for what comes next out of the Mind of R. Smith and company.
So far the pair up of the TC-50 and 100 using the midi cable is so much fun. You need an isolated signal splitter to drive both amps with one guitar unless your guitar has a stereo output (some do have this feature but may not be what you think it is).

Considering how I have bonded with the TC-50, the TC-100 was a drop in replacement with a lot more volume capacity. Definitely has ample bottom end. After warming up the tubes as much as I have now, actually on both amps (loaded the 50 with the same color Mesa tubes), the 100 is sounding more like the 50 and vice versa in terms of palm muting characteristics. The TC-50 excels with the palm muting style. TC-100 is getting much closer to that dry thump that sounds so good on the 50. Everything else is on par so either way you go TC-50 or the TC-100 you get a great amp.
 
I was impressed with the demos I've heard on the TC100. Even my computer speakers indicated more punch in the 100 vs the 50. I am not at all surprised by your assessment. My TC50 is getting close to eclipsing my opinion of my Dyne. Now that I have a huge project off my list, I hope to be running my 50 and Dyne together. I still have a couple smaller projects ahead, but those are minuscule compared to the one I just completed. I still have no regrets with my purchase of the TC50, and have no plans to get the TC100. But, had I known a year ago the 100 was coming with the reactive attenuator, I may have waited. The thought of 4 6V6 tubes choked down to 3 watts (would that actually become 1.5 watts with those tubes???) and the master wide open seems like I would be in Asgard.
 
I am still impressed with both the TC-50 and the TC-100. After installing the blue color coded Mesa EL34's in the TC-50 to match that what came in the TC-100, I am more impressed with the TC-50 than before. I fail to hear the lack of bass with the TC-50 as mine is perfectly balanced with the midrange and treble. So far the TC-50 has not disappointed me in the tone department. The TC-100 is just as great with a bit more saturated characteristics at 100W. Driving two cabs with the TC-100 was very impressive considering I ran both of the Vertical 212 cabs. Now that was riveting, just as much as the JP-2C under the same load conditions. I did the same with the TC-50 and that was good but not as massive as a 100W power plant can provide. A 412 cab is a better choice for the TC-50 vs running to vertical 212 in parallel.

I am happy I have both amps. I would have been just as pleased if I did not get the TC-100 or the TC-50 so I have no regrets having both amps.

Based on some of the video's that have surfaced with the TC-100, I would not doubt there would be much difference if the TC-50 was used instead.
 

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