Fender Rumble Club

[ubernator]

The best is the sennheiser 441, but I am not keeping one of mine in the back of my rack. Same with my 421's. The 441 is much better than the 421 actually. I have the 421 and 421mkII as well as the 604's and a 602, d112 and many more. The d4 is just nice for being so compact, and it was originally their kick drum mic before they came out with the d6. It is small enough to keep in a gig bag pocket. And I keep my wl transmitter in the pouch.

 

[99Z3]

Ok.. I have tried to spend some time to decipher the material in this thread.. What I am wondering is.. Is the Rumble 410 V3 really that good compared to the Bassman Neo 410?

 

[Big Hoss]

Update on the MDB cover for my Rumble 210 cab. He returned it today fully fixed and the reinforced stitches done right.

Super fast quality service!

***EDIT***.

Sorry I had my post so brief, I hate typing on my phone...

So I got home from work yesterday, and the repaired cover was in the mailbox waiting for me. Remember, I mailed this off last Wednesday, and MDB Covers is in Spring Texas, the other side of the Houston Metro area, so he had it in his mailbox by 5:00 P.M. on Thursday. That means he took Friday to fix the cover, add the reinforcing stitches to the parts where the flaps splay out, and a very nice looking job I might add, and then had it back in the mail Saturday. All the while I am certain he handled other customers orders.

I haven't fitted it back to the cab yet as I was using the amp / cab in place in my music room last night and didn't need to cover it, BUT... I have no reason whatsoever to doubt this thing not only is repaired right, but will likely last every bit as long as the cab itself...

Part of the quality of a product is not just the product itself, but whether or not the company that makes the product stands behind their work. And I must say that not only did MDB go out of their way to produce a custom spec'd amp cover (they made bottom cover pieces for mine so I don't scuff the bottom of my amp or cab while

 

[ubernator]

Without doing any research, I will let linnin give the definitve answer, but I assume the difference is ceramic vs neo magnets, and country of origin. I am not in the market for any cabs so I haven't compared specs. They could be ported totally different for all I know. Bassman is competing against higher end (not boutique) cabs by gk, ampeg ect. Rumble is priced at the entry to mid level market. Then again I haven't even priced the bassmans, but I know it is fender's current "pro" cabinet.

Neodymium is more expensive than ceramic, being rare earth element. Supposedly the closest performance to alnico at a fraction of the weight.

 

[deathoftheparty]

I'm considering picking up a Rumble 40, but want to play my guitar through it as well. Has anyone had any experience playing a Telecaster through one of these? I dabble with both instruments, but I'm not good enough with either of them to warrant two separate amplifiers.

 

[99Z3]

The weight difference between the Rumble 410 v3 and the Neo 410 is seven pounds according to the specs I read on AMS.. From what I am gathering, the performance between the cabs are pretty close.. so if this is true, the price of the neo mags increasing the price of that cab over the Rumble cab isn't worth the value it cost..

 

[ubernator]

Sounds like the rumble is the better value and the bassman is bragging rights. However im sure there is a difference to where you may notice if ab'ng with the same head and same settings, but you could probably compensate with eq.

Note that if the spec favors one on spl or lowest useable frequency (-10db), then it will cost you headroom to make them sound the same. I experienced the same thing comparing d410xlt to goliath III. Had both for a while. The extra cost and weight and size (eden taller with top and bottom slots) eventually led to me selling it. But if it was performance alone that mattered I would have kept the eden. Size weight budget and sentiment helped make my decision at the time I had to downsize.

Though that might not be the besf example since it was brand a vs brand v of similar quality and common heritage, vs brand a budget vs. Brand a high end.

To quote every forum poster on every forum. YMMV

 

[MovingPitchers]

I'm considering picking up a Rumble 40, but want to play my guitar through it as well. Has anyone had any experience playing a Telecaster through one of these? I dabble with both instruments, but I'm not good enough with either of them to warrant two separate amplifiers.

Wow I happen to re-stumble upon this thread and see your inquiry!

