Hartke 3500 Issues: Clicking sound on attack

[Ezmar]

okay, got home to test it, and as I'd guessed, switching it to the active input alleviates the problem, but it's still there. I don't know what to do from here, if I need to switch pickups, lower them and sacrifice some of the hotness of tone... I don't want to try and EQ it out, because that would be too much of a sacrifice because I like having the Higher frequencies in my tone. Any thoughts?

 

[BurningSkies]

okay, got home to test it, and as I'd guessed, switching it to the active input alleviates the problem, but it's still there. I don't know what to do from here, if I need to switch pickups, lower them and sacrifice some of the hotness of tone... I don't want to try and EQ it out, because that would be too much of a sacrifice because I like having the Higher frequencies in my tone. Any thoughts?

Does it go away if you turn down the bass a bit?

 

[Ezmar]

On the Bass? Almost certainly will. But will I have to do that? I have a Fender Squier J, and I adjust my tone with the pickup mix, and It will screw up the proportions if I don't have them all the way up, or one of them, or whatever. I mean, if it has to come to that, I'll cope, but... I'd rather not have to. It might even be affected enough by the input that it wouldn't be noticeable at all in a concert setting. We'll see, I guess.

 

[BurningSkies]

On the Bass? Almost certainly will. But will I have to do that? I have a Fender Squier J, and I adjust my tone with the pickup mix, and It will screw up the proportions if I don't have them all the way up, or one of them, or whatever. I mean, if it has to come to that, I'll cope, but... I'd rather not have to. It might even be affected enough by the input that it wouldn't be noticeable at all in a concert setting. We'll see, I guess.

It will give you an idea if you're clipping the pre because they bass is producing too much signal. If you turn it down a bit and the clicking goes away, then I'd bring the pickups down in the bass to the point where, when you play with the bass' volume all the way up you don't clip the input of the amp.

 

[grendle]

I don't clip the pre on mine and I'm running spectors with emg's with bass and treble boosted. Kinda hard to clip the pre on a hartke . He 's not running too hot with a squire. I'm willing to bet he might have a loose pickup or getting some string slap off the fretboard. You can pretty much cut the last band on either end of the eq without it being that noticeable. Hard to tell without hearing it. Post a clip and we'll be able to narrow it down. Nothing flashy just the noise your talking about. Knowing how your amp is set up will help too.

 

[Ezmar]

I really don't know if I can get a clip... All I have is a crappy phone camcorder, and I don't feel like I'll be getting very good sound out of it. I just had the bass set up over the summer, albeit with a single gauge lower of string, but I don't see how the pickups would be too high... I don't think the problem is with the amp so much, but I really can't afford another guitar. I might be doing some shows in a bit, too, after the next couple of months, so I want to try and get this squared away as much as I can.

Well if you say it's hard to clip the pre on a Hartke, could that mean that there's something funny with the tube? It only noticeably does it with that preamp, and I DID get it used, so... I really have no idea if an old tube would cause something like that at all, though...

My whole experience with this amp has been something of a disappointment, the sound has been harsh in general, but I think that's probably how I'm EQing it. I think the Ideal solution would be a different Bass, but I'm really not in the market for a new bass at all. I don't know if it's just me, or if I've been getting a lot of frustration from my bass lately. Like little things like unstable action, weird intonation, slightly cheap sound... I feel like I would do much better with a nicer instrument. But I think that might just be me... I don't know... I mean, I think I could fix the stuff with intonation and action fairly easily, and maybe I could get a better sound with some nicer Pickups, but I don't know if that would really be worth it...

This kind of doesn't belong in "Amps" anymore, does it?

 

[monkeyking]

^ I think it still belongs here as I'm guessing that upgrading the amp has resulted in upgrading your skill with the amp too.

Frankly, this is a great thread and the wealth of suggestions and information should reveal that, for those of us who've owned them, you never stop loving your Hartke 3500.

I think you've also answered a lot of your own questions with some helpful diagnostic nudges. The truth may lie in a combination of factors, but you probably are clipping the pre-amp. Like Burning Skies, I usually ran my pre-s at about 10 oclock on the tube, about 8 oclock on the SS, then ran the master for any adjustment from there. Since the problem is less when using the active input, that's a good bet.

I've run my active Conklin into that amp with no problem. Same goes for my Lightwave which is a very hot signal.

You also mentioned that the amp sounds harsh and that may be the way you're EQ'ing it. Ding Ding Ding! As someone adroitly stated earlier, the 3500 is a surprisingly "hi-fi" head. Without knowing (or disparaging) your previous amp, it may very well be that your hearing things from your bass that were masked before. It took me a long time to learn that a little adjustment on the amp can go a long way.

