Rumble 200 turned out to be eggshell fragile

[agedhorse]

Could this bend have effected the coupling between the pre and power stages? I had an old ADA bi-amp rig that had a bunch of little hard connections in it that were always breaking. (hated that thing) Rolland said it appears it is only the pre amp that isn't working, but he did not pull it all the way apart as Mike did.

Not unless it broke a part on the front side of the PCB. That's a pretty rugged assembly, and easy to troubleshoot (for a qualified tech).

 

[agedhorse]

Didn't think so, doesn't match kappa or delta specs either. I'm tempted to call the phone number on it, but afraid of what might answer...

It's an OEM part, and you already know the answer

 

[Lowandfat]

Behold, the Grumble 115-6.0, in all it's glory.

Gotta admit it looks pretty cool with your Shuttle on top. It came with the cat damaged face, I'm either gonna re-cover it with the same silver twill, or replace it with a lightweight steel grid. Too late to fire it up, but I'll update in the morning. Weighs 39.5lbs, and as I mentioned, I have a KappaLite 3015 I can pull from another box and cut almost 10 more lbs. I'm already excited by the idea of a 375w combo 15, but if I can get the weight down to 31lbs I might peepee dance.

Rolland said it is definitely a super odd failure, and while he is not a Fender tech, he is a veteran pro who works on things far more taxing than a Rumble. Jack assembly seems virtually intact inside, but that is the only place there is any sign of external impact. The board that has the slight warp also seems intact, pre amp not working, power stage seemed to be OK, but here's where he said it gets really weird. With the gain stage off, it is dead. When he pushed the button to switch to the hot stage it screamed like the power stage was wide open. He said if it was his, he'd pull the Rumble head apart, make a new box for it, and turn the OEM power module into a little emergency power source.

Another question, since the cooling of the Shuttle 6.0 is mostly fan driven, do you think there would be an issue running it vertically and mounting it on the back in the original Rumble amp spot? There are definitely gigs I will need to drive it hard for 2-3 hours at a stretch, and sometimes on outdoor sunny stages, and I don't wanna push my luck eliminating the effect of the vent over the tube.

 

[gary m]

I'm contemplating something similar with my dead Rumble 100, which is now essentially a speaker cab. Interested to see how this plays out.

 

[agedhorse]

I think the box will need to be retuned for the Kappalite driver. The box may also be too small to achieve an acceptable tuning.

No problem with running the Shuttle in any position.

If I were working on your amp, the first think I would look (based on my "extensive experience and knowledge" of this class of product) for is a broken or damaged gain pot.

If this was something that came through my shop (I only work on Genz Benz and Mesa these days because it's not my primary business) it would qualify under the $85 flat rate service charge (covers parts and labor)

This is why I may the comments I made earlier, a qualified professional shop should be able to fix this amp easily and effortlessly.

 

[mbell75]

A small PA cab slid into the back of my Rumble 200 and BARELY nicked the extension speaker jack. From 5ft you can't even tell it's been touched. Well, that Rumble 200 is now a paperweight. That tiny blow that didn't even cause any cosmetic damage, cracked the freaking board rendering it totally DOA. My tech said the stuff in there is such low quality mass stamped crap, he is surprised any of them work for more than a few months. I know many have had them last years, and I had no other issues, but I am not making this up. A ding to the extension speaker jack rendered the combo land fill.

Sob story over, my mission begins today. I'm going to reload it with a Kappalite 3015, remove the now-worthless electric guts, and use the bracket from a Genz-Benz Shuttle combo to attach a Shuttle 6.0 to the top, creating the first 33lb 15 combo that is 300w and can handle an 8ohm extension speaker for 600w. I know this will take some cab tuning that is beyond my math skills, but I have a good friend that is going to do the removal for me who will do all that measurin' and cipherin'.

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Don't do its?
Other speaker suggestions?
Who wants one?

People love how light the Rumble line of amps are, and this is the trade off. Better not dare bang into one hard or drop one or its RIP Rumble. Look inside of one, its as cheap as you can get for build quality. Just one reason I moved over to the Ampeg BA combo. Yea, its 14 pounds heavier, but its built MUCH more solidly.

