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Fender Rumble Club

When did the V3 line come out? I've got a line on a used model, but they can't tell me how much of the original 5 year warranty is left. Assuming it was one of the first sold, how long ago would that have been (2 years, more/less)? Thanks.
 
Here's Rumble 100 middle left, and the Rumble 40 middle right. both are flanked by a Rumble 500 left and Rumble 200 right.
rumble-slot-03.jpg

Super helpful! Thanks.
 
Thanks...I see in your profile you have the GK MB212ii....I have the same. What are your thoughts/comparisons use cases between the two?

I've talked about in the past. But in a nutshell: The GK Sounds more modern and the Fender sounds more Vintage.

Here is what I said before
"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." <-- This has happened about 5 times with different players now. I may have caused Fender to sell a few more units, lol.

I've had it about 6 months now. Played a lot of gigs with this set up, including the St. Augustine Amphitheater twice (just saw Prophets of Rage there last weekend, Widespread Panic there a couple weekends ago), the Colonial Square twice, lots of club gigs and rehearsals galore with 3 different bands. Even posted a live video we did in a local studio for a local podcast. It has proven to be reliable, consistent in tone. I get a lot of compliments on the tone, and I have had a lot of local guys asking me what the hell am I playing, "is that a Fender?!?! " I get that a lot! Most people know me for GK's and Ampegs (gone now), and totally thrown for a loop when they see and hear me sporting a Fender rig. And then see "Rumble" and always say, "I thought those where cheap beginner amps, why does it sound so good?!?!" And then we chat about it after the show, I show them the head and how it has the magnet top, and have them hold it for the weight factor, then put in the carrying case and then have them hold it again. Then tell them to pick up the cab. "What is this cab? 210!!! No way!" They can't believe I get all the volume and tone out of a 210 cab that is this light weight.

Truth be told, I had similar reactions to the MB212II combo. Same people blown away by it only being a 212 and so loud and clear. And super light weight. I'll always keep my MB212 and MB115 along with the Rumble 500 head and cabs.
 
When did the V3 line come out?
First introduced at Winter NAMM mid January, 2014. Pre-orders kept Rumbles sold out for about 6-9 months. A friend of mine at a major e-tailer said that he had never seen such strong pre-orders in his entire career. Rumbles sales have stayed strong since. Often selling out between shipments. Fender Rumbles are the very best selling line of bass amplifiers on the world market. With the Fender Rumble 500 combo being the best selling of the entire line. It may very well go on to become the best selling bass amp in history. It already outsells the entire bass amp production of Eden and Peavey put together, or the solid state output of ampeg.
 
... With that having been said, I still prefer the 200 in a club because the 15 inch speaker just fills the room in a different way. People seem to dance more often when I use my 200. It puts down a thick palpable layer of oooy-goooy bass goodness on the dancefloor that moves them.

I'm in for the oooy-goooy goodness!
yeah.gif
 
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Cuba is getting slammed right now. Any Rumble Club members in the path of Hurricane Matthew? @Steadfast is in peril of serious flooding in Savannah, Georgia.

Yes--more concerned with the wind. I have a home in Stuart, Fl and I just traveled down there to put up the storm shutters--my renters left on SEP 30...so no one there to prepare the home. Ughhh.

After work tonight I will be placing storm shutters on my new house and deciding what to do with my boat. Ironically the house I moved out of had an open house scheduled for this weekend. I doubt I will get to boarding that one up before the storm hits. So--I have 3 homes in harms way. I am praying for God's hand to spare lives and property for wherever this storm lands.

Buying this new house on the river in September carried the outside risk of owning three homes during a period when hurricanes rarely happen. That thought actually occurred to me. Seemed unlikely--but not now. lol If I lose 2 homes I will be financially ruined. It is unlikely--but it is a little frightening.
 
After months of deliberation and asking a million annoying questions, especially to @Linnin and @Gravedigger Dav ...the man in the purple/orange truck delivered my Rumble 500 head from Sweetwater this afternoon. No pictures yet because I'm lazy and quite frankly, we all know what it looks like...

Not that anyone needs another review or cares but here are my initial thoughts:

- Versatile: I'm coming from an SWR head I had for over a decade...no matter what you plugged into it, it was very loud and very clean. That was well and good but always felt kinda cold to me. No amount of knob-fiddling was going to change it. The Rumble on the other hand...the range of tones you can get out of it is completely astounding. I printed out our tone pool and played around for 45 minutes with all the settings.; it's exceedingly easy to get an old school blues sound, then an 80s GK hair-metal sound, then a punk rock treble sound, then a slap tone etc. very very impressive. It's perfectly transparent and allows each bass to shine through without sounding sterile like some MarkBass heads do.

- Not very loud, or is it?: First plugged in my passive MIJ Mustang (because why not pair a Fender with a Fender!) and was pretty underwhelmed with the volume (going into an 8ohm 2x10 cab). Was really down about it, then tried my active Musicman Bongo and active Schecter. Suddenly, I was drinking from a fire hose...I couldn't get the master up past about 15% before the windows/lightbulbs started rattling. Absolutely insane that so much noise comes out of a small package. Also, I will say that with a lot of heads the master volume "tops out" around noon, it seems like the Rumble truly does get louder until about the 3:30-4:00 mark, which is really nice. I can't imagine what 4 ohms through 4x10s or 8x10s will sound like. Probably need to get the Mustang looked at, it has sounded sick for quite some time haha

- Overdrive: the most natural, organic, and pleasing fuzz I've ever heard. I'm a guy who hates distortion and effects on bass but this head has converted me, I almost prefer to play with it on rather than off.

