Slightly Depressing

[ashevans09]

After spending so so so much of saved money on high tier rig after high tier rig, I go for my first practice with a band I auditioned for, plug my MTD into their Hartke HA300 + Hartke VX410, and I've never heard it sound so good. It was just...HUGE! Beastly low end with bags of definition and presence. I then tried my Geddy through it and it sounded just as good.

Bah.

I'm hoping this is just a similar phenomenon to shop syndrome (sounds good in the shop, sh*te everywhere else), otherwise I'm loading up the Ampeg and doing a like for like test. What's scaring me is all the EQs etc are set similarly on both, and I can pick these up for around £300.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[flippyfloop]

It could be the room that is making it sound good ?

[ashevans09]

That's what I'm hoping for, taking the Ampeg next time so we'll see!

[lemmywinks]

I had the Hartke HA3000. I used it with the VX1508 and then the VX215

I thought it was a cracking little amp, very hard to make it sound bad! In a lot of ways i preferred it to the HA5500 i replaced it with, the eq contour knobs are brilliant. Just past the middle was the perfect Billy Gould tone!

EDIT: And no need to be depressed, you may have just found your ideal rig (which can be picked up for small money to boot!)

Edited August 10, 2009 by lemmywinks

[alexclaber]

Well the Hartke amps aren't bad at all. And a cab like the VX410 probably sounds as good as many other cabs when its running within its limits - however because it uses cheap drivers its limits will be low. And if the acoustics are in your favour and maybe you prefer the lower colouration of the Hartke's preamp then it's an easy win for the cheap rig. What is your Ampeg/Mesa rig?

Alex

[jonny-lad]

I was shocked at how good my Peavey TNT sounded the other night when I used it instead of my Little Mark II and Warwick 411 Pro, as I suspected I'd be expected to let the other band use my amp.

Having thought about it though, I remember that the only reason that I upgraded was because I needed more volume at the time, and the Peavey is a loud amp anyway!

I think it's the 15inch speaker that I like the sound of, so I'll have to have a think about a new cabinet for the Little Mark II sometime in the future when I have the funds to pay for one...doesn't have to be an expensive one though!

[ashevans09]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='565858' date='Aug 11 2009, 12:59 PM']Well the Hartke amps aren't bad at all. And a cab like the VX410 probably sounds as good as many other cabs when its running within its limits - however because it uses cheap drivers its limits will be low. And if the acoustics are in your favour and maybe you prefer the lower colouration of the Hartke's preamp then it's an easy win for the cheap rig. What is your Ampeg/Mesa rig?

Alex[/quote]

Very fair point, currently I'm running an SVP preamp into a Mesa Strategy 400 into an SVT15E and 410HE . Might also try the head through my cabs too for giggles

[Musicman20]

I once tried a fairly large Marshall combo at a practice room. It was shockingly good for how sh*t it looked.

[The Funk]

[quote name='ashevans09' post='566055' date='Aug 11 2009, 04:12 PM']Very fair point, currently I'm running an SVP preamp into a Mesa Strategy 400 into an SVT15E and 410HE . Might also try the head through my cabs too for giggles [/quote]

Try your preamp/power amp through the Hartke cabs as well. The SVP/Strategy 400 seems logically like it should be a winning combination! It could be the Ampeg cabs aren't right for you.