Fender Rumble Club

[GlennA]

Hello, fellow Rumblers!
The amp has already been modded with a tilt-back foot, and a sealed, lined, and braced cab.

A great read @steve_rolfeca . Regarding cab mods is an interesting one. Cabinet vibrations and resonances (mechanical) I suppose are a part of the tonal character of guitar and bass amp speaker cabinets, quite the opposite to Hi-Fi.

Wrapping a knuckle on the side of my 500 cabinet reveals a hollow sound with a definite note to it and I had wondered if there would be any mileage in using some kind of panel dampening material, or would this 'sterilize' and/or change the tone in a way that I actually don't like.

It's all interesting stuff.

 

[SoulReflection]

Hello, fellow Rumblers!

I just came into a piece of totally useless but Rumble-related information.

Warning: No-one in their right mind would do this mod, which involves putting a $225 driver into a $300 100 watt combo. I'm sure there are more affordable options out there...

Still, the results are interesting:

A friend gifted me a surplus 300 watt, 8 ohm Celestion BN12 300S.

Celestion refers to it as being good for slap bass, but I think this is some sort of inside joke.

It has a thin pressed steel basket, short-throw suspension, and an extremely low XMax. There's no real bottom end, and virtually flat response from about 60-80Hz out to about 4.5K with no presence peak.

It's not really a bass or a guitar speaker in conventional terms. The only place I see them recommended is by Quilter, as a heavy-duty option for jazz guitarists.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but thought the neutral mids and bandpassed frequency response might make it useful for modelled guitar amps and effects. Kind of like the physical equivalent of a cab simulator...

I couldn't test it out properly, because my open-back tweed 1x12 is out on loan at the moment. Instead, I dropped it into my v3 Rumble 100.

The amp has already been modded with a tilt-back foot, and a sealed, lined, and braced cab.

First impressions:

• The last traces of the low-mid boom are gone.
• The upper mids and treble have opened up nicely. It sounds more natural than adding a tweeter.
• The baked-in vintage character is gone, but can be recovered by rolling off the upper mids and treble.
• The amp is louder.
• Unfortunately, the low end is also gone. Even the low E sounds hollow and unconvincing.

The Vintage button fattened things up, but the low B was still weak, and I didn't like what it did to the mids. Unblocking the ports didn't fix the low end, and it unloaded the driver enough to cause cone rattle on big hits.

However, that's not the end of the story.

As I turned up the bass control, the low end started sounding better, without hurting the mids.

Eventually, I dimed it, with everything else flat. Bingo- the low B now sounds convincing, and the amp sounds punchier than it did with the stock Eminence. The low end is in perfect balance with the rest of the spectrum, and the vintage and contour buttons are more useful.

This is literally the best tone I've ever had out of a Fender combo amp.

Plus, the Neo driver makes this thing even lighter.

I always warn people about mismatching random cabs and drivers, but this experiment has worked out pretty well.

Could you show us a pic of the tilt back foot?

 

[rudy4444]

Delivered today, I hope this qualifies me for the Rumble Club.

It's a Rumble 100 to pair up with my short scale fretless, having a Musicman magnetic pickup, but I use it exclusively with the active Baggs piezo undersaddle bridge pickup.

(Please assign me a number if you would be so kind...)

 

[LeoFromPortland]

If you look at the pic of the back of the combo and mouse over it you will see the speaker jack in the magnification.

Thanks man. I'm blind, and with my software I can get a small amount of usefulness out of an image if it describes the image correctly, but in this case that wouldn't have happened. So much appreciated. Hell, I get so many really good textual descriptions of a lot of things bass / amp / cab from just this site alone. I feel very fortunate compared to my younger musician days before the Internet was a thing, let alone usable by us blind people. Resources like this site are beyond priceless!

 

[steve_rolfeca]

A great read @steve_rolfeca...Cabinet vibrations and resonances (mechanical) I suppose are a part of the tonal character of guitar and bass amp speaker cabinets, quite the opposite to Hi-Fi.

