Fender Rumble Club

[Miles_ONeal]

That's what dental mirrors are for.

I think there's one here. Somewhere. Maybe.

I found them indispensable for tube amp work, especially hand-wired point to point amps, but they come in handy for lots of things (like his). You could also get a little spyscope, but they tend to cost a few hundred times as much as a basic dental mirror.

 

[Ottertail]

A metal stick poking around in an amp gives me the willies. Dip that puppy in liquid electrical tape!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I used either shrink wrap tubing or electrical tape (I forget which) on the mirror and the dental pick I use for probing things when I need a finer point than a wooden chop stick (with slots filed in the tip).

 

[MadJack]

I used either shrink wrap tubing or electrical tape (I forget which) on the mirror and the dental pick I use for probing things when I need a finer point than a wooden chop stick (with slots filed in the tip).

The plastic "disposable" dental mirrors work great. I lost my last one. I had it for years (15-20?). the handle was starting turn to powder! I have to buy another pack of them. They're cheap.

I did use shrink wrap on my shorting wand. Soldered the grounding wire to one end of the resistor, zip tied the resistor to the chop stick, heat shrink over it and clipped the lead to taste. Probe is a chop stick run in the pencil sharpener.


I also made my own light bulb limiter. Incandescent bulbs are hard to find!


No oscilloscope or signal generator yet. My Variac is at a friend's studio. (What is he doing? A realistic brown sound? IDK.)

 

[GonePlaid]

A metal stick poking around in an amp gives me the willies. Dip that puppy in liquid electrical tape!

If I find the dental mirror, it's only gonna go in the ports on the 200c-far away from the amp portion and not close to the connections on the speaker.

 

[Ottertail]

Incandescent bulbs are hard to find!

A crime against humanity! I bought my last 2 halogen range bulbs off eBay. SMH. Come on November.

 

[Bong Bong]

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.

What setting on the gain ?

 

[Bong Bong]

I know this has been discussed before, but having trouble finding the info I'm looking for.

I'll be playing a gig in about 2 weeks in a room that is exceptionally boomy. I find that socks (tube or otherwise) don't fit and stay well in the ports. What other type of fill have people used? BTW, I haven't tried adding any batting or insulation to the cabinet. I believe my Stage has some already, but unsure if more is needed. Thanks in advance.

I can’t believe I’d ever say this after 30 years of sending myself deaf. I’ve done gigs in huge & small boomy venues so loud I couldn’t hear the rest of the band properly.
Turn down . Put quality before volume.It’s possible. Mask the drums if you have to.It can be done . Trust your sound guy.Use smaller amps ( set up all the big stuff for show of course if you need to ) Get the bass cabinets off the floor - decouple. Leave the cabinets alone. A lot of research has gone into them.

 

[burgerdj]

What setting on the gain ?

Iirc, gain was around 10-11 o’clock, no preshape buttons pushed in, bass at 1 o’clock, remaining eq at 12 o’clock and master volume at 12 o’clock .

 

[Brandon Shea]

Hey friends! I currently own a Rumble Studio 40 (bought it back in 2020 when I decided to get back into bass again), and I'm looking for something a little beefier that I can use to jam with friends. The Rumble 500 combo seems like the easiest and most obvious choice, but is there anything I should consider before making the purchase? I've truthfully never really known what to look for when evaluating amps, so any input is very appreciated.

 

[RL5]

Hey friends! I currently own a Rumble Studio 40 (bought it back in 2020 when I decided to get back into bass again), and I'm looking for something a little beefier that I can use to jam with friends. The Rumble 500 combo seems like the easiest and most obvious choice, but is there anything I should consider before making the purchase? I've truthfully never really known what to look for when evaluating amps, so any input is very appreciated.

The closest thing to your Studio 40 is the Stage 800. Probably overkill for your needs, but if you like the variety of amp models/cabinets/tones you can get from you current amp, then the Stage 800 is the way to go.

Many people love their Rumble 100s, and if that turns out not to be loud enough, you can daisy chain it with another Rumble 100.

And of course another option is the Rumble 800, which has a low power setting, limiting it to 100W. If you like Rumbles, any of these are great options. You'll just need to decide on your needs and budget.

 

[KindofBlues71]

Speaking of the Studio 40/Stage 800, does anyone know why Fender went with a single mid tone control instead of the low/high mid on the rest of the Rumble line?

 

[G-Dog]

Hey friends! I currently own a Rumble Studio 40 (bought it back in 2020 when I decided to get back into bass again), and I'm looking for something a little beefier that I can use to jam with friends. The Rumble 500 combo seems like the easiest and most obvious choice, but is there anything I should consider before making the purchase? I've truthfully never really known what to look for when evaluating amps, so any input is very appreciated.