Why, yes, I have done that before. It sounds pretty good with a guitar, honestly. I feel like since it's a bass amp, there's a lot more low end that you gotta tweak out when you dial in the EQ. Just be sure to remember the settings that you have on the EQ when you play bass and guitar so you don't forget. Write it down or whatever. Forgetting it and then spending more time trying to figure it out isn't worth it.

My bass settings is: Vintage on. Bright and Contour off. Bass at 1, Low Mids at 2, High Mids at 1:30, and Treble is 12 or flat.

Gain and Volume knobs are adjusted according to the environment I'm in. I sold my Stratocaster a while ago so I don't remember my settings at all. I do remember the Bass and Low Mids were less than 12 for sure since the guitar needs to be heard more than "felt".

The Rumble 40 is a very good amp for guitar and bass. You can play guitar through bass amps but not the other way around, from what I've learned. Guitar amps don't have enough power in the low end to handle a bass' natural low end sound, causing it to distort and sound really really bad. On the other hand, the bass amp has more frequency levels than a guitar amp so it CAN handle a guitar and the pedals and all of those effects pretty well.

To quote every forum poster on this forum, YMMV.

 

[deathoftheparty]

Wow I happen to re-stumble upon this thread and see your inquiry!

Why, yes, I have done that before. It sounds pretty good with a guitar, honestly. I feel like since it's a bass amp, there's a lot more low end that you gotta tweak out when you dial in the EQ. Just be sure to remember the settings that you have on the EQ when you play bass and guitar so you don't forget. Write it down or whatever. Forgetting it and then spending more time trying to figure it out isn't worth it.

My bass settings is: Vintage on. Bright and Contour off. Bass at 1, Low Mids at 2, High Mids at 1:30, and Treble is 12 or flat.

Gain and Volume knobs are adjusted according to the environment I'm in. I sold my Stratocaster a while ago so I don't remember my settings at all. I do remember the Bass and Low Mids were less than 12 for sure since the guitar needs to be heard more than "felt".

The Rumble 40 is a very good amp for guitar and bass. You can play guitar through bass amps but not the other way around, from what I've learned. Guitar amps don't have enough power in the low end to handle a bass' natural low end sound, causing it to distort and sound really really bad. On the other hand, the bass amp has more frequency levels than a guitar amp so it CAN handle a guitar and the pedals and all of those effects pretty well.

To quote every forum poster on this forum, YMMV.

That sealed the deal. I'll be picking one of these up.

But can anyone let me know why I need the 40 over the 25? This amp will never leave my bedroom. Is the additional voicing that much nicer? I'm assuming I can still tweak the EQ to get the sounds produced by the vintage option?

 

[MovingPitchers]

That sealed the deal. I'll be picking one of these up.

But can anyone let me know why I need the 40 over the 25? This amp will never leave my bedroom. Is the additional voicing that much nicer? I'm assuming I can still tweak the EQ to get the sounds produced by the vintage option?

I rarely bring out the 40 to gigs too. To my surprise, it has more power than the Lowdown Line 6 LD150 amp at my church. Strange. And the volume is only at 8!!!

You could get the 25...saves you money and space! The 40 takes up a pretty big chunk of my room space; granted, my room isn't big to begin with.

 

[J.Nuno]

I was one of the original doubters about the XLR, so I wanted to comment that it seems to work fine. I've now sent it to several mixing boards, and no sound men have said anything about it, so I guess it works fine out there. Probably not in the mix anyway.

I have also been in the studio lately, and at first I took in the 500 head and 112 cab; as usual, the engineer squawked about bleedthrough, so I unplugged the cab and made him take a direct feed from the 500 head's XLR. I know that heads aren't supposed be run without a load, but the heads seems fine after several sessions, and I had very specific reasons why I did this:

I HATE HATE HATE direct bass. It just has no soul, and to me sounds "rubbery." I know the 500 head's XLR out is supposed to have some degree of speaker emulation. I actually didn't hear any of that in the track, but I did retain some element of control and tone shaping. It worked great. The engineers seem to like it too. What they don't know is that the drummer and I were calling most of the session for more bass in the mix, so I just leaned over and tweaked the head - vol up a little, bass down a little, high down a little. Defined the bass better and brought the tone right into where I want it to be. I assume they were watching the meters, that's what they get paid for. anyway, let the engineer take credit, I got what i wanted without them futzing in ProTools for a long time.

