Fender Rumble Club

[RColie]

Hello my friends, question for you about slaving Rumbles together via the FX Loop Send-Return method. I appreciate this is an older topic..

So I originally had the Rumble 100 and loved it - especially being able to lift it over my head with one hand.

However the band needed more power at gigs, so I upgraded to the Rumble 200. Now this is OK for tone and volume, however I suffer from some physical disability and moving it around is difficult. I can hardly lift it, and it gets bumped and dropped and scraped a lot along the way from my car to the venue and on stage, and back out again afterwards. Eventually I am going to damage the amp, my car, or myself. It's got to go.

But to be honest, I need just a little bit more volume than the Rumble 200.

So I am thinking, rather than upgrading again to the Rumble 500 which will be even harder to move, or finding a 112 or 210 or 115 extension cab, I should downgrade to 2x Rumble 100s.

If I am reading the circuit diagrams and this forum and everything right, this should actually be a bit louder. The Rumble 200 only puts out 140W at the moment because I haven't plugged in a cab to the extension jack.
Whereas, two Rumble 100 amps, one slaved to the other, would theoretically put out up to 200W (whether that is peak or RMS is not particularly germaine- let's just say it would at the very least match the 140W I am currently hearing from the Rumble 200..).

And aside from talking about watts, the increase in total speaker area would also provide volume boost: 2x12=24 inches rather than 1x15.

AND THE KEY POINT OF THE EXERCISE:
I can lift everything safely again, albeit probably making two easy trips to the car instead of one awkward, heavy, dangerous one.

Is this a good plan, folks? They will certainly be easier to carry, but will this setup be louder? Much louder, or just incrementally? Does this work for you?
When I am slaving them, how do the controls work? Do the Slave volume/gain knobs do anything? Or does it literally just need to be plugged in powered on and the master unit provides everything?

Appreciate some comments to let me know I won't be wasting a chunk of money on this experiment. Cheers.

In my view this is very situation dependent. The cart is a great idea for longer relatively flat surfaces. But what about getting the amp into and out of your house, into and out of your car, lifting up on a stage, up and down stairs, through tight spaces. There are great suggestions above about using proper lifting technique and getting bandmates to help.

Concerning volume, I agree that the wattage difference won't make much difference. And even though the two 12s have more surface area, we can't draw any conclusions without knowing speaker sensitivity and power handling. My understanding is that the 115 is a much more robust speaker than the 12s in the R100. My guess is that the volume between the two is roughly the same (I haven't played the R200, but I have played the R500, R800 and 2 x R100s).

I think the 2 x R100s might be your best option. Less weight per lift, modularity, stack to get the controls and sound closer to your ears, built-in backup amp. I was going to go exclusively with the 2 x r100s set up, but then the R800 came out at under 30 pounds so I'm trying that.

Good luck to you!

 

[dORSY]

It is not a loop. That is one weakness. My technique is solid. Any potential variability would not explain the large change in that frequency range.

To counter, how can you assume that it is auditory acclimation? To attribute it to auditory acclimation, you would need to make theoretical assumptions that would yield far larger potential discrepancies than any variability in my technique. For example, do you know to what degree auditory acclimation affects perception? What are the buffering effects of auditory memory? Within the range of listening profiles/abilities, can that degree be generalized to all subjects equally? Can that degree of acclimation be applied to formally trained musicians?

add: The fidelity of visual and auditory memory

To answer it short: Joe Dart sounds like Joe Dart on a rumble, and also on an 8x10 Markbass rig. With 0 pedals "in the way" or a tone knob on his instrument.
TBH I've never seen any "scientific" speaker break-in measurements that would prove the theory ever. That's why I aksed if You used the same loop/did reamp.
ps: aging of strings could also cause the same effect, less zing-zang-cling-clang and less overtones in the 2k+ range.
You are clolser to Your "needs", this suggests to me that You indeed got great technique and ears!

 

[mapleglo]

New Cab day!

 

[John D Harris]

New Cab day!

View attachment 7304181

Congratulations!

 

[AK Bass Guy]

New Cab day!

View attachment 7304181

Nice rig.
Off topic.
What are you using the Bose 802 for? Haven’t seen one of those in a long while.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

New Cab day!

View attachment 7304181

And?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Nice rig.
Off topic.
What are you using the Bose 802 for? Haven’t seen one of those in a long while.

