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Fender Rumble Club

More of a general question, but does anyone use headphones to practice with their rumble?

If so which headphones would you recommend and are there any cons of practicing with headphones?
I practice with headphones almost exclusively due to wife working from home in the current Covid environment.
I have used both my Rumble 25 and Stage 800 combos with headphones and both work great for me...as long as I am sitting down. Whenever I try to play standing up the short-ish cord on my awesome for practice Sennheiser HD-25s inevitably gets pulled past its limit due to either my absent-minded wandering or when I reach for something. If I stay put in a chair (very seldom) headphone to amp works great. I would recommend one of those coiled phone-cord type extenders if you are determined to use amp & headphones.
I gave the Vox AmPlug a 3-month trial, but when it became obvious that headphone practice was going to be my reality for an foreseeable future I invested in one of these (used, via TB Classifieds) and would highly recommend if headphones are going to be your thing. Crystal clear sound reproduction (its just the bass, no color), plenty of fidelity to hear all of your poor technique (what I wanted in a practice tool) and if you mount (hot glue, will peel right off if you want to remove) to an old iPhone Otterbox belt clip, completely portable, allowing for unlimited absent-minded wandering without worrying about yanking a cord.
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While I don’t have reduced hearing I do have tinnitus. And I couldn’t agree more. PROTECT YOUR HEARING, Y’ALL!
Same here - although my wife swears I have "selective" hearing! :laugh: I guess I agree with that. Used to play the big hair metal back in the day several days a week in an old warehouse - and we'd be insanely loud. Ringing for days after every session. Now, just used to the tinnitus - but I'm also into white noise! :D
 
Thanks. Let's say you're starting afresh - is there a big gap in sound quality between the Rumble and Bassman/Neo range?


As I've said before, I don't hear any significant difference between my Rumble 500 combo and my Bassman 115 neo cab used as an extension to the combo. Of course, YMM, or MN, V.
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If so which headphones would you recommend
Lots of info, here:
Headphones for bass practice, no budget restriction

and here:
Headphones that sound good and last??

As stated above, I am really happy with my Sennheiser HD-25s, which I haven’t seen mentioned much, if at all around here. Completely neutral sound, no color, and frequency response accurately reproduces lowest bass note (I play a 4-string, so low E for me). Best feature, for me, is on-ear vs. over-ear which means cooler to wear for long periods. Unlike many on-ear phones, these also effectively isolate sound, both external noise for the wearer and headphone generated sounds for those in the same room as you when you are practicing. Not cheap, but worth it, to me.
I also have tried the Edifier H850, over-ear phones. Great value and I believe these are very similar, if not identical, to the Phil Jones Bass headphones. Long-ish cord (good) which can be detached from the phones, making for an easy replacement if you break one. They were a good headphone for the money, but not as clear or precise as my Sennheisers.
I also have a set of relatively inexpensive Koss Porta-Pros that I keep in the pocket of my Traveler bass bag. These phones have been produced, unchanged, since the mid-80s and are effectively an upgraded Walkman headset. But they produce great sound at a very reasonable cost and are warrantied for life. Folds into a 2”x4” circle for travel. I use them all the time and would recommend them, as well.
Finally, every recommendation I’ve gotten from @JakobT has been spot on, so if he says Beyerdynamic DT770s are worth a look, I’d add those to your list.
 
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More of a general question, but does anyone use headphones to practice with their rumble?

If so which headphones would you recommend and are there any cons of practicing with headphones?

I am in the enviable position of not needing to. My wife likes listening to me play (or even practice), but if she didn’t, I close the door and no one can hear it much at all.

That said, I use my Beats Studio 3 phones (a Christmas present from my employer a few years back) instead of in-ears on stage. They work great for practice, too.
 
