The Rumble 500s and lower do not have this.
1 Like
Ha! Yes That Fan kind of bothered me at home at first. People thought I was crazy! Do not notice it all now. With a band it is a complete non issue. Could not hear it when its mic’d up also.
1 Like
Thank you for taking time to answer questions and explain things. I really appreciate it. And good lookin’ out (you and Howard) for the sage advice on shopping around and cultivating a greater understanding before parting with your money. I’m going to look at the amp tomorrow so at least I get to run it through the paces a bit to see if I like it. The things I like about it are: it’s in my price range, the portability, I think it sounds alright (I’ll find out tomorrow), and the room for a little more juice down the road if I need (let’s be honest, want). I’m not going to lie, stacking it on the 210 extension cab looks sweet and is straight gas. If I get it and it’s not my fit down the road, I’m hoping I could recoup some of the cost selling it and flipping it into something else. Some money lost but at least I’m learning a bit and I’ll have something to rollover. At some point this bass boy has to grow up and become a bass man. Ha ha. Maybe I’m optimistic, but, so far, everything with this hobby has worked out for me. I got my starter amp used and I like it (Ibanez Soundwave 65W combo amp), my old bass that had been in the closet for 15 plus years was still tip-top, the B2B course was dope, I found a good, family-run music store that’s tits, and I even got a B-stock Schecter for 40% off shipped to me that I love (first real instrument goggles a bit probably). I know. I didn’t even play it first. Balls-y. I kinda feel like I’m on a heater and I want to let it ride one more time and then I’ll bet kitted to the gills. Sick bass, sick amp, etc. Again, thanks for your help. Cheers, man.
5 Likes
To wrap up the thread: Yee-aah-ahh, boi-eee!!! Thanks for all the help. I ended up grabbing it. For me, I think it’ll be perfect. There’s a high/low output toggle switch so, right off the bat, you can kick it down to 25%. I’m playing at 15 to 20 percent of that for quiet home practice and I don’t hear a fan. My space is in the bigger area of our house so I’m not right up on the amp (I like standing and walking around when I play). I like to relax when I play and enjoy a soft, chill bass tone a majority of the time. I haven’t blasted it too much, but, yeah, you can open it up and it’ll be more than I’ll ever need so that’s nice. Now take it for what it’s worth because it’s a layman’s opinion, but I like the bass tone with this amp on the quieter settings a lot. I haven’t really messed with the dials too much outside of the contour (scooped mids), bright, and vintage buttons. I tend to be vanilla and enjoy noon settings across the board. My bass is active but a majority of the time I play flat, middle of the road EQ too. I find the bass tone when you crank this up gets a bit more fuzzy or wooly and it’s not as full as some of the amps that can move air and round out the deeper tones (the bass you feel). That actually works out better for me. I’m not going to compete with the high school marching band down the street so my cover isn’t blown but I can still buzz my brother every once in a while when he comes to play. And, lastly, it’s like driving a Lamborghini in a school zone, but I’m definitely going to get the 210 cab sometime down the road to round out the stack. It’s completely unnecessary and excessive so it’s awesome like the coke-fueled rock of the 80’s. Ha ha.
6 Likes
On Fenders this is pretty scooped anyway, which is why a lot of people like their amps 
Truly flat EQ on most Fender amps would be about noon/14:00/14:00/noon on the knobs.
2 Likes
As usual @howard is on the money on this.
Here are my amp setting @Jacob that I use to get a flat EQ then I adjust from there. Green tape so I don’t forget!
I used this as my source to try to undertand what the default ‘Fender Sound’ was. The diagrams are pretty useful.
https://www.talkbass.com/wiki/fender-rumble-500-frequencies/#3-rumble-500-actual-flat-frequencies
6 Likes
Thanks for the info. I’m gonna steal some time this afternoon to try that (12,14,14,12) out. And Barney’s (10,14,14,10) too (if we’re talking military bass time; ha ha). (10, 1:30, 2, 9:30; flat recommendation) -I’m just writing that here so I can come back for reference later. The charts were helpful in the link, Barney. Now I can picture in my head what the presets (bright, contour, vintage) are doing to the sound.
