Fender Rumble Club

[G-Dog]

@Miles_ONeal - does this also qualify me for Combo Club membership (R500c in action)? I had no idea that was a thing until I read @G-Dog 's post referencing it.
I'm clearly not lurking around enough....

Yes, Piquey! The Combo Club is very much "a thing"!! And all our Rumblers here with bass combos qualify! If you haven't been there yet, you owe it to yourself to go post a photo and ask to join. You won't be sorry. It's a very interesting and knowledgeable community!
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[GonePlaid]

Yes, Piquey! The Combo Club is very much "a thing"!! And all our Rumblers here with bass combos qualify! If you haven't been there yet, you owe it to yourself to go post a photo and ask to join. You won't be sorry. It's a very interesting and knowledgeable community!
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Agreed. Much crossover between clubs.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Shorty, your discussions here since joining The Club have been textbook learning experiences. I've really enjoyed all the participation you've elicited here. Keep up the great work!
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So just to follow up on the whole discussion about lining the cab and blocking the ports on my Rumble 100.

Wednesday night I found a large piece of a memory foam mattress topper. It had been moved from a queen bed to a double and cut down. I lined the bottom of the cabinet and blocked the ports with this foam, it has sort of a friction fit quality on it's own.

I definitely noticed that the tone tightened up. Sort of like going from reverb to dry signal for lack of a better term. I think I'll leave it this way for awhile.

And now that I know how it sounds on it's own I'm curious to hear how it sounds at a gig. I have no expectations that the audience will know the difference but it's a personal quest I guess. Gig this Sunday, looking forward to that as always. The foam is a bright color and can be seen but not too bad for this experiment.

Thanks again gentlemen!

 

[burgerdj]

Played an outdoor gig yesterday that backlined a R500 combo. It was my first experience with the rumble, and now I kind of understand the rave reviews. I was rather astonished at the depth and volume the little combo put out. Initially, I wanted to use the effects return but ended up just plugging straight in. I had everything flat and just used my bass eq for adjustments. Really nice and useful tone! It was very bright sounding, but because of the way the stage I wasn’t able to get a look around back to see if a tweeter was adjustable. Really nice top end that ultimately, I needed to dial way back.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Played an outdoor gig yesterday that backlined a R500 combo. It was my first experience with the rumble, and now I kind of understand the rave reviews. I was rather astonished at the depth and volume the little combo put out. Initially, I wanted to use the effects return but ended up just plugging straight in. I had everything flat and just used my bass eq for adjustments. Really nice and useful tone! It was very bright sounding, but because of the way the stage I wasn’t able to get a look around back to see if a tweeter was adjustable. Really nice top end that ultimately, I needed to dial way back.

They are great amps. The Rumble line is my favorite.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Played an outdoor gig yesterday that backlined a R500 combo. It was my first experience with the rumble, and now I kind of understand the rave reviews. I was rather astonished at the depth and volume the little combo put out. Initially, I wanted to use the effects return but ended up just plugging straight in. I had everything flat and just used my bass eq for adjustments. Really nice and useful tone! It was very bright sounding, but because of the way the stage I wasn’t able to get a look around back to see if a tweeter was adjustable. Really nice top end that ultimately, I needed to dial way back.

Yes, there's a tweeter. If the control for it is like my old 200, there's no OFF, but you can choose between ON and -6 dB. For me, I used ON for when I plugged by phone into the AUX input for backing tracks and streaming Amazon Music, and -6 dB (or whatever it's called on the amp) for regular bass playing use.

The Rumble extension cabs have OFF, -6 dB and ON.

On my Rumble Studio 40, which has a tweeter (the regular 40 doesn't), the switch (labeled HORN) has OFF and ON positions, with no middle position for -6 dB.

There are also 3 small tone voicing buttons by the OD controls on top: BRIGHT, CONTOUR and VINTAGE. You need to make sure that the BRIGHT button isn't depressed (selected).

One final thing I should point out that the standard factory-designed voicing of the Rumbles with all four EQ controls set to 12 o'clock is a bit of a mid-range scoop. "Flat" is closer to 10-2-2-10 o'clock for low, low-mid, high-mid and treble. If you had the treble EQ set to 12 o'clock, that could also contribute to the brightness you heard.

I'm sure the Grand Poobah of the Rumble Club with be by with a links to the Rumble Wiki and the EQ section in it.

Buy a Rumble. Post a picture of it. Become a member of this prestigious TB club. Get a member number.

 

[G-Dog]

Yes, there's a tweeter. If the control for it is like my old 200, there's no OFF, but you can choose between ON and -6 dB. For me, I used ON for when I plugged by phone into the AUX input for backing tracks and streaming Amazon Music, and -6 dB (or whatever it's called on the amp) for regular bass playing use.

The Rumble extension cabs have OFF, -6 dB and ON.

On my Rumble Studio 40, which has a tweeter (the regular 40 doesn't), the switch (labeled HORN) has OFF and ON positions, with no middle position for -6 dB. ... ... ...

Actually, all Rumble combos with a horn, or tweeter, have a simple ON/OFF switch for it. And the extension cabinets have an ON/-6dB/OFF switch.

.​

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Actually, all Rumble combos with a horn, or tweeter, have a simple ON/OFF switch for it. And the extension cabinets have an ON/-6dB/OFF switch.

