Fender Rumble 500 vs. Aguilar TH 350 / SL 112

[Morningside]

For the last couple years, I've been gigging with a Fender Rumble 500 combo, which sounds great and is mercifully lightweight, but I played through an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 and DB 212 cabinet recently and loved the fullness of the sound. Since then, I've been thinking about upgrading to an Aguilar TH 350 with a single SL 112 cabinet, and I'm wondering how it might compare to the Rumble 500 in terms of volume / headroom.

I'm not an electronics wiz, but my understanding is that if you use the Rumble 500 without an external cab, you're actually only getting about 350 watts of power because the impedance of the combo is 8 ohms. The full 500 watts is available if you hook up an external cab and impedance drops to 4 ohms. As for the Aguilar SL 112 cab, that has 8 ohms impedance and power handling of 250 watts, so I guess 250 watts would be its limit when paired with the TH 350 head.

While I realize that amps of the same wattage can differ significantly in volume, I'm imagining the that the Rumble 500 without an external cab would at least be in the same ballpark as the Aguilar TH 350 + SL 112 (350 watts vs. 250 watts). Does that make sense, or am I underestimating the drop-off in headroom?

The reason I ask is that although I've almost never turned the volume knob past noon on the Rumble 500 (I play alt-country and folk-rock, generally in bars and smaller venues), I want to make sure I wouldn't be losing too much headroom if I were to switch to the 350-watt Aguilar head and 112 cab.

 

[lomo]

It's not as simple as black and white, but speaker cone area generally means more than power (within reason). If your combo is a 210 or 15, it will likely get quite a bit louder than a single 112 when both speaker configurations are fully powered. It's also true that the DB cabs do not sound the same as the SL cabs.

 

[mbasile]

A few people have gigged with the TH350. I have it (and a DB115) but I just jam with people. It depends a lot on the types of venue you play in.

I will warn you though, that the DB and SL cabs are not voiced the same. Liking the DB212 doesn't mean that you'll equally like the SL112.

Also, at 8ohms the TH350 will be putting out about 175 watts, but the wattage on the Aguilar heads is rather underrated.

 

[basslust]

I think there will be a big difference between the two rigs. A weaker amp with a smaller cab is a big step down.

 

[Morningside]

Thanks for the responses! Hmm, so here's another idea:

Aguilar TH 500 + two Fender Rumble 112 cabinets. I'd love to get two of the Aguilar 112 cabinets, but those are $600-750 each, versus $600 total for two of the Fender 112 cabinets.

The TH 500 is 500 watts at 4 ohms and 250 watts at 8 ohms, and the Fender 112 cabinets are rated for 500 watts (program) / 250 watts (continuous). I assume this means that I could safely use the TH 500 with a single 112 cabinet and get 250 watts of power (@ 8 ohms); and then hook up another 112 and get the full 500 watts (@ 4 ohms).

Does that sound about right?

 

[lomo]

Thanks for the responses! Hmm, so here's another idea:

Aguilar TH 500 + two Fender Rumble 112 cabinets. I'd love to get two of the Aguilar 112 cabinets, but those are $600-750 each, versus $600 total for two of the Fender 112 cabinets.

The TH 500 is 500 watts at 4 ohms and 250 watts at 8 ohms, and the Fender 112 cabinets are rated for 500 watts (program) / 250 watts (continuous). I assume this means that I could safely use the TH 500 with a single 112 cabinet and get 250 watts of power (@ 8 ohms); and then hook up another 112 and get the full 500 watts (@ 4 ohms).

Does that sound about right?

Yup that should more than match your combo (2x12 is more cone area than 210 or 115), and might even be louder with the TH350 since those 112s probably do not truly transduce 175 watts each....they likely stop getting louder (compress) before that (regardless of their published power handling rating). If you never push your master farther than noon on your combo, my guess is the TH350 will get you there....although it's always nicer to have more and not use it........

 

[basslust]

Thanks for the responses! Hmm, so here's another idea:

Aguilar TH 500 + two Fender Rumble 112 cabinets. I'd love to get two of the Aguilar 112 cabinets, but those are $600-750 each, versus $600 total for two of the Fender 112 cabinets.

The TH 500 is 500 watts at 4 ohms and 250 watts at 8 ohms, and the Fender 112 cabinets are rated for 500 watts (program) / 250 watts (continuous). I assume this means that I could safely use the TH 500 with a single 112 cabinet and get 250 watts of power (@ 8 ohms); and then hook up another 112 and get the full 500 watts (@ 4 ohms).

Does that sound about right?

I have the Rumble 500 head with two Rumble 112 cabs and it is a good rig. Some people don't care for the cabs, but I find they work well paired with this head at least. If you get a chance to try the Rumble 112 in the store, you could see how it matches with the TH500 and if you like it. Of course, part of the fullness that you felt from the Aguilar setup you played through was due to the extra air moved by the speakers. Throw a 210 extension cab on that Rumble and I think that will sound very full as well (more so than the two 12s I'd wager).

