Dood

Thanks Dan and yes, you can still call Larry himself - or add him on Facebook! It certainly is Larry at the end of the 'phone too. He's a top guy and will help when he can.

Hi Dave, other than the afore mentioned weight and price difference, they are tonally a little different too. I'm running a pair of 4.5XL cabs and I have also recently swapped out a pair of HyDrive 410 cabs for a pair of Hydrive112 cabs for smaller gigs. The hydrives are designed to have a warmer sound than the XL range (that have a lovely scoop to them and sounds huge when you drive them). It's a pants thing to say, but it'd be great if you could get out and give them both a test drive to see which you'd prefer. As for the wattage.. I've ran a single 4.5xl with my 1000w head for months now and it hasn't complained.. After all, you're not playing at 1000w ALL the time oh.. And the hydrives have a tweeter you can turn down or off, where as the standard 410XL has no tweeter, but is a ported cab so will sound brassier in comparison to the HyDrive.

Oh - and to balance things up, I hope to be reviewing an OTB next month for iGuitarMag too.

If it helps, I have one of the first Kilos out in the wild here in the UK and I am loving it! I'm currently A/Bing it with my LH1000 and for the sake of other gear, I have an MB F1 to throw in to the compare mix. I think in coming weeks it will be likely that the Kilo will be the 'go to' amp for me. Hugely flexible and tonally rich. I'm yet to crank it but I expect it will probably be using the same two 500W modules from the LH head to drive it's wall caving capabilities!

And nice one Stag for hookin' up a fellow Bass player with the best person to answer the question!

This is why BassChat is the best flippin Bass forum going! Welcome Stu and thank you!

I'll be sure to address your points in my review! - Interestingly the 'flat setting' for the EQ in the LH heads is the typically expected 2-10-2 ISH setting for this design of passive tone stack - B-M-T, so it'd seem right that if it is the same or similar circuit, this is where you'd get your 'flat' points from. Yes, the 'original' design for the Kilo has been hanging around for some considerable time and despite that model never being made, you can see a variant on the face plate control layout on the internet.

I do want to try a streamliner, I've tried the predecessor heads and I wasn't totally moved by them. That was in a direct shoot out with an F1 and GK's lil 500w head.

Yes! I have! I'd been using Ambiloop a free program for PC. It is great fun and is feature rich. Infact more so than hardware loopers as it allows you to mix pan and fade each of the 8 stereo loops. It can be triggered by MIDI, so a controller can be configured easily. My one caveat would be too make sure you have a very low latency sound card / module and a nice quick machine as I have found that if you have a long latency throughout the system, each loop will layer itself out of time with the previous! I also like that once you have your eight loops, you can save an export the lot to seperate channels in a DAW ( I use Reaper) and arrange the loops in any order you like and post process. There are no doubt more loopers on the net, but this one was stable and easy to use!

I'm glad the Powersoft gets a mention though HJ.. If there was ever a D Class amp that can thunder like an old iron beast, then this is it! On a PA forum, Powersoft amps are at the top of he list for driving large subs as well as mids and tops it seems. Ok, so that's a bit off on a tangent, but I certainly have experienced D Class amps that seemed loud, but also seemed to lack depth or girth in their sound.. Ok, so it's hard describing sound! Umm, 'weedy' might be a better description. I've had a number of D Class amps but I have to say that I am very happy with the big transformer / oversized power supply amps I am currently using. Sure, I'd prefer it if hey were lighter as I have a rubbish back, but things do sound great on planet Dood!

