Hartke Kickback 12

lowendblues · #1 04-21-2010, 05:42 PM

Any love for this amp? Im thinking about picking one up for around the house. Looks like it be great with my VT pedal.

Durable? Reliable? Fragile? Opinions would be appreciated.

Worldeeeter · #2 04-21-2010, 05:52 PM

I sold my Hartke Kickback 12 last week, after 14 years of loyal service. I never had an issue with it until last month. The speaker blew (minor, not massive), and I replaced it with an Eminence driver. 14 years without a single problem is pretty darn good for any amp.
It's great for a house practice amp; that's exactly how I used mine, and I never turned it up more than 50%. The 120W head does a great job, and the sound is great.
As far as smaller amps in that price range go, it's a good product to go with.

biobass · #3 04-21-2010, 09:10 PM

I've had a KB12 for ~ 15 years. Great amp for what it is. I used it for musical theater and jazz orchestra gigs where real head banging volume was not required. The D.I. may not be the best of the best, but it works just fine. It paid for itself many, many times over. I generally would boost the bass a couple of clicks, and set the shape control around 250-300 Hz with my ’65 Jazz; it always sounded quite good. I got lots of positive feedback from musical directors and, more importantly, contractors. Mine would run out of steam at about the 12:00 point on the volume pot. Never had a lick of trouble with it.

I got mine with the paper cone speaker. When A/B'ing it in the store, I thought I could detect a very slightly smoother tone with the paper cone speaker over the aluminum cone. I'm really not sure that I could tell the difference in a truly blinded test.

A couple of years ago I retired it and replaced it, now using my GB Neo-Pak 3.5 or a Shuttle 6.0 with usually a Berg HT112 or an EX112, rarely, both. My current setup is, certainly, more refined with finesse and has a lot more power. However it was also a lot more expensive. I could have survived with the KB12 handily, but I was in the fortunate position to be able to afford the other gear. One thing with my current rig is that when favoring the bridge pu on the Jazz, I now can get that slight bit of snarl which I could get with my old Ampegs (SB-12 ,B-15N, B15S, which I still have) which was missing in the KB12. Again, very subtle. I haven't tried the KB12 with my VT pedal yet, maybe I should. My guess is that would be a nice match.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dennis

JimmyM · #4 04-21-2010, 10:58 PM

never gigged with one myself, but i did play a guitar gig with a bassist who used one. i thought it was a nice little rig. not the best, but not the worst by a longshot. and of course, any amp rocks just a little harder when you use a vt pedal

elroyjetsn · #5 06-09-2010, 08:41 PM

Bump,

Kickback Club anyone?

I have a little Crate BT1000 Kickback that I've grown fond of for playing in church and practice with our band. Any interested?