Hartke amps

[tom_683]

Anyone had experience playing a stingray through hartke amps. Im on a budget and am looking at a HA4000 head with a VX410 cab. Havent been able to try them yet, can anyone recommend them, are they good for all types of music? I play emo/punk and am looking for an amp for smallish gigs.
Cheers
tom

 

[fifthorange]

that should be good. but the sound is all up to you. if you like it, get it. but anyway, i recommend it.

 

[midopa]

When I had my beautiful MM SR, I played it through my church's Hartke Kickback 15 Combo. The sound was good, though I didn't get a chance to tweak it to my desired settings (Funk/Slap). The SR came out quite nice on it. That is, a nice bassy sound came out. I have never tried a SR through any rack or such.

 

[shaver]

i play with a hartke 3500, its nice, not the best amp but it gets the job done and it lasts, i got the amp used and i still havent had to bring it in for repair, it can bassicly get anytone your looking for. the graphic Eq works nicely

 

[blueyedmule]

If you're talking about Hartke combo amps and you live in the colder parts of the country, please be careful about letting the cab warm to room temp. before playing if the cab has been subject to winter temps for enough time to seriously chill the cones. Otherwise the aluminum cones have a tendency to be brittle from the cold and to crack.

Not a fan of Hartkes especially. I don't hate them, just like other stuff better. Hartke gear was hot in the eighties n' nineties as I remember. I think their star has faded somewhat as a warmer sound has come to the forefront of players' tastes. Hey, if it flips yer burger, get it on!

 

[LeftyLB]

If you're talking about Hartke combo amps and you live in the colder parts of the country, please be careful about letting the cab warm to room temp. before playing if the cab has been subject to winter temps for enough time to seriously chill the cones. Otherwise the aluminum cones have a tendency to be brittle from the cold and to crack.

Doh! - Guess who is currently suffering from this problem?

Li' Ol' me!!!

Kickback 12 is currently heading back to distributor to be re-coned. This will be the third time it has been in since I bought it 3 years ago. Input jack needed re-soldering, dust cover needed tightening and this time the speaker has gone. We did have a bad winter with some low temps for the UK over the new year and I think that this may well be the problem.

It is difficult to judge whether this was ever a good buy, because it does get gigged once or twice a weekend and alot of throwing in and out of cars and venues - not that I abuse my eqiupment.

Would I buy Hartke again, perhaps not this time, I think I will save up and get an Ashdown 300w Head and separate cab. It may be that the Kickback at only 120w just was not powerful enough to cope even for monitoring as I always DI into our 2K rig or the "in-house" desk.

Liam

 

[tom_683]

Has anyone owned or had experience with the particular head and cab i mentioned. The HA 4000 head and the VX410 cab?

 

[Aussie Mark]

My take is that Hartke heads are a reasonable choice, but those aluminium coned speakers are the worst sounding cabinets I've ever heard.

 

[bovinehost]

I'm really reticent to recommend any amp to anyone because its a crapshoot, really, but I will say this. For a few years, I had a Hartke 2115 combo that sounded GREAT.

I even used it to record. Friend of mine has it now, and so does he. Mark, you remember that version of "Lucy In The Sky" that was on my website (might still be)?

That was a Moses-necked Jazz into that Hartke. That sucker sounds unbelievable, considering what it's been through.

On the other hand, I've heard Hartkes that sucked like a black hole, so.....

 

[Psychicpet]

I haven't tried the VX series of PAPER coned Hartke's but for the price and the company name they shouldn't be all that bad, more reliable in the cold than their aluminum brothers. As for the HA4000 head I've only tried it in a music shop and was impressed.I'm a big fan of not having to dick around a whole lot with eq'ing and with the fully parametric eq on the HA4000 you can set the Q real narrow, boost it by 12db then sweep the frequency to find a nasty sound and then cut your 12db boost to a -3 or 4 db cut to sweeten your sound.... or conversely set the Q wide and find a sweet sound to boost by a couple db, (the rest of the controls were at noon). The head seems great and durable and the tones were good that I got out of it and fairly quickly too.

too much rambling in this post though.... sorry

ps. the sub-out send could be handy if you've got the juice and speakers for it down the road too

 

[eastlakemusic58]

I do believe that it is everyone's personal opinion on whether an amp really sounds good or not. As far as price and durrability Hartke is definitely a great line! We sell the full line of hartke products at www.eastlakemusic.com and totally stand behind our merchandise. We have had a lot of great customers who rate Hartke very highly and have had great success!!

