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Double Bass Fender rumble 100 and double bass?

K

kristianbl

Sep 9, 2009
62
2
Denmark
www.myspace.com
#1
Does anyone use a fender rumble 100 combo with double bass for smaller gigs?

I need a small amp and have been offered both used Markbass CMD 121H for around 450$.

I can get a brand new rumble for 370$.

But what amp to choose? Portability isn't a big issue for me - my primary concern is the sound. I need a "plug in and play" amp - An amp that sounds ok and doesn't color my upright sound to much. Volume wise around 100-150 watts will be fine. I only play with a singer and a piano player.
Don't want to go through preamp if I can avoid it.
 
#2
If you don't want a preamp you need to get one of those amp with a high input impedance. Which you hardly get with your budget.
Find out the impedance and wattage for the fender rumble. 100W is the same as the old Polytone Mini-Brute III without extension speaker. More would be better.

The Markbass gives you enough power even if you need more if you ever play in a louder group later in your life.

The HPFpre is cheap, gives you a very high input impedance and with the high pass filter you can get even more power out of your amp, since it doesn't need to amplify unneeded low frequency stuff. With a HPFpre you might even use a 100W amp with a louder group.

So better think about getting a HPFpre. It always makes sense to have one.

Theoretically an electronics guy can change the input resistor of the amp to a higher value, not a big deal except to find it, but if the amp is built with SMD parts, this doesn't make as much fun as repairing an old amp with "normal" parts.

If portability is not an issue, the Markbass might be the better choice.

BTW, the old Polytone Mini-Brutes have 330 KOhms input impedance, lower than the Markbass with 500 KOhms and have been extensively used with Underwood pickups.
So you might drop the preamp for now and live with a bit non-optimal but useable sound. I have used the 121P with a Full Circle and that worked well after I set the two V-filters to zero and cut half of the bass.

Try both of them, dial in the best sound and record it (i.e. with a phone). Compare the recordings (with headphones). I would put the cab on a stool, I cannot hear myself well when it's on the floor. It would help if another musician, preferably a double bass player, can go with you and hear it in some distance. You might even get ideas how to change the EQ from him/her or switch places.
 
#9
I've used the Rumble 100 on 2 gigs now and think it is a good sounding amp for for the drummerless trio I play in. Punchy, thick, and fairly natural sounding with the Stat B pickup. EQ is a little more problematic with a single element Underwood and I haven't dialed in a sound yet that I feel great about with that pickup.

Unfortunately, it has a defect in that the gain nob doesn't cut off the volume when at the 0 position, so it's going back to Guitar Center.
 
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#10
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Just to clarify, 1000 kOhms = 1 MegOhm, so if this figure is accurate it would explain why I had such good luck plugging straight into the newer Rumble amps.
Click to expand...

What a wierd way to list an input impedance specification:woot:

Eric Hochberg said:
I've used the Rumble 100 on 2 gigs now and think it is a good sounding amp for for the drummerless trio I play in. Punchy, thick, and fairly natural sounding with the Stat B pickup. EQ is a little more problematic with a single element Underwood and I haven't dialed in a sound yet that I feel great about with that pickup.

Unfortunately, it has a defect in that the gain nob doesn't cut off the volume when at the 0 position, so it's going back to Guitar Center.
Click to expand...

That tends to be the case with cheaper amp's nowdays. Their built to be discardable. We had a couple of the Acousic 20 watt bass combos at school that
have an internal speaker fuse, if it blows it's very difficult to get the amp apart to access the chassis. We've had two of these amps go down. Unless you're
DIY repair man they're hard to fix.

Ric
 
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#12
Eric Hochberg said:
I returned the Rumble to Guitar Center yesterday and was told the Rumble line is designed so that the Gain pot does not bring the pre down to silence and my amp did not have a defect!
Click to expand...

That's odd, but I'm not surprised I never noticed this. On every amp I use, I always leave the pre gain where it sounds best, and turn the master down when not in use. I guess I got in this habit when I was doing a lot of gigs with a DI feed to the FOH; adjusting the master does nothing to the DI send, but adjusting the pre affects what the house is getting. On my current PJB gear, I leave the pre gain set where it is because it affects the way the limiter later in the chain sees the signal.
 
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