I used to seel those. Many, many moons ago.

 

[mapleglo]

Nice rig.
Off topic.
What are you using the Bose 802 for? Haven’t seen one of those in a long while.

Thanks! I have a small PA hooked up in my music room.

I play music through it while practicing, and on occasion, I have band members come over and we plug mics in and do vocal practice. I picked up the 802s for $150 from Craig's List a while back. I can remember back in the day, I had a major case of gas for them.

And?

Sounds great!

 

[dORSY]

I had a major case of gas for them.

Seeing Your pics, now I got major GAS for a 5 string P (again)

 

[mapleglo]

Seeing Your pics, now I got major GAS for a 5 string P (again)

It's my favorite bass these days.

 

[dORSY]

Done a quick test with a loop against the original driver and the basslite in my rumble 100s.

The mic gain should have been a bit higher (sorry for the hiss), but the result is still obvious.
With more volume and harmonic content the differences are even more present. Like with compressor, overdrive, brighter notes, etc.

Mic placed at the same spot on both amps.

I used 1 amp's preamp section to eliminate any knob value differences.

2nd amp plugged via efx send > return.

For the basslite I switched off the 2nd amp.
For the original driver I disconnected the 1st amp's speaker (cause I can with my mod).

basslite

rumble

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Done a quick test with a loop against the original driver and the basslite in my rumble 100s.

The mic gain should have been a bit higher (sorry for the hiss), but the result is still obvious.
With more volume and harmonic content the differences are even more present. Like with compressor, overdrive, brighter notes, etc.

Mic placed at the same spot on both amps.

I used 1 amp's preamp section to eliminate any knob value differences.

2nd amp plugged via efx send > return.

For the basslite I switched off the 2nd amp.
For the original driver I disconnected the 1st amp's speaker (cause I can with my mod).

basslite
View attachment 7305291
rumble
View attachment 7305292 View attachment 7305299

Thanks for your time and experimentation.
So…
How did you do your speaker mute? Just a toggle in between the amp output and speaker connection?
Or did you do something with the headphones jack?
I want to do the same and have no issues with doing basic wiring and soldering, but I don’t touch circuit boards.

This is my simple solution for the time being. Used a broken 1/8” jack and shrink wrap.

 

[dORSY]

Thanks for your time and experimentation.
So…
How did you do your speaker mute? Just a toggle in between the amp output and speaker connection?

See the mod here:

Post in thread 'Fender Rumble Club'

Aug 1, 2025

Moar mods!

Forgot I had put extra bracing in my orig. r100 Did put'em back.

Changed lining to some thinner material.

Cut out the back, installed a couple of jack/speakon sockets so I could use my r100 as an amp/cab.

Finally put a Basslite in my r100! Yes, it costs half as much as the combo itself, but is significantly louder (sensitivity), so I can use my r100 alone more, has more mids which helps with boominess. And lighter (<2kgs). Overall a great speaker!

Now (one of) my r100(s) is moar louder moar versatile and moar lighter!

Put the r100's speaker into a smaller...

• dORSY

• 
• 

 

[dORSY]

Did a Freq. plot for the above loop (smaller negative number = higher volume).
Anything above 2.5-3k is basically noise as I played low notes mostly, so I cut the rest down.

This shows roughly how much more efficient the deltalite speaker is, specially in the midrange. (~3-5 dB) Much less at low freqs. Which explains why the r100 is considered "boomy" by a lot of ppl (original 8 Ohm version).

Hope it's useful for anyone considering a speaker upgrade or replacement:

Spoiler: Frequencydeltalite (dB)Rumble (dB)

