Hartke LH500/LH1000 heads.

[Soliloquy]

I think these are based on the Fender Bassman amp, and similar to the Alembic F1-X.

How good are they ?

They're a ridiculous price really.

Anyone compared them top an F1-X with a power amp.

I'd love an F1-X, but I'm put off with the hastle of a rack set-up.

How noisy are the fans ?

Edited February 12, 2011 by Soliloquy

[Mr. Foxen]

Fender Bassman preamp mind. I've tried one but it was horribly let down by the nasty sealed cab in the music shop.

[paul_5]

I love my LH1000. Loads of headroom, and a simple, intuitive EQ section. Lovely, quiet fans too, not at all like the HA range. I changed the valve in mine for a Tungsol to tame some of the 'toppiness' that Hartke's seem to have. Worked a treat.

[Merton]

I sometimes miss my LH500, absolutely fantastic amp for not a lot of cash.

[Dood]

I have an LH1000 and it's brilliant! - How good a design eh? Take one simple tried and tested preamp design drop it in to a battle proof case with two 500W bridgeable power sections in. It's genius! I've been thinking about 'tube rolling' in the head same as Paul - but not because there is anything wrong with the tone to start with - but because it will be fun! - Oh...well.. should a Mullard or Tesla happen to drop in my lap, then hey-ho! lol!

The fans aren't too noisey - I've never really noticed it so I guess it can't be that bad! The fans speed adjust though, so if you work the amp really hard then eventually they'll spin up to increase air flow. The LH1000 has three fans. One on each poweramp module and one main fan at the back of the case. As yet, I've never seen the 3rd fan spin up - despite getting some serious volume from the head. My basses have active EMGs which have a very high output. The strong signal going to the head means that generally speaking, with two Hydrive 4x10's the volume control doesn't really need to go above 2.. maybe 3 at a push! It's loud!

For the money, I think the design makes the LH1000 (and the 500) one of the best heads on the market.. especially when pretty much the same preamp design in the Alembic F1-x sells second hand for more than the price of an LH500 new!

[fretmeister]

Dood - you got any sound clips of your rig?

[Raggy]

[quote name='Merton' post='1124402' date='Feb 11 2011, 09:43 PM']I sometimes miss my LH500, absolutely fantastic amp for not a lot of cash.[/quote]
Totally agree.

[Dood]

[quote name='fretmeister' post='1124727' date='Feb 12 2011, 10:30 AM']Dood - you got any sound clips of your rig?[/quote]


I'm gonna be doing some soon - bit of a delay as I've been busy, but I will get some more vids done soon! - Can't wait to try out a Hartke Kilo too. It looks great!

[Wilco]

I've got an LH500 & on the whole I like it. When I first got it, I was a little concerned about hiss with the volume control past 5. Needn't have worried about that as even in a loud rock covers band, I don't need to put the volume over 4...... (into [i]two [/i]8ohm cabs mind).

I like it's simplicity, build quality & headroom.

The things I don't like about it are 1/4" jack outputs instead of Speakons & I've never found a workable sound with the 'brite' switch engaged. By far the most annoying aspect of the amp for me though is the DI output set pre EQ & effects loop. The whole design would have been better if they had ditched the brite switch & gave a pre/post option for the DI instead.

[AttitudeCastle]

I always wondered,

can you push the valve in this into distorting? (Or because of the way the pre-amp designed that can't happen or?)

As the SVP BSP I (and now Dood as well!) Have, has a Valve for the Overdrive channel and thats one of THE best overdrives i've ever heard

I'm planning on getting a GK neo cab and might get a LH500 to go with
I know they are designed to stay clean but at (crazy deafening from what i hear!) high volumes does it break up?

Anyone got any sound clips? Not much on the net

Edited February 14, 2011 by AttitudeCastle

[Merton]

i could get mine to do mild break up nicely, but i changed the stock valve for something else i can't for the life of me now recollect!

[Mister_E]

My new LH1000 is the dogs danglies as far as I'm concerned: produces the range of tone I like and has bags of power to compete with a g***ist who has 2 x 4x12 cabs. Compared to the old Hartke MOSFET 3500 head it replaced this thing is whisper quiet. only after the g****ist switched off his gear did I get to hear the fan running!

I do have a question about this head: is the effects loop in series or parallel? Given that there is no balance control (like wot the 3500 had) I assume it must be series? Dood - we need to know - do you use the "Kill Dry" on or off on that TC unit???

