Looking for some advice. My main setup is in my basement, but there are times I’d like to practice upstairs. I don’t want to lug my big, heavy speaker and amp up the stairs, so I’m looking at the Fender Rumble 25 v3 as a practice amp. This will be in a relatively small room where I’m not needing a lot of power. Has anyone here used one of these, and do you think it would be a good bass amp for what I need?
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just to give you some data: i have a rumble 40 and its extremely lightweight - very very easy to carry and (also per @JoshFossgreen) sounds more like actual bass due to a 10" driver vs an 8" on the 25. i listened to them both and the 40 really does sound significantly more ‘real’ and base-y even at lower volumes. that being said i have been playing bass for 10 days so take what i have to say with a quarry full of salt.
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- 1 on what @mgoldst suggested @Kevins-a-frettin…. I too have a Fender Rumble 40 and it is very light and sounds way better then the 25. It’s a great little amp!
Keep on Thumpin’!
Lanny
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I agree with @mgoldst, if you have the room the 40 is much better sound.
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I have the Rumble 40 and think its worth the extra over the 25. I believe a majority here would say its overall tone is better than the 25W. The 10" over the 8" speaker is a good reason for this. The 40 also has added controls for varied tones, eq control , both a gain and a master and a DI out. It also has a footswitch jack if you want to add one later. I also think they weight the same cause the 25 is made of mdf and the 40 is plywood.
If money is no object just get the 40. But the best thing you can to do for yourself is check them out side by side. If you think the 25 is good enough for your situation keep the extra for another toy.
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If you can swing the money the 40 is better, but the 25 will do if you can’t. Bass really does sound better on a 10" speaker (moreso than on a 12" IMO, if I ever get a cab it will have 10").
But the 40 is like 80% more. You might check on a Rumble 15 and save the money towards the 40 - same 8" speaker. I started on one.
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FWIW it might pay off to check the used amp market near you. Guitar Center had some great stuff for around $50-75 not long ago (near Orlando) but people seem to have noticed and their used selection was pretty sparse the next time I checked. I wasn’t looking to buy an amp at either time but saw stuff I would have snapped up in a heartbeat if I were. Something to consider, or not?
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Good advice from @001001001. I saw you’re in Illinois @Kevins-a-frettin I did a quick search of GC Illinois used amps section and found 2 practically new 100W bass amps under $200 and a super cheap 25W amp. The Fender rumble 100W is $350 new.
Lot’s of options in the used Bass amp market. I live in the middle of nowhere so it’s thin pickings here. But in a bigger city used is the way ahead.
I know they ship used gear. It’s not free shipping. But if the shipping was cheap enough there will be hundreds of used Amps to choose from FWIW.
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I’m not in Illinois. 
But yeah, sometimes you gotta go with what’s readily available. I hear ya.
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You didn’t ask the amp question originally, the guy from Illinois did that’s why I searched GC Illinois. To try and help the guy from, you know…Illinois 
I’ve reworded my post to make more sense and avoid confusion. Sorry.
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I owned a Rumble 25 v3 and it was fine. Sounded great.
You will outgrow it fast though. You’ll outgrow the Rumble 40 too, if you plan to play with others in the future. If you can swing it, I’d recommend the Rumble 100 - still not really big enough for gigging or jamming with a live drummer, but can at least play with others and still be heard.
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@howard and @Barney: if I understand this correctly, @Kevins-a-frettin already has a main amp and is looking for something small and portable for their small room upstairs. I wonder if a Rumble 100 would fit that bill 
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My son has the Rumble LT25. He has a small room and that amp is more than enough for his needs. Sounds great too.
The new NUX mighty bass amp 50 could be interesting as well. I think it’s smaller in size but packs more watt.
If you want to go very light weight, you could go for a pedal with a headphone out and practice with headphones on.
I have a Rumble LT25, it has enough oomph for my small room (for me, at least), but I seldom use it right now. I often just plug into my Focusrite Solo and use my Yamaha speakers attached to it (with a bit of cab sim in Reaper added to it), or most recently, I used the headphone out on my new Boss GT-1000CORE.
I often practice late in the evening, so my neighbours would probably be disturbed even by the small Rumble 25. That is why I tend to go the headphone route nowadays (also, I tend to play with a pick. Headphones blend out the clicking of the pick on the string quite well :D)
The general rule for bass amps seems to be pretty much: Go as big as you can afford, though.
Probably the best thing would be if you could shoot out a Rumble 25 vs a Rumble 40 INSIDE the room you want to play in, just to see if the 25 is enough.
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I very recently bought a 30 Watt Laney RB2. I did dither a bit over buying the larger and more powerful RB3 or RB4 instead. I am a bass beginner and therefore only need something to practice at home with.
For guitar the amp I use mainly at home is a Laney Lionheart L5 Studio and matching LT112 12" cab. This is only a 5 Watt amplifier, but I use it on the 0.5 Watt setting and still only have it set to half volume. So I thought 30W for a home bass amp should be enough.
Maybe I’ll change my mind in a while 
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Loudness isn’t generally the issue, it’s more of a low end tone thing. That said, if you like the sound you hear you are all good!!!
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The Rumble 25 actually has really good tone. Plenty of low end. It’s just not very loud - but it is more than loud enough for a small room. I never got mine above 5.
The drawback of the 8" speaker isn’t the frequency response - plenty of good low end with it. It just doesn’t move the air in volume like a 10" or 12".
A 10" speaker is almost 60% larger than an 8" - 1.56x the area, to be precise. A lot more capable of delivering the power.
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@John_E Ah, that makes things a bit clearer. I’m happy at the moment with the sound, but then I haven’t had any other bass amps. I also have the option to direct inject into my mixer and play through my Yamaha HS8’s and matching sub-woofer. I think I’ll give that a go over the holiday period.
I got back into bass years ago with a Hartke B150 (15 watts w/ 8" woofer). It was… OK. When I dived into BassBuzz earlier this year, I realized I needed something beefier. On the recommendations found around these parts, I picked up a Rumble 40. It’s a great amp, and I love it.
I’ve since picked up a Carvin Pro Bass 200 (165 watts w/ 15" woofer) and a Carvin Pro Bass 100 (100 watts w/ front-ported 10" woofer), and honestly? I like the sound of the Rumble 40 more than either of my Carvins.
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I’ve been playing bass for 15 months and have a Rumble 25. I’m very happy with it. I live in a small condo, so a loud amp and/or one with a lot of low end tone would not be cool with my neighbors. I also didn’t want to spend much cash early on—I’m finding that I love playing bass, but if I hadn’t, I’d have regretted the expense.
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