Wrapping a knuckle on the side of my 500 cabinet reveals a hollow sound with a definite note to it and I had wondered if there would be any mileage in using some kind of panel dampening material, or would this 'sterilize' and/or change the tone in a way that I actually don't like.

The only place cabinet resonance is a plus, is for guitar, like some 50's Fender tweed combos. Thin, crack-prone baffles and pine cabinetry gave them a "ring" that sounded a little like reverb.

Dynamat is good for damping out relatively high-pitched ringing in cars. You'd need a ton of it to deal with the low-end resonance you're hearing from your cab.

Andy Lewis (Acme Low B cabs) pretty much wrote the book when it came to making bass cabs stiff without adding a lot of weight. He used relatively thin panels, braced under tension. Done right, it's just as effective as building out of thicker birch ply, yet it reduces materials cost, and weighs a LOT less.

Fender got us most of the way there, but skimped a bit on the details, in order to meet such an aggressive price point.

The v3 Rumble 40 is nice and stiff, but that's because it's so small. The bigger panels on the Rumble 100/200/500 can use some help.

If you'd like a little tighter low end and sweeter mids, it's an easy fix. The mod is also easily reversible if you don't like it.

Could you show us a pic of the tilt back foot?

Details about my bracing/lining project and tiltback foot install are on the first page of my Rumble NAD thread:

NAD - Fender Rumble V3 100

 

[rodl2005]

This is simply not true, fact. I post interesting 'facts' about the Fender Rumble amps and everyone gets upset . .
Everything I send is factual, I can't do much about that.

I think/hope they're joking. As you, I really like my Rumble amp... in my case a 500C... and find this thread an interesting read for the most part.

I find your posts interesting. Thanx for posting the graphs back on page 184 or so...

And for the record. .. I think many amp makers..engine makers... motor cycles etc... might state an amp or engine is 250 (w or cc) When it actually is slightly under or over.. who cares.. ? I don't..as long as the performance is there.. but I do find it interesting. Same as the graphs.. they ain't gonna make me change anything but they're nice to see. They've helped b4 when I've had to use a supplied backline amp... and I've used my memories of these sorta graphs to help tame a hint room with an unknown amp... or sumthin

 

[dawhatthevid]

View attachment 2873742

Hey @dawhatthevid - You asked how the overdrive effected the lows and highs. You were quite right it cuts both, I had to set the controls to get a flat(ish) response as in previous post so trace makes sense, it's for indication purposes only really but is a reasonable indicator. Blue trace is 'flattened' using tone controls, red trace when engaging the overdrive.
Hope you find this interesting

thanks man! and what about the single eq at min and max? sorry, but im too curious

 

[Bufalo]

Every time I get to play my Rumble, I'm happy to have it. Yesterday was just a rehearsal with 3/4 of the band, and man it's just perfectly scalable for anything. I love having my (dirty word alert) SVT and my Henry cab for big-ass gigs, but even at those the 500C would mostly likely be enough. It just sounds like what I want bass to sound like without having to fuss. Great tool to have in the bin.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Welco

Delivered today, I hope this qualifies me for the Rumble Club.

It's a Rumble 100 to pair up with my short scale fretless, having a Musicman magnetic pickup, but I use it exclusively with the active Baggs piezo undersaddle bridge pickup.

(Please assign me a number if you would be so kind...)

View attachment 2874526

Welcome Rumble4 # 864! The 100 is a great little amp. I use mine for band practice and when the house has a good FOH and sound guy. Rumble on!

 

[Aberdumbie]

I have never had anything eat at me like this....... Finally brought my brand new Rumble 200 home January 2nd. That day my four year old came down with the flu...... Four days later my girl came down with the flu..... My wife just called me from the doctors office. Confirmed Type A flu....... I may have to load that amp up and bring it to my office before I get to hear it..... AAGGHHHH!

 

[Gmountain]

My Rumble 40 arrived today. My bass hasn't appeared yet, thanks to a UPS weather delay.

Since I've never played a bass, I am really looking forward to seeing how it sounds. I did try it with a Les Paul, though, and I thought it sounded exactly like what I was expecting. Plenty loud for my Sunday morning jams at my work. I love how light it is.

