Fender Rumble gigging question

[Paulabass]

Anything that does not use phantom power will not 'see' it, and it being on will be of no consequence.
The only thing badly influenced by phantom is ribbon mics. They don't like it at all.

 

[Linnin]

No, The Rumble amps DO have a balanced XLR DI output. It would be more useful if it had a switch to select pre or post operation, but it's still a true DI.
I believe Fender is using the verbiage "XLR Line Out" to differentiate it from a DI that is pre/post selectable. The Rumbles are wired so all the controls and master volume all effect the DI output. Too bad, but it's a choice they made most likely to un-complicate use or even to minimize price.
Phantom power would be of no use in this case, but the amp will simply ignore it if phantom is engaged at the PA or other device that it's feeding.

This is all correct, and the Rumble's XLR out works very well. Indeed it is as close to mic'ing your amp as is possible without the added $150-$200 expense of a specialized bass amp/drum microphone.

Anyone that wants to send a dry; characterless, lackluster signal to their soundboard is more than welcome to do so with a separate DI at additional expense.

 

[dropDADG]

I'm new here, came to this forum first as I am on a similar journey and this is my first post.....have you considered anything between a 200 and 500? I run an active sr500t through a Fender BXR300 combo amp (probably 200ish w/15" @ 8ohm). It's not bad for a small/medium bar. To get full power I disconnect my 15"driver on my Traynor YBA4 amp from the head and piggyback off the Fender giving me full power @ 4ohms. It gets really loud and the bottom end is awesome! The Traynor 15" driver has a nice low but punchy sound and the Fender driver gives me my bottom end. The Traynor was given to me and the Fender was $120 mint at the pawn shop. Im confident enough that it will sound and feel good some where bigger or even a small outside venue. YMMV. Good luck

 

[BAG]

No, The Rumble amps DO have a balanced XLR DI output. It would be more useful if it had a switch to select pre or post operation, but it's still a true DI.
I believe Fender is using the verbiage "XLR Line Out" to differentiate it from a DI that is pre/post selectable. The Rumbles are wired so all the controls and master volume all effect the DI output. Too bad, but it's a choice they made most likely to un-complicate use or even to minimize price.
Phantom power would be of no use in this case, but the amp will simply ignore it if phantom is engaged at the PA or other device that it's feeding.

Are the DI's on all the Rumbles post eq?

That'd be a deal breaker for me..... and a real pain in the rear for foh guys.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Are the DI's on all the Rumbles post eq?

That'd be a deal breaker for me..... and a real pain in the rear for foh guys.

Yup they are, unfortunately.

Disparaging that fact here will get the hammer brought.
We are not allowed an opinion on the matter it seems.

I'll take the bullet since I've been ripped a new one already.
Our job is to shut up and buy a D.I. box.

 

[JakobT]

Are the DI's on all the Rumbles post eq?

That'd be a deal breaker for me..... and a real pain in the rear for foh guys.

In most cases, all you should need to do is to tell the sound guy that the XLR out is post-everything, and you should be fine.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

In most cases, all you should need to do is to tell the sound guy that the XLR out is post-everything, and you should be fine.

I agree with your position here.
After all, it used to be that having an on-amp D.I. wasn't an option in most cases. Cabs had to be mic'd, and sound guys had to know how to handle that. Post everything D.I. is virtually the same thing minus the extraneous mic noise. It does require having a sound guy who can handle it and who you can communicate with.
If your milage varies too much on those points, things can get out if hand.

 

[rudy4444]

In most cases, all you should need to do is to tell the sound guy that the XLR out is post-everything, and you should be fine.

Yup... The sound guy will then go dig up a DI for you to use.

For the price of a simple two position slide switch and a few more inches of circuit board trace Fender could have provided that option easily. It's especially odd when you consider that many other amps have their DI selectable for pre/post, and although the Fender Rumble series are economically priced it's not like you're buying bargain basement stuff either.

It's not a deal breaker for me as a proper sound person deals with micing cabinets all the time and I've never ran into a situation where the sound tech wasn't able to do the job. Sending a stage plot ahead of a gig like that will do wonders for making their job a whole lot easier, though.

 

[rudy4444]

I'm new here, came to this forum first as I am on a similar journey and this is my first post.....have you considered anything between a 200 and 500? I run an active sr500t through a Fender BXR300 combo amp (probably 200ish w/15" @ 8ohm). It's not bad for a small/medium bar. To get full power I disconnect my 15"driver on my Traynor YBA4 amp from the head and piggyback off the Fender giving me full power @ 4ohms. It gets really loud and the bottom end is awesome! The Traynor 15" driver has a nice low but punchy sound and the Fender driver gives me my bottom end. The Traynor was given to me and the Fender was $120 mint at the pawn shop. Im confident enough that it will sound and feel good some where bigger or even a small outside venue. YMMV. Good luck

Have not considered anything in-between, as it's not expressly a power question. I have a couple of amps that already do the job, but are HEAVY.

