Problems with Hartke HA 3500

Basstard Boy · #1 06-11-2010, 08:24 PM

I am a newbie and glad to be a part of this Bass community. I am impressed with all of info on this site.
I am a guitarist who has switched to bass over the past 2 years. I have been in a band (playing bass) for the past few months and now we have some upcoming gigs. Unfortunately the 120W combo amp I have been using is not going to cut it on stage, so I bought a used Hartke HA 3500 (350W) and Hartke 1508 cab (15x8x8). I had very little money and this setup sounded great, was in great condition and dirt cheap.
At practice last night I noticed a smell coming from the 8" speakers (like they were catching on fire). I was running the rig pretty hard to keep up with the guitarist who is always too loud. We had an extra 15" cab with 8 ohms and I hooked it up in parallel with the Hartke cab. Immediately the smell went away and I noticed that I was so loud that I had to turn the amp down to 3. I assume this is because of the Ohms going from 8 to 4 with the cabs in parallel. This set up worked great, however I really only want to play with one cabinet due to space limitations in my vehicle and having a bad back. Today the same thing happened again. Of note, I was using an effects pedal that has its own output level that was cranked up all the way (I had it in line between the bass and amp, not using the send/return) -- could this be part of the problem?
I am not the brightest guy in the world and although I read through the FAQ section, I am not really sure how to proceed without spending a fortune. I really don't want to catch on fire during our first gig, and I definitely want to keep the bass head.
The Amp head is 350w @ 4 Ohms and 240w @ 8 Ohms. The cabinet is 350W 8 Ohm. Am I just under powering the cabinet? Is there a problem with the wiring or the 8" speakers? If I buy a new cabinet, what ohms/watts should I get so that I can stay with a half stack? I have really come to like Hartke equipment -- it seems to be pretty good for the money. Any suggestions about a different Hartke cabinet? I saw a few 15x15 350w 8Ohm cabinets pretty cheap on line -- would this solve the problem? Any mods that I can make to the cabinet I have?
I'm sorry this is such a lame first post, but any help would be appreciated since our first gig is coming up in less than 2 weeks.

**B-string** · #2 06-11-2010, 08:41 PM

Two 15" speakers will be much louder than one even if the impedance (ohms) remain unchanged. You want a single cab only option get a 410 cab, single 15" is not going to cut it.

Oh and the harmonics from the pedal were probably cooking the 8" mid. speaker.

Basstard Boy · #3 06-11-2010, 08:49 PM

Thanks. I have a friend with a 4x10 cab, might try it out. I'm going to try the rig without the pedal and see what happens. Is it safer to use the send/return jacks instead. I never used them with my guitar stack.

**B-string** · #4 06-11-2010, 08:56 PM

The added harmonics either before the amp or between the preamp and power amp (effects loop) will still cause problems with overdriving smaller mid range speakers at high power levels.
I think the 410 will work much better for you.

Basstard Boy · #5 06-11-2010, 09:05 PM

I think I'll ditch the pedal and try out the 4x10 next week. Thanks.

**B-string** · #6 06-11-2010, 09:10 PM

The 10's will have larger voice coils than can dissipate more heat than the 8". I don't use pedals, so loosing the pedal till you learn more about bass equipment is a good idea IMHO. The 410 will give you more sound for your efforts.