hartke problem

petermuca · #1 01-10-2012, 08:07 AM

Hello everybody. I have the lh 1000 head running the hydrive 410 in bridge mode and I absolutely love the tone and everything about this rig. I did a few gigs with it, I have it about a month. But yesterday at a rehearsal it started to make some vibrating-like distorting noise on the low notes. I play a fivestring. I think it is loosing some power and articulation too. Now I am on to change the preamp tube first, but I am afraid it is one of the speakers... What do you guys think? BTW my guitar player was messin with it when i wasnt there but he told me he didnt pushed it hard past 2. I know, I know ... Guitards. Sorry for my poor english, i am from slovakia.

codethechode · #2 01-10-2012, 08:28 AM

I have the same rig only I have two hydrive 410s. As long as you hadn't pushed it past 3 or 4 in bridge mode your cab should've been able to handle it. Anything beyond that can cause damage. Honestly you should never need that much power and should never run it through a 410. Yes the cabs are rated at 1000 watts but they really cant take that much, as a general rule cabinets can only handle half of their rating. If nothing seemed different until someone else messed with it then id have a hard time believing they didn't have something to do with it. Sounds like a speaker problem. If it was the tube it would be putting out very little sound at all or none period. Vibration is from the speaker cabinet usually an indication of abuse or being driven to hard.

DWBass · #3 01-10-2012, 09:37 AM

Try the amp with a different cab if you can. If it's the amp, try reseating the tube. If no change, I suggest calling Larry Hartke which may be an issue since English is not your language. Maybe he'll see this thread and respond.

BassmanPaul · #4 01-10-2012, 09:51 AM

Bridging an amp is a really great way to toast your drivers. To get louder you need more speakers rather than more power.

Rob_F · #5 01-10-2012, 02:34 PM

Might want to double check your EQ settings - on the stack EQ, flat setting on this head is about 3 - 10 - 3 and over-pushing the bass can really make that HX410 distort ( speaking from experience here! ) I actually gave Larry Hartke a call right after I purchased my LH1000 / HX410 a year ago because it seemed like it couldn't handle any power without sounding like a speaker was about to blow. I really didn't understand the principles of that type of EQ and after a quick conversation with him, it all made sence ( cause I was pushing the bass all along ). Long story short, next practice I started at the "flat" EQ setting and what a difference....... tons of nice clean power. At that point you can always tweak the EQ slightly to get what you're looking for (from flat, I mostly use my bass's tone knob & the "bright" switch to dial in lows / highs on the fly).
You very well may have another issue........but always easier to check the simple stuff first!!!

JimmyM · #6 01-10-2012, 02:40 PM

It could also be a preamp tube. I've seen a handful of Hartke amps on here that have come with a tube that goes bad on them. Not their fault, though...new tubes just aren't what old tubes used to be, and sometimes they go bad on you quickly. All manufacturers have to deal with new tube production, though...not isolated to Hartke by any means.

billfitzmaurice · #7 01-10-2012, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petermuca

running the hydrive 410 in bridge mode

Don't do that. You gain nothing except doubling the risk of blown drivers, which may be what's already happened.

petermuca · #8 01-11-2012, 04:31 AM

my EQ settings are "flat" 2,10,2.
well, it is designed to run in bridge mode with one 8 ohm cab it is giving 750 watts. in paralell mode it gives only 225 wats. the cab is rated at 1000 watts. I am going to try an other cab tomorow and check out some tubes on the internet. what tubes do you guys recommend? I´we heard that groowetubes are great. Thanx for all replies.

petermuca · #9 01-11-2012, 12:11 PM

And I have the limiter always on to protect the speakers somehow and the brite circuit is always off. The tweeter on the cab is set -6 dB. Just to complete the settings question.

Larry Hartke · #10 01-11-2012, 01:02 PM

Hey Peter,
We don't have a Hartke distributor in Slovakia, where did you buy your Hartke rig? First thing to do is try another cabinet with your LH-1000 and determine whether it’s the amplifier or cabinet. It sounds to me like you may have a blown speaker. Let me know what you find and I’ll be happy to help you get whatever you need to correct the problem. You can e-mail me at lahartke@comcast.net Thanks for playing Hartke my far away brother!

petermuca · #11 01-11-2012, 01:45 PM

Hello larry this is really great you are here and responded personally. I bought the rig via ebay, the cab is from germany and the amp is from cech republic, it was bought from kytary.cz I think. But it is 2cond hand, so I dont have warranty. Tomorow I will check the amp with another cab and I let you know. I have only a guitar 2x10 but for a check it will be ok I think. I write you an email or friend you on your personal facebook, can I? Thank you bro :-)

rolleharris · #12 01-11-2012, 04:39 PM

Reading this thread and the answer from Larry Hartke makes me want to sell my Ampeg rig and get Hartke instead.

JimmyM · #13 01-11-2012, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolleharris

Reading this thread and the answer from Larry Hartke makes me want to sell my Ampeg rig and get Hartke instead.

Trying to think of something funny here that offends neither my friends at Ampeg nor my friend Larry, and I'm coming up blank!

Suffice it to say that they are both great companies with great people in charge.

lowfunk99 · #14 01-11-2012, 06:40 PM

I bet guitar players don't have this connection with their manufacturers.

Larry you are the man!

petermuca · #15 01-13-2012, 11:56 AM

Update... I'we tried 2 diferent cabs. The problem is in the cabinet, the left bottom speaker is farting :-(

rolleharris · #16 01-13-2012, 12:55 PM

Disconnect it

petermuca · #17 01-23-2012, 12:09 PM

I'we sent an email to larry... No response yet, I am still waiting, maybe he is busy...

JimmyM · #18 01-23-2012, 01:06 PM

When did you send it? If Larry has ever missed an email in his life, I'd be surprised. Give him more than a couple hours, though

TinIndian · #19 01-23-2012, 01:51 PM

Tough couple of weeks for manufacturers with NAMM just finishing up. Extremely busy time of year. He'll get back to you.

Larry Hartke · #20 01-23-2012, 04:11 PM

Hey Peter,

Tin Indian is right, last week was one of the busiest weeks of the year with the NAMM show here in the USA. Everybody is just getting back from the show this week.

Since we have no Hartke distributor in Slovakia I will have to find out from our international guys how we can best get a replacement speaker to you. I'll get back to you very soon, I'm on it!