TC Electronic BH550, Manual

Operation – Front Panel

BH550 / BH800 English Manual (2014-10-01) 13

4. 

Intelligent EQ section

The Intelligent EQ section of this TC bass amp is 
not your standard bass amp EQ!

Ordinary bass, middle and treble controls boost 
or cut the same frequency area when you turn 
the controls clockwise or counterclockwise. The 
tone controls of this amp intelligently address 
several different frequencies when you turn 
them, integrating not only tone control, but also 
contouring your sound.

By adapting one or more target frequencies and 
bandwidths at the turn of a single knob, the Intel-
ligent EQ section combines excellent tone shap-
ing abilities with ease of use.

5. 

TONEPRINT knobs 1 and 2

If you are not familiar with the TonePrint concept, 
please read “TonePrint” on page 8 first. You 
can also find additional information and videos 
about TonePrint technology for bass players on 
TC Electronic’s website.

Your bass amp can store two independent Tone-
Prints. By default, TonePrint slot 1 contains the 
TubeDrive TonePrint, and slot 2 contains the fa-
mous TC Classic Chorus TonePrint.

6. 

TonePrint slot switch

To select a TonePrint slot (1 or 2), set the Tone-
Print slot switch to the respective slot. The LED 
of the currently selected TonePrint slot will light 
up.

You will hear the TonePrint effect currently stored 
in this slot, and if you transfer a new TonePrint to 
your TC bass amp, it will be stored in this slot.

Use the TonePrint knob for the currently selected 
TonePrint slot to control the TonePrint in this slot 
as follows:

►

For most modulation effects (Chorus, Flang-
er, Vibrato and Octaver), the TonePrint knob 
work as a dry/wet mix control, but for some 
TonePrints, it could also be the speed of the 
Vibrato or the depth of the Chorus.

►

For Compression and Drive TonePrints, the 
TonePrint knob usually acts as amount (in-
tensity) control.

Featured TonePrint artists may have assigned 
the TonePrint knob to other parameters.

Finally, there are some TonePrints that encom-
pass two effects. In this case, the TonePrint knob 
will control one or multiple parameters of one ef-
fect, while the parameters of the other effect are 
static.

Please note that while your TC bass amp can 

store

 two separate TonePrints, only one Tone-

Print can be 

active

 at any time.

Deactivating TonePrint

If you do 

not

 want to hear/use the TonePrint ef-

fect at all,

►

set the TonePrint slot switch to center posi-
tion or

►

turn the knob of the currently active TonePrint 
slot fully counterclockwise or

►

use a Switch-3 footswitch connected to the 
PEDAL jack on the rear of the amp – see 
“PEDAL input jack” on page 15.

7. 

MUTE switch

To tune you instrument silently, set the MUTE 
switch to the upper position. This will mute all 
signal paths:

►

the SPEAKER OUT jack

►

 the PHONES jack and 

►

the BALANCED OUTPUT jack.

When you have connected a Switch-3 to the 
PEDAL jack, you can use it to mute or unmute 
the amp – see “PEDAL input jack” on page 15. 
Switch-3 overrides the Mute switch on the bass 
amp.

8. 

MASTER level knob

Use the MASTER knob to set the overall output 
level of the amp. The master level also controls 
the level of the PHONES output on the rear panel 
of the amp.