 

[Mike Whitfield]

People love how light the Rumble line of amps are, and this is the trade off. Better not dare bang into one hard or drop one or its RIP Rumble. Look inside of one, its as cheap as you can get for build quality. Just one reason I moved over to the Ampeg BA combo. Yea, its 14 pounds heavier, but its built MUCH more solidly.

Might want to read the whole thread.

 

[Downunderwonder]

There are definitely gigs I will need to drive it hard

not if you want the speaker to live.

 

[agedhorse]

People love how light the Rumble line of amps are, and this is the trade off. Better not dare bang into one hard or drop one or its RIP Rumble. Look inside of one, its as cheap as you can get for build quality. Just one reason I moved over to the Ampeg BA combo. Yea, its 14 pounds heavier, but its built MUCH more solidly.

Not at all true. It's actually built very well and it's been a very reliable amp with few problems. I'm sure they have built tens of thousands of these amps and there are VERY few reported problems. I think if you were to search for issues with your favorite amp (and brand) you will find that you are on the losing side of your own argument.

 

[tom dicus]

Not at all true. It's actually built very well and it's been a very reliable amp with few problems. I'm sure they have built tens of thousands of these amps and there are VERY few reported problems. I think if you were to search for issues with your favorite amp (and brand) you will find that you are on the losing side of your own argument.

I've beat the crap out of my Rumble, accidentally of course, and it still sounds great. Sometimes a bad one gets missed in the QC department. Certainly doesn't mean the Rumble are built any cheaper than any other new, lightweight amp on the market.

 

[mbell75]

Not at all true. It's actually built very well and it's been a very reliable amp with few problems. I'm sure they have built tens of thousands of these amps and there are VERY few reported problems. I think if you were to search for issues with your favorite amp (and brand) you will find that you are on the losing side of your own argument.

Have you opened one up? I don't consider the cheapest of cheap plywood to be great build quality at all. Im not even sure it is plywood, could be particleboard. Whatever it is, its very cheaply done and thats why they are so light. Not to mention the super cheap plastic on the rear where other amps use metal. Its just very cheaply made IMO.

 

[Texican]

Have you opened one up? I don't consider the cheapest of cheap plywood to be great build quality at all. Im not even sure it is plywood, could be particleboard. Whatever it is, its very cheaply done and thats why they are so light. Not to mention the super cheap plastic on the rear where other amps use metal. Its just very cheaply made IMO.

Dude, aren’t you the guy that accused Fender of being garbage when your bass needed setup work? You obviously hate Fender lol. I don’t care about that because I don’t work for fender and they don’t give me free products, so whatever. But Ampeg has a WAY WORSE reputation right now when it comes to quality control. Just saying...

By the way, AgedHorse is not a guy you want to accuse of not knowing what he’s talking about here... he has designed amps for GenzBenz and a little company called Mesa Boogie lol

 

[SoulReflection]

Have you opened one up? I don't consider the cheapest of cheap plywood to be great build quality at all. Im not even sure it is plywood, could be particleboard. Whatever it is, its very cheaply done and thats why they are so light. Not to mention the super cheap plastic on the rear where other amps use metal. Its just very cheaply made IMO.

Your IMO means nothing to me. It is nonsense.

 

[agedhorse]

Have you opened one up? I don't consider the cheapest of cheap plywood to be great build quality at all. Im not even sure it is plywood, could be particleboard. Whatever it is, its very cheaply done and thats why they are so light. Not to mention the super cheap plastic on the rear where other amps use metal. Its just very cheaply made IMO.

Ummm, yeah I might know a thing or two about that line, and I might know even more than a thing or two about the light weight amp market, as I've been designing products for that market segment for almost 20 years.

If you are going to bash a product or a barnd, the least you could do is be factual and have at least a tiny bit of knowledge about it. If you don't know if it's plywood or particle board, and you think both are light weight, you have shown your "clueless hand" to everybody here. Particle board is just about the heaviest material to build cabinets out of, and it's not very good for such purposes as the joints are not very strong and the material is not at all moisture stable. Also, you say there's super cheap plastic on the back where other amps are metal... also, I have no idea what you are looking at, but there's no plastic on the back of a Rumble 200 (the OP's amp).

