attackbass Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I don't know why but for some reason Hartke amps and cabs have been appealing to me recently. Most noticeable the LH amp and the 210 HD cabs. Seem loud enough and portable and would give me options for rehearsals and gig with cabs. My first serious rig as a teenager was a transporter 4x10 and a HA4000. I remember loving the kickback combos which lead me to trying out the HA transient attack 3500 which I also loved, but they were on a back order and so I settled for the HA4000 which I think was probably too advanced for me back then and always struggled with. I then moved on to ashdown to ampeg and a countless amount of other amps, and spent 5/6 years as an orange amps artist playing a huge all tube rig. I've had a few years of going through a number of excellent amps but haven't been able to settle.. apart from loving the VT bass deluxe. We had a 410XL in the rehearsal studios I ran until recently and found myself loving the tone from it, which has made my mind wander and wonder at going all hartke or perhaps hartke cabs with a GK head... A combination I hadn't heard about until searching Is anyone else still using the LH series amps, what's reliability like? Lots of old posts about but just looking for more recent info/opinions. Hartkes presence seems to have diminished it's visibility over here over recent years, it was once everywhere! Seems strange you can call Larry but have seen posts with nightmares contacting UK distribution for parts etc used one once, many years ago in Germany on tour when my orange amp wouldn't mysteriously work that night. I was surprised by the tone from the amp and the Hydrive 810. I play everything from funk, jazz to heavy/rock and hip hop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Mark Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I too used Hartke for many years. Started with 3500 with XL cabs in the 90s then moved to LH1000 plus Hydrive cabs. The Hydive 410 was a good cab but the tolex was very fragile (cheap I guess) and the passive tone stack of the LH series very limited. I just couldn't get the deep lows or sculpt the mids as with the 3500 which I could adjust to any sound I could imagine. I got rid of the LH and Hydrives but still have my old 3500 although currently gig with either a LM3 or Trace Elliot AH200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 LH amps are fantastic, simple, good tone, bombproof. Hydrive HX are ‘interesting’ cabs with paper and aluminium cones - quite cool to get them to fart and get interesting sounds out! Amp a big thumbs up and yes, cabs, not bad, but better ones out there when I side by sided them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I've had an LH500 for 6 or 7 years. Never missed a beat. Reliability is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Dad joke alert........... Never missed a Hartke-Beat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attackbass Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 Haha! Cool. I quite like the look of the redesigned XLs but the weight of the 4x10 is probably too much and the 2x10s are still just rated at 200 watts.. you'd think they could do better than that these days, guess it's fine used with the 4x10 tho. The price of the LH is amazing. I'm not too concerned about the tone stack... I used to use the orange ad200b and I'm pretty sure the mid control didn't really alter much at all! I have a VT bass deluxe and darkglass vmt if I needed more control. I used the Hydrive 8x10 with the ad200b actually for a while European tour (same tour my head stopped working for a day). I remembering being a bit weary of it but it actually sounded good, different to my orange 8x10 - probably less deep but more punchy, with a bit more bite. There's definitely a bit of nostalgia attached to this sudden desire for hartke, I probably started playing bass at the tail of their golden era and remember the huge rigs buoy for advertising purposes (that worked! Haha). But I was surprised by how much I liked that XL cab! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 The tone stack is great, flat being 2-10-2 and if you have other stuff before it then it will amplify what you give it. Defo those cones give a sound of their own which is not displeasing at all, but yeah, weight can be an issue especially with some of the stuff that is out there now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 More love for Hartke here. Had an LH500, and while I liked it a lot I still preferred the HA3500. Classic amp, reliable and lots of tonal variation available. Like the LH, also not underpowered! They seemed to go alongside Peavey - mid price amps that are well built and offer a lot of bang for the buck. Would have another in a heartbeat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attackbass Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 What is the difference between the older transient attack models and the newer models of the HA 3500. Do they sound different, are they different or was transient attack just a bit of marketing hartke dropped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 2 minutes ago, attackbass said: What is the difference between the older transient attack models and the newer models of the HA 3500. Do they sound different, are they different or was transient attack just a bit of marketing hartke dropped? Good question - IIRC the older models were a Mosfet design, unlike the more recent versions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attackbass Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 I think the one I played back in 1999/2000 would've been a MOSFET one as it had the transient attack logo written on it. I wonder if they sound different and why the change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Again, IIRC it seemed that there were some reliability issues with the mosfet models (which contradicts my earlier comments about reliability...😅 )so the design was changed in the late 90's for the current one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
attackbass Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 Ha! Yeah just did some digging. It's a shame they're no longer in every shop under the sun to compare! The HA35000 looks the more "fun" amp bit I expect the LH is probably the better sounding if not as flexible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tut Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 I've got an LH 500 for sale in the relevant section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Mark Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 2 hours ago, attackbass said: The HA35000 looks the more "fun" amp bit I expect the LH is probably the better sounding if not as flexible As someone who has owned both at the same time for a couple of years I can safely say that the original mosfet AH3500 sounds easily as good as the LH and can produce useable tones that the LH cannot due to the limited EQ section. In valve only preamp mode the AH is practically the same head. I have heard that the latest bipolar output HA series isn't as good as the mosfet. I really really wanted to love the LH but in the end it didn't work for me. YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 More love for the HA3500 here. best sound I've ever had and the tone controls are a dream. Still have mine but it's years since I used it in anger. It is a bit noisy and the times between cleaning up the pots get more frequent with age so I tend to go for my MB Tube which is also smaller and lighter. Mine broke once so I had a reason to have a good look inside. Some of the power supply caps in the early ones like mine have long leads which stand them off from the boards so they stress the boards over time and cause issues with the soldered joints. The cause of my problems and a bunch of problems at the time for others too. I stopped hearing of the problems in later models so I assume they fixed it. All it needed was a bit more care in manufacture or a blob of silicone to stop the caps wobbling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy23cricket Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 No experience with the heads but I run 4 Hydrive 112 cabs in various guises. I have 2 of the older ones (silver grill) and 2 of the newer HD ones (Black Grill). The tolex on first run of these was bad but was subsequently fixed on later runs. Tolex on all 4 of mine is sound. I have run all kinds of heads through them and rate them quite highly. Only gripe is the single side handle for lifting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 I loved my Hartke kickback, really good solid amp with all the tone you need and a good amount of presence. It was more a cost decision that took me to Ashdown but if they fell off the earth tomorrow I'd be looking at Hartke next. Only heard good things about the previous generation of amp heads (LH series I think?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Got an HA4000 here gathering dust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linus27 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I have a Hartke HA5500 amp and its superb, so much variety and possibilities with the high and low pass filters, tube pre amp and 11 band EQ. Mine is also up for sale on here as currently itching the Ampeg itch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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