Fender Rumble Club

[John Stephen]

That happens to me when I play my Ibanez Mikro Bass through my Rumble 40. It doesn't happen when I play my Epiphone Rumblekat. So I figured it's something about the Mikro. Even with the Mikro, I can't hear it when playing with a band, only when I'm practicing at home.

 

[GonePlaid]

I will look through your checklist and perform a process of elimination. The buzz does go away when touching a string, turning the tone knob off or even touching the tone knob the buzz goes away. Does not change when adjusting the gain level up or down.

 

[chupacerveza]

I recently purchased a new fender rumble 800 hd and rumble 410 cab and have noticed a constant buzz through the speakers and will only go away when I turn the tone knob off on my bass. Its not the bass or cable. Happens using my Aerodyne and Mustang and different cables. Tried plugging into a different outlet and switched plug strips and no luck. I am a novice when it comes to gear. No change when pressing ground button on or off. Any suggestions?

My money is on the bass guitar internal wiring. I'd ask a tech to check it out, likely a cold or cracked solder somewhere.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Great way to improve skills, too!

ground tone pot?

 

[John Paul S]

Hummmmm.... (pun intended). I dunno of any one particular reason for such a thing. From this perspective across the etherwebs it raises several questions about all kinza things (typical troubleshooting stuff):

1. Is it actually more of a buzz, or a humm? Does turning the Gain on the head change it?
2. Do any other amps do this there? Does upping their gain, or volume, bring it on?
3. Does the head do it with a different cab? Or the cab with a different head?
4. Is it just at your home, or elsewhere, too? Have you checked your home's grounding?
5. Does it increase or decrease, or is intermittent, with different weather conditions?
6. Have you removed the speaker grille and listened closely to each speaker?
7. Does rotating/turning the unplugged cab sound like anything loose inside?
8. Other stuff I can't recall (CRS*) just now . . . .

Not that I can help, even given the answers to all these questions, but a Fender Authorized Service Center certainly could, if it comes to that. Just don't wait 'til the warranty expires before going there. Best of luck in this most ancient of electrical endeavours.


*I blame my ol'timer's disease, Can't Remember Stuff.
.

I will look through your checklist and perform a process of elimination. The buzz does go away when touching a string, turning the tone knob off or even touching the tone knob the buzz goes away. Does not change when adjusting the gain level up or down.

My money is on the bass guitar internal wiring. I'd ask a tech to check it out, likely a cold or cracked solder somewhere.

My money is on the bass guitar internal wiring. I'd ask a tech to check it out, likely a cold or cracked solder somewhere.

My money is on the bass guitar internal wiring. I'd ask a tech to check it out, likely a cold or cracked solder somewhere.

Buzz continues when testing 3 of my basses and its still present

 

[GonePlaid]

Buzz continues when testing 3 of my basses and its still present

Very large hammer? J/K. Off to the shop.

 

[John Paul S]

Very large hammer? J/K. Off to the shop.

Do you think its in the amp? Buzz still present with headphones too

 

[GonePlaid]

Do you think its in the amp? Buzz still present with headphones too

Hmm. IDK where you are, but is it possible it's some kinda electrical interference in your residence?

 

[John Stephen]

Does it make any difference if you have the bright, contour or vintage buttons pressed in?

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Buzz continues when testing 3 of my basses and its still present

Amp or what you have your amp plugged into! Outlet!

 

[Pulverizor]

Tried different AC circuits around and outside your home?

 

[Dookieshoes]

Tried different AC circuits around and outside your home?

My wiring is horrible in this townhome. My music room is upstairs which makes everything more susceptible to catching stray frequencies. I've shielded all my guitars and basses, upgraded to better cables.. all of which has made a huge difference.

My GT 40 has had some hella cycle hum lately regardless of instrument or cable.. I tried bypassing my surge protector and plugging straight into the wall to no avail, then I tried another power cable and the hum went away. So, if you haven't tried that and have a spare power cable, give it a go.

Also cell phones, if you have yours in your pocket while playing can have you chasing your tail. That's a relatively new issue we face.

If your issue is across multiple instruments, we can almost certainly rule those out as the culprit. But it has all the earmarks of a ground issue. My money would be on the extension cable or power cable to your amp. Forgive me if you've mentioned disconnecting the ext cab, but try that and move it away from your amp to see if the interference persists.

If that works, it's the cable, the ext cab, or a loose ground in the ext jack on your amp. Keep us posted

 

[John Paul S]

Does it make any difference if you have the bright, contour or vintage buttons pressed in?

No difference with them on or off.

 

[chupacerveza]

No difference with them on or off.

Put your phone into airplane mode to see if that’s causing interference.

 

[BBassBassington]

No difference with them on or off.

Don't discount electrical issues either. If possible try the amp in another building or if you have access to a UPS I'd plug into that.

Did you get the amp in-store? If so did you test it and notice a hum? It could also just come from having the horn engaged, as that's kind of a thing too but not one I actively notice.

Wiring does more then we think. Way back when we auditioned a drummer, and moved me from bass to guitar and our drummer to bass. Long story short my guitar amp was plugged into an extension cord which unbeknownst to me had it's ground plug removed. The noise my amp made was incredible(in the bad way), and I had to use limited gain otherwise my amp would just squeal.

Where my band has jammed for years there's an exposed outlet, or some piece of electrical equipment that sits by my pedalboard. If my cables rest on it then every time I go to sing my mic shocks my lips. I've had to change my instrument and mic cables, as well as use a better mic to counter act this, and of course be weary of my cables positioning.

But if you've got a good bass, through a decent cable, and running on clean power and there's still the noise then it's the amp.

 

[NHM]

Hi fellow Rumblers
Apologies if this has come up before...
I have a 500w Combo, and want to fit a 1/4" jack socket on the back, wired to intercept the two wires to the speakers, so I can have another small amp (e.g.TE Elf) on standby to plug in at a gig in case the Rumble amp fails - thus utilising the Rumble speakers (unlikely to fail).
I don't use the tweeter, so I'm not bothered about this being a part of the modification.
Before I get cracking, has anyone done this and are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?
best wishes from sunny but cold Kent, UK.

 

[chupacerveza]

Hi fellow Rumblers
Apologies if this has come up before...
I have a 500w Combo, and want to fit a 1/4" jack socket on the back, wired to intercept the two wires to the speakers, so I can have another small amp (e.g.TE Elf) on standby to plug in at a gig in case the Rumble amp fails - thus utilising the Rumble speakers (unlikely to fail).
I don't use the tweeter, so I'm not bothered about this being a part of the modification.
Before I get cracking, has anyone done this and are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?
best wishes from sunny but cold Kent, UK.

I’ll be curious about this answer... it seems to me that your “power amp in” jack would need to be fully isolated from the Rumble amp circuitry or else you would energize it from the speaker connection... which smells like a puff of smoke to my ears.

 

[NHM]

My plan was to use the contact breakers on the Neutrik jack socket as a way to isolate the Rumble amp...

 

[John Paul S]

I purchased from Sweetwater online and the rep suspects it might be a head issue. They will have a tech support guy look into and contact me soon.

 

[John Stephen]

Glad they're willing to check into it. Would be great if you could report back, once you know the cause. Good luck with it.