Hartke AK410

kringle77 · #1 08-30-2011, 08:05 PM

Well, I've always loved the sound of my ampeg 8x10 using 4 stock drivers or eminence B810 drivers and 2 to 4 jensen mod10-50 drivers more than anything but never wanted to haul it around. I decided to buy a pair of these hartke cabs since they were one of the only cabs on the market similar to the sealed ampeg.

Stock- Right out of the box these cabs look nice, are easy to move and come with casters. Pretty cool. At low volumes and with the tweeter off it sounds ok, alittle blaw, kind of like a stock ampeg. Turn it up to a giggable volume and really boost the highs and high mids it sounds better. Turn on the tweet and just boost around 800hz and the cabs sounds really good. Punchy, alittle grindy and lively. This being said, I don't care for titanium horns very much and would probably replace the drivers with an eminence. That would be mod #1. The cab stock sounds very much like an ampeg except for the tweet. Much lighter though.

Mod #2- I pretty much already knew that I would be trading out two of the stock woofers for mod10-50's. I did and there was my tone. It sounded just like my modded ampeg only smaller and lighter. No need for a tweet with these guys. I could trade out the other two for the B810 drivers which I feel have a slightly beefier low end and maybe more upper mids but, I will most likely play a few gigs with them before deciding. Then, I'd put the eight hartke drivers in my old ampeg cab for home use.

This may all seem like a bit of a waiste of money to some but, when you hear the tone of these cabs now........there is no comparison. The cabs started out ok, but now they rock with the amps eq flat. I can say that if I had to go with either this cab or a hydrive totally stock, I'd go with a hydrive. It has more lows and is clearer stock but, overdrive doesn't sound the greatest through them. So, get an ak410 that costs $100 less, spend $80 on the mod drivers, be $20 ahead and have a better tone. One thing to point out though is that the mods take up alittle more room around the speaker hole so I had to use some styrofoam pipe insulation around the edge for a proper seal. Real cheap, easy to install and works well.

When using a pair of these cabs I will either stack them or put both on the floor either splayed in or out at 30 degrees. I've had pretty good luck with the splaying method in reflective rooms. For anyone wondering, Im still loving my LDS 8x8, this is just a way for me to get back into using sealed cabs which have always been my favorite.

kringle77 · #2 08-31-2011, 09:25 AM

I forgot to mention that these cabs are properly stuffed with sound insulation and had a clean high quality wire job. Much better than the bare minimum insulation in the sealed carvins which could have been much better with more. The center divider in the ak410 is mdf while the rest of the cab is high qaulity plywood. It doesn't look like 3/4" as stated though. Glad that I got these cabs and modded them. I actually like the 3 position horn switch. Even though the drivers are not crossed over, I noticed that when I stacked the cabs on their sides with the mods lined up vertically that dispersion improved. Probably since the mods have so much more hi/hi-mids compared to the hartke drivers. Pretty nice.

kringle77 · #3 09-01-2011, 08:10 AM

I did some more experimenting. The stock drivers sound exactly like the stock ampegs. The B810's have a 2khz spike and alittle more mid-mids. The mods have a big cut at 400hz and a fairly wide bump at 100hz and 2kz to 4kz. A cab loaded with 2 mods and 2 b810's was very punchy and seemed to throw sound out harder into a room while 2mods and 2 stock drivers had alittle more low end bloom but not as aggressive in the mids and really bright on top. What I ended up doing was using 2 stock, 1 b810 and 1 mod in each cab. The resulting sound is a pretty even blend. Good bloom, alittle more forward mid range and alittle top end sparkle. A good balanced sound for a sealed cab. Thats without a horn. I was trying to capture a certain sound that would be the same whether running one cab or both. It looks like I'll be the source for information if anyone wants to know about these cabs. There really isn't much out there.

jeff7bass · #4 09-01-2011, 08:18 AM

I admire you guys who buy new gear and start Frankensteining them up to your liking! Wasn't that kind of expensive though?

kringle77 · #5 09-01-2011, 08:23 AM

Well, I already had a few mods and b810's so, just alittle. It didn't hurt too bad and Im getting a good sound so, it's all good. I would love to run one of these modded cabs and a stock eden 410xlt but the edens are just so damn heavy that I won't move them anymore.

jeff7bass · #6 09-01-2011, 08:47 AM

That's cool, gotta be happy!

Crystalman85 · #7 03-23-2012, 03:24 PM

I been wondering about these bass cabs for a while. I saw these bass cabs at samash.com and I was wondering if these bass cab are pretty decent. also I was wondering if they're gig-worthy too.