Any love here for Hartke amps and speakers?

[Rocker]

Tried out a couple of basses in a Dublin music shop recently. The amp was a Hartke TX600 and a Hartke speaker [it might have been a 1*12" or a 1*15"]. Anyway the sound was great, not that my playing was all that good, not sure if the Squier PJ or Fender Mex or a combination of all that got my juices flowing. But I don't remember reading much about Hartke. Anyone here got any experience with this kit or should I just stick with my Markbass MiniMark?

All commentes welcome. Thanks.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Rocker

[scalpy]

My old school American 410 is still going strong, despite living in one of the toughest musical environments known to man- the secondary school classroom. The amp is a 1400 series head, basically the unit from the old kickback combo. Just about clinging on. If the new stuff is anything like my kit it's both robust sound wise and in endurance.

[Chopthebass]

One of my best rigs was a Hartke 7000 head running in bi-amp mode, with 215XL and 4.5XL cabs. wish they still made the 7000.

[Cuzzie]

I had a Hartke LH1000 and Hydrive 410s

Loved the amp, only moved on as it was heavy! As were the speakers but they were not too bad.

Thin the TX600 is sadly underpowered, but if you don't mind the weight the older amps are really good value especially on second hand market

[Phil Starr]

My HA3500 is still easily my favourite sounding amp. I love having the graphic. I'ts only the weight that makes it my second amp for gigging.

[uk_lefty]

Yes! Had a kickback with fifteen inch speaker, excellent amp and they're great value on the second hand market! Not sure about their new stuff though.

[Raggy]

Had an LH500 with 2 Trace Elliot compact 15's, great for Punk.

[bonzodog]

I've had an LH500, HA3000, 410XL and 115 and all very good. Especially liked the LH500 for its volume and EQ simplicity.
Moved them all on only for weight reasons.

I was looking forward to the TX600 coming out but as has already been mentioned it's way underpowered so I opted for a GK MB500 instead.

[Adrenochrome]

I had a HA3500 for years, played gigs from 2-2000 people and loved it. I only changed to a smaller & lighter amp recently to match my downsizing of main gigging cab (4x10 > 2x12).

[Wolverinebass]

Hartke haven't done anything decent for a decade. It's a tragedy that despite lots of people liking the LH series (I hate them) their best and is still the HA5500 and that is a 20 year old design. The kilo isn't great and unreliable if reports are to be believed and the TX600 is so underpowered as to be laughable. They seriously have to get their act together as the brand has went downhill.

[casapete]

Love Hartke stuff, great bang for the buck.
My favourite is the HA3500 - reliable great sounding amp. I replaced an SVT3pro with one
and it blew the Ampeg away , and for around half the price too.
Not had many Hartke cabs, for me not as strong as the amps though.

[artisan]

I had a Kilo & while it sounded immense, sadly it didn't do so for long.
Had it repaired' then a couple of gigs later it died again.
The most unreliable amp I have ever owned,zero backup from hartke ( it was brand new) so not for me.

[indiegrungesound]

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1502451219' post='3351535']
Love Hartke stuff, great bang for the buck.
My favourite is the HA3500 - reliable great sounding amp. I replaced an SVT3pro with one
and it blew the Ampeg away , and for around half the price too.
Not had many Hartke cabs, for me not as strong as the amps though.
[/quote]

As an owner of an LH500 head and a former owner of a HA3500 head and a Transporter 4x10" cab, I second this. The cab was a bit underwhelming (Though they were the second string version of Hartke's top range XL cabs, which are now discontinued!), but the amps are brilliant!

[SisterAbdullahX]

HA3500 is very underrated in my opinion and the xl4.5 is a great sounding cab if unbearably heavy.

[interpol52]

I've got a really low budget Hartke set up. A HA2500 and a VX115. They cost me £260 together brand new from PMT a few months ago.

Done a few gigs now with them including an outdoor festival. Sounds great!

[ped]

Basschat's current software was penned atop an upturned 210XL cab

[jezzaboy]

I bought a LH500 recently as part of PMT`s blow out for £200. I have played a few gigs with it through a Ashdown ABM 2x10 cab and am well pleased with it. Nice and simple eq and dead easy to get a good sound out of quickly. Easily loud enough for any pub gig.

[Lozz196]

I had an HA4000 with XL210 & 115 cabs. Really good set-up, incredibly versatile. Sold it for a Marshall set-up as was in a rock band, but truth be told the Hartke was better.

[radiophonic]

Mixed. I bought an LH500 and 2 x 210 X cabs in a 'new band' emergency about a year ago. I needed to gig in less than a week and practically, this was all I could afford that would give me enough stage volume and look vaguely credible. A year / 25 odd gigs down the line I think the amp is a fairly solid - albeit heavy - product but it has a pretty obvious and major failings in the effects loop. The 210 XL cabs are (and feel) pretty cheap and don't really deliver a convincing low end. The low-end roll off is quite severe and if I had money to spend, I'd replace these with something more sensitive before the head. For 'cheap' gear, it's fine though.

[spectoremg]

Had a HA2000 (200w) for years. Great sound, never let me down and loud.

[Wilco]

I had an LH500 head with a Hydrive 410 cab for about 5 years. Sounded great & never let me down once. Only moved them on for the lighter rig I've got now.

[indiegrungesound]

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1502488146' post='3351871']
I've got a really low budget Hartke set up. A HA2500 and a VX115. ... Sounds great!
[/quote]

Sounds like an awesome set up! I hope you can get a 2nd 15" or matching VX210 for a nice mini stack to get the full 4 ohms out of the HA2500!

Excellent Avatar & Username btw! :-)

[interpol52]

[quote name='indiegrungesound' timestamp='1502624281' post='3352485']


Sounds like an awesome set up! I hope you can get a 2nd 15" or matching VX210 for a nice mini stack to get the full 4 ohms out of the HA2500!

Excellent Avatar & Username btw! :-)
[/quote]

Thanks! I might add another cab soon, to be honest though its plenty loud enough for my needs at the moment. Even at the outdoor gig it gave plenty of headroom with the PA support.

My avatar and username are nods to two of my all time favourite bands. I love the Husker Du logo.

[Rocker]

I don't understand how the TX600 can be deemed underpowered. The spec is 600 Watts at 4 Ohms, 400 Watts at 8 Ohms. If the amp can output that many watts, surely it is the speaker(s) that are letting the side down.

Confused

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='Rocker' timestamp='1502382620' post='3351133']
Tried out a couple of basses in a Dublin music shop recently. The amp was a Hartke TX600 and a Hartke speaker [it might have been a 1*12" or a 1*15"]. Anyway the sound was great, not that my playing was all that good, not sure if the Squier PJ or Fender Mex or a combination of all that got my juices flowing. But I don't remember reading much about Hartke. Anyone here got any experience with this kit [b]or should I just stick with my Markbass MiniMark?[/b]

All commentes welcome. Thanks.
[/quote]
Depends on what you want to/are doing? I use my Minimark ( assume you mean the 2X8 250 watt combo and not the Micromark) as a 1 stop solution for small gigs and home practice. For larger gigs I use my CMD121P, sometimes with a NYC12" cab in a large venue.
If you like the MB sound, why change...?