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Your Thoughts On New The Fender Rumble 800 Head

PJ Bassthumper

PJ Bassthumper

Dec 13, 2015
260
405
55
Hawkesbury Ontario
#1
I watched a video on youtube by Fender on the new 800 watt head and I must say it's peaked my interest.

I know it's relatively new and has only been out for about 6 weeks so I don't expect a huge response, but I was wondering from those who have had the chance to play one or from those who already own one what your thoughts are on it. I see no magazine has reviewed it yet and apart from Fender posting a video there doesn't seem to be anything on youtube either.

I was wondering how it stacked up against other class D's like the Ampeg PF800, GK MB800, Mesa Subway 800 in terms of volume/headroom, tone, features. What do you like and don't like about it.

Thanks
 
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#3
FunkHead said:
I think they look great but haven't tried one. I would probably just grab the Stage 800 for $200 more if you like the way they sound.

That said, The Mesa WD800 would be my first choice.
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That's a beauty bass head, but it's $570 more than the Fender Rumble 800 here in Canada. It's a little out of my price point at the moment.

Cheers
 
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#5
FunkHead said:
I think they look great but haven't tried one. I would probably just grab the Stage 800 for $200 more if you like the way they sound.

That said, The Mesa WD800 would be my first choice.
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The Stage 800 is a digital modeling amp. Completely different animal than the Class D Rumble 800. I hate digital modeling amps and didn't like the Stage 800 at all.

OP- The Rumble 800 is awesome. Just played one at GC today thru an Ampeg 410. If you like the 500, you'll love the 800.
 
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#8
Well I had the chance to try the Fender Rumble 800 head on this past Thursday at the Long & Mcquade close to work. It wasn't for me, maybe the model I had was defective but it didn't seem to have a lot of power. I had it plugged into a GK Neo 410 cab. I A/B it against a GK Fusion 500 and the GK blew it away in volume mind you I never went past 1 o'clock on either amp so maybe the Fender puts out a ton more volume after that setting. The Fender while warm sounding just seemed weak and the knobs didn't seem to effect much when I turned them, I mean for sure the tones changed but it was always subtle from one end of the dial to the other. In the end it was a meh experience, but of course YMMV.

I never ever even considered owning a GK as I have always had the preconceived notion they were hi fi and I wanted warm and mellow but wow was I blown away with that head. Maybe it's the tubes in the pre section but with the bass set at 1 o'clock the lo mids at noon high mids at 11:00 and treble at 11:00 I got a really nice warm tone that was really loud. I liked the amp so much that I almost pulled the trigger but at $1089 + tax that comes in at $1230 CDN so I looked online and lo and behold a guy had one for sale at $550 so I bought it today. I hope it plays well through my Yorkville Y410B bass cab if not I'll be cab shopping soon.

Cheers
 
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#10
Element Zero said:
Knob position means absolutely nothing.
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You're right that knob position means nothing in the grand scheme of things and I never said or implied that the volume should be the same at the some position on both amps all I said was I never went past 1:00 position on either amp and I even mentioned in my post that maybe the Fender had a lot more juice after 1:00. So your right maybe GK volume comes on early and Fender comes on late so maybe the Fender is tones louder than the GK and I just needed to have it at 4:00 or something like that but for me for whatever reason I don't like having the volume turned all the way to the max position on the dial and it's in this regard the GK is louder, but regardless I was underwhelmed with the overall tone of the Fender is all, and when I used the term weak it wasn't in reference to the volume it was in reference to the tone It was like the best way I could describe it is the GK has more range in the EQ when turning the knobs from 12:00 to 8:00 or 4:00 than the Fender does, the Fender seemed subtle the GK you really noticed the changes as you turned the knobs left and right and to that end I think it's a very valid point.
 
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#11
Element Zero said:
Knob position means absolutely nothing.
Click to expand...
Surprise, surprise.jpg
 
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#17
PJ Bassthumper said:
You're right that knob position means nothing in the grand scheme of things and I never said or implied that the volume should be the same at the some position on both amps all I said was I never went past 1:00 position on either amp and I even mentioned in my post that maybe the Fender had a lot more juice after 1:00. So your right maybe GK volume comes on early and Fender comes on late so maybe the Fender is tones louder than the GK and I just needed to have it at 4:00 or something like that but for me for whatever reason I don't like having the volume turned all the way to the max position on the dial and it's in this regard the GK is louder, but regardless I was underwhelmed with the overall tone of the Fender is all, and when I used the term weak it wasn't in reference to the volume it was in reference to the tone It was like the best way I could describe it is the GK has more range in the EQ when turning the knobs from 12:00 to 8:00 or 4:00 than the Fender does, the Fender seemed subtle the GK you really noticed the changes as you turned the knobs left and right and to that end I think it's a very valid point.
Click to expand...
Old thread I know, but since I have both a Rumble 800 head and a GK, I thought I'd comment. The GK is definitely low end heavy when it comes to knob position. I'd say that somewhere around 9:00 is the actual mid point. The Rumble on the other hand is nice around 1:00. There seems to be no industry consensus on what the knobs mean and the settings are completely arbitrary. I would expect noon to be the neutral position and anything left to cut, while anything right to boost. Nope. My GK at 9:00 is more bottom heavy than the Rumble at 2:00.
 
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