[Dood]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1126714' date='Feb 14 2011, 09:34 AM']I always wondered,

can you push the valve in this into distorting? (Or because of the way the pre-amp designed that can't happen or?)

As the SVP BSP I (and now Dood as well!) Have, has a Valve for the Overdrive channel and thats one of THE best overdrives i've ever heard

I'm planning on getting a GK neo cab and might get a LH500 to go with
I know they are designed to stay clean but at (crazy deafening from what i hear!) high volumes does it break up?

Anyone got any sound clips? Not much on the net [/quote]

Yeah, if you push the pre hard enough it will distort, but I think the original design was meant to be clean with tons of head room which is what I prefer the head to do. I like that I can push it hard enough and the natural valve compression handles my active basses nicely, but I don't make it bark. I'd prefer to do the 'dirt' elsewhere in the signal chain so that I know that I can always arrive back at a beautiful clean tone. The LH1000 nails that - and that's not just being biased - i think the simplicity of the head and lack of opamp junk makes it a brilliant sound.

Ok, the BSP - sit down mate, you're in for a shock! Yes there is a valve in the preamp that feeds the clean channel. The signal is then fed to the distortion channel afterward. The tube circuit it self isn't design to drive, much like the LH.. infact - it's pretty much the same schematic for both the LH preamp and BSP clean section. The dirty channel is a familiar distortion pedal design with a bit of shaping to stop it sounding fizzy. Although, as you know - it can do if you want it to! I have ran the two clean preamps in parallel for an AB session - I am pretty sure that the differences are down to the totally different valves types in each and a few component value changes. They both sound great though - the LH does pip the BSP at the post for detail and clarity. YUM!!

Yes, I have to say that the distortion channel is pretty amazing on the BSP - I'm interested to get my hands on the Hartke Kilo - as I want to know what the distortion channel on that is like!!


[quote name='tinyviking' post='1127819' date='Feb 14 2011, 11:35 PM']My new LH1000 is the dogs danglies as far as I'm concerned: produces the range of tone I like and has bags of power to compete with a g***ist who has 2 x 4x12 cabs. Compared to the old Hartke MOSFET 3500 head it replaced this thing is whisper quiet. only after the g****ist switched off his gear did I get to hear the fan running!

I do have a question about this head: is the effects loop in series or parallel? Given that there is no balance control (like wot the 3500 had) I assume it must be series? Dood - we need to know - do you use the "Kill Dry" on or off on that TC unit???[/quote]

Hey fella! The effects loop is mono serial and therefore I *would* run the TC with the Kill dry off in that position. I say I would, as infact as my basses have such a hot signal I run them straight in to the TC GM2 and then out to the head! It's just so that the compressor on the TC GM2 sits before any EQ in the chain and thus is a bit more controllable and doesn't pump so much. I do use a TC Nova Dynamics as well which is greatly superior to the Compressor on the GM2(Which actually is very good) so kinda negates what I have just said - as I could put the GM2 in the loop and the Nova Dynamics between Bass and amp input!

Further to undoing all that I have written so far - the last rehearsal I went to - I only used the LH and a single cab and it was great. Maybe the rack will stay home more often! ha ha!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='dood' post='1127851' date='Feb 15 2011, 12:23 AM']Yeah, if you push the pre hard enough it will distort, but I think the original design was meant to be clean with tons of head room which is what I prefer the head to do. I like that I can push it hard enough and the natural valve compression handles my active basses nicely, but I don't make it bark. I'd prefer to do the 'dirt' elsewhere in the signal chain so that I know that I can always arrive back at a beautiful clean tone. The LH1000 nails that - and that's not just being biased - i think the simplicity of the head and lack of opamp junk makes it a brilliant sound.

Ok, the BSP - sit down mate, you're in for a shock! Yes there is a valve in the preamp that feeds the clean channel. The signal is then fed to the distortion channel afterward. The tube circuit it self isn't design to drive, much like the LH.. infact - it's pretty much the same schematic for both the LH preamp and BSP clean section. The dirty channel is a familiar distortion pedal design with a bit of shaping to stop it sounding fizzy. Although, as you know - it can do if you want it to! I have ran the two clean preamps in parallel for an AB session - I am pretty sure that the differences are down to the totally different valves types in each and a few component value changes. They both sound great though - the LH does pip the BSP at the post for detail and clarity. YUM!!

