Hartke Hydrive 115 Horn

[random6789]

Hey,

First post, so bear with me. Just bought a Hartke Hydrive for use with my HA3500 and am very happy with it on the whole. It's the first non-combo setup I've owned so am still getting used to it...

Whilst playing around with it, I noticed that it was starting to hiss when I turned it up. When I mucked around with the equaliser and amplified the higher frequencies it got worse. On the 115, there is a switch to turn the high frequency compression driver on, off or -6dB. When I turned it off all the hissing stopped, and -6dB the hissing reduced.

Is there something wrong with the cab or driver? I can't imagine it's normal...

Appreciate any thoughts

[Lync]

It's not the cab's fault, you are hearing the amp. It may be that the amp is hissy, or that you have your high end boosted. Set the amp to flat and see what happens.

[random6789]

When the amp is flat the hissing is still there It just has to be turned up more to hear it.

Could is possibly be the cable? Or is it definitely the amp?

[GroovinOnFunk]

Could be the cable... it's doubtful, but it could be. Cheaper to try to replace the cable first, see if that fixes it, than to take the head in for repair I suppose right?

Not really that abnormal to get hissing when high end freqs. are turned up. Also, sometimes radio interference can cause hiss through your amp.

If hissing is really loud, could be various problems including dirty or broken input jacks (easily fixed) or a more serious problem. Try the cheap fixes first and if that doesn't do it, then probably take it in to a shop and have them listen to it first. Then they can tell you if it needs fixing or not. Just my $0.02

[Lync]

+1

Good luck with it!

[LAPetrarca]

It's easy to determine if it's the cable. Does it stop if the cable is disconnected? If it does, plug in a different cable. Does it still hiss?

[liam_g]

Do you have an active bass with the treble control cranked?

[JimmyM]

simple physics...if you turn up the treble, the amplifier will not only put out more treble, but the noise floor of the treble freqs goes up as well. when you turn the tweeter up and down, it's doing basically the same thing. this is normal and it happens in every rig made, and you have two choices...turn down the treble or live with it.

[slapfunk987]

I've found that the Hartke Hydrives at higher volumes do this. And I dont think there is a way around it. Some do less than others. Mine was too loud so I took it back. But otherwise a very, very good amp. Best combo I ever played.

[Jpold]

I've experienced the same with the Hydrive HX410 and HX810 Cab - my solution was to buy a hartke 5" driver from the 4.5 model and replace the horn with that.
I've found that I get all the snap and none of the hiss with this setup.

[dmac603]

I have a 115 and there is no hiss at all the amp is the balls but the issue I just had while playing a gig is that the horn broke off and fell into the cab. the plastic part that screws to the cab just broke. it is a very poor design the weight of the driver just hangs by the cheap plastic and after a couple years of viberations it broke... anyone else ever see this issue?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by random6789

When the amp is flat the hissing is still there It just has to be turned up more to hear it.

Could is possibly be the cable? Or is it definitely the amp?

Cables can't add anything to the signal. It's the amp. Only the very highest quality amps are hiss free. That means a signal to noise ratio in excess of 90dB. That of the 3500 is only 78dB. In PA or for that matter home stereo 78dB S/N would be considered mediocre, if not unusable, but with electric bass amps it's about average.

[lbwdog]

Right. The HF horn will only reproduce what's already in the signal. A woofer will only go so high. You're just not used to hearing the higher frequencies.

If it really bothers you, just attenuate it at the cab, or cut your EQ back at that frequency.