GremlinAndy

I've just been catching up on the new Hartke reviews. I like the theory they seem to be using with the new amp. Get a great sound from a simple amp, give it plenty of watts and bobs your uncle. I mean I HATE Hartke stuff from my experiences of owning it. But if just half of what is being said about this is true then they have a winner. I won't buy it myself, because I just don't trust the stuff, and there are plenty of alternatives out there. But good luck to em. Andy

On returning to bass after a 10 year break I decided to buy a Hartke HA7000. No matter what I did I couldn't get a good sound from it. (Through a Son Of Bertha and a Goliath Jr cabs) It always sounded very unpleasant to my ears... I'm sure some people don't mind the sound they get, but I HATED it, like no other amp I ever owned. I can't comment on the reliability, as I didn't keep it long enough, but I would NEVER buy Hartke again based on my experiences.

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='328884' date='Nov 14 2008, 09:26 AM']That's exactly the thing we're trying to get away from Andy. We've been using a rig comprising 3x Peavey 2600 power amps, a crossover, reverb unit, MD player (+the light controllers) - in a Gator roller case that took 3 of us to lift out of a van - powering 2x Wharfedale LX18MBs, 2x Wharfedale LX15Bs and 2x Wharfedale LX15s and run with an Allen and Heath GL2400 24 channel desk, most of which we sold off through the classifieds on this site as it was far too much for our needs. The best part of 8kW is overkill for most of the gigs we do, which really only require a vocal PA these days, so we were looking for a pair of compact, quality powered 12s and had heard a lot of good things about RCF. They fit our criteria well too - fairly powerful for the application we need, plus with Neo drivers and Class D amps, they only weigh 18kg, and I believe RCF are still manufacturing in Italy (not that I think there is anything wrong with Chinese stuff - I have a Chinese made Ashdown ABM and an Epiphone Valve Junior and neither has ever given me any grief). Our thoughts are that if we ever require a full on system, we can hire one in with an engineer and add it to our fee if necessary. There is also room to expand our system with a pair of powered subs if necessary. So whilst it might be a good system, it's no longer the sort of thing we're looking for.[/quote] Aye I understand. You wanna scale back... I thought you were looking for a budget first PA. Apologies. I bought a lot of new stuff from Thomman myself, but later found it cheaper locally, so I can't recommend them...

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='328887' date='Nov 14 2008, 09:30 AM']PA's prob the one thing I wouldn't buy used from Ebay - you don't know where it's been/how hard it's been thrashed. One thing I defo wouldn't buy is a secondhand mic. A singer in my last band bought used SM58s from Ebay. Imagine the germs in those. Eurgh. [/quote] What an odd thing to say. A cab is only a recone away from being like new IMO. Admittedly amps are a different matter, but those I'd buy new anyway. The one thing *I* wouldn't buy in a PA is the plastic cabs... (would you buy a plastic bass cab?) but each to his own. However ...I'm stuck in the 80's, so I prefer the big back-breakingly heavy blue cabs

Sennheiser HD215? Hmmm Might have to give them a try. I need to buy 3 or 4 lots of cans for our rehearsal room.

[quote name='Chopthebass' post='327922' date='Nov 12 2008, 08:29 PM']We have a complete PA system available in 4 gigs time. All going cheap. Two Mackie M1400i amps, subs, Peavey tops, crossover, FX, mixer, case, leads....[/quote] Sounds ok, price dependant buddy. A ready made solution. Maybe you should enquire how much Chop wants... Andy

E-bay. Seriously if you aren't in a hurry, you'll get much better/more from your money, by buying used. Just bide your time and research the kit you actually want. There's used PA gear on the "squatjuice" forums too. Conversely if you want overpriced chinese crapola, but with the security of a two year warranty go to your local Noisecontrol. They will have something which will function and suit your needs, hopefully. Hope that helps in some way. Andy

I use Warwick EMP's While I can't compare them with Elixirs, as I haven't tried them, I *can* compare them with the Warwick black labels I used to swear by. From the box they are slightly less bright, but only very slightly less so. However the pay off comes from the longevity. I reckon a set of Black Labels last me about 6 to 8 hours of punctuated playing before becoming deader than I like... However the EMPs, ...well I haven't changed them yet after, I guess, 20 or 25 hours. I dunno how much longer they'll go on, but they already paid for themsleves over the Black labels.

Attatch a scaffold pole of an appropriate length to the headstock, and fit a flightcase castor to the other end to help you manouver around the stage.

[quote name='chese336' post='294932' date='Sep 29 2008, 10:03 PM']No not yet[/quote] These guys know their onions. If they suggest it's bad a bad plan then it probably is worth considering that "plan B".

I don't let the local availability of a particular cab bother me when I'm looking for a cab, a bass, or an amp, and am therefore interested in hearing the results of a shootout between various cabs regardless of availability or otherwise... (personally speaking of course)

[quote name='steve-soar' post='286189' date='Sep 17 2008, 07:55 PM'][/quote] Hah hah I guess you're "out" mate!

[quote name='The Funk' post='174971' date='Apr 12 2008, 03:10 AM']I agree that you'll never get an Ampeg overdriven sound out of it but I do think the EQ is extremely powerful and flexible on it. I have a rather extreme mid-range bump in it that sounds immense. The fully parametric EQ is something special - I don't think I've seen it on anything else. I think there are something like 10 valve stages in the preamp too, which could help to explain why it sounds so full and thick.[/quote] Ah I see I may have given the wrong impression with that statement. I absolutely agree that the EQ is powerful, but I meant it's got a sound that's never going to be an Ampeg, nor is it going to be a pod pro with a million average/budget tones with effects till next Xmas! BTW those of you who know me will know that I bought an Aguilar Agro to play with. I'm not looking to improve on the sound I have with the 680, I couldn't. But I was interested to see if the Agro could open my eyes to *another* new world. It didn't. I'm not a distortion kinda guy so I may be the wrong person to judge... HOWEVER, this last weekend, I rehearsed (we rehearse silently through a desk with cans and a TD20 kit) ...with the through-output of the 680 plugged into the input of the agro. I had the 680 DI into one channel on the desk as usual, but I set up another channel on the desk for the output of the agro. The mixed sound was very interesting. I had a very small amount of the Agro to augment the 680, and when the whole band struck up it almost vanished, but not quite. It will still take some experimentation to get the balance right but I'm convinced there's a place for it in my sound. Somewhere. I imagine I'll have more to say on this subject in a few weeks.

Hah !! We have another convert to the best kept, but accidental secret in bass history. I have been chatting with a long time fellow basschat member (name-withheld as it's up to him if he wants others to know) who has had the chance to try out a 680. He described what is special about the sound, in a manner which struck so many familiar chords with my experience. It's almost funny. Needless to say he is impressed enough that he intends to make it part of his arsenal. I'm not going to bang on further about this piece of gear like a rabid evangelist. Really just go on a search, like the Knights of the round table, and you may just find your Grail.