I was only asking about the absence of a separate knob for the XLR output signal but thanks for sharing those experiences.
Linnin says it's about cost, which I can totally believe. But the fact that you have to "hack" it to silence the speakers and control the signal is pretty dumb for a high end product like this.

 

[eric_B]

That sealed the deal. I'll be picking one of these up.

But can anyone let me know why I need the 40 over the 25? This amp will never leave my bedroom. Is the additional voicing that much nicer? I'm assuming I can still tweak the EQ to get the sounds produced by the vintage option?

The 25 has no line out, no foot switch connection and much less tone options. I would certainly miss the gain control and probably the vintage button. Also: no control over the overdrive, if I'm correct, just a switch (?).
The 40 is just a couple of cm's bigger but also lighter, has a 10" vs a 8" speaker and, of course, 40W vs 25W.

Costing just € 23 more over here (€ 229 vs € 206), I would get the 40 without a doubt.
If you want to record directly in the future then you would need a DI which alone would cost more than € 23.
And then look how many more features the 40 has.

 

[Linnin]

But can anyone let me know why I need the 40 over the 25? This amp will never leave my bedroom. Is the additional voicing that much nicer? I'm assuming I can still tweak the EQ to get the sounds produced by the vintage option?

The Rumble 40 and 25 are essentially the same size as they are less than an inch different in all dimensions. The 40 is actually lighter at 18 pounds vs 22 due to plywood vs MDF construction.
The 40 shares the same front end (pre-amp) as all it's larger brethren. No, you can not get the 'Vintage' voicing by EQ alone, and if you'll read this you'll find out why.
Fender Rumble Vintage Voicing & Overdrive

 

[Linnin]

Is the Rumble 410 V3 really that good compared to the Bassman Neo 410?

Yes the Rumble 410 really is that good, and the Bassman Pro 410 Neo is great. Quite simply the Bassman Pro cabinets are all legendary for their naturalness of tone and smoothness of frequency response that are the hallmarks of their custom designed Eminence Neodymium drivers made in Eminence, Kentucky U.S.A. Cabinets are constructed in Fender's Ensenada, Mexico factory, and made of high grade 7-Ply 3/4" White Birch Plywood.

Only your ears can answer the question is the $800 Bassman Pro 410 worth twice as much as the $400 Rumble 410.
Fender Rumble Woofer Talk

 

[99Z3]

Yes the Rumble 410 really is that good, and the Bassman Pro 410 Neo is great. Quite simply the Bassman Pro cabinets are all legendary for their naturalness of tone and smoothness of frequency response that are the hallmarks of their custom designed Eminence Neodymium drivers made in Eminence, Kentucky U.S.A. Cabinets are constructed in Fender's Ensenada, Mexico factory, and made of high grade 7-Ply 3/4" White Birch Plywood.

Only your ears can answer the question is the $800 Bassman Pro 410 worth twice as much as the $400 Rumble 410.
Fender Rumble Woofer Talk

Thank you sir for your feedback! I greatly appreciate that!

 

[ubernator]

I have played guitar through my 200. It actually has enough drive for a decent crunch tone, but not a high gain amp sound. Definitely miss having a reverb though. The 40 makes good sense as a dual amp, could handle gig volume on guitar in non overly loud bands.

I wont be buying one though, I have a vox vt40+ and that actually handles bass as well, it is closed back. I wouldn't suggest trying to gig bass though one, but for practice it works. I have a workingman 10 if I want a solid 10" bass cube amp.

As far as playing bass through guitar amps, the issue is the speaker and cabinet. Plug in a bass cab and you would be surprised at the good sounds you can get. You wont get gig volume out of most, and the low end headroom is not always enough, but if you dial it in right and dont expect miracles unless it is one of those rare 150-300w amps as far as using it to get loud for gigs.

