Are all Hartke HA3500's junk?

[Patrick the red]

Alright 15 years ago I had a Hartke 3500 mosfet with an Eden xlt 210 and 115. This rig had thunder to spare, practice volume was about 3. At 5 you could barely hear the drummer.
So, life changed. I got a new job, wife, kids, and money got tight. So I sold everything. I'm not complaining, I've been very happy. However, I now have more time, and that old itch, so i've been getting back into it. In the last 15 years everything seems to have changed. I can't find any store within 100 miles that has good used, or even new, gear. So I'm trying to buy online. I bought the bass I wanted here on TB and I'm very happy with it. I also bought an Avatar B210 neo. I don't know much about all the new amps so I decided to go with what I knew. So I picked up a HA3500 thinking it was the same as the one I Had.
What a huge let down. This thing has got no power at all. I looked it over for problems, nothing. I had It looked over by a tech, nothing. So I called Hartke. This is what I was told.
The power output for the Ha3500 is the same as the 3500 mosfet, the difference is the potentiomiter (volume pot). He told me if I turn it up enough it will be just as loud. I've had this new one up to 8 and it is not half as loud as the one i used to have at 3. He also told me to turn up the master volume to max and use the volume pot on my bass to set the volume. I have always understood this to be a very bad idea with this type of amp.
Am I missing something? I don't pass my problems on to other people so if this amp is junk I've now got a $200 boat anchor.
Has anyone else had this problem with the HA3500's?

[ThrashMaster]

had one in the second half of the 90s. No balls, and had plenty of reliability issues.

[dukeisdog]

That head is only 350 watts at 4 ohms. Your Avatar cab is most likely 8 ohms, you'd be lucky to get 250 watts at 8 ohms. Get an identical cab, and the head will give you full power.

More speakers always = more volume, and a 2X10 as a stand alone cab won't cut it most of the time (for me at least).

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by Patrick the red

Alright 15 years ago I had a Hartke 3500 mosfet with an Eden xlt 210 and 115. This rig had thunder to spare, practice volume was about 3. At 5 you could barely hear the drummer.
So, life changed. I got a new job, wife, kids, and money got tight. So I sold everything. I'm not complaining, I've been very happy. However, I now have more time, and that old itch, so i've been getting back into it. In the last 15 years everything seems to have changed. I can't find any store within 100 miles that has good used, or even new, gear. So I'm trying to buy online. I bought the bass I wanted here on TB and I'm very happy with it. I also bought an Avatar B210 neo. I don't know much about all the new amps so I decided to go with what I knew. So I picked up a HA3500 thinking it was the same as the one I Had.
What a huge let down. This thing has got no power at all. I looked it over for problems, nothing. I had It looked over by a tech, nothing. So I called Hartke. This is what I was told.
The power output for the Ha3500 is the same as the 3500 mosfet, the difference is the potentiomiter (volume pot). He told me if I turn it up enough it will be just as loud. I've had this new one up to 8 and it is not half as loud as the one i used to have at 3. He also told me to turn up the master volume to max and use the volume pot on my bass to set the volume. I have always understood this to be a very bad idea with this type of amp.
Am I missing something? I don't pass my problems on to other people so if this amp is junk I've now got a $200 boat anchor.
Has anyone else had this problem with the HA3500's?

Yes. Except in my case, the new one I ordered to replace my workhorse 3500 (c. 1993), came out of the box with the compressor circuit non-functioning and the graphic EQ acting all weird. Put it back in the box, sent it back... will not buy a new Harkte head again.

And this:

He also told me to turn up the master volume to max and use the volume pot on my bass to set the volume.

is the worst advice I have ever heard.

[Joe Nerve]

Originally Posted by dukeisdog

That head is only 350 watts at 4 ohms. Your Avatar cab is most likely 8 ohms, you'd be lucky to get 250 watts at 8 ohms. Get an identical cab, and the head will give you full power.

That was my thought.

[sevenyearsdown]

I've had the same 3500 for over 10 years now with zero issues (well one - fan died after 10 years). It's plenty loud and reliable. Hope the newer ones aren't garbage.

[Implosion]

15 years ago you had twice the speaker surface area. That's what counts, not the absence of 100 watts.

[Calaverasgrande]

I saw Mendozza play a bit ago. Well actually my former band Hexe opened for them. Mindblowingly good band. Great drummer that puts to death any notion that chicks cant rock. Bassist ran one of those 3500's into an ampeg 4x10. Loud enough and sounded good. I was surprised.

