Alright 15 years ago I had a Hartke 3500 mosfet with an Eden xlt 210 and 115. This rig had thunder to spare, practice volume was about 3. At 5 you could barely hear the drummer.
So, life changed. I got a new job, wife, kids, and money got tight. So I sold everything. I'm not complaining, I've been very happy. However, I now have more time, and that old itch, so i've been getting back into it. In the last 15 years everything seems to have changed. I can't find any store within 100 miles that has good used, or even new, gear. So I'm trying to buy online. I bought the bass I wanted here on TB and I'm very happy with it. I also bought an Avatar B210 neo. I don't know much about all the new amps so I decided to go with what I knew. So I picked up a HA3500 thinking it was the same as the one I Had.
What a huge let down. This thing has got no power at all. I looked it over for problems, nothing. I had It looked over by a tech, nothing. So I called Hartke. This is what I was told.
The power output for the Ha3500 is the same as the 3500 mosfet, the difference is the potentiomiter (volume pot). He told me if I turn it up enough it will be just as loud. I've had this new one up to 8 and it is not half as loud as the one i used to have at 3. He also told me to turn up the master volume to max and use the volume pot on my bass to set the volume. I have always understood this to be a very bad idea with this type of amp.
Am I missing something? I don't pass my problems on to other people so if this amp is junk I've now got a $200 boat anchor.
Has anyone else had this problem with the HA3500's?
