New Hartke, crossing fingers

[Sweet Tea]

Just got a new LH1000 and a demo'd 410 HyDrive from Sweetwater. Arrived today. Hooked it up quick as I was anxious to get a listen. Rick 4003 --> MXR M80(for just a hint of dirt) --> LH1000

Immediately thought I had a neat tone but the amp was a bit hissier than I had imagined. Later I realized that I was getting some clipping with the distortion on the M80 off. Not good!

At which point I whip out the manual and realize I should apparently be running it in bridge mode with a Speakon cable. I had just been running a speaker cable from head to cab like I would on any other cab.

I saw some of the other articles about the "frying egg" scenario. Hopefully I just have a tube issue and didn't do any damage to the cab or head with my improper setup. I had my volume at about 9 o'clock and was only noodling around for about 10-15 minutes.

First going to go out and grab a Speakon cable tomorrow somewhere. If the correct cable fixes the issue then hooray...if not going to give Sweetwater and/or Hartke a call tomorrow and see what I can do.

Crossing fingers that I didn't hurt my new toy!

If anyone has any experience or advice for this type of situation it would be greatly appreciated!

[Zooberwerx]

I looked at the manual and, strangely enough, the Hartke bridged configuration is +1, -1 not +1, +2 as seen with conventional bridged Speakon connections. IOW, a standard Speakon-equipped speaker cable will work. OTOH, I don't have a clue as to whether this will help with the "hiss" problem.

Afterthought edit: your set-up was not improper although it was not the most efficient way to power the 410. It's perfectly safe to run a conventional 1/4" speaker cable from either output A or B without worry of frying components. Granted, you'll only be pushing ~200-300 watts per side which is fine for the moment...you will want to bridge for gig applications, I'm sure. Whenever I hear the term "hiss", I immediately think of the signal chain including FX and preamp. First thing I'd do is remove everything from the path including the MXR. What inputs and EQ settings are you using? Make sure the bridge switch (reverse of console) is in the off position when running dual mono.

Oh, yeah...you may want to attenuate the horn / tweeter if possible. Depending on the rig, they can be notorious for accentuating high-end noise.

Riis

[Sweet Tea]

Only effect was that MXR M80, which I took out of the loop while investigating the tonal oddity. Ric 4003 going into the passive input. EQ set 5-5-5. Bright off. Limiter on. Tweeter on full. Also getting random crackles and pops(making me think it's the tube).

Thank you very much for your response. The community on here is very knowledgable. I'm glad I didn't do any damage by not reading the manual and hopping right in.

Going to give Sweetwater a ring and see what they think. I'll keep you posted. Once again thanks for the quick response!

[Sweet Tea]

Also, supposing I need another 12AX7, what would be a good one to use? My experience prior has been all solid-state...I suppose that makes me a tube noob...

[will33]

Originally Posted by Sweet Tea

Only effect was that MXR M80, which I took out of the loop while investigating the tonal oddity. Ric 4003 going into the passive input. EQ set 5-5-5. Bright off. Limiter on. Tweeter on full. Also getting random crackles and pops(making me think it's the tube).

Thank you very much for your response. The community on here is very knowledgable. I'm glad I didn't do any damage by not reading the manual and hopping right in.

Going to give Sweetwater a ring and see what they think. I'll keep you posted. Once again thanks for the quick response!

It's a fender tonestack. "Flat" is 2-10-2. 5-5-5 is mids scooped, bass and treble boosted, which could explain some of the hiss. On those tonestacks, bass and treble are pretty much boost only although you have to turn them up a notch or two to make sound....mid is cut only.

[jjk2007]

I run the EQ on my LH1000 @ 3-10-0. I have the horn set to the -6db setting on my Hydrive 410. I notice a little hiss if I'm playing/practicing solo, but never notice it at all in the band mix. YMMV

[Larry Hartke]

Hey thanks Will33, that's what I was going to say! And Brother Sweet Tea no worries, just give me a call or e-mail me, we'll get it right.

201-680-8153 Cell
lahartke@comcast.net

Thanks for playing Hartke!

[will33]

Mr. Hartke, you're one helluva guy.

You guys want to know what customer service is? This is it.

[Sweet Tea]

BTW, switched the amp to a different electrical outlet and nabbed a Speakon cable. Tone and volume improved nicely. Still a hint of hiss, but I was rocking the tweeter with my jazz bass, so it's probably unavoidable. That same jazz bass used to hiss through an Ampeg SVT 8x10 so that's probably just going to come with the territory. I played my active p/j bass(currently has flats on it) and there was no hiss. I have mixed feelings about those flats(roto jazz) but that's an entirely different thread.

However, I have a question about the Limiter. When pressed in, should it go "orange" to signify it being on, or does it flash orange when it's actually limiting? I haven't been able to get it to do either yet!

Also, thanks for stopping by Larry! The excellent customer service that comes with Hartke is one of the reasons I hopped over(that and the sparkly tone). I'll give you a ring if I need anything!

@jjk2007 - I will keep that in mind with the EQ. I usually run a flat-ish setting.

[Sweet Tea]

Still having the crazy buzz/hiss issue, especially with my jazz bass. I expect a certain amount, but it seems like I have a lot, compared to my GK 400RB-III.

Also, still not sure if that Limiter is working properly. Should it light up when engaged?

Thanks in advance for your responses.