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Fender Rumble Club

#4,082
Thanks for the tone suggestions, but I did, of course, try all that. Just didn't have the same mojo as the combo by it's lonesome on the floor. That 500 combo is magic. Will definitely keep trying. Also, when I pair my GK NEO 115-III with the combo, it also sounds killer, just that the 15 is so loud I can barely hear the 10's. That GK cab is also magic. If I could get the two to be a closer volume and physically stack better, that would be the shizz.
 
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#4,084
bdplaid said:
Ok, tonight's rehearsal report.
Weird.
I converted my bass back to passive, and everything sounded much better. Clearer. Punchier. This was with the cab and combo stacked. But, I was fighting too much low end all night. And remember this is in a very problematic room.
So I disconnected the combo, and it was - as expected - thin, but not as much so as I thought it would be. Then I put it on the floor behind me. Bingo. Damn, that little thing sounds good! Deep, punchy and growly. And again, in the awful room. Later, I hooked up the 210 cab sitting beside the combo. Back to too much bass.

So the jury's still out for me, but for certain, the combo alone is killer. Not convinced the 210 adds anything except for a lot of low end, which in my case is mud. I'm sort of thinking the 15 might be a better match, but i don't have experience with the Rumble 15 cab; 15's usually add midrange, which would be welcomed in this situation.
But I've got a gig on Sunday, which should tell the tale. Stay tuned...
Click to expand...

You might want to experiment with cutting bass to say 11am. I even do that in some rooms with my little Rumble 100 1x12 combo. That being said, if I cut low mids to say 9am, I then pump the bass to 3pm...high mids around 1am and treble at noon. No buttons. Plenty of tone from these preamps.
 
#4,085
bdplaid, not sure but I wonder if Fender publishes that info somewhere... You might try calling their support team. With the results others are getting with the 210 / Rumble 500 combo your experience is pretty bothersome... I would be nagging the snot out of Fender over this...

I noticed something last night and I am wondering if anyone else has had this experience with the 210 cab....

I went in to the office / music room last night to practice, trying to get a couple more songs under my fingers, and when I opened the door, well... The entire room smelled like freshly sharpened pencils...

This would actually make perfect sense, Cedar wood is used in pencils quite a bit, it's very common globally, cheap, fast growing, reasonably strong, and very light. I use it a lot in woodworking projects where insect / moisture resistance and light weight are critical factors... While I seriously doubt the entire strata of the plywood is cedar, I suspect that if I had an opportunity to inspect it, it is probably a compatible pine outer layers with a cedar inner core.

Have any other Rumble 210 cab owners noticed the cedar smell?
 
#4,087
Meanwhile... back at the ranch...

I don't want to alarm anyone about these cabs. Everything I've posted is preliminary, because of that damned awful rehearsal space. The take-away from that, however, is that the combo alone works great everywhere I have used it, especially in boomy, bothersome rooms. If it works in the rehearsal room, it'll work anywhere, trust me.

Have not noticed a cedar smell. If I did, I'd like it. I too am a woodworker and love the smell.
I think Fender is using the local variant of lauan plywood. Meranti?
Link Removed

Comparing everything in my home rehearsal space.. the combo with a 500 head/210 cab. They sound identical to my ear. And in combination, in this new room, it sounds good - loud and strong. But the real test for me will be on Sunday.

Having said all of this, I still think this might be the best inexpensive 210 cab I've used. Remember - it's not a Bergantino. But it's better than the GK MB210. I had one and it didn't cut it at all.
 
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#4,088
I haven't been able to set up and test mine anyway. There is minimal (read NONE) chance I can stretch this thing out in my practice space, a cramped 10x10 room with 8' ceiling... I might be a little crazy, but not THAT crazy... I won't even open up the combo alone in that space. It's just too stinking loud... So I have to test either with a jam session (jamming off hours with a few friends after they wrap up rehearsals in their church...), or I open it up on my deck...

Looking at the weather this weekend it's just not going to happen...

So the lagging delivery on the cable while annoying, hasn't been killing me. Yet...

I know, I could run and grab a cable locally, and really I should, unfortunately my local GC seems to only have 50 foot and up cables, not going to happen, and Danny D's has been closing before I can manage to get there for the evenings...

And once the cable I already bought from MusiciansFriend shows up, I don't need a second cable anyway...

I just don't understand why it's taking so long for one simple cable to make its way to my mailbox...
 
#4,094
Just saw your locale... Take that 40 and a guitar playing friend to the Riverwalk, find someplace to plug it in, jam away with your case open and wait for the tips to come in! I LOVE buskers at the Riverwalk! Last time we were there we saw some young guys doing an accoustic / percussion / vocal thing that was just infectious on one side by Mission San Antonio De Valero and then an older duo of gentlemen doing an electric jazz thing a couple of blocks over...