 

[BassmusM6674]

Thanks for the responses! Hmm, so here's another idea:

Aguilar TH 500 + two Fender Rumble 112 cabinets. I'd love to get two of the Aguilar 112 cabinets, but those are $600-750 each, versus $600 total for two of the Fender 112 cabinets.

The TH 500 is 500 watts at 4 ohms and 250 watts at 8 ohms, and the Fender 112 cabinets are rated for 500 watts (program) / 250 watts (continuous). I assume this means that I could safely use the TH 500 with a single 112 cabinet and get 250 watts of power (@ 8 ohms); and then hook up another 112 and get the full 500 watts (@ 4 ohms).

Does that sound about right?

If you liked the TH 500 and DB212 cab, then get that. Any other combination won't sound the same. Two of the DB112's should be very close to the DB212 so I would get those. I would avoid the SL112's. The are more expensive, handle less power & don't sound as good IMO as the DB model. (FYI, I have 2 TH500's, 2 DB112's and 4 GS112's.)
You can find a lot of Aguilar gear used at a decent price if you look around.

 

[Stumbo]

I have the Rumble 500 head with two Rumble 112 cabs and it is a good rig. Some people don't care for the cabs, but I find they work well paired with this head at least. If you get a chance to try the Rumble 112 in the store, you could see how it matches with the TH500 and if you like it. Of course, part of the fullness that you felt from the Aguilar setup you played through was due to the extra air moved by the speakers. Throw a 210 extension cab on that Rumble and I think that will sound very full as well (more so than the two 12s I'd wager).

A vertical 4x10 stack will move a lot more air, give better dispersion and more importantly, will get speakers closer to your ears.

Also, adding an HPF like TBr fdeck's v3 will help tighten up the low end.

 

[voided3]

For the last couple years, I've been gigging with a Fender Rumble 500 combo, which sounds great and is mercifully lightweight, but I played through an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 and DB 212 cabinet recently and loved the fullness of the sound.

I gig with a Fender Rumble 500 v3 head and two matching 2x10" cabs, but I run a Tone Hammer DI's 1/4" out into the front end of the amp as I like the AGS circuit. I also send the XLR out of the Tone Hammer DI to FOH so I can set the amp however I want without affecting FOH sound levels. If you have a chance to try the DI before getting the head, I would give that a shot as it would be much less of an investment over replacing your amp and sounds great direct, plus it's a backup option (I used to use it direct into QSC powered speakers with great results, too). That said, I can understand if you don't want to use pedals if you prefer a bass-->cord-->amp only setup and just want the amp voiced that way.

 

[Stranger Danger]

For the last couple years, I've been gigging with a Fender Rumble 500 combo, which sounds great and is mercifully lightweight, but I played through an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 and DB 212 cabinet recently and loved the fullness of the sound. Since then, I've been thinking about upgrading to an Aguilar TH 350 with a single SL 112 cabinet, and I'm wondering how it might compare to the Rumble 500 in terms of volume / headroom.

I'm not an electronics wiz, but my understanding is that if you use the Rumble 500 without an external cab, you're actually only getting about 350 watts of power because the impedance of the combo is 8 ohms. The full 500 watts is available if you hook up an external cab and impedance drops to 4 ohms. As for the Aguilar SL 112 cab, that has 8 ohms impedance and power handling of 250 watts, so I guess 250 watts would be its limit when paired with the TH 350 head.

While I realize that amps of the same wattage can differ significantly in volume, I'm imagining the that the Rumble 500 without an external cab would at least be in the same ballpark as the Aguilar TH 350 + SL 112 (350 watts vs. 250 watts). Does that make sense, or am I underestimating the drop-off in headroom?

The reason I ask is that although I've almost never turned the volume knob past noon on the Rumble 500 (I play alt-country and folk-rock, generally in bars and smaller venues), I want to make sure I wouldn't be losing too much headroom if I were to switch to the 350-watt Aguilar head and 112 cab.

The SL cab is very thin and boxy sounding. Probably not what you're looking for.

 

[Linnin]

The SL cab is very thin and boxy sounding.

^^^This is true^^^ Obscenely overpriced too.

 

[Coughdrops]

Haven't played rumble cabs but I play a rumble 500 through two db112s pretty frequently. If you get Aguilar, I recommend the two db112 option. Skip the SL, though the weight is nice... but not nice enough to outweigh the lackluster tone. I used to have a TH500 and enjoyed it well enough. I grew tired of the low bass knob voicing centered at 40hz. I like the Rumble's inherent voicing a little better and the eq points work a little better for me, though it's feature set (line out, no mute etc) leaves a little to be desired IMO.