Belated New Amp Day/Review (Hartke LH500)

MOTORHEADBANGER · #1 10-09-2011, 09:43 PM

After hearing all kinds of stories about how freaking awesome the Hartke LH series heads are, seeing Vic Wooten, Dave Ellefson, and Frank Bello demonstrate them at Sweetwater, and testing a LH500 in store, I decided to take the plunge. I've been playing GK for quite some time, but lately it just hasn't been hitting me. After trying the LH500 out with several cab combo's it just clicked.

I scoured the web for a few days and I found a used LH500 in great condition that wound up costing me $180 + $15 shipping. All in all, I thought I got a pretty good deal.

Fast forward about 3 days later (Friday afternoon)... The brown truck pulls up my drive and the UPS guy pulls this battered looking box out and sits it in front of my doorstep. I thanked him and brought it inside. It looked like someone just kicked the living s*** out of it. Both the top and bottom were burst through. The top was the worst. It had been taped shut very very well (thanks Guitar Center) but from being dropped or hit so hard, the top had been smashed in enough that the contents of the box were visible. From the shredded bits of packing peanuts and material, I could tell that the box (about 2 1/2 feet tall) had been initially filled will packing material and most of it had spilled out leaving the head free to bounce around, which I would guess was why the bottom was close to giving way. Unfortunately I had a HS Football game that I had to play at so, I did not have time to pull the head out and give it a quick test.

When I arrived home after the game, I pulled the head out of the box, and luckily it had been wrapped very well and came out without a scratch. I plugged it in and just tested the basic features quietly, but since it was late at night, I didn't really have time to test it out, so I waited until Saturday.

Saturday morning I promptly hooked the LH500 up to my old EV-115 and gave the dials a few turns. My initial reaction was that of awe. It sounded so warm and full through my EV 115. It didn't take long at all to find my sound and I was ready to roll. The overall sound is very clean, but when I you dig in, it responds wonderfully, definitely not a sterile head. I gave it a very brief crank to 8 on the volume knob and my reaction was jaw dropping. I felt like I had been punched in the face with clean volume. The only bit of distortion/noise I heard was my 15 (rated 400w rms) adjusting to the amount of power going into it. I definitely know some cabs with a higher power handling will be on the way.

After playing around with it for about 20 minutes or so, I decided to break it in with an outdoor gig in the afternoon with my school's jazz ensemble. Playing though the school's GK 410 Neo, the head really showed its stuff. Such a full and smooth sound, yet it had so much articulation and punch when needed. One lesson I did learn though: Tweeter=good, Brite Switch=good, Tweeter+Brite Switch= BAD.

We played through 7 songs (Cantaloupe Island, Secret Love, Birdland, etc... oh and the Sanford and Son theme for an encore) and the tone of the Hartke was perfect. I was able to just run it at 2-10-2 (flat) for most of the songs with the tweeter on, and 2 songs set at 4-6-4 for slap. It made my Aria SB-R60 sing in single coil mode and had a perfect slap tone when in humbucker mode. As far as volume goes, with the 410 Neo, I had the volume at about 3 1/2 or so with a 20 person horn section, loud keys, and a manic drummer. I was definitely impressed. Today I experimented with a few other styles by jamming to some 60's brit invasion and psychedelic today and that vintage thump just comes right out. I have yet to test it with metal (besides jamming in my practice rooms to recordings) but I know that brite switch will really help cut through.

All in all I am impressed with the LH500. For the price I paid, it greatly exceeded my expectations. I'm still in the honeymoon stage with this head, but I can say it's a keeper. She's built tough, sounds fantastic, and at more than reasonable price. What more could I ask for? A few complain about the mid knob being cut only, but I feel that the head has a very strong mid presence to begin with and when paired with the right cab, a boost isn't necessary. It has enough punch to cut through anything I can think of.

As for what the future has in store, I plan on pairing it with a set of Hydrive 410's or similar cabs, and running a Sansamp RPM though it for some really gritty and overdriven tones. THe only drawback that I have found in this amp is how clean it is. It isn't sterile, by any means, but you are not going to get any overdrive or heavy gain without some sort of preamp or pedal. All in all though, I believe this head is a fantastic product. It's elegant simplicity, clean and crisp tone, and tremendous output prove that Hartke really can deliver BANG for the buck. From the look of its construction, I doubt if the LH500 will give me any troubles down the road, but if it does, I know Larry Hartke is ready to spring into action.

-Connor
(pictures will be included in the next post)

MOTORHEADBANGER · #2 10-09-2011, 09:52 PM

Here's the way the box arrived (pristine condition, right?

