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Rumble 200 turned out to be eggshell fragile

#101
Lowandfat said:
I honestly had no idea he spelled his name with a c. Never had reason for him to write it down for me lol. Known him for 20+ years.
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lol You want a real senior moment, I got that name from a story maybe almost decade ago and had a story from an old friend somewhat in show business (I think he does Hollywood style effects wiring IIRC) about one of the heads in LA who had some sort of incredibly expensive and no longer supported hi fi audio equipment. The techs in LA recommended Mike Finck in New York - I think he was upstate then? - as THE guy who could repair it. (One of those "small world" stories as there was a third party in the same area. Or maybe Ben was the one who mentioned David; honestly I don't remember.) I only remembered the 'c' because Lee College in Cleveland TN has a professor named Mike Fink with no 'c' who's one of the world's leading experts on hellbenders and how many expert Mike Finks does one come across?

Here's the kicker: I just looked up Dr. Hellbender to see if he's still there and his name is actually Dr. Mike Freake. I've been remembering it wrong for a decade. Doh!
 
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#102
Lowandfat said:
No one is offended, just a glance at your post shows you didn't read the thread. Enough time to write an essay, but not enough time to read the conversation. Whatevs.
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I was playing the big stages and working the big shows probably before you were born. Try reading what I said and you might actually learn something. See? When somebody tries to help you out (and you needed some help) you have a strange way of saying thank you.
 
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#103
Mike Whitfield said:
Isn’t there an I/O board with all those jacks? I would assume it’s that. Although it is rather surprising that a $500 amp isn’t worth replacing that board. Must be more to it than I would have guessed. But then, I’ve never owned a $500 amp or had an amp repaired so it’s hardly surprising that I’d guess wrong. :)
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Disclaimer: I've never been inside any of the newer generation Rumble amps. The pictures that @fdeck posted appear to mesh pretty well with the schematic I have though. Both show a small daughter card for the external speaker output and the power switch. Even if that board is unobtainium, unless the jack failure created collateral damage that hasn't yet come to light, I'm having a tough time visualizing this being a throwaway in an absolute sense. Not a cost effective job for the tech in question? Very possible, and I am not partial to speculating on the business necessities that other techs operate under.
Yel_wink.gif
 
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#104
Some techs price themselves so high when doing work that they don't particularly care to do that it gives the impression that it doesn't make sense to repair something. I have worked with the service industry as part of my involvement in MI and pro audio for over 40 years now. I probably understand techs better then they understand themselves. Techs are a quirky lot, more often reading between the lines reveals true motive. Also, some techs are simply dishonest and when I encounter this, it's often the end of their authorization if it's for a brand that I am responsible for.
 
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#105
Passinwind said:
Disclaimer: I've never been inside any of the newer generation Rumble amps. The pictures that @fdeck posted appear to mesh pretty well with the schematic I have though. Both show a small daughter card for the external speaker output and the power switch. Even if that board is unobtainium, unless the jack failure created collateral damage that hasn't yet come to light, I'm having a tough time visualizing this being a throwaway in an absolute sense. Not a cost effective job for the tech in question? Very possible, and I am not partial to speculating on the business necessities that other techs operate under.
Yel_wink.gif
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Probably wouldn't be a throwaway if the OP had been satisfied with the amp. Understand that I am familiar with Mr. Finck only from one story and that's his ability to repair the unrepairable in equipment where parts are literally not available at any price, so I don't think he'd be unable to do it. He may well be very expensive though. Agedhorse makes a compelling case that from a purely financial standpoint, he could repair it for well under its used value. So either there's more extensive structural damage from a freak hit or one that looked much lower energy than it really was, Mike Finck's time is really expensive (and remember, he's doing this work for free for a friend so that's probably not it), or the most important point is that the OP wasn't well served by the amp in the first place and they are taking this opportunity to make the amp into something better suited to the OP's needs rather than invest even a modest sum into it. Agedhorse has established that there's nothing wrong with the Fender amp itself (for its price point) or the cost of repairing them. Lowandfat was simply wrong about that, although I don't think it was an unreasonable assumption. Beyond that, I really don't see why anyone would get excited on either side. Not like it really matters to anybody but the OP. Maybe a bit to Agedhorse, if someone in his area would be motivated not to try to fix a Rumble when he could make a bit, but I doubt he's hurting for business.

BTW, Guitar Center has an excellent condition V3 Rumble 200 for $325, which means they'd buy it for maybe $225. A $100 repair would be as the OP said, nearly half the value. At least if one wanted to sell it quickly. Certainly close enough to not fight about it.
 
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#106
I haven't read the thread yet but my own experience is that my rumble 500 head has been dropped twice (once off a 6 foot stage) and it works fine. FYI... I move my own gear now lol.

EDIT AFTER HAVING READ THE THREAD:...……. ok, so all I will ad to my post is this: I bought the rumble 500 because I was broke and my other amp went boom. The rumble was cheap and I thought it would make a good cheap backup to get me through a few gigs. I was ok with the build quality being slightly below something designed by AgedHorse. In fact I was thankful, as it allowed Fender to offer the amp much cheaper than if they had used pricier components. It was simply a bonus that I absolutely love the tone through my Eden 210XLT cabinet. I didn't expect that at all, but it sounds fantastic with the Eden. But I'm now even more impressed that two falls haven't hurt the amp.
 
