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All this NAMM coverage and no new Rumble videos - from anyone. WTH Fender?
They're on the way. Hopefully tomorrow Fender will put up the Stage 800 and Studio 40 on their website along with an official video.
We know there is some great new stuff but all I know from the NAMM coverage is there are 3 new accoustics in new shapes and colors. No talk about how they sound. Just how they look and that the names are recycled because - naming product is hard.
Fender marketing needs to look at Boss and Epiphone. They only talk about products and features in regards to the new tones you can make. Fender is probably creating their usual short, polished soft videos with artists trying to invent clever adjectives to describe the sound and how they feel personally when they first met the new instrument. Then they will dump them into YouTube all at once.
Boss and Epiphone (and many others) talk about each feature in detail and the practical use for each. They do the quick fluffy videos too but they have guys dedicated to explaining the new product to anyone that will listen - and they are active in events like NAMM.
Fender really isn't lacking in innovation, but we won't know until the dealers get the stuff and go through the product for us - weeks and months from now.
Fender marketing needs to look at Boss and Epiphone. They only talk about products and features in regards to the new tones you can make. Fender is probably creating their usual short, polished soft videos with artists trying to invent clever adjectives to describe the sound and how they feel personally when they first met the new instrument. Then they will dump them into YouTube all at once.
Boss and Epiphone (and many others) talk about each feature in detail and the practical use for each. They do the quick fluffy videos too but they have guys dedicated to explaining the new product to anyone that will listen - and they are active in events like NAMM.
Fender really isn't lacking in innovation, but we won't know until the dealers get the stuff and go through the product for us - weeks and months from now.
That's a good idea, since the 800 looks considerably more expensive.
I have an original Line6 Bass POD, which is probably one of the first bass amp modelers and would be quite outdated to most. I've owned it for 15 or 16 years and never used it much. A couple days ago I plugged it into my Rumble 500 and it actually sounded pretty cool. I was able to get many different tones, overdrives, fuzzes and distortions, and the POD wasn't as noisy as I remember (the noise was probably from the other amps I used it with). I had considered selling it but I think I'm going to keep it a bit longer.
Line6 discontinued their Bass POD for a combination of unreliability and low sales. Eventually Yamaha bought out Line6.
Fender is the undisputed leader in digital modelling guitar amps and have been for about 10 years or so. It is therefore logical that they would eventually bring out a gigable digital bass amp for the stage and not just the studio, and so they have.
It'll be months. Most likely April if not May. Europe first in mid-March (with luck). So fly to Amsterdam and meet up with @eric_B, buy a Stage 800 and shoot a series of videos. Perhaps @JakobT will pop down from Oslo. Informative fun for the whole Rumble Club family!
Rumble On! 
Looks like the wait begins... I was looking at the Rumble 500, but the Stage 800 looks pretty amazing
It is surprising Europe will be supplied earlier than the US with new Fender equipment - although we do pay more ;-)It'll be months. Most likely April if not May. Europe first in mid-March (with luck). So fly to Amsterdam and meet up with @eric_B, buy a Stage 800 and shoot a series of videos. Perhaps @JakobT will pop down from Oslo. Informative fun for the whole Rumble Club family!
It also is remarkable European internet sites were publishing some Fender NAMM news earlier than US sites.
Probably Bax Music will have the gear in stock first - maybe even before than Thomann, they are a big Dutch player.
We will see, interesting times ahead.
IMO: the new Stage 800 and Studio 40 seem 2 odd ones out in the current Rumble line up.
Certainly for features but also for looks. I'm wondering what's coming next.
And @JakobT is welcome over here - although Amsterdam is 100 km to the west of me
I was just guessing. Plus I have Amsterdam as one of my settings on my world clock so I know what time it is there.although Amsterdam is 100 km to the west of me
True, but the Rumble name is 15 years old and well established on world music markets.
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Right, it seems a start for a new line up of amps, combos and maybe cabs as well.
Good guess, I'm in the same time zone as Amsterdam.
But the Netherlands ain't no big land, just nether
I would have liked to have been in on the marketing strategy meetings when they decided on making the new digital modelling bass amps an extension of the Rumble line instead of a new name or just using the Bronco name.
I questioned that strategy in my post here about the 800 only abled to use the biggest Fender cabs. Assuming only 8 ohm cabs would work, it seemed to leave most of the Rumble cabs out in the cold!
But seeing the cab connector with the 8 & 4 ohm switch revealed a better strategy. Just double up any combination of the smaller Rumble cabs to get the 500 watt minimum required rating at 4 ohms!
I didn't get the 212 cab I wanted, yet, but I could attach two 112s to the 800 for a killer compact rig!!!
That's the way it was when the V3 Rumbles were first introduced. Europe got them two months before the US.
Great idea! My qtron pedal alone cost more than that amp....for that Bootsy sound.
I'd be leery for two reasons:
1) Fender has a lousy track record with supporting its modeling software. It basically up and dumped Fender Fuse support for the Mustang v.1 and v.2 models when it introduced the Mustang GT line and the Tone app. That left a lot of customers out in the cold and very unhappy. And that's a shame because the Mustang v.2's are great amps. Free firmware updates for life? Don't count on it.
2) The Mustang GT has a hi-fi speaker, which is better for playing along with Lady Gage streaming from your iPhone than it is for playing your guitar. At $799 I don't think Fender is gearing this amp towards the kiddie market like it seems to be with the guitar amps, but still...
I guess you have to roll with the technology, but we all know that means planned obsolescence and replacing your hardware every few years.
Get off my lawn.
