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Fender Rumble Club

#1,607
Linnin said:
Looking forward to your gig report, honeyiscool. How did rehearsal go? Did your bandmates like the sound?
Click to expand...
They did! It took a bit of getting used to. Thing sounds huge.

Before rehearsal, I had some serious time just playing my bass through it at pretty loud volumes. I tried all kinds of things. I tried just the 210, hooking up the cabinet, then I tried various tweeter settings. I could not tell a single bit of difference between the 115 tweeter being on or off or at -6 dB, so I just kept it on. I figure I'd hear more of a difference if there wasn't a 210 combo amp sitting above it. In any case, I couldn't really tell what the 15" speaker sounded like but I could certainly feel it, and the drummer said, "Well, I can hear it," so to get the maximum use out of it, you have to be a few yards in front of the amp, it seems. I left on the tweeter on the combo since that sounded best. I also really liked the sound of the 210 sitting on the 115 but not even connected to the 115, just being off the ground and on another cab made it sound much sweeter in my mind, probably because I could actually hear it more clearly.

I kept trying to A/B things. The funniest experience was that I'd find a setting that I really liked, then I'd switch to a setting which I thought was worse, but upon returning to it, I would find that, huh, that's actually pretty good, too. As long as I didn't have a set sound in my head and just accepted the tones the amp gave me, I was quite happy. There are a lot of useful tones in there. As soon as I tried to make it sound "like an SVT," well, it never really sounds like an SVT. My sound that I really liked, which sounded the closest to how I think my sound should be, was bass around 10 o'clock, low mid around 11 o'clock, high mid around 1 o'clock, treble around 11, bright switch in, the other two switches out. I actually liked it better without the 115 connected, though the 115 didn't ruin it or anything, but it just gave more bass than I needed. But that was playing my short scale, which is extremely vintage voiced. My Ibanez 5-string might be a different story, and I didn't get to try that.

I feel like it does a B15 vibe well. Flats and pick and neck pickup on the Rumble, this combination does it for me. Throw a little palm mute in there and it's superb. The overdrive was also surprisingly useful as both an overdrive and also a sort of a poor man's compressor, too. The overdrive is a little dark, and I feel the entire amp is a little dark sounding, even with the treble maxed. But here's the thing, I love dark amps. I'm not a bassist. I'm a musician. I'm a songwriter. I don't need, or want, for that matter, the bass to sound absurdly good in the sense that it distracts from the music. I need the music to sound good, but the bass has to keep up, and darker amps can turn up without annoying anybody. And at half the weight of my bandmate's Ampeg B100R, it can get pretty much the same tone and go louder, too. How great is that?

But toward the end of my alone time, I tried it with my favorite dirt pedal, the Tech 21 Oxford. The Oxford is sort of an amp modeler but an analog one that acts like a nondescript Orange amp without using digital emulation. Oh boy! Now, the Oxford is a great pedal. It makes any instrument sound wonderful, from guitar to bass, and it really sounded great on the Rumble. If I ever felt sick of the Rumble thing, I felt confident that I could use the Oxford to get brighter or more trebly driven sounds, although the Oxford is also versatile enough that I can use it as a good basic tone that's always on. The best part was that I could get ignorant on my pedal, turn up the highs and still get a wonderful warm tone from the Rumble because the Rumble simply doesn't get harsh. And that makes me think that if I ever want an SVT-esque sound from the amp, just get a Tech 21 CS-VT pedal. I couldn't really find an SVT sound on the amp itself, but that's a suitable alternative for me, for a fraction of the weight.

And you know what else tells me? This amp would probably make a great keyboard amp and also even a good guitar amp if you're using a modeler or something like that. My first and best instrument is piano, and I've always HATED those Roland keyboard amps that are so heavy and harsh sounding and starved for watts and always preferred to play through a nice bass amp instead. If Fender would see the potential of the Rumble as a keyboard amp and build some mic and line inputs and a rudimentary mixer in there, but use essentially the same tone stack and speakers, they'd probably have a keyboard amp that would smash 90% of the competition out there.

So yeah, I'm quite happy with my new amp. When the rehearsal started and I was playing guitar, I thought the Rumble sounded loud and good, so it sounded good from that seat in the house, too. The drummer loves it. He can finally feel the bass.
 
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#1,608
honeyiscool said:
So yeah, I'm quite happy with my new amp. When the rehearsal started and I was playing guitar, I thought the Rumble sounded loud and good, so it sounded good from that seat in the house, too. The drummer loves it. He can finally feel the bass.
Click to expand...

Guess the amp lives up to its name, huh? I hope he can feel the "rumble" more! Anyone? No?....Ok...
 
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#1,611
rizzo9247 said:
I really like the "flat" setting on my rumble 40 even though it's far from it. Has anyone charted exactly what's going on with the EQ at center detent with/without the voicing buttons?
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Welcome to the Fender Rumble Club, rizzo9247! You are member #216 :hyper:
Glad you are enjoying your Rumble 40. No I haven't. I like the variety of tonal colors available on the Fender Rumble's tone palette.

:cool: Rumble On! :cool:
 
#1,612
Well I am in ! My rumble 500 head arrived today. Bought it sight unseen, played the combo at a local store and loved the sound. First impressions .
1. Thank you fender for the very cool gig bag.
2. Indonesia ? Really ? Ugg guess that is the world we live in
3. A little larger than I thought ... Don't get me wrong still small light package.
4. Love the color and center detent on the knobs.