1 Like
I finished reading these last night and this was good stuff, plus I read the Wikipedia on line arrays. I didn’t realize the banana stacked and flown speakers I see at every show had more to them than being easy to rig and out of the line of sight of the audience. Really cool stuff!
1 Like
Yes, they came close enough to a one size fits all solution for road shows that the overall result for most venues was better than trying to physically configure traditional cluster arrays. In general a wide (maybe 120 degree) horizontal coverage pattern, tight vertical coverage pattern, ability to taper the bottom cabinets (banana shape) to achieve front fill coverage, ability to “shade” sections of the array to throw up into a balcony or terrace. Because sound from line arrays radiates in a cylinder patter from a line array (ideal model vibrating rod) rather than spherical (ideal model vibrating point), the sound level drops off at 3dB per doubling of distance rather than the usual 6 dB per doubling of distance. This means a line array can throw twice as far as a point source speaker.
If you register I think Meyer will let you have their MAPP3D modeling tool to play with line array throws.
JBL has a nice calculator tool for their CBT series (not full scale concert line arrays, but quite good for a single column array)
CBT Calculator v1.3.0.1 | JBL Professional Loudspeakers | English (US)
With an individual DSP and power amp on every channel of a line array, it’s possible to create lobes and steer them up and down with processing.
2 Likes
Guys I’ve come into some money and I’m trying to justify buying a Fumble 800
I gather the combo puts out about 400W on its own, but can manage 800W with an additional speaker cab.
Could I connect my mini Trace Elliot 1x10 cab (300W max power handling @ 8 ohms) without it blowing up?
If it works, would the total max power output be 300W from the Fumble and 300W from the Trace Elliot? I.e. 600W?
Ta!
1 Like
I’ve been really happy with mine. It’s such a versatile amp. It’s super portable (29 lbs.) and there’s a toggle switch to drop it down to 25 % (100W) so you can use it as your quiet, practice amp too. I don’t have any issues with hearing the fan on this setting. By the speakOn cable input in the back you can set it to 400W @ 8 Ohms resistance. I’ve got the 210 extension cab that goes with it and it’s rated at 350W and it’s the recommended cab for the combo. It handles the power fine. I dunno about 300W though. I’m sure somebody smarter than me will chime in with good info. I don’t want to steer you wrong.
2 Likes
Paging @DaveT
3 Likes
Yes. Just don’t blow it up. The cabinet will get flabby and fart if you drive it too hard. That’s when it’s time to back off. Creep it up if you are getting close to the high range of the knob.
And yes, you’ll have a 600 Watt rig.
And it may be possible that even setting it to max won’t hurt anything. Manufactures tend to be optimistic with amp power ratings. 800 Watts is the magic marketing number over 500 Watts. If they got close, they may round up on the product claim. Some amps put out a little less max power at 120 Volts than if they are run at 220 Volts. Watch any bass EQ knobs though. If the bass knob is boosted you can go way over what it looks like the master level is set.
4 Likes
I’ll also point out that the difference in level between 600 Watts and 800 Watts isn’t very much. If you aren’t getting what you need at 600 theres no reason to push it. You’ll have to double power every time you want a significant change.
4 Likes
Oh, and don’t stand anywhere near that thing. Your ears won’t last long.
4 Likes
Thanks @DaveT !
Actually, for the sake of my ears if nothing else, I’m wondering if it might be better to go for the Rumble 500 - that way I could split the power between the cabs as 250 W each and I probably won’t lose that much volume.
That is actually a really useful feature @Jacob . I wonder if the 500 has the same
…
Hmm can’t see it. but it does have a headphone option.
You know - on balance the 500 does generally seem the saner option. I’ll have to check one out in the shop if I can.
Thanks chaps!
1 Like
The Rumble 500 does not have the hi/low output toggle. I just looked at one on the Fender website.
1 Like
I haven’t tried the fenders, but my ampeg rb210 equivalent turns down to practice volume just fine. Way easier to modulate volume at a sane bedroom level than my 35 watt orange solid state guitar amp actually.
1 Like