I don't play out, and as of now, I don't even know anyone who plays drums, so for me it's perfect. Maybe in the future I'll get the 200 watt version- it's certainly cheap enough. Actually, if I can learn how to play, I might upgrade. But for now, I think it sounds pretty great.

 

[GlennA]

thanks man! and what about the single eq at min and max? sorry, but im too curious

No problem my friend @dawhatthevid . Had a problem getting 8 curves on one graph but you get the idea.

 

[callmejs]

No problem my friend @dawhatthevid . Had a problem getting 8 curves on one graph but you get the idea. View attachment 2876932

Very interesting, thanks @GlennA ! The preamp module being the same from the Rumble 40 to 500, probably should expect the same graphs for all those units, right?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yes, same preamp for all those. Those graphs confirm what's in the manual:

 

[LkS]

Hello, I just got my Rumble 500c yesterday and bought a really generic simple footswitch with an LED diode for it but it doesn't seem to work at all.
What's odd is that when I turn on the amp and plug in the footswtich to the back of the amp, the onboard diode of the amp switches on, even if the onboard button is off. Then when I push the onboard button to turn the effect off and plug the footswitch cable out, the diode and the effect turns itself on again ...

So plugging in the cable of the footswitch to the amp turns it off and on, but the footswitch itself does nothing. I guess it's the fault of the footswitch?
Any advice or information is welcome. Thank you.

 

[GlennA]

Hello, I just got my Rumble 500c yesterday and bought a really generic simple footswitch with an LED diode for it but it doesn't seem to work at all.
What's odd is that when I turn on the amp and plug in the footswtich to the back of the amp, the onboard diode of the amp switches on, even if the onboard button is off. Then when I push the onboard button to turn the effect off and plug the footswitch cable out, the diode and the effect turns itself on again ...

So plugging in the cable of the footswitch to the amp turns it off and on, but the footswitch itself does nothing. I guess it's the fault of the footswitch?
Any advice or information is welcome. Thank you.

Interesting. If you have a meter put it on ohms and check what happens across the FS plug. Is the switch latching? Press once on (lo resistance), press again (hi resistance). I note that if using the overdrive button and the footswitch, if you turn it on with the footswitch then off with the button the operation is inverted.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[LkS]

If you have a meter ...

Don't have a meter

EDIT: I'm attaching the insides of the switch.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

My Rumble 40 arrived today. My bass hasn't appeared yet, thanks to a UPS weather delay.

Since I've never played a bass, I am really looking forward to seeing how it sounds. I did try it with a Les Paul, though, and I thought it sounded exactly like what I was expecting. Plenty loud for my Sunday morning jams at my work. I love how light it is.

I don't play out, and as of now, I don't even know anyone who plays drums, so for me it's perfect. Maybe in the future I'll get the 200 watt version- it's certainly cheap enough. Actually, if I can learn how to play, I might upgrade. But for now, I think it sounds pretty great.

Welcome Rumbler #865! Glad to have you among us as a Rumbler and a bass player. There are some good instructional sites out there. Find one you like and get to it. By this time next year you should be playing in a band. Rumble on!

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Hello, I just got my Rumble 500c yesterday and bought a really generic simple footswitch with an LED diode for it but it doesn't seem to work at all.
What's odd is that when I turn on the amp and plug in the footswtich to the back of the amp, the onboard diode of the amp switches on, even if the onboard button is off. Then when I push the onboard button to turn the effect off and plug the footswitch cable out, the diode and the effect turns itself on again ...

So plugging in the cable of the footswitch to the amp turns it off and on, but the footswitch itself does nothing. I guess it's the fault of the footswitch?
Any advice or information is welcome. Thank you.

Welcome Rumbler #866. I'm guessing the switch you ordered may not be compatible with your amp. I can't offer any advice, but we have some knowledgeable Rumblers that should help get you going. Rumble On!

 

[Linnin]

I have been made aware of a BIG Rumble rumor. We'll find out for sure in 9 days. If true (and I believe it is) it is going to be mind blowing.