Yep yep Mr Snickers! The council have been round to close the village as it is now too unstable to inhabit I spent a bit of the day today playing with the Kilo and I am honestly very impressed! It would be so easy for me to just write a whole load of BS about how it's the best amp I've ever played through, la dee dah dee dah, but I'll reserve that comment until I have been able to crank it up with a full band. However, in a straight A/B session with my LH1000, it's big smiles! The LH is just an incredible head.. So simple, clean and damn loud - then the Kilo comes along and builds on the reputation with the same great clean tone and then some on top. I'm going to do a proper review, but here's a few things I love so far.. The valve Pre sounds great! And the graphic EQ isn't there to try to make the amp sound good.. I've left it switched off as the three band passive EQ is brilliant - but when engaged it'd make a great 'second channel'. To my ears, the passive EQ is not the same as the LH and I prefer it. I can't tell you if the circuit is the same tone stack I'm afraid, I'd have to ask Larry directly when we chat next. Asked earlier, the distortion sounds like the Attack pedal and no it's not a full on screaming distortion, but does dirty grit amply. The compressor feels good. It's more of a limiter than a sustainer, but set just right it adds a nice bit of control to the huge sound you can get out of the head. I like the shape control and can see that I will more likely use it to add roundness to solo sounds rather than on all the time as my basses really didn't need it. Again another nice 'channel switch' tone option! I love that the head is true stereo or bridgeable. At 500W per channel down to 2 ohms a side makes things very interesting as it also means that you can bridge down to 4 ohms too for 1000W RMS.. Nice! Speaking of which, Hartke have included Speakon connectors for left, right AND bridged connectors as well as 1/4" sockets. There's the same balance control on the head too so that you can add boost to a mismatched cabinet or, control the volume of one channel being used as say, a monitor for the drummer to hear you. I've already been asked several times how heavy the head is.. I'm afraid I'm a bloke, I don't have weighing scales in my house!! Lol however, if I had to guess, it's not actually much more than my LH. I'd take a punt at under 18kg, well actually, im pretty sure its gonna be less. but remember, this thing is built for the road. You should see the thickness of the front panel! I'll get some pics up when I've got them off my camera ! Any questions?

Bless you! That's very thoughtful! Thank you - Someone send this man some free stuff!

Ahhh I was too slow to reply, but speaking of Zoom, I have the Q3HD that adds video too. It is absolutely brilliant and I am stunned at how well it picks up a live band from its two mics.. So a big thumbs up for Zoom!

Strange! It's perfect on my screens! Not saying you're wrong or anything like that but I've not experienced any headaches with the layout of this or any other 'virtual magazine' - such as Bass Gear Mag. Anyway, that wasn't what I came to the thread for actually! I just wanted to say that iGuitarMag is advertising on BassChat and you can click the banner at the top of the front page to get to their site.

I got a fair way up and I heard things falling off the walls... three houses down.. ;o)

Hey Rik! Great to have ya over yesterday! - Yeah, we ran out of time! - but yes, you were there when the courier delivered the mighty beast to the door! So far, in AB tests with my usual rig, I have to say I am very impressed! - It's always easy to get excited over new toys and the 'newer has to be the better' etc - but the added functionality and options of the Kilo are certainly giving me lots of ideas! I'll do some proper pictures later on and then maybe next week I'll put a full review together when I have a bit more time. It's getting a fair amount of attention on my FB pages

I thought things were going just great up to 3 minutes or so - some really nice harmonies in there. The phone rang so I didn't watch to the end, but it did go a bit murky....

I've just taken delivery of one of the first Kilos on UK shores. Expect a review in the next day or so, should I be able to peel myself away from this sexay beast!

That's very kind of you to say so! That's kinda what I had in mind too! I've always believed that it isn't right to use tutoring sessions as a way of boosting your own ego with a bit of woodshedding and I've taken the same view with the magazine. Yes, there will be times when I will be asked to demo playing styles etc, but reviewing gear isn't the place to get all showy.. Readers are not looking to buy me after all, but rather the amp gear!

Haha! My hat over shadows my achievements and I feel an incredible attachment to it! Bass players in hats, you see!

I'm off to record some of the reviews for the next issue at the end of the week. Next issue will be later in November but will be sure to let everyone know!

It's online only I'm afraid, but I guess that does mean you can't accidentally throw it away! As for prices, I believe it is because the magazine is international and thus having a list of ever changing prices in different currencies would prove ineffective. It's not reall a metal driven magazine. I think this particular edition has some metally features and columns but there will no doubt be space for everyone! The list of artists I want to interview is certainly varied between genres. I'd be happy to put forward reasonable suggestions for reviews and interviews too be it gear or artists.

edited to include competition to launch the bass department!