)
The top is was broken in, allowing all of the packing materials to spill out. What you can't see in the pic is the bottom of the box was starting to burst open (I'm guessing from the head bouncing around).
[IMG]

Hartke LH500 box by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here's the inside, to give you some scale the box is about 2 1/2 ft with the head flat at the bottom. tall, so you can see how much room the head had to move around when all of that fell out.
[IMG]

Hartke LH500 box 2 by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

...and now, here's the head!!!
[IMG]

New Hartke LH500 by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

spaz21387 · #3 10-09-2011, 09:55 PM

Great head... I love mine, I have had mine for like 6 months now.

JB36 · #4 10-10-2011, 08:24 AM

Great sounding amp. Is that all the packing? Peanuts are hardly sufficient for amp that heavy. If so, I wouldn't have thanked GC, but called back to complain.

craig.p · #5 10-10-2011, 10:59 AM

I have no need for any more amps, but if I were in the market for one, the LH500 would be at or near the top of my list. After having used a BBE MMax preamp for a while, I've become a real fan of that sort of tone system. Simple, but does everything you could possibly want, as long as one understands the theory behind it and what happens in terms of both boost/cut AND center frequencies as you spin those knobs. Also Larry pops in frequently when someone's having a problem, and so I'd like to support his company.

MHB, now you're justified in ordering up a pair of 8 ohm TB153s. Or, Christmas being not that far off, ask your spouse for them.

Great review, by the way.

MOTORHEADBANGER · #6 10-10-2011, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig.p

I have no need for any more amps, but if I were in the market for one, the LH500 would be at or near the top of my list. After having used a BBE MMax preamp for a while, I've become a real fan of that sort of tone system. Simple, but does everything you could possibly want, as long as one understands the theory behind it and what happens in terms of both boost/cut AND center frequencies as you spin those knobs. Also Larry pops in frequently when someone's having a problem, and so I'd like to support his company.

MHB, now you're justified in ordering up a pair of 8 ohm TB153s. Or, Christmas being not that far off, ask your spouse for them.

Great review, by the way.

Thanks Craig P. I understand the preamp pretty well. My dad is a huge Fender aficionado, so I have grown up with that tone. A pair of TB153's would be nice, but unfortunately, I don't have a spouse to buy them for me (I'm only 18).

MOTORHEADBANGER · #7 10-10-2011, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB36

Great sounding amp. Is that all the packing? Peanuts are hardly sufficient for amp that heavy. If so, I wouldn't have thanked GC, but called back to complain.

I did, and if you look at the first photo, it was full of packing material at one time. It had just been dropped or hit hard enough to smash the top of the box=bye bye packing material and protection. You can tell the head bounced around because the bottom of the box was ready to burst out.

MOTORHEADBANGER · #8 10-10-2011, 07:20 PM

I have been looking at different cabs to pair with this head. I am only going to be buying one right now, but I will most likely by a second to pair with it in the near future. My preferred price is $400 or lower USED. I was really eyeing the Hydrive 4x10, but a few of the neo cabs like the Avatar 212 Neo sound really promising. I am not really biased toward one company. I am just looking for a relatively lightweight (preferably under 80lbs) and loud cab that can cut through with the LH500.

Clammy · #9 10-10-2011, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MOTORHEADBANGER

Here's the way the box arrived (pristine condition, right?

)
The top is was broken in, allowing all of the packing materials to spill out. What you can't see in the pic is the bottom of the box was starting to burst open (I'm guessing from the head bouncing around).
[IMG]

Hartke LH500 box by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here's the inside, to give you some scale the box is about 2 1/2 ft with the head flat at the bottom. tall, so you can see how much room the head had to move around when all of that fell out.
[IMG]

Hartke LH500 box 2 by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

...and now, here's the head!!!
[IMG]

New Hartke LH500 by Motorheadbanger93, on Flickr[/IMG]

ups is BRUTAL for that kind of thing... I call 'em "united parcel SMASHERS". It's like they go out of their way to destroy packages they handle. And they're horrible to deal with for an insurance claim. It's to the point where I will not buy something if the only method of shipping offered is ups.

Glad you're amp got to you in one piece!

Cheers!

JimmyM · #10 10-10-2011, 08:42 PM

Clammy, when I worked there in the early 90's, I called them the same thing

But every company does it, so UPS certainly can't be singled out for it. And in this case, it's totally the seller's crap packing job that caused it.

Anyway, you really lucked out with that packaging job, Banger!

Kentucky Ryan · #11 03-04-2012, 05:22 PM

i worked at ups for 7 years. and you are absolutely right that they SUCK! but one of my best friends works at fedex and they are just as bad, trust me. also my grandfather retired from the USPS and he wont ship anything through them. so basically you are taking the same risk whichever service you use.