Yes, I have to say that the distortion channel is pretty amazing on the BSP - I'm interested to get my hands on the Hartke Kilo - as I want to know what the distortion channel on that is like!![/quote]



Still in shock haha,

well how ever it works its awesome! Same, man and i want to see Billy Testing out the Kilo distortion too! You and Now Mr Sheehan have me in a Hartke shaped twist, that plus my love of GK and neo speakers = GAS haha!

I think thats what i like about the BSP, as i reaaaalllly dislike that "Fizz" (good way of describing it!) and i've never found a distortion which is same/sounds similar (Though i'm still a newbie and a young 'un so if you know of something that'll do the job give us a shout!)

and i've never been a fan of the BSP clean tone, its good but from what i've heard of the LH heads i'd agree with you!

Back onto the clean tone thing... (I don't run my sound 100% that often) how intense is the mid scoop of the LH? I've read over on american sites and 'that' forum, that you need to but the mid control to 10 to get a mild scoop and other wild things and many conflicting peices of information so please clarify for me

And do you (guys) run it smooth and clean or does it snarl? Both a great!

I think the Hartke LH500 head, with the Gallien Krueger Neo 212 cab would be a decent medium/light weight rig with VOLUME just add some distortion and i think i'll be a happy chap!

Edited February 15, 2011 by AttitudeCastle

[Dood]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1128180' date='Feb 15 2011, 11:54 AM']Back onto the clean tone thing... (I don't run my sound 100% that often) how intense is the mid scoop of the LH? I've read over on american sites and 'that' forum, that you need to but the mid control to 10 to get a mild scoop and other wild things and many conflicting peices of information so please clarify for me[/quote]

Just a quick reply - well - in the case of the LH preamps, due to the 'Fender Tone Stack' passive EQ - the 'flat' setting (as near to bypass that you are likely to get) is around Bass=2 Mid=10 Treble=2. Therefore from a flat setting you can up the bass and treble drastically from the 2 point. You can also pull the mids right back from 10 to scoop them out deeply. All three controls are interactive so it's possible to get a huge range of 'curves' from just three controls.

The flat setting will be kinda similar for any preamp using the same tone stack design, such as the Alembic F1-X, The BSP clean channel and the Trace Elliot V-Type.

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='dood' post='1128232' date='Feb 15 2011, 12:30 PM']Just a quick reply - well - in the case of the LH preamps, due to the 'Fender Tone Stack' passive EQ - the 'flat' setting (as near to bypass that you are likely to get) is around Bass=2 Mid=10 Treble=2. Therefore from a flat setting you can up the bass and treble drastically from the 2 point. You can also pull the mids right back from 10 to scoop them out deeply. All three controls are interactive so it's possible to get a huge range of 'curves' from just three controls.

The flat setting will be kinda similar for any preamp using the same tone stack design, such as the Alembic F1-X, The BSP clean channel and the Trace Elliot V-Type.[/quote]

Ah! Ok thanks alot Dood!

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1128180' date='Feb 15 2011, 11:54 AM']Back onto the clean tone thing... (I don't run my sound 100% that often) how intense is the mid scoop of the LH? I've read over on american sites and 'that' forum, that you need to but the mid control to 10 to get a mild scoop and other wild things and many conflicting peices of information so please clarify for me[/quote]

Nice graph type readout of the eq shape from the tone stack from [url="http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/download.html"]this program.[/url]

[Conan]

Dunno about all this technical stuff... But I do know that I just like the way the LH500 sounds. Nice and simple. Clean. Powerful. LOUD!! OK, not as much tone-shaping (or 'fiddling') ability as other amps - but that in itself can be a bonus if you just want to turn up, plug in and go.

I've never noticed the fan in mine - so it can't be that loud?

Oh, and did I mention how loud they are? (The amps that is, not the fans)

Edited February 15, 2011 by Conan

[Mog]

Did a bit of snooping on gootube. Dunno about you guys but I reckon this tone is savage. Already have the bass and cab, might as well get the head. Last check was €344 in Musicstore. Sounds like the excessive(?) brightness is coming from a new set of Slinkies. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm for me, but others might not agree. Eq settings in the description.

[AttitudeCastle]

Not sure how accurately this shows the tone?

I excited for when Dood finally gets a moment too breath and wastes it making a LH video we have surprisingly similar tastes! Edited February 15, 2011 by AttitudeCastle

[Mister_E]

[quote name='dood' post='1128232' date='Feb 15 2011, 12:30 PM']Just a quick reply - well - in the case of the LH preamps, due to the 'Fender Tone Stack' passive EQ - the 'flat' setting (as near to bypass that you are likely to get) is around Bass=2 Mid=10 Treble=2. Therefore from a flat setting you can up the bass and treble drastically from the 2 point. You can also pull the mids right back from 10 to scoop them out deeply. All three controls are interactive so it's possible to get a huge range of 'curves' from just three controls.

