I also just made a Rumble upgrade and came here looking for info. Been playing a 200 for about 3 years, got some Christmas cash, and ordered a 500 that should be here on the 6th.
The 200 is enough in a 5 piece classic rock-ish (unamplified drums, two guitars, keys, bass), most of the time, but I always feel like I’m operating at its upper limit. I had it go out on me twice (more info below), both times replaced under warranty with no word from Fender as to whether it was a manufacturer defect or something I did (probably something I did, see below). Been extra cautious with the current one for the last year and a half and it’s been totally fine, but I’m scared poopless to put Gain and Master above 12:30 or 1:00 and blow it again (pretty sure the warranty has expired by now).
I recently had the opportunity to play short (~15min) sets through a 500 a few times, and it felt pretty similar to mine, but much louder at any given knob setting. It was a weird reverby venue and not a direct A/B comparison, but even so it felt familiar and comfortable. Just more of everything. This was the final straw that made me want to pull the trigger on an upgrade.
I guess what I’m saying is that the 200 is probably enough for a lot of large bar and small outdoor rock gigs, but you might end up wishing you got the 500 just for safety.
I’ll report back when I actually have the thing and get a chance to break it in.
The busted 200s:
#1: my bandmate plugged something into the xlr output for a recording session, and we heard a pop. So... yeah. That was almost certainly user error, although I don’t know exactly what he plugged into it or why it blew. I didn’t really know much about that particular jack and assumed he did... so I’m blaming that one on both of us.
#2: everything was going fine. I attend a weekly open mic in a mid-sized bar, and at one point the house bass amp died. I volunteered mine for a few weeks while the house amp was being repaired. It tended to sit in a bit of a corner that probably had bad ventilation, and while I knew and trusted most of the people using it, there may have been a few knob-twiddlers who pushed it too far on a hot night with insufficient airflow. At any rate, over the course of one night it started sounding crunchy and overdriven, got gradually quieter, So I called it a night and gave it a few days to rest. The next time I turned it on it didn’t sound any better. Again, I don’t know exactly what happened or when, but I don’t let strangers play through my amp anymore, I set a hard limit of ~1:00 on the Master and Gain, and I am careful not to let it get too hot. Lessons learned.
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