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Hartke HA3500


Twigman
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Just picked up a secondhand HA3500 witha VX1508 cabinet.

When I tried before I bought in a noisy house of stoners it sounds fine.
Everything works lovely.

Happy, I counted out my wad and paid the man.

I got it home and fired it up (as you do with new toys) and instantly noticed how loud the fan is.
It sounds like an air conditioning unit.

I've left it with the electronics repair room at work who say the fan bearing is fine but they are going to source a new low noise fan and fit some gaskets to it and give the whole thing a good blow through with the compressed air.

I was just wondering if it is normal for Hartke heads to sound like airconn units when idle?

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I had a HA2000, sold it on, realised I missed it and bought another, then followed that up with a HA5500 for good measure. All three sounded like A/C units straight out of the box! :)

Edit: Also had two LH1000s pass through my hands, come to think about it, and they weren't in any way quiet either.

Edited by Ed_S
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My HA3500 is pretty quiet, it is the one in the wooden box though not sure if that affects anything. I think the fan speed is affected by the temperature of the amp though (i might be wrong on this!) but if the fan bearing is fine it could just be working hard because the temp is up...?
one thing to check inside (if you're brave enough) is that the the output amps are screwed in to the heat sync tightly. They can loosen, which causes the amp to work very hot because the heat is not dissipated, which could cause the fan to work at maximum to try and cool things down.

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[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1320410930' post='1426480']

It sounds like an air conditioning unit.

I've left it with the electronics repair room at work who say the fan bearing is fine but they are going to source a new low noise fan and fit some gaskets to it and give the whole thing a good blow through with the compressed air.

[/quote]

mine sounds like that too; great amp though and i don't notice the sound when playing.
please let us know if the lo-noise fan is quieter and most importantly whether it has any affect on the performance of the amp?

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I've got the HA5000 (the biampable 2x250W) but had to take one of the amp modules out straight away as it were knackered. The other one still works, so I've been using it 'as is' and did notice the fan was a bit noisy; had hoped it was down to one module being detached from the heat sensor and making the fan run at full speed all the time, looks like I might be wrong :)

Shall let y'all know if it improves when I've fixed the other amp and reinstalled it...

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[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1320437043' post='1426988']
Are we all absolutely sure that the fan speed actually varies according to temperature in the HA series? I've had three of them as I said before, and have always believed the fan speed to be constant... still do!
[/quote]

I'm pretty certain that they're a fixed rate - certainly is on my 3000 and that's only a 3500 without a graphic EQ.

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I had one of these for about 5 years and it was always the complaint of the keyboard player. Mine was in an enclosure. The fan speed doesn't vary, it's just frickin loud. I always wanted to pop a low noise fan in but never got around to it; when I left the fusion band and started playing more rock again - never heard the bloody thing! lol
Nice amp but I was never sure of the 1508 I had - it did sound a hell of a lot better through a 410 IMO - loads more punchy and great bottom end!

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Got it back this morning.
It's running much more quietly and shifting the same amount of air (according to the fan specs and my man measured the air pressure too).
The fan that came out was rated at 46dB (!!!) the one that went in was rated at 22dB.

Happier bunny.

Edit: and even better he did it for free

Edited by Twigman
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[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1320663175' post='1429468']
Got it back this morning.
It's running much more quietly and shifting the same amount of air (according to the fan specs and my man measured the air pressure too).
The fan that came out was rated at 46dB (!!!) the one that went in was rated at 22dB.

Happier bunny.

Edit: and even better he did it for free
[/quote]

Cool (pardon the pun!)

Any chance of posting where the fan came from and what part number? - it might be a useful note for future readers of this thread...

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I need to look at replacing the one in my HA3500 - it's really noisy (angry, grinding, grating kind of sound) when it starts from cold for about 30 secs then it calms down, but it's still a bit whirry. Of course you don't notice it when you're playing and you certainly don't notice it when a band is crashing and bashing all around you.

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Nicely done! Might give that a go with my 5500 if it's not stupidly expensive.. like the one I've just ordered for my Peavey Classic 60, which should be a big improvement at 24dBA, but is costing me the best part of £40 just because it's a 230V model.. :)

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Interesting: My LH1000 is next to silent - that's listening closely in the back room with no other sounds ( aside from the tweeting of the birdies outside). However my old Mosfet 3500 does indeed have the same noisy old fan so many seem to complain about. True in a rock setting it doesn't make any odds but it seems like it might be the only achiles heel in an otherwise solid amp.

Interested in the specs on that low noise fan!!

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Nice one Twigman :)

If anyone's after UK pricing for a 'one off' then they are available here:-

[url="http://uk.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Orion-Fans/OD8025-24LB/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtffRBI%2F27p9D9Z%252b0ndCFBuddsQFKTde%2F8%3D"]http://uk.mouser.com...dsQFKTde%2F8%3D[/url]

Edited by icastle
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