Wish Houston had more opportunity for that... Busking is something that really brings out the local flavors in a city...
 
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#4,095
bdplaid said:
I don't want to alarm anyone about these cabs. Everything I've posted is preliminary, because of that damned awful rehearsal space. The take-away from that, however, is that the combo alone works great everywhere I have used it, especially in boomy, bothersome rooms. If it works in the rehearsal room, it'll work anywhere, trust me.
Click to expand...

Agree. A second cab isn’t a solution for all situations and definitely can require EQ adjustments vs the combo alone (or amp/single cab). I’ve been using a dual cab setup for a while, and there are times when I stack them, times when I put them side by side, and times when I simply unplug one of them. The last one is usually due to there being too much bass, and that’s with little Ampeg 210AVs that aren’t known for much low end. With these Rumble 210s, I for sure won’t be using both for a lot of my gigs. These are good sized boxes with a lot of oomph and booty. I just got the second one for outdoor stuff or gigs with larger bands. The pic I posted earlier from my first outing with the 500/210 setup was before I got #2 in the mail, but still one where I know I wouldn’t have used both cabs. Boomy room, smaller group of people, I would have had to keep everything on 1 to try to tame the full stack beast. Single cab tilted back was perfect.

A second cab is great for realizing the full power of the Rumble monster, for times when you want to bring the bazooka to the gun fight, but definitely not required for realizing the full tone or sound of the amp…not the 500w version, at least.
 
#4,096
jumblemind said:
A second cab is great for realizing the full power of the Rumble monster, for times when you want to bring the bazooka to the gun fight, but definitely not required for realizing the full tone or sound of the amp…not the 500w version, at least.
Click to expand...

...for times when you want to bring the bazooka to the gun fight... To quote Larry The Cable Guy... "That's funny right there!".

I can see where, in a smallish / medium sized space (say like a house party, or even a small club / church setting, the 500 combo itself is ideal. But go outdoors, or bigger spaces and you want the low oomph... So load that bazooka!
 
#4,097
Color me joyfully delirious! I finally broke down and ordered a Whirlwind Bass Ten graphic EQ, and man let me tell you this box rocks! Yes they’re expensive and I put off buying one for almost two years. What a maroon!

I plugged it up yesterday evening between my Jazz and Rumble 75 combo mostly as just a test to see if everything was working properly. Man was it ever! The frequency bands are perfectly chosen for electric bass guitar. I love tone sculpting and this is the very best graphic EQ I’ve ever used. Quick; easy, and intuitive I dialed in a huge grand piano tone that just ripped. Unfortunately I had to restrain my exuberance and shut down for the night.

About mid-morning I set up my Rumble 350 head and one of my Rumble 112 Neo cabs. This time I ran the Bass Ten through the effects loop in order to tone sculpt the pre-amped bass signal. The Bass Ten is dead quiet with 0 distortion. My 350 was set up with my favorite stage tone which is a very full and wide ranging. I plugged in my Jazz and just kicked in the Bass Ten with the very same setting from last night, and man alive! I was floored by the richness of tone. I tweaked some more and got the bottom nice and tight and fully defined. No Mud. No Flab. No Sludge. I like very meaty mids with lots of growl & snarl. So easy it’s not funny, but to be fair my Jazz has tons of great sounding mids to begin with. Now they’re better. I like highs that are smooth and soaring - crystal clear with a bit of bark/spank. Got ‘em!

Then it was time to hook up my Precision Assault Bass strung in GHS Precision flats with all the powers of darkness. All in the world I had to do was to turn off the tweeter and put the three high bands back flat. The rest I left the same and it was GLORIOUS! The attack was like Patton’s 3rd Army and the midrange was dark meat for days. Just enough highs for close aerial support. I couldn’t help but kick in the Rumbles’ Overdrive for a full frontal assault. The charge was successful and battle for better bass tone is won.
 
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#4,100
Big Hoss said:
Or Rumble 15.... But I was hoping for something more Amplug sized... I could make a Rumble 15 work for what I need.. Something to toss under my desk and get practice in via headphones at lunch...
Click to expand...
From what I've read those Vox Bass Amplugs are pretty worthless, but I have no actual experience with one.
I always recommend the Rumble 40 because it sounds really good, and it has the very same front end as it's bigger brothers. So it's a tonal match through headphones, and you can never tell when you are going to give a control that little tweak and finesse your way into a great tone setting. I use trial & error all the time.
 

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