 

[LeftyLB]

If you're talking about Hartke combo amps and you live in the colder parts of the country, please be careful about letting the cab warm to room temp. before playing if the cab has been subject to winter temps for enough time to seriously chill the cones. Otherwise the aluminum cones have a tendency to be brittle from the cold and to crack.

Doh! - Guess who is currently suffering from this problem?

Li' Ol' me!!!

Kickback 12 is currently heading back to distributor to be re-coned. This will be the third time it has been in since I bought it 3 years ago. Input jack needed re-soldering, dust cover needed tightening and this time the speaker has gone. We did have a bad winter with some low temps for the UK over the new year and I think that this may well be the problem.

It is difficult to judge whether this was ever a good buy, because it does get gigged once or twice a weekend and alot of throwing in and out of cars and venues - not that I abuse my eqiupment.

Would I buy Hartke again, perhaps not this time, I think I will save up and get an Ashdown 300w Head and separate cab. It may be that the Kickback at only 120w just was not powerful enough to cope even for monitoring as I always DI into our 2K rig or the "in-house" desk.

Liam

Wow, you went all the way back to 2004 to find a Hartke post which I had also threaded on!!

My Hartke bit the dust 2 years ago and I ended up getting a 300 watt GK 400RB head and a 2x10 - not an ounce of trouble with it from day one - fingers crossed XX

Liam

 

[cdb]

Has anyone owned or had experience with the particular head and cab i mentioned. The HA 4000 head and the VX410 cab?

I have played thru that cab, with a Trace head and a 410 loaded with EVs. Sounded great. I have played thru that head with a KMD 115. Sounded great. But never with the 2 in the combo you are asking about. Test it out if you can befeore buying.

 

[hankSRay]

I had a Hartke HA4000 up until a few months ago. I acctually play the same type of music you do and the amp worked fine. I had mine going through a GK backline 410 at the time and the sound was pretty good. I never liked the whole frequency control things, but I dont like that stuff on any of my amps, all i want and is bass mids and treble. Anyway you should be fine with that kind of setup for smaller sized gigs.

 

[boomer074]

At Practice I play through a Hartke vx3500 combo (it's the 3500 head and the vx410 cab in a combo). It's a great little amp. I do use it for gigs occasionally when I don't feel like dragging my whole stack with me. If you can try out the rig your looking at with your bass that would be better. Then you would know for sure. I Know the local Guitar Center and Sam Ash stores around here will let you bring your own guitar/bass in to try out different amps so that may be a way to go.

 

[draganr]

Im playing Hartke kickback 15 - home and rehearsals. my sr5 sounds good with it. you wont go wrong with that amp. not recomended for gigs though, as you will need something bigger,like 4x10 or so to feel (hear) good on stage,ofcourse...

 

[KennethB]

The vx410 is the worst cab I've ever heard. I'm trying to get rid of mine.
The Hartke 3500 is an ok amp though. I have an old one from '92.

 

[Lazybite]

if you are on a budget that pairing should serve as well as you can expect for the price range.

 

[Kirby]

Never have been a fan of Hartke. I tried them with both a 5 and 4 string Stingray with maple boards. The tone was awful, very harsh. The bottom seemed very shallow and lacking warmth. If I remember right there was another company competing with Hartke in the 80's with aluminum cones, I think it was called Bull Frog cabinets? I tested a cabinet from a rep and those too were very harsh.

To be fair, when the Hartke cabinets went to XL versions and gave the cabinets more depth, I thought that went a long way towards making their sound better. Still many other choices before them in my book.

 

[AnthonyD]

Hartke

I have always been a fan - just me.

I am not a fan of the boutique stuff. There is a reasonable level of quality one can appreciate and beyond which begins to border on absurd. I apply this logic to any manufactured product.

I have had a Kickback 12 for a few years. Basically a practice amp, though for the past year and a half it has served as our drum-machine amp/on-stage monitor.

My main rig is an HA5500 and two 410XL cabinets - some can consider this harsh with round-wounds but it's absolutely perfect to my ears with flats. The aluminum cones are not for everyone. I was drawn to the distinctive punch they provide and my Band loves the tone.

I encountered a problem with one speaker in a 410XL cabinet - not sure if it was the cone or VC - repaired under warranty. No other issues. I gig just a few times a year, outdoors, during Spring & Summer. No problems with either amp.

My one complaint is weight - these are all relatively heavy units to lug around.

Bottom line, and previously stated - starting with an EBMM bass is likely to produce a great tone through a variety of amp choices.