Replacement speaker for Fender Rumble 350 Bass Combo amp??

[Paul]

Unfortunately, Fender has either made a design flaw in this
amp, or they got a bad batch of cheap 8 Ohm speakers. This
is obvious because a Google search shows many people have
blown the speakers on these units. The particular unit
I am repairing is only 3 months old, from date of purchase, and
both speakers were blown during a gig.

The spec sheet for the Rumble 350 is 370 Watts into 4 Ohms (8 ohms
parallel).

From what I researched, these Eminence speakers should do the
trick:

http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Legend_B102.pdf

I was not able to find a 10" speaker higher than a 200Watt rating.

About $80 a pop on Ebay.

If someone knows of a cheaper, but equally good speaker, please let me
know, but I really would like these replacements to LAST.

[Neil Gould]

If this is not your personal amp I'd be very hesitant to replace the
speakers with anything other than the originals because the choice of that
amp may have been based on its sound and responsiveness. I'd be quite upset
if some repair shop returned an amp to me that sounded or behaved
differently than what I bought! ;-)
--
best regards,

Neil

[Paul]

Well, get this. It should still be under factory warranty, and I
told the owner he should talk to Fender and get it fixed for nearly
free. But he made a few good points about his previous experiences
with warranty repairs:

1) He would have to pay for shipping and handling at least.
2) The companies usually take a LONG time to repair the unit.
3) They would probably put in the same shitty speakers that came
with the original design, and the they would probably blow
out just as quickly.

This last point is the reason the owner is willing to try
different speakers. Most people have been happy with Eminence,
from what I have read. I'll bet if anything, the tone will
improve, and it should certainly last longer than 3 months!

BTW, I tested the amp with a spare 12" 8 ohm speaker, and
it does appear to still work. I assume the more modern
amp designs can sense a no-load condition these days? Or
perhaps he simply didn't play it much after the speakers were
blown.

[Peter Larsen]

Paul wrote:

> 1) He would have to pay for shipping and handling at least.
> 2) The companies usually take a LONG time to repair the unit.
> 3) They would probably put in the same shitty speakers that came
> with the original design, and the they would probably blow
> out just as quickly.

> This last point is the reason the owner is willing to try
> different speakers. Most people have been happy with Eminence,
> from what I have read. I'll bet if anything, the tone will
> improve, and it should certainly last longer than 3 months!

It appears to have what is known as a whizzer cone, to make it a whisser
cone wind some sheeps wool around it and tie it in place with a woolen
thread. Did wonders to the linearity of Lowther's and similar in the old
days of the real rear loaded horns.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Gareth Magennis]

"Paul" <Quill...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:lh3lt4$vqg$1...@dont-email.me...

I'm in the UK and had a smaller Fender Rumble 75 for repair with a blown
speaker, and yes, they are the shittiest chinese speakers you could imagine.
As is the rest of the amplifier - it is just another Chinese Production Line
jobby with "Fender" written on the front. Nothing to do with Fender really.

This one belonged to a College and they actually asked me to fit an Eminence
replacement as they too had Googled to find these speakers often break.
I had previously enquired about a genuine replacement from Fender, and was
told it would take perhaps 2 or 3 months to get here, and wasn't cheap.

As far as running the amp without a load is concerned, it doesn't matter a
jot, these are not valve amplifiers.


Cheers,


Gareth.

[Scott Dorsey]

"Paul" <Quill...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:lh3lt4$vqg$1...@dont-email.me...
> On 3/28/2014 5:11 AM, Neil Gould wrote:

>> Paul wrote:
>>> Unfortunately, Fender has either made a design flaw in this
>>> amp, or they got a bad batch of cheap 8 Ohm speakers. This
>>> is obvious because a Google search shows many people have
>>> blown the speakers on these units. The particular unit
>>> I am repairing is only 3 months old, from date of purchase, and
>>> both speakers were blown during a gig.

That being the case, what makes you think the rest of the amp is any higher
quality than the speakers?

You can put higher grade drivers into it, but then what's going to fail next?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Neil]

On 3/28/2014 7:19 AM, Paul wrote:
> On 3/28/2014 5:11 AM, Neil Gould wrote:
>> Paul wrote:

[...]

>[...]
>
My point is that "music creation" is less about technical aspects such
as the power handling capability of a speaker than the musician's
*feeling* about the amp's sound and responsiveness.

You've verified the important part -- the owner is willing to try
different speakers. If he doesn't like the result, you won't be to
blame. ;-)
--
best regards,

Neil

[Paul]

Well, we're going to find out! But the main failure for most people
has been the speakers, not the amp itself.

It doesn't really excite me much to replace speakers, so I really
didn't want the job, and I tried twice to convince the guy to do
this the cheapest way: the warranty. But he insisted I go ahead, for
the reasons I posted, and so here I am.

[Paul]

On 3/28/2014 8:15 AM, Neil wrote:

> >
> My point is that "music creation" is less about technical aspects such
> as the power handling capability of a speaker than the musician's
> *feeling* about the amp's sound and responsiveness.
>

Technical aspects DO matter: The musicians can't have much
feeling about an amp that blows out because the power rating is
incorrect!

> You've verified the important part -- the owner is willing to try
> different speakers. If he doesn't like the result, you won't be to
> blame. ;-)

Oh, I've given him full disclaimer, and against my own benefit,
tried to get him down the warranty path, but no go.

