I missed John's discussion in the Rumble Club. My apologies. Thanks for clarifying the situation.
Here ya go, Aki:
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Best 4 Ohm Driver for a Fender Rumble 100 Combo
- Thread starter John D Harris
- Start date
Here ya go, Aki:
www.talkbass.com
Thanks, G-dog!
Thank you.
To narrow it down a bit -
My initial thoughts on the R100c after receiving it.
Very glowing in terms of using it in conjunction with the Opus.
As you live with a product and work with it, you discover much more about it.
I'm going to fill that out a bit more later, I've got something I need to take care of first.
Thanks to everyone for the input and suggestions, I will try to answer more questions in just a bit.
Not discounting your experience, but that seems to not be the case for a LOT of bass players!
With my bass guitar (Cort B5 Element) and strings (EB Cobalt Flatwounds) that definitely was not my experience - whether the EQ controls were all set at 12 o'clock or at their 'alleged' optimal flat settings (Bass & Treble at 10 o'clock, Low-Mid & High-Mid at 2 o'clock).
Cort B5 Element run passive (no passive tone control), very slightly favoring the Neck pickup with the Blend control (I just tweaked it to sound the best to me while using the Opus, favoring punch while balancing note definition and midrange harshness).
Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwound strings (about 7 or 8 months old).
I mostly use the Opus run into the FX Return of the R100c which bypasses the combo's preamp and control the SPL with the Master control.
The Two Notes Opus.
- I'm mainly using the Foundry (Fender Showman) or Foundry Bass (Fender Super Bassman 300 non-overdrive channel) Preamp Modeling + the 6L6 Power Amp Modeling in the Push-Pull Triode setting, with no Cab Sim.
I have a crapload of other Presets some of which use other Preamp & Power Amp models and some use Cab Sims (my favorite of which models the Mesa Powerhouse 1000).
I will try the settings you suggest tomorrow running straight into the Instrument Input with my B5 set, first passive and then active.
I have no desire to buy another combo amp to complement this one.
I was torn between this combo and an Electro Voice ZLX-12P-G2 active PA speaker (around $600 new).
This one came up at a good price and I jumped it.
After experimenting today with the Opus and running it at 80% Volume and the R100c Master all the way up, I decided that it sounds great and I think I would work in any environment except VERY loud stuff with no PA support.
The HPF allows significant output when hitting a low B and the harshness seems tamed while still allowing good note definition.
I have a decent audio system that I can play music along with.
That Celestion BN12-300S (4) is still calling my name though with the promise of cleaner and louder - I remember how easy it is to get lost in a loud, busy band mix.
If I did not have the Opus, I think it would be a no-brainer!
I guess I'll decide fairly soon.
Let's put the info in one post and see if anyone feels motivated.
Request Modeling for:
Celestion BN12-300S (4)
Box Properties:
Internal Volume: 1.3 Cu. ft
Two Ports: 3" diameter x 2.25" length
Request Modeling for:
Celestion BN12-300S (4)
Box Properties:
Internal Volume: 1.3 Cu. ft
Two Ports: 3" diameter x 2.25" length
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,024
- 5
- 220,897
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Don’t have access to my software this week, but it might be close enough.
I have a set of Dunlop SS Flatwounds that I keep intending to put on, but the EB CF's do sound quite good still.
I came from using DR Nickle Lo-Riders for a long time on my former StingRay 5H, then D'Addario XL's and then DR Sunbeams.
I haven't worked up the courage to try any of the coated strings like Elixir's.
Thank you for the detailed response. My settings posted were in response to the "no usable midrange" claim. I wanted to give a graph that portrays one of my usual settings for @tvbop to comment whether that would fall in the "no usable midrange" criteria. Ideally, @tvbop could upload a graph of his/her frequency response graph of one of the settings on his Ampeg gear that has "usable midrange". IMO, having a graph to complement descriptions helps with discussions. It adds a touch of objectivity and validates how a person perceives. A somewhat flat response graph like my setup has in the one setting may truly not have enough midrange for what @tvbop wants out of a setup. There is nothing wrong with that.
I have Genome. I have done some superficial tinkering with it. Funny, but my favorite user-written patch so far is the Foundry that then adds some Peggy and ends up going into a "lowly" Rumble 500 IR. Just magic for me.
I appreciate the modifications that some have done with the Rumble 100. Nothing wrong with experimenting, eh?
