TC Electronic BAM200 Head for Jazz Guitar

[Geospectrum]

I have this amp and use it with my archtop and solid body Guilds. I pair it with a Celestion TF0818 in an old Fender Frontman 15 with the guts ripped out. I have added a HOF mini Reverb. beautiful tone and a budget price.

added picture. Sorry it’s rotated.

[Alter]

The general consensus seems to be the Bam 200 is about the volume of an Aer, or other 60 watt~ solid state amps, so not really that loud?

[Johnpiazza]

I wanted to add my take on the BAM 200, having owned it for over a year. At Markku’s recommendation, I went with a BAM for my Toob 6.5 BG for a “polytone-adjacent” tone for a 7-string archtop. This is in contrast to the more fender-y sound of the Superblock US. I recently dialed in a tone I really like on this setup, which I was able to record with some success. I like this setup a lot more when I play with a pick, than when I play fingerstyle (for fingerstyle, I prefer my 1980 polytone minibrute 2). Here are two clips. There are more details in the YouTube descriptions. In the first clip, I show the amp settings at the end of the video. I agree with others that the BAM is sort of a one-trick pony with a clean sound, and some won’t tolerate the lack of reverb. But for a super-lightweight inexpensive amp/head with a fat jazz tone, it’s hard to beat. I have used my mini-rig a few times for duo settings, and even outdoors, it has sounded better than I expected. It’s so small and light, I almost always bring it along as a backup in case the polytone fails. As far as volume is concerned, it doesn’t get quite as loud as my other slightly larger amps (polytone, Henriksen jazz amp 110, dv mark little jazz), but it will do fine for most small ensemble settings. The only time I ever got drowned out was playing with a very loud drummer and 5 horns in a jam session setting.

[Gitterbug]

It's been five and a half years since this thread was started. The BAM persists as one of Thomann's best-selling bass heads. It's still my go-to amp in the rare event that the SuperBlock US doesn't have enough steam. My son uses it as the power amp for his modeling rig (into a Toob 12F cab); my bandmate powers his keyboard with it, a playing buddy uses it for jazz guitar and bass, and John Piazza is far from being alone with his BAM/Metro combination. The amp is not the loudest of the 200W micro bass head lot, but it does its one trick - warm clean tone - with style and low harmonic distortion. Volume depends not only on amp output (and manufacturers have no uniform standard to measure it) but on speaker sensitivity. The 6.5" SICA speaker on John Piazza's Metro 6.5BG has a stated sensitivity of 91 dB, while a typical 12" guitar speaker's is 97-98 dB. You have to double the power for every 3 dB increment in SPL. IMHO the BAM is sufficiently loud for jazz guitar, especially with larger, sensitive speakers. If only it had a baby with the SuperBlock!

[drbhrb]

These are on sale for only $109 at Sweetwater right now

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[nevershouldhavesoldit]

IMHO the BAM is sufficiently loud for jazz guitar, especially with larger, sensitive speakers. If only it had a baby with the SuperBlock!

Wow - that would certainly be a classic “wham, BAM, thank you ma”am” !

[Alter]

Well, I finally bought one! Looking at choices for extra portable rigs for the summer season. Both it and the quilter US sound superb though the eminence beta 10A into this enclosure (built Henriksen style). It's easier for me to get a good jazz sound with the Bam rather then the trebly Quilter.
For size reference, the amp on the left is a Pro junior, and the backpack behind contains a Zt lunchbox.

Attachment 120169

Waiting for Gitterbugs Toob Metro BG speaker to arrive next week (my first Toob speaker!) and I'll do some videos trying to present everything!

Only thing that remains to be seen about the Bam200 is how well it operates in hot conditions. Often summer here in Greece is in the 40s (Celsius) and the Bam200 has an auto shut off function to prevent damage. Time and gigs will tell. But having a stereo setup carrying two 6.5 Toobs and a Bam or Quilter in one bag weighting 5 kilos (which is the plan besides the simple one speaker setup).. a dream come true! Now the Zt Lunchbox is my heavier amp!

[Gitterbug]

A Stairville SB-125 lighting bag from Thomann has ample room for a pair of Metros, plus amp, cables etc., even sheet music or pad. Also perfect for single 10"-12" Toobs.