Billy Sheehan

[Doddy]

Billy Sheehan is now endorsing Hartke.

They've certainly picked up some serious players over the last couple of years.

[arthurhenry]

Seriously? I can't imagine him moving from Ampeg. Mind you he did switch to Carlie Stringers for a while.

[arthurhenry]

Quick search and it seems there have been many changes at Ampeg, amps are now manufactured in China and artist support is not what it was, hence the departure of Will Lee, Mike Anthony, Victor and others. Wonder if Ampeg will disappear altogether as it did in the 80s/early 90s.

[Oscar South]

I've always found Hartke to be excellent myself too. Good quality gear and makes a great sound.

[AndyTravis]

the new HyDrive gear is really nice...
Still made in the far east though, Ampeg have moved their expensive gear back to the US

[bassbloke]

Ampeg still remain the gear of choice for most touring professionals, equipment hire companies, festivals, etc... so the loss of a few endorsees is probably of little consequence and probably more down to the artists in question being offered a more favourable endorsement package from other manufacturers.

[Chris2112]

Hartke are excellent, and Larry Hartke is a man who will stand by his product! He did that "certifiable" advert campaign a couple of years ago with his telephone number attached so players could ring him and chat about amps! Very cool! Overall, they are just good amps for a good price.

Stuart Hamm went back to Hartke a couple of years ago after a long time playing Peavey.

[Dood]

Ahhh yes! I have been watching the story unfold for quite sometime now! - I was pointed toward some posts on TalkBass about Billy leaving Ampeg and at the time it was a 'hint' that Billy was moving to Hartke. I've just read the official release on Larry's Facebook page and some chap on TalkBass has posted an email reply directly from Billy himself.

As for Hartke - Anyone who has been on BassChat for any more than five mins will know I am a massive fan and a proud Hartke Artist. I have to say, Larry is a really good guy and cares for his artists, which means a lot.

[Dood]

[quote name='Chris2112' post='964428' date='Sep 22 2010, 01:14 PM']Hartke are excellent, and Larry Hartke is a man who will stand by his product! He did that "certifiable" advert campaign a couple of years ago with his telephone number attached so players could ring him and chat about amps! Very cool![/quote]

Yeah, quite a suprise when it's Larry who picks up the 'phone too and not a secretary etc!

[Conan]

[quote name='dood' post='964445' date='Sep 22 2010, 01:27 PM']Yeah, quite a suprise when it's Larry who picks up the 'phone too and not a secretary etc![/quote]

Slightly OT... but how do you actually pronounce his surname? Is it Hart-kuh? Hart-key? I ask simply out of interest...

[Dood]

[quote name='Conan' post='964449' date='Sep 22 2010, 01:30 PM']Slightly OT... but how do you actually pronounce his surname? Is it Hart-kuh? Hart-key? I ask simply out of interest... [/quote]

Hart-Key

[fretmeister]

So either Hartke will be bringing out some blendable drive preamps.... or his old Pearce and Ampegs will be hidden in a rack off stage!

[Dood]

[quote name='fretmeister' post='964466' date='Sep 22 2010, 01:41 PM']So either Hartke will be bringing out some blendable drive preamps.... or his old Pearce and Ampegs will be hidden in a rack off stage![/quote]

Hmmm - a Hartke Kilo on steroids maybe? Now THAT is an amp I am already interested in - a Sheehan mod version would be a killler!

I don't think it will stop Billy using Pearce as outboard as a lot of artists have racks of preamps etc despite being endorsed by one company. As far as I am aware at least, the Ampeg SVT 4's were only used to amplifier his already distorted tone - so I guess it wouldn't matter if he used the super clean LH1000's for that job anyway. I'm not 100% certain, so am happy to be put right on that one. As for the BSP preamp - I guess he'd drop it from the rig completely as the Pearce would do exactly the same anyway?

[BassCat]

Big Hartke fan here. I use a Hartke rig & find that most of the time it matches up to Ampeg - and a hell of a lot cheaper!

[warwickhunt]

I've been impressed with the Hartke amps that I've tried but the cabs were a bit underwhelming when I tried them many moons ago... accidently put the top end of a bi-amp signal through the 1x15 and the bottom end through the 4x10 and that improved the sound!

[AndyTravis]

looks like i'm on the Hartke stand on BassDay UK, so fingers crossed, i'll get to meet Billy and i'll ask him, very excited now.