The plywood that's used in the Rumble cabinets is a light weight species (a relation to mahogany IIRC) and it's been used in all kinds of cabinets by many manufacturers (including some high end manufacturers) for a long time. It's much more expensive than either particle board or MDF... both of which are MUCH heavier too.

 

[mbell75]

Ummm, yeah I might know a thing or two about that line, and I might know even more than a thing or two about the light weight amp market, as I've been designing products for that market segment for almost 20 years.

If you are going to bash a product or a barnd, the least you could do is be factual and have at least a tiny bit of knowledge about it. If you don't know if it's plywood or particle board, and you think both are light weight, you have shown your "clueless hand" to everybody here. Particle board is just about the heaviest material to build cabinets out of, and it's not very good for such purposes as the joints are not very strong and the material is not at all moisture stable. Also, you say there's super cheap plastic on the back where other amps are metal... also, I have no idea what you are looking at, but there's no plastic on the back of a Rumble 200 (the OP's amp).

The plywood that's used in the Rumble cabinets is a light weight species (a relation to mahogany IIRC) and it's been used in all kinds of cabinets by many manufacturers (including some high end manufacturers) for a long time. It's much more expensive than either particle board or MDF... both of which are MUCH heavier too.

Im talking about the housing that holds the actual amp with the vents, thats not plastic? Its super cheap feeling and so are the knobs and buttons on it.

 

[LBS-bass]

Im talking about the housing that holds the actual amp with the vents, thats not plastic? Its super cheap feeling and so are the knobs and buttons on it.

Dude, you want to quit while you're ahead. This is not the guy to argue tech with.

 

[Mike Whitfield]

Have you opened one up? I don't consider the cheapest of cheap plywood to be great build quality at all. Im not even sure it is plywood, could be particleboard. Whatever it is, its very cheaply done and thats why they are so light. Not to mention the super cheap plastic on the rear where other amps use metal. Its just very cheaply made IMO.

Certainly there are compromises made for price - there are always compromises. I’ve designed towing and recovery equipment and manufacturing equipment, and there were always things I’d have preferred to do but couldn’t. For these particular amps we have evidence that the OP’s amp took a hell of an impact at what is apparently the magic angle. We have agedhorse’s professional opinion that the product, while probably not built to Mesa standards, is actually very well engineered. And we have testimonials from other Rumble owners that their amps have withstood more abuse than they would ever have expected. This is apparently a combination of a cheaper amp taking a hit that looked much less severe than it really was and the amp not really meeting the OP’s needs to begin with.

I was on the other side of this too, and I’m certainly no fan of jacks soldered directly onto PCBs. Much better to design with conductors between (could be wires, could be an offset male connector that slides into a female connector on the PCB) to decouple an exterior impact from the relatively fragile PCB. If there’s one thing I learned in manufacturing engineering it’s that anything on the exterior will eventually be struck hard, no matter how well guarded or recessed, and you don’t want that impulse transferred to anything non-structural. But the overwhelming evidence is that the Rumble series is, for a cheap amp line, exceedingly well designed. That’s why Fender sells a bazillion of them, very good products at very good price points.

 

[agedhorse]

Im talking about the housing that holds the actual amp with the vents, thats not plastic? Its super cheap feeling and so are the knobs and buttons on it.

It's a very special kind of plastic made out of metal...

 

[wizard65]

People love how light the Rumble line of amps are, and this is the trade off. Better not dare bang into one hard or drop one or its RIP Rumble. Look inside of one, its as cheap as you can get for build quality. Just one reason I moved over to the Ampeg BA combo. Yea, its 14 pounds heavier, but its built MUCH more solidly.

I have an Ampeg BA 210 which I really like, but I think the Rumble’s definitely have the edge in long term reliably.

 

[Texican]

We often forget that “price point” is a feature as well. The rumble more than accels within its class. And a better amp is worthless to a player that can’t afford it.