Yesterday I paid a visit to a local store and spent some time with a Rumble 800. I mostly just went through the presets, playing whatever licks and riffs each preset inspired in me, and I was using the store’s stock American Pro P bass.
Some of the presets sounded great, and I could imagine them working really well in a band mix, like the Bassman presets. The Ampeg-inspired ones I had a harder time with, I’m undecided on those, but the Motown setting sounded very “wet blanket over a tube amp and a 115 cabinet” kind of sound. I thought it was well done. The fuzz sounds were fun, but I’m also not sure how they’d stand up in a band setting - not saying they wouldn’t, just saying I couldn’t tell clearly. However, they were a lot of fun - there’s one modeled on a big muff, and one modeled on a superfuzz. There’s a dirty SVT-inspired setting that was fun, and I really liked all of the British-inspired settings too. Very Marshall and very Vox to my ears. There’s a Jaco setting, a Chris Squire setting, and a Steve Harris setting. The Jaco setting was very chorusey - I didn’t dig it. The Squire setting and the Maiden settings were cool though.
Overall, I’m interested - primarily for the several Bassman settings, which I thought were really really well done. There’s some light compression happening with them and it really felt and sounded to my ears like a Bassman, with different cabs and overdrive depending on the setting. Pillowy, floaty. Solid lows and mids and enough highs to sparkle and glitter just the right tiny amount. I didn’t try it with the horn disabled.
I currently own a Markbass CMD121P that I’ve been very happy with, though over the past year have been unsuccessfully trying to make it sound more like a tube amp - lately I’m using an Ampeg SCR-DI into the effects return, bypassing the preamp and EQ altogether.
My band consists of two guitar players - one Tele and one Strat, one playing through a Deville and the other playing through a Twin Reverb - plus a drummer, and a vocalist who plays acoustic. Fortunately the acoustic player knows how to EQ for a band mix like this and lays off the mids and lows, and the two guitars are also good at EQ and respecting space.
Any comments on whether the 800 with either a Bassman or Ampeg voicing would work well in this arrangement? Any comments on the 500, which doesn’t have the modeling capability? I plan to try out one of those next and see if I can finagle a trade for my MB.
Some of the presets sounded great, and I could imagine them working really well in a band mix, like the Bassman presets. The Ampeg-inspired ones I had a harder time with, I’m undecided on those, but the Motown setting sounded very “wet blanket over a tube amp and a 115 cabinet” kind of sound. I thought it was well done. The fuzz sounds were fun, but I’m also not sure how they’d stand up in a band setting - not saying they wouldn’t, just saying I couldn’t tell clearly. However, they were a lot of fun - there’s one modeled on a big muff, and one modeled on a superfuzz. There’s a dirty SVT-inspired setting that was fun, and I really liked all of the British-inspired settings too. Very Marshall and very Vox to my ears. There’s a Jaco setting, a Chris Squire setting, and a Steve Harris setting. The Jaco setting was very chorusey - I didn’t dig it. The Squire setting and the Maiden settings were cool though.
Overall, I’m interested - primarily for the several Bassman settings, which I thought were really really well done. There’s some light compression happening with them and it really felt and sounded to my ears like a Bassman, with different cabs and overdrive depending on the setting. Pillowy, floaty. Solid lows and mids and enough highs to sparkle and glitter just the right tiny amount. I didn’t try it with the horn disabled.
I currently own a Markbass CMD121P that I’ve been very happy with, though over the past year have been unsuccessfully trying to make it sound more like a tube amp - lately I’m using an Ampeg SCR-DI into the effects return, bypassing the preamp and EQ altogether.
My band consists of two guitar players - one Tele and one Strat, one playing through a Deville and the other playing through a Twin Reverb - plus a drummer, and a vocalist who plays acoustic. Fortunately the acoustic player knows how to EQ for a band mix like this and lays off the mids and lows, and the two guitars are also good at EQ and respecting space.
Any comments on whether the 800 with either a Bassman or Ampeg voicing would work well in this arrangement? Any comments on the 500, which doesn’t have the modeling capability? I plan to try out one of those next and see if I can finagle a trade for my MB.
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