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Advice on Hartke amps

#22
JimmyM said:
It is not ignorant to ask. It is only ignorant to ask, then ignore good advice from people who know. I'm 50, and have been playing for 37 years, and a few years ago I started hanging in amps out of a desire to know what's really doing with my rigs after decades of not caring. Had a lot of my preconceptions shattered, and basically had to relearn everything I thought I knew. But when someone knew something I didn't and had the background to back it up, I listened and learned, and made things a lot better for myself in the process.

So like I said, not knowing something doesn't make you a dope. Not knowing something, asking a question, then ignoring good advice does make you a dope, however. Nice to see you're in the first category...it's a never ending process, and it's fun and makes things better for you when you play. So keep up the good work!
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Thankyou :) The tone I'm looking for is something with a warm, growly low end, but a bright high end for slap/soloing/fills etc.
Can you think of anything along the lines of this?

thankyou again :)
 
#24
I saw you mentioned the Hydrive cabs. Although (to me!!) they do sound great, they seem to like a lot of juice to get them moving as they are a sealed cab. Not saying your amp wouldn't work, but you might find yourself running out of headroom pretty quickly depending on how loud you want to get. YMMV
 
#25
TombassCaton said:
Thankyou :) The tone I'm looking for is something with a warm, growly low end, but a bright high end for slap/soloing/fills etc.
Can you think of anything along the lines of this?

thankyou again :)
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Well if you like Hartke, I'd suggest the Hydrive 410's. Respect to jjk2007, but I found the opposite to be true about needing power. They are neos and they do go low in a sealed cab, but I don't think they're any more demanding than any other cab, and 300-500w should power them nicely.
 
#26
JimmyM said:
Well if you like Hartke, I'd suggest the Hydrive 410's. Respect to jjk2007, but I found the opposite to be true about needing power. They are neos and they do go low in a sealed cab, but I don't think they're any more demanding than any other cab, and 300-500w should power them nicely.
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No worries Jimmy. The OP might plug his amp in and find it works just fine for him. I was just thinking back to when I used an EA amp and a MB F1 through that cab for a little bit and it seemed I had to crank them up to get that cab singing. Once again just my experience. ;)
 
#27
I have the Hartke 410 Transporter and I love it. I used to be in to the 215 cabs but when I tried the 410 Hartke I heard stuff I never knew was coming out of my bass. I haven't played the Hydrives yet but for the price you can get on a 410 Transporter now I highly recommend them. If you play outdoors a lot 2 of them might be necessary but just one moves a lot of air.
 
#28
I've been using a Hartke 7000 head and 410xl cab (sometimes with a carvin 115) for about 18 years now. I really like the cabs. Nice and crisp, lots of snap in the high end. Great for slap, though not real warm sounding. My head has been lots of trouble. It has always lived in a rack case, though it did get pretty jostled on more than a few occasions (drunk load outs in college). There have been a series of problems. The worst was that one of the two power amps burned out. It is still overpowered for my needs with just one (350 into two cabs, and compared to other 350 watt heads I've used, seems louder). The other problem has been a series of loose solder connections inside. I've had them resoldered twice, and still have crackling issues and things that seem like a bad connection in the innards somewhere. I haven't really gigged in years, but if I start again, I'm tossing the head because it no longer seems gig worthy. Not sure if this was a QC issue (or if it was, if it hasn't been resolved since 93 when I bought it), or more a matter of living a rough life.
 
#29
Iv'e played the same exact rig a few times, rented for big stages.

It's not my favorite, but I can say that for the price, it can't be beat. Very nice power and punch. Also played this head in different combinations: 4x10 only, 1x15 only and 4x10 combo. The combo sucked, cab+head was better but the 4x10+1x15 sounded best. Never tried this head with 2 4x10 cabs or 2 1x15 cabs so can't say if it's better.
 
#30
shtik said:
Iv'e played the same exact rig a few times, rented for big stages.

It's not my favorite, but I can say that for the price, it can't be beat. Very nice power and punch. Also played this head in different combinations: 4x10 only, 1x15 only and 4x10 combo. The combo sucked, cab+head was better but the 4x10+1x15 sounded best. Never tried this head with 2 4x10 cabs or 2 1x15 cabs so can't say if it's better.
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I have, and it is ;) The 410/115 rig will sound better just because there's an extra speaker, but it just doesn't sound as good as matching cabs.
 
#31
Is there anyone who has used both XL and Hydrive cabs and can talk about the differences?

I own a 210XL which is ok. At the moment I pair it with an old EV TL bin but I wonder if I would get a better sound from a modern cab. Aside from the greater power handling, are Hydrives noticeably better in construction quality or tone?
 

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