My fender m80 when plugged into a bass cab works as well as many 100w range solid state bass amps. Epiphone valve jr gets some good low volume tones, and 50-100 w tube amps can get a nice overdrive tone. I had a mesa ta15 and that sounded good for bass at reasonable volume as well.

Tube amps are actually safer than solid state because they are easier on speakers when pushed to the limit. Most guitar speakers dont like to be pushed hard for bass, and the lower wattage ones can be damaged so use caution. But it will only sound like crap if you don't dial it in, or try to use your guitar settings.

Consider that every Marshall amp is based on the early bassman circuit and in the old days bass amps were considered guitar amps without reverb. Aside from modern mega watt bass amps, there are more similarities than differences.

Again, the component that is a mismatch and a risk is the speakers and cabinet.

 

[Big Hoss]

I have played guitar through my 200. It actually has enough drive for a decent crunch tone, but not a high gain amp sound. Definitely miss having a reverb though. The 40 makes good sense as a dual amp, could handle gig volume on guitar in non overly loud bands.

I wont be buying one though, I have a vox vt40+ and that actually handles bass as well, it is closed back. I wouldn't suggest trying to gig bass though one, but for practice it works. I have a workingman 10 if I want a solid 10" bass cube amp.

As far as playing bass through guitar amps, the issue is the speaker and cabinet. Plug in a bass cab and you would be surprised at the good sounds you can get. You wont get gig volume out of most, and the low end headroom is not always enough, but if you dial it in right and dont expect miracles unless it is one of those rare 150-300w amps as far as using it to get loud for gigs.

My fender m80 when plugged into a bass cab works as well as many 100w range solid state bass amps. Epiphone valve jr gets some good low volume tones, and 50-100 w tube amps can get a nice overdrive tone. I had a mesa ta15 and that sounded good for bass at reasonable volume as well.

Tube amps are actually safer than solid state because they are easier on speakers when pushed to the limit. Most guitar speakers dont like to be pushed hard for bass, and the lower wattage ones can be damaged so use caution. But it will only sound like crap if you don't dial it in, or try to use your guitar settings.

Consider that every Marshall amp is based on the early bassman circuit and in the old days bass amps were considered guitar amps without reverb. Aside from modern mega watt bass amps, there are more similarities than differences.

Again, the component that is a mismatch and a risk is the speakers and cabinet.

That's actually good to know. I was considering grabbing a Rumble 40 for practice as the 500 is just, well 500 in a small practice space, AND my wife is learning guitar, starting out on electric / acoustic. I might try my hand at it later on as well... My music room is really a music room / home office / audio / video / photo studio, so I have a lot of stuff crammed in there as well...

It would be nice to be able to reduce one sizeable box from the overall space, the Rumble V3 40 is a reasonable sized combo amp.

One question though, and maybe Linin or one of the other folks that know better than I can answer this...

Can a Rumble 40 be used well for a keyboard amp?

Again, this goes back to the whole don't want to overload the physical space thing... It's crowded enough in there, don't need to exaggerate the problem...

 

[Linnin]

Can a Rumble 40 be used well for a keyboard amp?

While you could in a pinch, you'd be far better off using a powered full range PA monitor, or just a small PA. You should probably plan on a studio addition to your house.

 

[Big Hoss]

While you could in a pinch, you'd be far better off using a powered full range PA monitor, or just a small PA. You should probably plan on a studio addition to your house.

Uh... That is in the long term plan, actually a man cave of sorts. Need HOA approval, but I want a 2 story Gambrel roof barn in the yard larger than the HOA will approve. Bottom floor for wood shop / craft room, top floor for music room / audio studio. Obviously I would have to have some serious air filtration going on there... I am talking about just something to use while in the house / music room for now... Yeah PA is in the plan, but that wasn't scheduled to be stored in this room, too big.

 

[rodl2005]

It'll sound fine for keys. You really will hear most if what the keys puts out. But. .. a PA style speaker will give you ALL the highs and lows.
the Rumble will be fine tho. Most bass amps/cabs sound OK with keys (way better than guitar amps/combos). But a PA cab will be better.