Not Steadfast, but I've had the Stage 800 for a little over 2 weeks. Prior to that I had a Rumble 500 for about a month. I really like the sound of the Rumble 500, but there was a slight vibration in it that I eventually came to realize was something in the cabinet. I took it back and by then they had the Stage 800 being displayed on the floor. I messed around with it and ultimately took it home.
If you want something that is simple and straight forward, stick with the R500. But if you want to noodle around a little bit and find your favorite models, the RS800 is worth the extra dough. I'm not one that will use more than 1 or maybe 2 tones when we play, so I could have gotten along very nicely with the R500, and do really like it. I still like the looks of the R500 and it's silver tweed cover better than the RS800. But the RS800 has the Fender Bassman 300 Pro model tone, and the Ampeg SVT model tone, which to me sound quite a bit nicer than the Rumble v3 model tone found in the RS800.
There were a few other model tones (Bassman TV, Dual Showman, Bassman '59, Super Bassman) and varieties of those amps and cabinets that I probably liked as much or better than the Rumble v3 model tone in this amp. Some just have that warmer tube sound that most of us like (But don't want to shell out $2,000+ to get. Not to mention hauling around a tube head and 8 x 10 cabinet). Especially the Bassman and SVT model tones. Overall there are 100 different preset amp models and 100 slots to save your own creations. They have varieties of speaker and cabinet sizes under many of the amps that are modeled (e.g. Bassman 4 x 10, 1 x 15, 2 X 15, etc..).
Overall there are probably 7 or 8 different model tones that I like better than the Rumble v3 model tone found in this amp. Plus there are a multitude of Reverb, Delay, Stomp Box, and numerous other effects you can add into any of the 100 preset model tones. Or you can build your own sound from scratch. There is a Small Room, Large Room, Small Hall, Large Hall, Arena and Ambient Reverb settings that when added in are pretty cool sounding. There are also different Compression settings.
I took the Clean Bassman 300 setting and added a little Gain to get a little more growl and saved it, and took the SVT setting and took out a little Gain and backed off on the treble just a bit and saved that too. I will see how they sound live and add in some compression, and will have 2 new settings that are tailored to the sounds I like. It does take some time to find the tones you like though, but it is fun taking those models and tailoring the tone to exactly what you want.
I've attached the User's Manual PDF that I requested from Fender, so I would have it on my phone. It gives you all of the details of the different model presets, speakers, cabinets, and effects available. The amp models start on page 16, followed by the cabinet speaker size and number. I believe the effects start on page 28.
Hope this helps..
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