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My rumble 800 stage and my newest bass.
Someone said something about a club and subforum?
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Yeah, of course there's The Club, hammy! This is TalkBass, after all. @hamiltonb, you are now member #1259 in the Fender Rumble Club. Congratulations and welcome back. In 2018, when you first showed us your Rumble Stage, "Gentleman" Gravedigger Dav waited for owners to request to join The Club. I'm not that mannerly, you show us a Rumble pic and I give ya a number, whether ya want it, or not! :D

Besides The Club there is the Rumble Club Wiki page, repository of all publicly available Rumble knowledge, and the Rumble LT25, Studio 40 & Stage 800 sub-thead of The Club specifically for Fender bass modeling discussions. Please, feel free to avail yourself of these resources!

And tell us about your Rumblings, ham. We have all kinds here, young & old, newbies & veterans, amateurs & experts, and everything in between. Get to know us! And we'd like to know you, as we all, merrily . . . .

Rumble On!
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yeah I’m pretty chuffed about it! 12 bucks a month from Sweetwater, I’ll take one! It’s more red in normal light. They send you a zip file with the pics of your actual instrument after you order it.
That's one of the things that Sweetwater excels at...a photo package for EACH serial number. When I bought my 2013 SG back in 2014, they had several in stock. It was nice to be able to check how well the body parts matched. One even had a manufacturing error (cable jack and tone pot reversed). I pointed that out, and they fixed it and reshot the photos!

EDIT: Great looking bass! How do the pots feel? The knobs look like the ones on my cheapo Ibanez. Look nice, but the pots they're connected to feel cheap.

Just checked. Sweetwater is currently sold out of your model. Good thing you got yours when you did!
 
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That's one of the things that Sweetwater excels at...a photo package for EACH serial number. When I bought my 2013 SG back in 2014, they had several in stock. It was nice to be able to check how well the body parts matched. One even had a manufacturing error (cable jack and tone pot reversed). I pointed that out, and they fixed it and reshot the photos!

EDIT: Great looking bass! How do the pots feel? The knobs look like the ones on my cheapo Ibanez. Look nice, but the pots they're connected to feel cheap.

Just checked. Sweetwater is currently sold out of your model. Good thing you got yours when you did!
Pots don’t feel too awful, but they’re not as nice as some I’ve used. I haven’t popped it open yet to see what’s up. Tone knob for bridge pickup has a LOT of impact as you roll off the center detent either way, but the neck not so much.
Thinking about putting EMGs into it later, will see. Sounds really awesome now on the rumble. I tend to hang out on the GK preset mostly.

one note, LOVE the fretboard, it’s Amara which I guess is an Ebony that’s only in indonesia which makes sense since that’s where it’s made.
 
Identical drivers do the best job, IMHO. A Rumble 210 cab will work the best and cost the least. YMM, as always, V.
View attachment 4002436

yeah I’m pretty chuffed about it! 12 bucks a month from Sweetwater, I’ll take one! It’s more red in normal light. They send you a zip file with the pics of your actual instrument after you order it.
wow that’s a beautiful bass!!
 
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great question and not dumb by any means. Yes you can connect two combos together via the send and return effects loop. The amp that is the “send” will control all parameters of the second combo... except the horn. If you are using the horn then both should be set to the on position.
Hi, can I ask a follow up question about linking non-modelling rumbles...
If 2 combos are stacked vertically how do you set the volume on the bottom one? I would think the control will be inaccessible?? I understand that tone is determined pre-send on the top one, but not sure about the practicalities of setting this up.
Thanks, Doug
 
Hi, can I ask a follow up question about linking non-modelling rumbles...
If 2 combos are stacked vertically how do you set the volume on the bottom one? I would think the control will be inaccessible?? I understand that tone is determined pre-send on the top one, but not sure about the practicalities of setting this up.
Thanks, Doug
Also the volume is controlled by the ”master” combo, so no need to adjust the volume, or any of the other knobs on the ”slave”. You can have the knobs on the slave in any position, they will not affect the output at all. Everything is adjusted from the master.
 
Also the volume is controlled by the ”master” combo, so no need to adjust the volume, or any of the other knobs on the ”slave”. You can have the knobs on the slave in any position, they will not affect the output at all. Everything is adjusted from the master.

Just make sure the "master" is the one on top unless you have front controls on both;).
 

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