Rumble 800 combo not loud enough??

[LITTLEWING]

I was in a three piece a few moons back where the guitard was insanely loud even at rehearsal. Live in a pub i kept upgrading my gear until I had an Ashdown 300 head and Ashdown 8x10 cab. He simply wopped his Vox combo up even more and the drummer was losing weight sweating his n*ts off.

Band I'm in now playing covers I'm using an old Laney 100 watt 1 x15" combo and it's plenty loud enough because we're all grown up.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

On 21/10/2025 at 08:34, synthaside said:

Buy a cheap  DB meter on amazon 

Most cheap dB meters only have 'A' weighting. They don't measure bass. You need 'C' or 'Z' weighting. 

Quote

"I havent ever titlted it or put it on a stand off the floor as many say dont elevate it as you lose the bottom end." 

True, if it's lifted by a meter or more. Less than that and there's no loss of bottom end. If you don't tilt or lift it the highly directional mids critical for the perception of loudness are passing by your knees, which can't hear them, rather than by your ears, which can. 

[Downunderwonder]

The losing bottom end with raising cab thing is an impossibly difficult meme to kill because....guitarists. G man gets blasted by treble from his amp and can't hear any bass. That's his actual tone that everyone in front of it hears.

 

Same goes for bassists but as logical thinkers we are easier to convince.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Bingo! I once had a guitar'd player who insisted on having his JBL loaded Fender Twin on the floor two feet in back of him. It sounded fine to him, but made the zone in the audience directly in front of him uninhabitable. I asked him why he didn't use the tilt back legs. He said it made the highs too loud. I then noted that placed flat it made the highs too loud in the audience. All that elicited was a blank stare. 🫢

[nekomatic]

On 30/10/2025 at 02:23, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

your knees, which can't hear them, rather than by your ears, which can. 

How do you know that the OP isn’t a grasshopper? 

[Suezee]

Ive since tried another amp and same problem. This amp has a VU meter and the needle barely moves when i play. Put my friends bass through same amp and with gain & master way way lower its ear splittingly loud and needle moves how it should. So it seems that the output from my bass is minimal. Battery & leads have been checked and checked again no crackling to suggest loose wiring so Im stumped as to why the output is so low

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Suezee said:

Ive since tried another amp and same problem. This amp has a VU meter and the needle barely moves when i play. Put my friends bass through same amp and with gain & master way way lower its ear splittingly loud and needle moves how it should. So it seems that the output from my bass is minimal. Battery & leads have been checked and checked again no crackling to suggest loose wiring so Im stumped as to why the output is so low

 

Could be the pickup height.

[Suezee]

14 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Could be the pickup height.

No, sorry shouldve mentioned thats been checked and is fine

[tauzero]

1 minute ago, Suezee said:

No, sorry shouldve mentioned thats been checked and is fine

 

Electronics or pickup issue then. You could try connecting the pickup(s) direct to the jack socket and see what happens to the volume.

[Suezee]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

 

Electronics or pickup issue then. You could try connecting the pickup(s) direct to the jack socket and see what happens to the volume.

Thanks. Im just wondering if its the battery clip as the connector that goes to the red wire is really tight (broke my nail trying to get if off) while the other connector came off really easy. Maybe its too loose?

[jay bass]

Hi is your bass Active / passive  if so is there any change in volume between the two.

is it the same issue with both basses?   Try the simple things first . try a different lead, try another battery although you say its new there are sometimes faulty batches sold, are you using standard 9volt or rechargable 9volt. Have you tried a different bass through your amp. it looks most likely a wiring issue either pickups , or on board pre amp , check all the soldered joints on the pots and any preamp boards.

[iainbass]

With an active bass this could be literally anything in the matrix and once you start messing you can create additional probs. Probably best to let a tech have a look.