[Paul]

It's got everything to do with Fender. It's their goddamned name
on the amp! If they are outsourcing cheapie amps and slapping their
name on it, or if they have poor QA on their parts suppliers, then
that's a company decision, and it's their brand name that will suffer.

People DO make statements like: "I will never buy another
fill-in-the-blank product again!"

> This one belonged to a College and they actually asked me to fit an Eminence
> replacement as they too had Googled to find these speakers often break.
> I had previously enquired about a genuine replacement from Fender, and was
> told it would take perhaps 2 or 3 months to get here, and wasn't cheap.
>

Ok, so did you put the Eminence in? If so, how did it work out?

[Neil]

On 3/28/2014 1:12 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 3/28/2014 8:15 AM, Neil wrote:
>
>> >
>> My point is that "music creation" is less about technical aspects such
>> as the power handling capability of a speaker than the musician's
>> *feeling* about the amp's sound and responsiveness.
>>
>
> Technical aspects DO matter: The musicians can't have much
> feeling about an amp that blows out because the power rating is
> incorrect!
>

That isn't the "feeling" I was referring to. ;-) An instrument amp is
an integral part of an electric instrument, and can change not only how
the instrument sounds, but how it "feels". A drastic example; an
unplugged guitar "feels" different than an amplified one. Every
seemingly small change to an amplifier can have an impact on how the
instrument performs, and some musicians can be very picky about such
things (YT included!).
--
best regards,

Neil

[Gareth Magennis]

"Paul" wrote in message news:lh4asu$7sb$1...@dont-email.me...

OK, so who are Fender these days? Certainly not the Fender that used to
make Fender Twins and Stratocasters.

Someone bought the name. That's how it goes.



Well I have no idea how the replacement worked, as I have not heard back
from the College, though I suspect a 150W speaker in a 75W combo would not
be under too much stress.


Gareth.

[Paul]

Certainly you can't expect a company to never change ownership,
but I'm judging the current Fender and their current products, which
are clearly sub-par.

[Paul]

Agreed, I can be picky too.

But this fella wants the amp to LAST, not just have good tone.

I suspect the Eminence will last longer, AND have better tone!

[Les Cargill]

Gareth Magennis wrote:
>
>
<snip>

>
> OK, so who are Fender these days? Certainly not the Fender that used
> to make Fender Twins and Stratocasters.
>
> Someone bought the name. That's how it goes.
>

There was an ESOP some years back. FMIC ( Fender Musical Instrument
Corporation ) is now heavily indebted. They tried to have an IPO
recently. Didn't work out.

Ultimately, they are competing with everything Fender ever made.
You can still find a Super Reverb for ( sometimes significantly ) less
than $1k still.

When SRV was so popular and people bought Strats, they bought them from
Guitar Center, which is also under a crushing debt load.

So what happens is they make things like that amp to sell at Guitar
Center to people who may or may not even actually play. Fender
*does* make pro bass amps that are pretty good. There's a 300W
tube bass stack w/ 8x10 that's not bad at all.

I find that if you explain that you're buying stuff for work reasons,
you get pretty good service from Guitar Center. Call ahead, ask for
the guy you talk to and it makes a difference.


The Fender story is a lot like the general American story - a lot
of debt, and pretty sad. Here's hoping they find their feet. Guitar
Center sold me an Affinity Telecaster a couple of years ago that's
an astounding little guitar. They sell much more expensive Teles that
are much less like a Tele than the Affinity.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, really.

>
>
> Well I have no idea how the replacement worked, as I have not heard back
> from the College, though I suspect a 150W speaker in a 75W combo would
> not be under too much stress.
>

Should be fine.

>
> Gareth.

--
Les Cargill

[Les Cargill]

Paul wrote:
> On 3/28/2014 3:12 PM, Gareth Magennis wrote:

<snip>

>
> Certainly you can't expect a company to never change ownership,
> but I'm judging the current Fender and their current products, which
> are clearly sub-par.
>

They vary from shlock to brilliant. Fender sells a lot of stuff through
Guitar Center that's built to a price point.

>
>

--
Les Cargill

[hank alrich]

He might have purchased a decent rig to begin with instead of thinking a
cheap piece of kit is going to last. The consumer bears some
responsiblity for purchase decsions, too.

--
shut up and play your guitar * HankAlrich.Com
HankandShaidriMusic.Com
YouTube.Com/WalkinayMusic

[geoff]

It will no longer be a Fender Rumble. But it will likely be better than
a Fender Rumble !

geoff

[gregz]

I'm not going to argue the equipments potential, but the first thing I
always think of is downgrading potential for failure. I would stick the
drivers in Series. Try to blow that out. Sure, it will not play as loud,
probably 6 DB drop. Each driver will only see 1/4 the power, roughly.

Greg

[Paul]

That is a thought.....

[Paul]

Oh, definitely. The stock Fender Rumble speakers are
absolute trash. Do a Google search on it....

It's going to cost him $80 each cone, plus my fee, but it will
hopefully last....

[Paul]

On 3/28/2014 10:51 PM, gregz wrote:

Or how about two 4 Ohms speakers in series, for a 3 dB drop, or
1/2 the power?

I found a pair of 10", 4 Ohm, 125 Watt RMS speakers on Ebay for
about $75 for the pair.

[gregz]

I was thinking that too. The efficiency spec will also also play into
formula.
Sometimes the lower ohm driver will have more electrical damping. Hopefully
the box tuning will not change too much, if it's ported. It's possible to
play with porting
To minimize driver excursion.

Greg