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#110
Texican said:
I haven't read the thread yet but my own experience is that my rumble 500 head has been dropped twice (once off a 6 foot stage) and it works fine. FYI... I move my own gear now lol.

EDIT AFTER HAVING READ THE THREAD:...……. ok, so all I will ad to my post is this: I bought the rumble 500 because I was broke and my other amp went boom. The rumble was cheap and I thought it would make a good cheap backup to get me through a few gigs. I was ok with the build quality being slightly below something designed by AgedHorse. In fact I was thankful, as it allowed Fender to offer the amp much cheaper than if they had used pricier components. It was simply a bonus that I absolutely love the tone through my Eden 210XLT cabinet. I didn't expect that at all, but it sounds fantastic with the Eden. But I'm now even more impressed that two falls haven't hurt the amp.
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Well said. 90% of the quality for half the price is a pretty good deal for most people.
 
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#113
Just a note to anybody who might try to repair this thing: Don't allow either terminal of the output jack to be connected to the metal case unless you know exactly what the design calls for. Some of these "micro" amps have bridged outputs, meaning that both of the speaker terminals are live, even if a 1/4 inch jack is used.

Verify, verify, verify.
 
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#114
fdeck said:
Just a note to anybody who might try to repair this thing: Don't allow either terminal of the output jack to be connected to the metal case unless you know exactly what the design calls for. Some of these "micro" amps have bridged outputs, meaning that both of the speaker terminals are live, even if a 1/4 inch jack is used.

Verify, verify, verify.
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Most do actually.
 
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#115
From the external cosmetic damage it appears to be an impact that should not render the piece of gear not worth fixing. Some may disagree with that assessment (without even seeing it), and valid point has been raised that the impact may have been more severe than the visible damage let on. Even with that in mind, it is not the kind of thing that would render an older combo silent. By comparison to say, 80s Peavey, it might be considered quite fragile now, wouldn't it? Maybe not eggshell, I'll admit to hyperbole, but the result is still no less surprising on my end. You can throw a TKO down a flight of stairs and still plug and play. And then you'd have to fix your stairs. ;)
 
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#117
Lowandfat said:
From the external cosmetic damage it appears to be an impact that should not render the piece of gear not worth fixing. Some may disagree with that assessment (without even seeing it), and valid point has been raised that the impact may have been more severe than the visible damage let on. Even with that in mind, it is not the kind of thing that would render an older combo silent. By comparison to say, 80s Peavey, it might be considered quite fragile now, wouldn't it? Maybe not eggshell, I'll admit to hyperbole, but the result is still no less surprising on my end. You can throw a TKO down a flight of stairs and still plug and play. And then you'd have to fix your stairs. ;)
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Drop a tube Fender amp and you might have a tube to replace if you lost or discarded the tube retainers.

Leo made a pretty sturdy design, as did many amp makers who did the same back in the days BEFORE planned obsolescence and higher labor costs.

We have smaller more powerful packages now, but they are still trying to find the right mix of durability and longevity versus cost.

Having seen my share of circuit boards rigidly mounted with the 1/4" jacks mounted on them and throgh the faceplate all in the name of saving a dime, i'm not sure a company's reputation is worth doing stupid things like that.
 
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#118
I have also seen (and designed) plenty of amps using (quality) PCB mounted 1/4" jacks with zero problems over tens of thousands of units. I actually looked at how many broken or damaged jacks and PCBs I have seen in the last ~10 years and there was exactly 1 damaged jack (input jack, amp fell off the cabinet with the bass plugged in) and zero damaged PCBs.

I track my own service data so that I know what's real and what's imagined. I know that Fender (and others) do the same, but sometimes damage happens for reasons beyond the manufacturer's control. Transporting a bass without a case in the back of a truck/van/SUVis unthinkable because of the potential damage, why not amps?
 
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#119
agedhorse said:
I have also seen (and designed) plenty of amps using (quality) PCB mounted 1/4" jacks with zero problems over tens of thousands of units. I actually looked at how many broken or damaged jacks and PCBs I have seen in the last ~10 years and there was exactly 1 damaged jack (input jack, amp fell off the cabinet with the bass plugged in) and zero damaged PCBs.

I track my own service data so that I know what's real and what's imagined. I know that Fender (and others) do the same, but sometimes damage happens for reasons beyond the manufacturer's control. Transporting a bass without a case in the back of a truck/van/SUVis unthinkable because of the potential damage, why not amps?
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...yeah but my uncle's brother-in-law's neighbor had a friend that had a Rumble and he said the electronics were help together with scotch tape and half a bag of Big League Chew. I'm gonna go with that, rather than your statistical data, professional expertise, and industry "behind-the-scenes" insight.
 
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#120
Texican said:
...yeah but my uncle's brother-in-law's neighbor had a friend that had a Rumble and he said the electronics were help together with scotch tape and half a bag of Big League Chew. I'm gonna go with that, rather than your statistical data, professional expertise, and industry "behind-the-scenes" insight.
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Does he also have a YouTube channel where he professes his expertise as he reviews amps while he has his trusty toothless side kick hold his beer?
 
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