Frequency deltalite (dB) Rumble (dB)
93.750000 -20.421480 -21.246080
187.500000 -21.703979 -23.662613
281.250000 -30.360121 -34.144478
375.000000 -39.376717 -43.091152
468.750000 -47.204670 -51.933613
562.500000 -52.691757 -55.152618
656.250000 -56.006283 -60.427006
750.000000 -57.532600 -60.569775
843.750000 -61.704727 -66.176064
937.500000 -64.189743 -65.689392
1031.250000 -65.879799 -69.773247
1125.000000 -65.783325 -68.121574
1218.750000 -68.375366 -72.478462
1312.500000 -68.154762 -70.725739
1406.250000 -71.072701 -75.183868
1500.000000 -72.193489 -73.905937
1593.750000 -72.745857 -78.010025
1687.500000 -70.460991 -75.409645
1781.250000 -72.498604 -79.056877
1875.000000 -74.669479 -77.097145
1968.750000 -78.342087 -80.668533
2062.500000 -75.890892 -78.505379
2156.250000 -73.555656 -80.704063
2250.000000 -72.054245 -78.113495
2343.750000 -75.621796 -78.893127
2437.500000 -78.544685 -78.314301
2531.250000 -78.448799 -81.226044
2625.000000 -78.707253 -80.780449
2718.750000 -81.011696 -81.638329
2812.500000 -80.524185 -80.793785
2906.250000 -81.247223 -82.722603
3000.000000 -80.241989 -81.906189
3093.750000 -79.139885 -83.000595
3187.500000 -78.696526 -81.688583
3281.250000 -80.495804 -82.796822
3375.000000 -81.458168 -82.398888
3468.750000 -82.641197 -83.336510
3562.500000 -82.389954 -82.668266
3656.250000 -82.862419 -83.527756
3750.000000 -82.804886 -83.287521
3843.750000 -83.544502 -84.005180

They sound really nice and rich together!

 

[MadJack]

I completed a little multi-use project for when I use with the 210 turned on it's side.

An adaptor platform so the Bassam or my Rumble 200 head can sit flat over the side (top) handle's protrusion.



It's made of two pieces of 1/4" plywood, with one cut to fit around the handle protrusion and the second cut to full size. I did leave about 1" on the one side of the cutout for added stability. It's painted black and has 1/8" adhesive backed neoprene on the bottom to prevent any movement and to help isolate any vibrations from whatever is sitting on the platform.

Either amp will sit nice, flat, and solid on top of the stack with this platform.



While the Bassman is sitting on it, the R200 Head will sit nicely on the platform too. The handle on the Bassman's top handle is about 1/8" too tall for the Rumble to sit flatly.

The Bassman is the primary, but lower volume head. If I need a modest level of more clean volume the R200 will cover that, but the Bassman sound much better. Then again, it is an all tube original and you can hear where Fender got the Rumble tones from.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

See the mod here:
View attachment 7305393

Post in thread 'Fender Rumble Club'

Aug 1, 2025

Moar mods!

Forgot I had put extra bracing in my orig. r100 Did put'em back.

Changed lining to some thinner material.

Cut out the back, installed a couple of jack/speakon sockets so I could use my r100 as an amp/cab.

Finally put a Basslite in my r100! Yes, it costs half as much as the combo itself, but is significantly louder (sensitivity), so I can use my r100 alone more, has more mids which helps with boominess. And lighter (<2kgs). Overall a great speaker!

Now (one of) my r100(s) is moar louder moar versatile and moar lighter!

Put the r100's speaker into a smaller...

• dORSY

• 
• 

Thanks for sharing. I like the recessed plate.

 

[G-Dog]

Done a quick test with a loop against the original driver and the basslite in my rumble 100s.

The mic gain should have been a bit higher (sorry for the hiss), but the result is still obvious.
With more volume and harmonic content the differences are even more present. Like with compressor, overdrive, brighter notes, etc.

Mic placed at the same spot on both amps.

I used 1 amp's preamp section to eliminate any knob value differences.

2nd amp plugged via efx send > return.

For the basslite I switched off the 2nd amp.
For the original driver I disconnected the 1st amp's speaker (cause I can with my mod).

basslite
View attachment 7305291
rumble
View attachment 7305292 View attachment 7305299

Thanks for sharing, dORS-man! I've added a link to this post in the Speaker Replacements section of your Rumble Club Wiki page.

 

[mapleglo]

Finished building the amp riser, which I'll use especially when using the amp without the extension cabinet. I had the band logo printed up for the front.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Finished building the amp riser, which I'll use especially when using the amp without the extension cabinet. I had the band logo printed up for the front.

View attachment 7307103

Looks great. Does the riser and caster board help with decoupling the cab from the stage/floor any?
Looks like it would.

 

[mapleglo]

Looks great. Does the riser and caster board help with decoupling the cab from the stage/floor any?
Looks like it would.

Thanks! It certainly decouples it from the practice room floor. We'll see at the first gig, scheduled for 10/15. It also raises the amp closer to my ears, which is also helpful.