Hey, Shea! @Brandon Shea, you are now member #1757 in the Fender Rumble Club. Congratulations and welcome. Put that number in your TalkBass Signature for safe keeping. Then make yourself at home here and on your Rumble Club Wiki page, the repository of all Rumbling wisdom and knowledge.

RL is right about the Rumbles having lots of options for you! See the Rumbles Summary Info Chart for all the options. And connecting Send to Return of two regular Rumble combo amps makes a modular stack from small to large venues. Personally, I use my Rumble Studio 40 for lots of jams with friends, up to two dozen of 'em at a time!! But, I can also use my Rumble 500 combo for louder needs. I can also connect the Studio's Left (Mono) Send to the 500's Input* to get the Studio's various tones much louder!

*The Stage & Studio's FX Sends work differently than the regular Rumbles'.​

How's about telling us a bit about yourself, Brandon, such as your bass experience in general and your Rumble journey in particular? You'll fit right in here since we have all kinds. But we all love to ... ... ...

Rumble On!
.​

 

[G-Dog]

Speaking of the Studio 40/Stage 800, does anyone know why Fender went with a single mid tone control instead of the low/high mid on the rest of the Rumble line?

Such discussions are best directed to the Rumble LT25, Studio 40 & Stage 800 sub+thread, Kindof. But, the short answer is that the 3-band EQ is the simplest physical control, while the digital controls for each modeled amp have the 4-band for the Rumble models and whatever else the other amp models actually have.
.

 

[KindofBlues71]

Such discussions are best directed to the Rumble LT25, Studio 40 & Stage 800 sub+thread, Kindof. But, the short answer is that the 3-band EQ is the simplest physical control, while the digital controls for each modeled amp have the 4-band for the Rumble models and whatever else the other amp models actually have.
.

Thanks @G-Dog makes sense. I'm gonna stay away from that thread for fear of getting bad GAS.

 

[Brandon Shea]

The closest thing to your Studio 40 is the Stage 800. Probably overkill for your needs, but if you like the variety of amp models/cabinets/tones you can get from you current amp, then the Stage 800 is the way to go.

Many people love their Rumble 100s, and if that turns out not to be loud enough, you can daisy chain it with another Rumble 100.

And of course another option is the Rumble 800, which has a low power setting, limiting it to 100W. If you like Rumbles, any of these are great options. You'll just need to decide on your needs and budget.

Thanks for the input! I briefly entertained the Stage 800, but I think I'm ready for an amp with simpler controls. Most of the time when I've been playing recently, I just set the Studio 40 to emulate a Rumble V3 and call it a day. I love the idea of having the voicing/drive settings available as physical controls instead of needing to use a little screen on top of the amp.

 

[G-Dog]

Thanks @G-Dog makes sense. I'm gonna stay away from that thread for fear of getting bad GAS.

The introduction of the Stage & Studio gave me very bad GAS! But I managed to survive with just the Studio 40. It's just SO much fun! Still, I hear all the Rumble 800s call my name!
.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

The introduction of the Stage & Studio gave me very bad GAS! But I managed to survive with just the Studio 40. It's just SO much fun! Still, I hear all the Rumble 800s call my name!
.

I guess my question would be why they did a 40 and 800 version of that amp, nothing in between volume and size wise seems strange to me.

Now if I could only get my hands on a Studio 40 to try it out before I decide to buy. The only ones I can find for sale are in mythical lands far far away.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

Speaking of the Studio 40/Stage 800, does anyone know why Fender went with a single mid tone control instead of the low/high mid on the rest of the Rumble line?

@G-Dog is right about heading over to the thread dedicated to the modeling Rumbles, but I'll just say here that all 4 EQ controls are available in the Rumble patches and reproduce the 4 hardware EQ controls on the regular Rumbles. Assuming that you are running the Fender Tone app on your phone or much better, your tablet, you can easily tweak all 4. If you use your Studio/Stage Rumble in several locations, tweak the controls for each room and save them as user presets, so you an just recall them and not have to fiddle with them again.

That said, I still think Fender should have implemented 4 EQ control knobs.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Iirc, gain was around 10-11 o’clock, no preshape buttons pushed in, bass at 1 o’clock, remaining eq at 12 o’clock and master volume at 12 o’clock .

Hey friends! I currently own a Rumble Studio 40 (bought it back in 2020 when I decided to get back into bass again), and I'm looking for something a little beefier that I can use to jam with friends. The Rumble 500 combo seems like the easiest and most obvious choice, but is there anything I should consider before making the purchase? I've truthfully never really known what to look for when evaluating amps, so any input is very appreciated.

The Rumble 100 should be plenty for jamming with friends, unless they play really loudly and you'll be in a big space or outdoors. If they play too loudly for an R100 in a smaller space, use noise-cancelling headphones or get smarter friends to jam with.

That said, if you have the money and there's any chance the amp will be used in a larger venue or outdoors, by all means level up!