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Glad to hear you have given GENOME a whirl! On an unrelated note, the TSM-Ai amp "THE 400" is great - using it all the time at the moment! If you have any GENOME-related questions, I'm always happy to weigh in!
Thanks, Ross. I appreciate the direct support. I will ask some newbie questions about the Two notes line up in the Two notes thread. I don't want to derail this thread like I do with so many...
I appreciate the input!
I actually did a fair bit of research going into this.
With the 8 Ohm version of this combo, there were several ways to get to a better overall sound without spending a lot of money.
For the 4 Ohm version there is not much data to go on, hence this thread.
The R100c weighs 22lbs. I've had more spinal surgeries than I can remember (almost), but to compete with 22lbs and get a semi-solid low 'B' at enough SPL to work in small venues with a non-aggressive drummer, would cost me around 6X what I paid for this combo.
So yeah, I could just buy a GRBass AT CUBE-350, but I am on a fairly tight budget and it would take me a long time to save up the money.
I ran across this thread today and realized that I mentioned my progress elsewhere, but not here.
I did buy the Celestion BN12-300S (4) and put it in the R100c and it sounds smoother and louder.
[Note: a 4 Ohm driver is not recommended for the R100c's that have 8 Ohm drivers in them and liable to cause damage to the amplifier!]
I later changed out the EB Cobalt Flats for the Dunlop SS Flats (DBFS45125) and I think the Cobalt Flats were reacting to my body chemistry in a bad way, (don't know what else to attribute it to), but the CF's were the source of some of the upper midrange harshness I was hearing, because the Dunlop Flats sound flat-out awesome, with plenty of smooth midrange and note definition on my Cort B5 Element (passive or active) run into the upgraded R100c, especially run through the Opus into the combo's FX Return jack.
GAS, is a terrible thing!
Which is to say, in retrospect, I wish I had saved up more money and bought a really good active cabinet (like the Yamaha DZR12 or GR Bass AT 210V-800 ACT) with the thought that I could have an on stage sound that is very close to what I would be sending FOH (important, when using a modeler - if a preset sounds great through a non-transparent stage sound source, then that sound has less equivalence to what will come out of the FOH system) ...
BUT ...
With the Opus, the sound I can get with the R100c is very impressive and would work in any smallish-mediumish scenario that is not very loud music w/o a PA, and with a PA, I think either elevated or tilted back, it would handle most situations (that Celestion driver can crank).
I have Opus Presets configured for both the R100c and FOH (using my Sennheiser headphones) and a few compromise Presets that sound pretty good run either through the R100c or headphones.
I'm not currently gigging anywhere, so the GAS is mitigated (somewhat) by knowing that I don't "need" more than what I have (LOL to that, right?).
I did buy the Celestion BN12-300S (4) and put it in the R100c and it sounds smoother and louder.
[Note: a 4 Ohm driver is not recommended for the R100c's that have 8 Ohm drivers in them and liable to cause damage to the amplifier!]
I later changed out the EB Cobalt Flats for the Dunlop SS Flats (DBFS45125) and I think the Cobalt Flats were reacting to my body chemistry in a bad way, (don't know what else to attribute it to), but the CF's were the source of some of the upper midrange harshness I was hearing, because the Dunlop Flats sound flat-out awesome, with plenty of smooth midrange and note definition on my Cort B5 Element (passive or active) run into the upgraded R100c, especially run through the Opus into the combo's FX Return jack.
GAS, is a terrible thing!
Which is to say, in retrospect, I wish I had saved up more money and bought a really good active cabinet (like the Yamaha DZR12 or GR Bass AT 210V-800 ACT) with the thought that I could have an on stage sound that is very close to what I would be sending FOH (important, when using a modeler - if a preset sounds great through a non-transparent stage sound source, then that sound has less equivalence to what will come out of the FOH system) ...
BUT ...
With the Opus, the sound I can get with the R100c is very impressive and would work in any smallish-mediumish scenario that is not very loud music w/o a PA, and with a PA, I think either elevated or tilted back, it would handle most situations (that Celestion driver can crank).
I have Opus Presets configured for both the R100c and FOH (using my Sennheiser headphones) and a few compromise Presets that sound pretty good run either through the R100c or headphones.
I'm not currently gigging anywhere, so the GAS is mitigated (somewhat) by knowing that I don't "need" more than what I have (LOL to that, right?).