There are tons (literally) of amps that meet the power side of the formula, but few in the Rumble's weight class. Having something like the newer Rumble series in hand almost fits that "too good to be true" area of lots-of-bass-for-the-buck... and featherweight to boot.

 

[rodl2005]

It sounds to me like there might be a design or quality control issue that causes this odd volume behavior to crop up occasionally, at least for the 200s and 500s mentioned here.

As I've stated a few times in this topic "Input gain was fully counter-clockwise and the amp was pretty much at full volume when the master was advanced to the point of the amp being audible."

I can't set the input gain any less than zero!

Then it sounds like you've gotta problem with yr master vol pot. Should be relatively easy to get fixed.

Mine, a 500C is easy to use at low volume.
I plug my ph into the Aux and away ya go.

 

[rudy4444]

Then it sounds like you've gotta problem with yr master vol pot. Should be relatively easy to get fixed.

Mine, a 500C is easy to use at low volume.
I plug my ph into the Aux and away ya go.

I was thinking it actually is more likely a problem with the input "gain" control, since turning it fully counter-clockwise had no effect on controlling the level.
This was a demo amp in GC so they can sell it to someone else, not me.

 

[rodl2005]

Ahhh ok if the gain has NO effect. ..sure.

 

[lowplaces]

I found that two quick bursts of Deoxit D5 from the front does away with the scratchiness. Unfortunately, it also does away with the damping grease, so the pot will be very loose afterwards.

I think the only good solution is to replace the pot.

When I looked into Deoxit to take care of the scratchy master volume on my Rumble 500 head, I read on some site that I probably should have bookmarked but didn't, that there are two formulas of Deoxit. One was to take care of the problem, and the other was to flush that formula out of the pot and that formula left some lubrication in the pot after it was cleaned.

Anyhow I never follow through with it because I found that if I just rolled the master volume back and forth a few times before I power the amp up I didn't experience any scratchiness. But if I didn't do that before I power it up it was always scratchy. I just wrote it off as an artifact.

 

[Sid s]

I found that if I just rolled the master volume back and forth a few times before I power the amp up I didn't experience any scratchiness. But if I didn't do that before I power it up it was always scratchy.

That's what I did too. I just figured I might as well fix it once and for all, and I was wrong. As is one of the high end luthier stores who is pushing a product to make sure you get it all in there.

 

[rudy4444]

That's what I did too. I just figured I might as well fix it once and for all, and I was wrong. As is one of the high end luthier stores who is pushing a product to make sure you get it all in there.

Having worked as an electronics tech my entire working life I know from first-hand experience that de-oxidizing sprays are almost always a very temporary stop-gap method of "repair" in an audio circuit. The majority of time it's short-lived and the problem soon returns.
It would be far better if Fender used better quality controls on the "next" version of Rumble amps. From going back and reading the Rumble owners forum topic it's obvious that this is a weakness in the design.
I may wait for those new Version 4's to roll off the line...

 

[AstroSonic]

I've had a Rumble 40 Vii for around 2 years now, and have had no scratchy pot issues. OTOH, it has never been stored in a basement, garage or mud room.

 

[rudy4444]

I did ultimately decide on getting a new Rumble 100 a few months back, as I gig only occasionally and can always opt for DI into the main PA for anywhere I play.

I did a Mardi Gras gig last night, medium club with about 150 people there. It was a Cajun / Zydeco / Second Line band with a drummer playing a small kit. I used only the Rumble 100 and opted to go with only the amp; I had a XLR ready to go to the stage inputs to the house PA if I wanted.

I used my active short scale fretless bass and the Rumble gain and master were set at only 9 o'clock and performed just fine for the 3 hours, barely warming up the amp.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the Rumble 100 and I'm glad that I didn't opt for the slightly larger and heavier 200.

 

[admh1972]

I did ultimately decide on getting a new Rumble 100 a few months back, as I gig only occasionally and can always opt for DI into the main PA for anywhere I play.

I did a Mardi Gras gig last night, medium club with about 150 people there. It was a Cajun / Zydeco / Second Line band with a drummer playing a small kit. I used only the Rumble 100 and opted to go with only the amp; I had a XLR ready to go to the stage inputs to the house PA if I wanted.

I used my active short scale fretless bass and the Rumble gain and master were set at only 9 o'clock and performed just fine for the 3 hours, barely warming up the amp.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the Rumble 100 and I'm glad that I didn't opt for the slightly larger and heavier 200.

Thank you, I was just going to make a post about the Rumble 100 and gigging with XLR. I am glad to hear it is possible