NAMM 2010 Fender news part two
| Posted in Music Technology
An improved Fender Rumble bass amplifier range is set to be announced at the 2010 NAMM show in less than two weeks, following a tremendous number of guitars being launched at the exhibition in California, as detailed in part one of this blog.
Comprising five separate amplifiers, the new Rumble Series isn’t being released officially until the beginning of the NAMM show on January 14th, but DV247 has been given a sneak peek at Fender’s plans for the show. Starting with the alreay popular Fender Rumble 15 and going up to the Rumble 350, the new range sees Fender moving on every level of the bass playing fraternity.
Remaining the least affected by the changes is diminutive Rumble 15, which delivers 15W through an 8″ Fender Special Design loudspeaker. But the 15 is set to be joined by a big brother in the shape of the Rumble 30, which is intended for small gigs and home use. A 10″ speaker pushes 30W through the cabinet, while users will be able to adjust overdrive to taste.
Moving up in wattage, the Rumble 75 uses a 12″ loudspeaker and generates 75W, with features including overdrive, a pair of EQ presets and an optional footswitch. Stepping up to the Rumble 150 meanwhile will net users 150W through a 15″ speaker, with a piezo horn for highs (including its own on/off switch). A four band active EQ is also onboard the 150 with punch and scoop presets.
Finally, now sitting at the summit of the range is the Rumble 350, which uses a pair of 10″ loudspeakers plus a piezo horn to deliver 350W. Described by Fender as “taking your sound to DEFCON 1″, the combo also includes the same horn on/off switch as the 150 model, and a three band active EQ with semi-parametric mid controls and punch and scoop presets. No doubt the amplifier’s main distinguishing factor, however, will be the ability to make NAMM’s walls shake.
Finally topping off a huge amount of new products arriving from Fender this month is the redesigned Passport series of portable PA systems. Included is the small, flat-panel Executive PA model, designed mainly for seminars rather than rock and roll, followed by the more meaty new Passport 150 PRO which boasts two stereo channels plus improved speaker voicing.
The far bigger Passport 300 PRO offers six channels with 300W, an improvement on the 250W offered by its predecessor, the Passport PD-250. It’s also far lighter and physically smaller than the older model and includes phantom power. Finally, the Passport 500 PRO is now the flagship Passport PA, with eight channels, a port that lets users record their performance straight to USB, a sub-out jack and a huge reduction in weight – the Passport 500 PRO is 9lbs lighter than the model it replaces.
With so many new products being announced by Fender at NAMM 2010, it’s understandable that here at DV247 we’re rather excited to see what else is set to follow from other manufacturers. We’ll be here to report on all the news over the next two weeks, and we think you should be excited too.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: fender, musical instruments released at NAMM, NAMM 2010