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I have a Rumble 500 and 200. Great amps, I think I prefer the 200 myself. Do you use the vintage setting or just plain? I don't find the OD that useful on them, would need a pedal to add the right amount of hair. The ACB gives a bit more colour on the flats I use (760FLs and Chromes on my jazzes).
Haha, that chicken just came home. She's booked an overseas family holiday which triples the cost of the amp....wait waitwaitwaitwait. You got this amp, and your wife got ... a capo?
You in danger, girl.
Well, I don't know if Adam Clayton is exaggerating when he says "it will change your life", but I took the plunge when I saw it on special and finally achieved my dream of tubey goodness!
I told my wife it was a Christmas present, and she got a new capo so it's worked out well. Apart from a minor hiccup with a blown fuse (an under-rated one had been installed) I haven't stopped smiling
This amp is perfect for me , can jam at home but it's still loud enought for drums. It's quite loud actually. The tones on the two channels are spot on for the music we like: a mid-forward channel for those trad R&B / blues / classic rock sounds, and a flat channel which sounds more modern (with treble and bass boosts).
Looks very tasteful. How does your new tube Fender compare to a Rumble 200?
Thank you. We play Americana covers.. 5 pc.. good stage volume but I did have FOH support and a monitor mix as well. But i wasn’t pushing the amp and it reproduced what I dialed up.
What I first noticed was how punchy and articulate the ACB was. The speaker plays a part in that I think. A fat but "focused" sound (thank you mids), very responsive and touch sensitive, and something hard to explain but the transients pop nicely while the sound which comes after sort of settles if that makes sense. So a mix of tone, articulation and response. It makes the flats sound even nicer. I've not been able to get any break up yet, stuff was rattling around in the house too much as I pushed the volume.
It's a shame Fender cabs are all different sizes. The Rumble 115 is slightly narrower. I wondered about daisy chaining a Rumble combo on it's side, but that's a bit small too. Someone on the ACB Owners Club thread built a matching cab which looks great!!!
I was going to research that as well..having a matching cabinet would be great..
Yes indeed, right here:Have you shared your beauty here?
It does sound a lot like the TV 15. I have both and they are close, but the ACB just has that tube "air" about it that the TV can't get to. Also, channel 2 is just wild with the tone and bass. Tube tone in spades.
Thanks for all that detail. I have a Rumble 200. After trying many amps and cabs I settled on the Rumble because I can't really fault it, and it's light and easy to move around. From your description the tube option only offer more if you're going for a bit of warm fuzz?What I first noticed was how punchy and articulate the ACB was. The speaker plays a part in that I think. A fat but "focused" sound (thank you mids), very responsive and touch sensitive, and something hard to explain but the transients pop nicely while the sound which comes after sort of settles if that makes sense. So a mix of tone, articulation and response. It makes the flats sound even nicer. I've not been able to get any break up yet, stuff was rattling around in the house too much as I pushed the volume.
So going back to both my Rumbles, they still sound great, but if I use the vintage button to thicken the sound it also muddies it a bit. I tend to leave it off, but that's also a compromise and there's no way of adding a hint of OD because the inbuilt option is not subtle and thins out the bottom end. You can EQ for that, but then it's not footswitchable to the other setting without redoing the EQ. The Rumbles sounded great with the JHS Punchline, but that bypasses the preamp and tone controls.
So in short, I like the Rumbles a lot, and they outperform their price point, but they have some compromises. They're certainly a lot lighter....
The sound I'm chasing in my head is Jerry Jemmott or an early 70s rock bass with some break up. Spotify says my listening age is 69...
Basically yes. It's 4x the price of the Rumble 200 so there's a quality step up, but like everything else it's diminishing returns. I'm playing my 200 now as it happens, I have it at another location. I prefer 115 to 210.
Looks great with the P bass too!! What amp were you using before?
I also have an Ampeg PF-20T and a V4B reissue. First Fender amp, and I love it. Good to have options I suppose!
It is when you have options like that...
Thanks for asking. Actually, I use the "Bright" setting with the tweeter ON, always. I want that Mark King/Level 42/Marcus Miller kind of top end and slap/funk tone. I've never really used the overdrive setting on the amp. I don't dislike it, but I have a very small pedalboard (tuner to chorus to overdrive) where I have all the effects in one place and I can EQ the overdrive right on the pedal, and also I'm not going to string another cord out on the stage to activate the footswitch and channel switching capability of the amp, nor am I going to turn around and manually engage the overdrive section directly on the amp. So pedal overdrive next to my mic stand it is.
Yep for that type of sound I can definitely see the 500 as a better choice, as well as being more portable.