My experience with less pricey basses is that they tend to require more attention in terms of the things you mentioned like intonation, action, neck stability and all. That may well be the case here, but it doesn't mean that it's time to ditch it. Maybe just a tweak to better match it to a more revealing amp.

Now that I've made this lengthy post I'm sure someone will have discovered the real problem and have posted it before me.

 

[Ezmar]

So, a thought, if I had my bass set up with 35-90 strings, and then switched to 40-95 strings, could that make the pickups closer than they should be to the strings? I just broke a string, so it's time for a new set, I'll grab the lighter gauge and see what happens.

Thanks a lot, I'm kind of a newb, but I figure that's what you guys are here for.

 

[grendle]

I would suggest using the tube pre only (sounds killer with a good non stock tube ). Set everything at 12:00 and the graphic flat (or off) and see if it makes the noise. Start eq ing your sound with the low and hi filters first. Try the compressor around 12:00 (green constant) . After you get in the ball park with the high and low filters, use the graphic eq. A little goes a long way.

 

[will33]

If you actually broke a string you're playing way too hard and/or not changing them anywhere near often enough. Plenty of advise and things to try in this thread already, you're just going to have to try some of them. Use process of elimination to isolate the problem.

Earlier you mentioned one of the eq sliders was broke off. What frequency is it and is the piece still inside pushed up? If so, take a little nail or paperclip or something, stick it in there and move that slider back to the middle.

 

[Ezmar]

If you actually broke a string you're playing way too hard and/or not changing them anywhere near often enough. Plenty of advise and things to try in this thread already, you're just going to have to try some of them. Use process of elimination to isolate the problem.

Earlier you mentioned one of the eq sliders was broke off. What frequency is it and is the piece still inside pushed up? If so, take a little nail or paperclip or something, stick it in there and move that slider back to the middle.

Hm... Really? Breaking strings DOES happen, and I'd think to me especially because I use fairly light gauge Roundwounds and play fairly hard every day for a fair amount of time. That combined with the fact that my bridge might be kind of harsh on the strings means that I break strings pretty often. I probably do play harder than I need to sometimes, but I don't really think that it's causing a huge decrease in string life. Anyway, I think it's probably something with the bass, because the problem doesn't go away no matter how low the pre is set. So it's probably something with the electronics somehow. I think I might ask around in the Pickups section to see what I can find out over there.

And it wasn't broken, it was just missing the little cap. still perfectly functional.

 

[BurningSkies]

Wow. I haven't broken a string in 20 years. And when I did break strings it was because I used stainless steel picks and played WAY too hard.

 

[tjh]

this may be extremely out of left field, but could it be a grounding issue?? .. I have a couple of the same basses and at home, through an old Peavey practice amp I use, I get a 'static type pop' when I am not muting or making contact with the strings continually while playing ... these basses are not shielded very well, so it is more noticable on them than the others I have .. also, with it being only the G string (which the pop is more noticable on than the other 3), it may be something in your technique that totally clears the strings so when contact is made, it 'Crackles' .... I may not explained it well, but send me a PM with your phone number and I will demonstrate it over the phone and we can see if that is the sound you are hearing .... just a hunch, but it doesn't cost anything ... BTW, is this only happening when you are playing at home, or out at a variety of locations also??

 

[BurningSkies]

this may be extremely out of left field, but could it be a grounding issue?? .. I have a couple of the same basses and at home, through an old Peavey practice amp I use, I get a 'static type pop' when I am not muting or making contact with the strings continually while playing ... these basses are not shielded very well, so it is more noticable on them than the others I have .. also, with it being only the G string (which the pop is more noticable on than the other 3), it may be something in your technique that totally clears the strings so when contact is made, it 'Crackles' .... I may not explained it well, but send me a PM with your phone number and I will demonstrate it over the phone and we can see if that is the sound you are hearing .... just a hunch, but it doesn't cost anything ... BTW, is this only happening when you are playing at home, or out at a variety of locations also??

Not so out of left field... I posted the chance that it was a static electricity problem earlier in the thread, which would be about on par with a grounding issue.

Are you also sure it's not static electricity? One of the guitarists I played with for about 10 years had a strat that for some reason, in playing generated a static shock between his pick, the pickguard and the strings. In a live setting we noticed something was up, but one night when we were recording it became very noticeable and produced an 'electric click' sound with each 'chop'. It didn't happen with a different guitar, and once he changed out the wiring harness and pickguard, it never happened again.