[Patrick the red]

It is not about the speakers. Even when I ran my original 3500 with a single Eden 210 cab it would rattle the windows. I just tried the new ha3500 on 8 and it still wouldn't be heard in practice, nothing there.

I've heard the neo's can be power hungry but I can't any presence at all.

[Mooch]

My guess is its the cab. I run a 3500 now, BUT I also have a total of 420 watts between my 2 cabs. It is LOUD as hell at 4 and kills if I goto 5. I have never been past 6 with it. That said I just ordered new speakers that will bring just 1 cab to 600 watts alone. So this head has to go. I bought it used of GuitardCenter for like 150 and the DI didn't work, no biggie. I love the sound it produces though.

All that said Genz Benz here I come!

[Jodaka]

not sure what the deal with your head is; i run my volume between 1.5 & 2 and it keeps up w/ my guitard's marshall easy...

[BassmanPaul]

I too think that a second cabinet will solve your dilemma. Two cabinets will add to the power you can get from the amp and the two cabinets will couple to add even more volume. You must also remember that drivers have an efficiency rating so that the old Eden may well have been able to do more than the Avatar with the power you are feeding it.

[keeperthumpin]

I think something is wrong with the HA3500 you have. I bought mine used for $200 and it is louder than hell. I've ran it through a Crate 210 X 118, GK 115 and GK NEO 212 and have never had to turn it up past 3, maybe 4 on volume. I play with a very loud drummer and 2 loud guitarists. Since I've just started adding compression (not the compression from the amp because this feature does suck) I'v barely turned it up to 5 when we're really loud.

[Kael]

I experienced the same issue. Those old MOSFET 3500's had more whump than most modern heads of comparable wattage. They were a little hissy on the high end but you could dial that out with the graphic EQ. Gigged a MOSFET 3500 for about 7 or 8 years pretty hard. Bought a HA 3500 as a backup/potential replacement for my aging MOSFET 3500. The difference when I a/b'd them was pretty dramatic. I promptly returned the HA3500 and moved on from Hartke.

The newer heads they are coming out with are reputed to be pretty good if you like old school clean tube tone with minimal EQ, but the HA series of amps were a massive let down.

PS: The "only 250 watts at 8 ohms" of my MOSFET 3500 through a 115 covered an astounding number of situations. With the volume levels I was getting from the HA3500, I would have honestly have been nervous about just taking a 4 ohm 410 to a moderately loud gig. It really was a night and day difference between the older and newer 3500's.

[craig.p]

Patrick, is this a problem with the amp

a) running out of steam (farting out)

-- or --

b) clean but just not loud enough?

[Nick901]

I use a LH1000 with 410 and 115 Hydrive cabs. Bridged it is supposed to put out 1100 watts RMS. It's real loud but starts to distort a lot at the higher volumes. I use a Mole bass boost pedal and that seems to smooth out the distortion.
But I still can't crank it up all the way. I'm thinking a 4 x 15 high quality speaker cab may be the answer. The cabs are often the problem.

[lbwdog]

Originally Posted by jaywa

And this:
He also told me to turn up the master volume to max and use the volume pot on my bass to set the volume.
is the worst advice I have ever heard.

Not so far fetched. When i want a clean tone on my G-Ks, I open the Master Vol up to almost fulll while adjusting the loudness with the Pre Gain.

The O.P. never stated where he's running the Pre-Gains on his. I'd definitely try running the Master up to about 4:00 then slowly bring up one or both of the Pre-gains till the desired loudness and tone is reached.

And YES, his former rig was running into two speaker cabs at a 4 Ohm load, so that will make some difference.

[Patrick the red]

The problem is "b" clean but no power. Everything works, no problems that I, or the tech, could find. I'll have to call hartke again, because they were so helpful the first time, and ask for the specks for the master pot. It may not be working correctly. And I've checked into the efficiency of the drivers. A small difference but not enough to suck all the power from the amp. I mean realy it is so week my cube 30 is almost as loud.

I need a real amp with balls. I mean I don't need to shake down the mountain, but I would like practice volume I can feel.

[jgroh]

Do you know if your 2x10 is 4 or 8 ohms? If you have an 8 ohm you will only be getting 240 watts like the others have said, and with only two 10" speakers, that wont cover alot. The older mosfet amps may have been louder, but it just sounds like you arent getting the full power of the amp. I had a newer HA2500 several years ago with a 4x10 (4 ohms) and it was just loud enough for a rock band with two guitards, heavy handed drummer, and keys.

[rogypop]

There is a big possibility that you are missing those eden cabs. They have the voice of their own, very tight and loud like hell but no bottom.