- Voicing knobs: Haven't played with these too much but so far, they don't really do much for me. It's not a noticeable difference like with say the Ampeg ultra-hi and ultra-lo buttons. I'll have to spend some time getting used to them I guess.

Not sure when I'll get to try it out in a band setting, I don't have time for a regular gig at the moment (trying to nurture my "real world" career that is currently in its infancy) but at home the Rumble is a superstar!
Are you wanting a number, then? Or are you still too busy playing with your new toy?
 
Your band must be louder than mine. I've played outdoors with drums and 3 guitars and had plenty of volume, even before I got the 2x10 extension cab.

I've never had any issues being heard with the 500 head and 210 cab. I've played some rather large outdoor areas with no PA support. (You can see an older post where I showed that)

If the outdoor gig doesn't have a stage (or if it's a tiny stage), and the spectators are clustered right in front of it, I could maybe see a 210 maybe working. I still don't think it would be an ideal setup though -- just because it can get loud enough to be heard doesn't mean that the thump is cutting through. A lot of times when I have tried pushing undersized rigs to the max to be heard, what ended up cutting through was a harsh, blaring sound rather than a well-defined thump. Even for medium-sized bar gigs, which I usually use my stack of two 12s for (and which certainly cut it), having a larger set of cabs is better. I plugged my head into a 610 that was backlined recently at a moderately-sized venue that I frequent, and it thumped way harder than the same head with my cabs. It's not a matter of volume, as I can certainly crank up my rig with the 2 12s up to the point where I drive people out of the place. It's the fullness of the sound that is coming out of the speakers that is improved with more speakers.

If it is a larger outdoor stage that you're playing, a 210 won't even suffice as a monitor. No one on the stage will hear you unless standing close to the bass speakers. These are the outdoor shows that I mean when I say that 2x15s, 4x12s, or 6x10s are really the minimum.
 
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Update:

The good news is I am still alive. The bad news is that I only have 45% heart function. First will be a procedure called an electro cardioversion. This is when they do a hard restart with electric shock (much like defibrillation) to electrically get my heart back in its proper rhythm. This is not a one and done deal like getting strapped into 'Ol' Sparky' to ride the lightening for your first and last time. Oh no, I get to do this over and over again. Repeat as needed.

But wait! That's not all! I also get at least two separate surgery's. One going in a vein from the top through my neck to get at the aorta to look at and burn away any scar tissue from a previous heart attack.

The second going in through my groin to look at the pump of the heart - the left and right ventricles. If any blockage (and at 45% function there is) they will put in stents if minor. If major, then open heart surgery for how ever many bypasses I may need. Triple bypass being the most common. At any rate that is my immediate cardio future.

 
Update:

The good news is I am still alive. The bad news is that I only have 45% heart function. First will be a procedure called an electro cardioversion. This is when they do a hard restart with electric shock (much like defibrillation) to electrically get my heart back in its proper rhythm. This is not a one and done deal like getting strapped into 'Ol' Sparky' to ride the lightening for your first and last time. Oh no, I get to do this over and over again. Repeat as needed.

But wait! That's not all! I also get at least two separate surgery's. One going in a vein from the top through my neck to get at the aorta to look at and burn away any scar tissue from a previous heart attack.

The second going in through my groin to look at the pump of the heart - the left and right ventricles. If any blockage (and at 45% function there is) they will put in stents if minor. If major, then open heart surgery for how ever many bypasses I may need. Triple bypass being the most common. At any rate that is my immediate cardio future.


Best wishes for you sir! Just had 3 stents put in after an attack August 9th so I know how you're feeling!
 
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Anyone want to take a crack at diagnosing a hiss?

Two day old brand new Rumble 500 head produces a faint, but audible hiss with all settings at noon, master at 9:00+

It does this through my cab and headphones. I've tried different outlets, different cables, different basses, no bass etc. The hiss increases with the addition of gain, treble, and master volume (which is typical IME)

Additionally, when I play a note with the master at zero and then increase it, i get a crackle right around the 8-8:30 mark. All other knobs are fine.

Is the hiss normal, or did I get a wonky unit? I can live with the hiss but it's a bit disappointing.
 
Anyone want to take a crack at diagnosing a hiss?

Two day old brand new Rumble 500 head produces a faint, but audible hiss with all settings at noon, master at 9:00+

It does this through my cab and headphones. I've tried different outlets, different cables, different basses, no bass etc. The hiss increases with the addition of gain, treble, and master volume (which is typical IME)

Additionally, when I play a note with the master at zero and then increase it, i get a crackle right around the 8-8:30 mark. All other knobs are fine.

Is the hiss normal, or did I get a wonky unit? I can live with the hiss but it's a bit disappointing.

I get some hiss from my 500 combo, but it's barely noticeable, and I only really hear it when I have the tweeter on in the cab.

For some reason, the Master does tend to crackle when you first turn it up past 8:30, but it doesn't seem to do it again after that until the unit is powered off and then on again. I've had two 500 combos that did the same thing.
 
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For you youngsters that never lived through the all tube years, when you took your amp off standby you were greeted with a LOUD HUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Good ol' 60 cycle hum. You could switch the polarity and reduce it a bit, but always there. Hiss too, but you couldn't hear it unless you had super well grounded power.

In some bars the hum was so bad we just used to tune low B to 60Hz instead of 61.74Hz. There were so such things as electronic tuners then anyway.
 
I got a good deal on a 500 combo today- mind blown by how good this thing sounds.
I have a 70's vintage Musicman 1x15 cab; can I use it with this? Do I have to make sure the ohms ratings match?
Welcome to our club! As long as your cab is 8 ohms it will work. I'll bet it is and that it will sound stellar with your Rumble 500! Those were well designed cabinets with what are now vintage woofers. Crank it up Baby!
 
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