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Fender Rumble Club

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My Rumble 15 arrived today. I plan to use it as part of my travel rig, as well as with acoustic instruments, and in other situations where its compact size is a plus. I thought a family photo with my 500 and 40 would be appropriate. :)
 
View attachment 894014 My Rumble 15 arrived today. I plan to use it as part of my travel rig, as well as with acoustic instruments, and in other situations where its compact size is a plus. I thought a family photo with my 500 and 40 would be appropriate. :)
Why not the 25? I know its a little bigger, but the cost difference is negligible, and you get more headroom, ported enclosure, and contour and overdrive.
 
Bigger and heavier. I wanted it to be as small and compact as possible. Don't really need the headroom or the overdrive, I have the 40 and 500 for that. :)
That's what I guessed. Also because you have a 40 which is pretty portable as it is, the 25 is almost as big and is heavier than the 40. I took the grille off a 25 and that little 8" looks funny in that big old box. Figured they would give it a 10".
 
That's what I guessed. Also because you have a 40 which is pretty portable as it is, the 25 is almost as big and is heavier than the 40. I took the grille off a 25 and that little 8" looks funny in that big old box. Figured they would give it a 10".
The 40 is light enough, but the depth of the cabinet makes it a little uncomfortable to carry for longer distances. The 15 is just about right, and I can live with the difference in performance. For once, size DOES matter. :D
 
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Hey Larry,
I have some insight here.

I own both of the GK's MB115II and MB212II combos. And I own the Rumble 500 Head and 210 cab. These amps sound VERY different from each other. All 3 are great amps and all work well.

The learning curve is huge from the GK's to the Rumble's. Mainly being that the GK's are more High Fi and modern where the Rumble is going to lean more on the old school warm booty. I found that if you use the Contour pushed in, on the Rumble, it puts in you closer to the GK sound to start with, since your ear is used to the GK sound. Also start with the Bass knob at about 9 O'clock and the Low Mid around 1 o'clock on the Rumble and work from there. I found that the bass sounded a bit pushed on the Rumble vs. GK's. And I found that the Rumble started to sound much better after the speakers broke in.

I'll admit, at first I thought I may have made a mistake going the Rumble Route from GK, but I made myself stick to it and try out different things. It took some time, but I found my happy places with the amp. I'm glad I did hang in there. I have had about dozen shows and maybe twice that in rehearsals with it since I got it over a month or so ago. I got the greatest compliment last weekend when the bass player from a local band I admire, came up and started talking shop and asking me about how I achieved some of the tones I had. He said it sounded great and had huge presence and bottom end.

If you really like the 115 sound but want the extra horsepower on tap, I would recommend the 500 head and 115 cab or 2. Plus that gives you flexibility to mix and match cabs. I for one am so glad I did that over the combo, I just really want the flexibility to mix and match cabs from the Rumble or Bassman series or any brand for that fact. I used the Rumble 500 head with my Eden 210XLT cab, and wow! I used it with both the Eden and Rumble cab last show and sounded great. Tomorrow I am playing the St. Augustine Amphitheater and will just use the Rumble Head and 210 cab with the Line out on the Rumble to FOH.

Thanks a lot for this, really good insight.

I have the original MB115, still need to try the Rumble, however the store only have the combos, and the biggest is the 200, I trill try to push and see if they will get a 500 combo to test. And yes I do understand is a totally different sound, my main main bass now is a modified Squier Active Deluxe 5 with Nordstrand preamp and Nordstrand NJ5 pickups, got to love the Jazz sound and also like the old school sound, I was even using a VT Bass Deluxe to get some old school sound.

I guess at the end I really need to test the 200 at least to find out if that is the sound that I will like, thanks for your review, is good to know that even you having GKs, like the sound of the Rumble.
I use my MB115 flat with no boost most of the time, form time to time I use the boost, but even flat there is something I do not like about the sound, guess I need to compare it with the Rumble.


Larry
 
... I really need to test the 200 at least to find out if that is the sound that I will like, thanks for your review, is good to know that even you having GKs, like the sound of the Rumble.

Larry, when you test the R200, get it off the floor at least a couple of inches (or 5 cm, I guess, in CR) and be sitting so you are closer to being in the speaker's radiation pattern. You want to hear what the audience will be hearing, not blasting music at your shins.
 
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Go pump your bilge!
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How'd you know I have a broken float switch and have to switch on the pump manually?

Demo'ing the rumble 200 at Fv GC was a pain, had to pull the amp out of the shelf to get to the input jack, and then the amp was pointing down a bit. Still sounded good though. I was more interested in the seafoam green precision special than the amp though. Already have the amp. $900 for mex bass a bit extreme, but it was quite a nice bass. If money was not an issue I would have one of those, its like a greatest hits bass. Black block jazz width neck, p body, p/j and hi mass bridge.

And the amp still sounded good pointing down a bit. But it was raised a few inches to begin with. Maybe my shin ear monitors were working.
 
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Back on the topic of Craigslist, what does everyone think of this?

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[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Posted in musicians and not for sale, STUPID high prices. And "we need them for this gig, come to gig to get it"

Delusional? Or pure promotional genius?

I had replied to the affinity tele one with "don't they cost less than that new?" And got a reply that they don't come with a case, and I should go to guitar fetish or wherever else I wanted to spend my money "it's you're money".

I composed a few long replies, then decided against it.
 
Fender has announced a new Bassman 800 amplifier at Summer NAMM in Nashville.
"
Bassman 800 Amp: Launching August 2016

Designed for the ultimate bass-playing experience, the Bassman 800 offers two versatile channels and extreme Fender tube tones, while mating perfectly with Fender Bassman Pro Neo speaker cabinets. The foundation of the Bassman 800’s tone is the two-channel tube preamp, which utilizes a pair of premium 12AX7 tubes. The lightweight (17-lb), 800-watt hybrid amp also includes Vintage and Overdrive preamp channels, XLR line output, tuner output, an effects loop and a footswitch for hands-free channel switching."
Summer NAMM 2016: Fender announces ’57 Custom Tweed series & Bassman 800 amplifiers
 

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