View attachment 5425923
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I bought my 200 the day it became available. My ol' noggin ain't what it used to be, but can't shake the feeling that mine was -6 dB and ON. Either Fender made the change or I need professional counseling.

Or both!

 

[KindofBlues71]

I have the R40 and have tried the Bright switch several times bit cannot hear any sound change. I can definitely hear when the Contour and Vintage switched are engaged/disengaged, just not the Bright switch. I currently have the following settings B8, LM1, HM4, T12. Is my Bright switch broken?

 

[G-Dog]

I have the R40 and have tried the Bright switch several times but cannot hear any sound change. I can definitely hear when the Contour and Vintage switched are engaged/disengaged, just not the Bright switch. I currently have the following settings B8, LM1, HM4, T12. Is my Bright switch broken?

Since the Bright button really only affects the 1kHz, and above, frequencies the boost will be a bit subtle on bass guitar. It'll only hit the high harmonics of the notes played. See the chart here:

​

Also, watch the video of the 3 voicing buttons for comparison:

[Video] Demo of the Tones from these Voice Buttons
.​

 

[KindofBlues71]

Thx @G-Dog, I'll check out the video later today!

 

[FearNoEvil65]

I have the R40 and have tried the Bright switch several times bit cannot hear any sound change. I can definitely hear when the Contour and Vintage switched are engaged/disengaged, just not the Bright switch. I currently have the following settings B8, LM1, HM4, T12. Is my Bright switch broken?

Maybe it's the 10 inch speaker, I can hear a distinct difference with the bright switch on my 200 combo

 

[JPDsma]

On my 4 yr old 200cV3, I generally leave the horn/tweeter off unless running other music through it. Mine is on or off. I don’t hear a lot of difference between the two while playing, certainly not in a band context. But I go for the more vintage sound anyway, I guess.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Thought I'd post a last follow up on the topic of lining the cab and blocking the ports on my Rumble 100v3 amp.

We had a gig yesterday afternoon at a bar that we've played many times. And in the past I've struggled some to get a good-not muddy bass tone for whatever reasons.

This was a first time out with the ports blocked with memory foam mattress liner and a piece friction fit in the bottom. I discovered a couple things.

1-it was very easy to dial in a nice tone out of our FOH with the tighter sound out of the amp
2-the "tighter" sound out of the combo translated nicely to FOH
3-I put this foam in with no adhesives or other means of "holding" it in place. I cut big enough pieces for the ports to wedge them in, and piece on the bottom is wedged under the ports. The "rough" interior of the cab and the character of the foam hold it all in place with no issues. Checked it all when I got home after carrying it around and placing it on it's side in my car as usual, nothing moved.

I love to play my parts-basses that were painted by my kids. But both of them were prone to lower overtones that usually forced me to struggle with FOH and in many venues to enable the low cut 100Hz switch. Didn't have to do that yesterday for the first time. I'm no expert at sound, just speaking from my experience.

Total cost of this reversible mod, nothing, had the foam on hand.

Great info learned by accident here. That's a win!

 

[bassicmike]

Total cost of this reversible mod, nothing, had the foam on hand.
View attachment 5426076

Cost me 10 bucks for the bag of polyfill. Applied it with double-sided tape, so completely reversible.

I had the dowels in the basement, so no cost there.

Very happy to hear about your positive results.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Cost me 10 bucks for the bag of polyfill. Applied it with double-sided tape, so completely reversible.

I had the dowels in the basement, so no cost there.

Very happy to hear about your positive results.

I didn't even realize we had that memory foam around the house when I first read about this. The best part about it as a material is that it's very dense and can be compacted alot for things like filling the ports. It's a pretty large piece in each one that shouldn't have fit, but did.

Thanks, I'm really happy with the results.

 

[JPDsma]

I like the red knobs, too! Great fam project with great results.

 

[RL5]

Trying the polyfill in my amp (Stage 800) and 210 cab. Stuffed the ports AND filled the cabinets (loosely stuffed back there through the ports - easily removeable). We'll see how it sounds. Rehearsal tomorrow night and have a gig Friday at a very boomy room.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I like the red knobs, too! Great fam project with great results.

Thanks, the other has the same knobs in blue. I like colors.

 

[SteveAG]

Thought I'd post a last follow up on the topic of lining the cab and blocking the ports on my Rumble 100v3 amp.

We had a gig yesterday afternoon at a bar that we've played many times. And in the past I've struggled some to get a good-not muddy bass tone for whatever reasons.

This was a first time out with the ports blocked with memory foam mattress liner and a piece friction fit in the bottom. I discovered a couple things.

1-it was very easy to dial in a nice tone out of our FOH with the tighter sound out of the amp
2-the "tighter" sound out of the combo translated nicely to FOH
3-I put this foam in with no adhesives or other means of "holding" it in place. I cut big enough pieces for the ports to wedge them in, and piece on the bottom is wedged under the ports. The "rough" interior of the cab and the character of the foam hold it all in place with no issues. Checked it all when I got home after carrying it around and placing it on it's side in my car as usual, nothing moved.

I love to play my parts-basses that were painted by my kids. But both of them were prone to lower overtones that usually forced me to struggle with FOH and in many venues to enable the low cut 100Hz switch. Didn't have to do that yesterday for the first time. I'm no expert at sound, just speaking from my experience.

Total cost of this reversible mod, nothing, had the foam on hand.

Great info learned by accident here. That's a win!
View attachment 5426076

Cool paint jobs in the pics!