The flat setting will be kinda similar for any preamp using the same tone stack design, such as the Alembic F1-X, The BSP clean channel and the Trace Elliot V-Type.[/quote]


Dood - that's interesting that you have those values for the "reference" setting - did you work those out yourself? - I got advice from Uncle Larry direct...

"Remember that the LH-1000 has a "tone stack" EQ and the flat reference setting is bass 3, mids 10, treble 0. Setting all the controls at noon will give you a scooped midrange sound. Read the manual and you will get the idea. There are only three knobs so set them where they sound good for you and your bass!"

Yeah, me and Larry, we're like that... mkay!

[StevieD_FenderP2009]

Seems to be good enough for David Ellefson of Megadeth

Runs his Jackson custom shop 5 string straight into the head through to the cabinets. No effects, compressors etc etc.
Here's a video from a few months ago by him

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywqeLVu57E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywqeLVu57E[/url]

I love that tone!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' post='1129141' date='Feb 16 2011, 01:23 AM']Seems to be good enough for David Ellefson of Megadeth

Runs his Jackson custom shop 5 string straight into the head through to the cabinets. No effects, compressors etc etc.
Here's a video from a few months ago by him

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywqeLVu57E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MywqeLVu57E[/url]

I love that tone![/quote]



What a tone! I can't judge how much of the tone is from the cabs though,

Billy sheehan is reaaallly hyping up the Cabs for much the same reason as David Ellefson!

Just for interest sake, Billy was running a Stu hamm Hartke amp(?) for the split coil and an LH for the Humbucker through 810 hydrive cabs but is now using the Kilo and he says the Kilos compressor is awesome!

If Hartke Made XL or Hydrive 212s i'd own one by now!
The XL cabs sound awesome

Thought i'd make it easier too watch

Edited February 16, 2011 by AttitudeCastle

[Dood]

[quote name='tinyviking' post='1129102' date='Feb 15 2011, 11:53 PM']Dood - that's interesting that you have those values for the "reference" setting - did you work those out yourself? - I got advice from Uncle Larry direct...

"Remember that the LH-1000 has a "tone stack" EQ and the flat reference setting is bass 3, mids 10, treble 0. Setting all the controls at noon will give you a scooped midrange sound. Read the manual and you will get the idea. There are only three knobs so set them where they sound good for you and your bass!"

Yeah, me and Larry, we're like that... mkay![/quote]

Nah, although I have used the Tone Stack calculator featured in a previous post - I'd read about the Fender Tone Stack settings via TalkBass. Yes it does vary between amps using the schematic design as component values are fettled with I guess!, hence why I'd said 'around' 2-10-2 to be on the safe side. Thinking about it, I think I may have even had a similar message from Larry too, but I had some inbox issues a while back and seem to be missing some mail! grr!

Actually, whilst on the subject, I think it's brilliant that you can talk directly to him and he gives you time and honest answers - and you don't have to be a mega star or a huge corporation. Nice touch Larry!

Anyway, I digress - for me my mid control is pretty much up on ten, treble usually about two then I mix bass to taste, sometimes with a little bit from my bass instead. The tweeters on both my Hydrive 4x10's are set to the -6dB setting. I'm using EMG actives and preamps which have a really clear top and deep bottom end, so pulling back the tweeters just takes the edge off a bit!

[Dood]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1129780' date='Feb 16 2011, 03:34 PM']



If Hartke Made XL or Hydrive 212s i'd own one by now!
The XL cabs sound awesome[/quote]

They used to and you might still be able to pick up a 2200. PeteD and Fretmeister both own/have owned the 2x12XLs and I think they sound great - I'm a big fan of the XL range, speshly the 4.5XL

[url="http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1638&brandID=3"]http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...8&brandID=3[/url]

I saw a conversation on TalkBass with Larry and he'd said (at the time) there wouldn't be any reason to make a HyDrive 2x12 as it would be just the same as two 112's anyway - I think he'd said that he wanted to keep the range simple and easy to manage. Now, I've no idea if demand has changed that more recently - I think a tallboy 2x12, which appears to be an 'in' design would possibly fill a gap. Who knows!