I would like to upgrade my fender rumble 200 combo. I will probably buy the matching 115 cabinet. I also wondered if it would then be possible to buy the 500W head, and use my 200 combo as a second 115 cabinet. Thank you.
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Fender Rumble 200 combo upgrade
- Thread starter butterfingers1
- Start date
I've seen a mod where a female jack is installed using the wieres from the amp and another female jack with wires from the speaker.
Then you can use the 200 either as an 8 ohm extension speaker or combo.
The TB Rumble Club covers a lot of cool mods like this.
Also, the 500 head is discontinued, so you would have to find a used one. Either that, or move up to an 800 head, but that would exceed the wattage rating of the 115 somewhat.
The Fender Rumble 500 head is discontinued? But if I understand right, most Rumble cabinets are less than 800W, no?
Actually, ALL Rumble cabs are less than 600W continuous! But, fortunately, the most you need for a cab to handle with the Rumble 800 HD is 400W continuous. The Rumble 410 can take that quite easily, since it's rated at 500W continuous.
And the 210 cab is rated VERY conservatively at 350W continuous. But, I would use one or two 210 cabs with the 800 HD without losing a wink of sleep worrying about it. Here's why:
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I bought the Rumble 115 cab to connect to my 200 combo. The difference is surprising. The sound quality is different and much improved, even at low volume. The sound of the combo by itself would begin to degrade slightly when the Master passed 9 o'clock, got ugly past noon, all this with the gain off. Sometimes I would open the gain to 9 o'clock to increase oomph, which it did but with an unpleasant effect on the sound quality which became increasingly tinny with gain.
With the cab, the sound is much more natural, more "acoustic" and less "electric" if it makes any sense, like playing through a giant paper cone. Deeper, richer, warmer. Increasing the gain and/or master increases the volume without changing the sound much. Very happy and pleasantly surprised. I think I understand that increasing the watts, which goes from 140W to the full 200W with a cabinet connected, does not necessarily increase volume, but allows the sound to retain its quality with volume increases. If ever I need more, I would consider buying the 500 combo, which I could also connect to my 115 cab.
If this helps, I play an Ibanez RB 960 (bought new in 1985) with active pickups. With the 200 combo alone at low volume (gain 0, master 9 o'clock), the bass sounded like a jazz bass (which it is I think), electric, metallic and zingy in a good way. With the added 115, it sounds more like a precision bass, boomy, punchy, woody.
With the cab, the sound is much more natural, more "acoustic" and less "electric" if it makes any sense, like playing through a giant paper cone. Deeper, richer, warmer. Increasing the gain and/or master increases the volume without changing the sound much. Very happy and pleasantly surprised. I think I understand that increasing the watts, which goes from 140W to the full 200W with a cabinet connected, does not necessarily increase volume, but allows the sound to retain its quality with volume increases. If ever I need more, I would consider buying the 500 combo, which I could also connect to my 115 cab.
If this helps, I play an Ibanez RB 960 (bought new in 1985) with active pickups. With the 200 combo alone at low volume (gain 0, master 9 o'clock), the bass sounded like a jazz bass (which it is I think), electric, metallic and zingy in a good way. With the added 115, it sounds more like a precision bass, boomy, punchy, woody.