Got a gig tomorrow where I will be doubling. Classic rock, rockabilly and classic country and even some ramones. So it will get a work out, in one of the hardest rooms to get a good sound in tomorrow. I will report on my full review late tomorrow. If any body cares.
ImageUploadedByTalkBass1408851021.839782.jpg
 
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#1,614
easye said:
Well I am in ! My rumble 500 head arrived today. Bought it sight unseen, played the combo at a local store and loved the sound. First impressions .
1. Thank you fender for the very cool gig bag.
2. Indonesia ? Really ? Ugg guess that is the world we live in
3. A little larger than I thought ... Don't get me wrong still small light package.
4. Love the color and center detent on the knobs.

Got a gig tomorrow where I will be doubling. Classic rock, rockabilly and classic country and even some ramones. So it will get a work out, in one of the hardest rooms to get a good sound in tomorrow. I will report on my full review late tomorrow. If any body cares. View attachment 468081
Click to expand...
Welcome to the Fender Rumble Club, easye! You are member #217 :hyper: We look forward to your gig report!
:laugh: Rumbles Rock! :smug:
 
#1,615
Well I gotta say it rocked! Used the rumble 500 head today in a room that is impossible to get a good sound and somehow it did it. The upright sounded full and so did the electric bass. Plenty of clean power. The eq is very responsive. The low and high mid control very useful for the upright. Even the overdrive was great for some southern rockers. The best part was another bass player with a much larger and more expensive rig came up to me and said it was the best bass tone in that room he had ever heard. All in all I am more than happy. Good job fender the rumble 500 will stay !
 
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#1,616
easye said:
Well I gotta say it rocked! Used the rumble 500 head today in a room that is impossible to get a good sound and somehow it did it. The upright sounded full and so did the electric bass. Plenty of clean power. The eq is very responsive. The low and high mid control very useful for the upright. Even the overdrive was great for some southern rockers. The best part was another bass player with a much larger and more expensive rig came up to me and said it was the best bass tone in that room he had ever heard. All in all I am more than happy. Good job fender the rumble 500 will stay !
Click to expand...
Thank You for that most excellent gig report, easye. :thumbsup: What speaker cabinet(s) were you playing through?

:D Rumbles Rule! :D
 
#1,617
Well, I bought the Rumble 500 head and arrived home last week. Really a cool head!!

I tested it at home against a POD HD300 (Fender Bassman emulation I use at home to practice) and found it sounds almost the same, which is good IMO.

Yesterday I rehearsed with the band (Hard rock cover band) and I was switching from the Rumble 500 to the Tone Hammer 350 back and forth. Sincerely it was a very little difference in sound between both for me and the rest of the bandmates.

Cabinet: EBS CL 212 (500w @ 4 ohms).
Bass: Peavey Zodiac DE Scorpio (basswood body & rosewood fretboard) w/ SPB-1/SJB-1.
EQ (more or less) for both:
Gain: 1 to 2 o'clock
Bass: 1 o'clock
Low-mid: 2 o'clock
High-mid:1 o'clock
Treble: 12 o'clock

I only noticed the Rumble slighty dry (less colourful?!? more wood-ish?!?! I don't know how to express the difference) than the Aguilar but extremely close voiced IMO, which I really liked too.

Very happy. I think it's a keeper.

All the best!
 
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#1,618
Kikegg said:
Well, I bought the Rumble 500 head and arrived home last week. Really a cool head!!

I tested it at home against a POD HD300 (Fender Bassman emulation I use at home to practice) and found it sounds almost the same, which is good IMO.

Yesterday I rehearsed with the band (Hard rock cover band) and I was switching from the Rumble 500 to the Tone Hammer 350 back and forth. Sincerely it was a very little difference in sound between both for me and the rest of the bandmates.

Cabinet: EBS CL 212 (500w @ 4 ohms).
Bass: Peavey Zodiac DE Scorpio (basswood body & rosewood fretboard) w/ SPB-1/SJB-1.
EQ (more or less) for both:
Gain: 1 to 2 o'clock
Bass: 1 o'clock
Low-mid: 2 o'clock
High-mid:1 o'clock
Treble: 12 o'clock

I only noticed the Rumble slighty dry (less colourful?!? more wood-ish?!?! I don't know how to express the difference) than the Aguilar but extremely close voiced IMO, which I really liked too.

Very happy. I think it's a keeper.

All the best!
Click to expand...
:woot: WOOT! :woot: Welcome to the Fender Rumble Club, Kikegg! You are member #219 :hyper:
Thanks for your review, and your tone settings. Yes you can spend twice as much on Aguilar, but I actually like my Rumble 350 head's tone and total sound quality over and above that of the Tone Hammer 500. So glad you and your bandmates are enjoying your Rumble-licious sound. :thumbsup:

:laugh: Rumbles Rock! :smug:
 
#1,619
I was using a old bag end s12 cab with a fatel neo speaker.
My pedal board is bassbone od , eh micro pog, tall front russian from wren and cuff, and a sparrow drive from dr j.
I was using my 50's East German ply upright with a planet wing pickup. For electric , 77 p bass and my Luther Lee custom p bass.
 
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