Hi everyone!
A small background info type of thing, do feel free to skip if you just wish to get straight into the question: I’m nearly 40 years old, been playing a little bass here and there all my life. I’ve done a couple of recordings and some gigs subbing for a band, but years ago. I am definitely not a pro by any means, but I do have some experience and I can hold my own if the music is not too technical. My main instrument is drums but I also play a little guitar and keyboards and like to program samplers and drum machines and the likes. Been getting heavily into recording and audio engineering and all that stuff in the last couple of years, slowly building up a nice little home studio.
Current bass is a short scale Fender Mustang.
Until now I’ve only been DI’ng the bass, but I felt I needed (wanted) to have more control and possibilities in shaping the sound before going in the DAW so I decided I should get an amp. And also, I do love the sound of bass flowing through the air and the feeling of soundwaves hitting you. I mean, who doesn’t?
I ordered an Ashdown RM combo online, loved the sound but the unit had issues so had to send it back. Decided to go a little cheaper and try a Roland 120XL bass Cube (I have one of those new Blues Cubes for guitar and I absolutely love that amp) but it was really not what I was looking for. Felt like a practice amp, I guess.
So decided to shop around used and managed to find a Hartke set up consisting of a 3500 MOSFET 210 combo and a 115 cab to go along with it. The Transient Attack stuff. Went to check it out today, but the combo was not working properly - one of the 10” speakers was making a rattling, buzzing kind of noise. We unhooked the 210 and used only the 115 cab, and it worked perfectly - the sound (and power) was on another level compared to the Roland. We settled on a lower price for them and I took both of them home. Once home, I removed the amp out of the combo and placed the head on top of the 115 and I am now very happy with the sound I am getting out of this thing. Very powerful and super clean, but easy to dial in some clack if needed.
However, I wouldn’t mind getting the 210 to work also. So, my question is, is there possibly a similar speaker for that combo available that I should be looking into? I tried checking the Hartke pages but couldn’t find anything.
Or could I make do with any 10” basically?
Also, if I replace only one of the speakers, does that make a difference?
I am a total noob when it comes to this amp stuff - I’ve basically always been playing on loaned or rented gear, and the band I was subbing in for wanted a certain sound so their sound guy set me up when needed. And it was mostly clean tones anyway. I just bought me my first own guitar amp this year, and I’ve never had a head + cab set of any kind, so this stuff is totally new to me.
The guy who sold me the set called me up afterwards, he was feeling kinda bad that the combo wasn’t working properly (he told me he hasn’t been using it for a while, he assumed someone else had used it without permission and got crazy with the settings and volume and blew one of the 10s up) and he offered to hook me up with some newer Hartke speakers from a newer cab he has and fix them into the combo. But, as my budget is kinda tight I was wondering whether I might be able to go about it myself without having to pay anyone else to do it. Also, I’m trying to learn to do as much of this stuff as possible myself. So, if there is some specific type of speaker to look for then I’m interested in that.
Any advice is appreciated. Been reading up on the forums for a while, lots of good stuff here.
Oh and btw, if it makes any difference, I’ll be mostly recording heavier rock stuff (Tool, Kyuss etc for some sort of sonic reference), but also some hip hop and R&B type of stuff. So big, clean, smooth and powerful is what I’m going for, and something that takes pedals well. I have an EHX Russian big muff and am contemplating on a dark glass of some sort, but that’s a whole another can of beans.
So, ummm. Kudos to you if you actually read this far... I’ll try to keep it shorter from now on, this sht is like reading a novel lol
Here she is.
A small background info type of thing, do feel free to skip if you just wish to get straight into the question: I’m nearly 40 years old, been playing a little bass here and there all my life. I’ve done a couple of recordings and some gigs subbing for a band, but years ago. I am definitely not a pro by any means, but I do have some experience and I can hold my own if the music is not too technical. My main instrument is drums but I also play a little guitar and keyboards and like to program samplers and drum machines and the likes. Been getting heavily into recording and audio engineering and all that stuff in the last couple of years, slowly building up a nice little home studio.
Current bass is a short scale Fender Mustang.
Until now I’ve only been DI’ng the bass, but I felt I needed (wanted) to have more control and possibilities in shaping the sound before going in the DAW so I decided I should get an amp. And also, I do love the sound of bass flowing through the air and the feeling of soundwaves hitting you. I mean, who doesn’t?
I ordered an Ashdown RM combo online, loved the sound but the unit had issues so had to send it back. Decided to go a little cheaper and try a Roland 120XL bass Cube (I have one of those new Blues Cubes for guitar and I absolutely love that amp) but it was really not what I was looking for. Felt like a practice amp, I guess.
So decided to shop around used and managed to find a Hartke set up consisting of a 3500 MOSFET 210 combo and a 115 cab to go along with it. The Transient Attack stuff. Went to check it out today, but the combo was not working properly - one of the 10” speakers was making a rattling, buzzing kind of noise. We unhooked the 210 and used only the 115 cab, and it worked perfectly - the sound (and power) was on another level compared to the Roland. We settled on a lower price for them and I took both of them home. Once home, I removed the amp out of the combo and placed the head on top of the 115 and I am now very happy with the sound I am getting out of this thing. Very powerful and super clean, but easy to dial in some clack if needed.
However, I wouldn’t mind getting the 210 to work also. So, my question is, is there possibly a similar speaker for that combo available that I should be looking into? I tried checking the Hartke pages but couldn’t find anything.
Or could I make do with any 10” basically?
Also, if I replace only one of the speakers, does that make a difference?
I am a total noob when it comes to this amp stuff - I’ve basically always been playing on loaned or rented gear, and the band I was subbing in for wanted a certain sound so their sound guy set me up when needed. And it was mostly clean tones anyway. I just bought me my first own guitar amp this year, and I’ve never had a head + cab set of any kind, so this stuff is totally new to me.
The guy who sold me the set called me up afterwards, he was feeling kinda bad that the combo wasn’t working properly (he told me he hasn’t been using it for a while, he assumed someone else had used it without permission and got crazy with the settings and volume and blew one of the 10s up) and he offered to hook me up with some newer Hartke speakers from a newer cab he has and fix them into the combo. But, as my budget is kinda tight I was wondering whether I might be able to go about it myself without having to pay anyone else to do it. Also, I’m trying to learn to do as much of this stuff as possible myself. So, if there is some specific type of speaker to look for then I’m interested in that.
Any advice is appreciated. Been reading up on the forums for a while, lots of good stuff here.
Oh and btw, if it makes any difference, I’ll be mostly recording heavier rock stuff (Tool, Kyuss etc for some sort of sonic reference), but also some hip hop and R&B type of stuff. So big, clean, smooth and powerful is what I’m going for, and something that takes pedals well. I have an EHX Russian big muff and am contemplating on a dark glass of some sort, but that’s a whole another can of beans.
So, ummm. Kudos to you if you actually read this far... I’ll try to keep it shorter from now on, this sht is like reading a novel lol
Here she is.
