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Hartke HA3500 appreciation

D

DonBorelli

Feb 1, 2009
325
414
#1
I never knew this day would come.
I've gone through a lot of amplifiers...and I've always had this disdain for Hartke. I don't know why...maybe it is the "plain jane" look and those dodgy-looking alu speakers.

But I've recently bought a HA3500, since my old amp started acting weird all of sudden and I needed an amp fast. Money was tight, so I opted for the Hartke.

Wow...I really like this amp. I used it for the first time with an old gnarly Trace Elliot 2x15 cab last weekend. Just a nice flat and fat tone - and the graphic EQ is very useful when you want to be somewhat "precise" when bumping the mids. All favorite frequencies are there - most importantly the glorious 2khz!
Yeah and it's loud!

So here is a shout out to the old workhorse - and consider this a recommendation!
Hartke rocks!
 
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#3
Had the 3500 back in mid-00s playing dives some around Chicago. Nice amp. Total agree that it's underrated. The mosfet power section is, well, quite powerful. More juice than I ever needed for small- to mid-sized venues. Once I jived with the pre and eq, it really opened up the tone of that modest looking beast to my ears. With the tube pre on 4 and the solid state pre on 2 and cutting the freqs on the graphic eq I didn't want to emphasize as opposed to boosting the freqs I did, I was able to get a nice slightly warm tone that sounded natural and clear. I too bought it because I was able to get it cheap and needed more power than what I had on hand. Was pleasantly surprised at what it could do. On top of an Aggie 2x10 and Ampeg 1x15 it could really sing.
 
#4
I'm looking at this amp, and looking HARD. I've got a pretty limited budget, because nobody in their right mind wants to buy the head I'm currently using. (Acoustic B600) I've heard a few first hand testimonials in the last couple days, and I'll be pulling that trigger before the end of the week, I think...
 
#6
BastardCthulhu said:
I'm looking at this amp, and looking HARD. I've got a pretty limited budget, because nobody in their right mind wants to buy the head I'm currently using. (Acoustic B600) I've heard a few first hand testimonials in the last couple days, and I'll be pulling that trigger before the end of the week, I think...
Click to expand...

You could do a lot worse than the Hartke. I personally dont care fir their aluminum cone speakers but the 3500 does clarity with power. I flipped my 3500 for a Gibson GB440 which had a little more inherent warmth to it and i found myself not needing to fiddler with the eq as much but that very powerful eq on the 3500 and the blendable pres meant with proper tweaking i could get a lot of nice tone out of it. A tip if you get the amp, keeps the pres down and let the master volume do the work. Seems to give it considerable more headroom and sweetness to the tone.
 
#12
I bought one today, it comes tomorrow, with a little thanks to the comments on this thread (and David Ellefson's endorsement), so... thanks in advance.

I play bass in a 3-piece, and so need a nice punchy, clear sound that can come through the guitar, not necessarily deep and boomy, so I'm hoping that the amp with 210XL will meet my needs. I guess I'll know at our next rehearsal!
 
#13
AshInAmsterdam said:
I bought one today, it comes tomorrow, with a little thanks to the comments on this thread (and David Ellefson's endorsement), so... thanks in advance.

I play bass in a 3-piece, and so need a nice punchy, clear sound that can come through the guitar, not necessarily deep and boomy, so I'm hoping that the amp with 210XL will meet my needs. I guess I'll know at our next rehearsal!
Click to expand...
I have that same rig- The 3500 is now my backup head but I use it with a 210XL in the living room for noodling. The 210 can do small rooms, just be careful not to try to get too much low end out of it. I have a 4.5XL for gigging.
 
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#15
The Chuck said:
I have that same rig- The 3500 is now my backup head but I use it with a 210XL in the living room for noodling. The 210 can do small rooms, just be careful not to try to get too much low end out of it. I have a 4.5XL for gigging.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm planning to use the 210XL at home for fairly quiet practice (thin walls here) and leave a second cab in the rehearsal space so I only have to carry guitar and amp on my little bike...

I'm between a 4x10, or a 1x15 for second cab, to use whichever two I have on stage, thus getting the music moving and also getting a 4ohm load for the amp.
 
#16
AshInAmsterdam said:
Yeah I'm planning to use the 210XL at home for fairly quiet practice (thin walls here) and leave a second cab in the rehearsal space so I only have to carry guitar and amp on my little bike...

I'm between a 4x10, or a 1x15 for second cab, to use whichever two I have on stage, thus getting the music moving and also getting a 4ohm load for the amp.
Click to expand...
IMO- stay away from the Hartke 115, My brother has one and we both don't like it.
 
#18
I had a Hartke a couple of years ago, not sure if it was the HA3500, it was an older model but it looked similar. I will say, I was playing a gig and some passerby had tripped and spilled his entire Coca Cola he had just opened all over the amp and since it had some open slits in the top the Coke just seeped down all in the circuit board. Thankfully, a waitress saw what happened and ran over with a small towel. I wiped up all the spilled Coke the best I could but obviously I couldn't do anything about the Coke inside the amp. I turned the amp back on with little hope but it worked absolutely fine and worked fine the rest of the time I had it. I was very impressed!
 
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#19
eastcoasteddie said:
I'd like to get another 3500 (or even the 5500) with a pair of Hydrive 112's.
Click to expand...

I've been using that exact setup for a couple years, a 3500 w/ 2 x HX112s. Was always plenty in most rooms. Only trouble was getting loud enough for bigger outdoor shows. So I recently got a LH1000 and looking to get 2 more HX112s for a total of 4 hx112 cabs which should be killer and very modular/adaptable to any size space. My only complaint is I miss the graphic EQ of the 3500. In the past I used to run 2 3500's together as you can master/slave them and then EQ 2 sets of cabs independantly, did this for a while with a 410XL and an old Peavey 215D, could measure my tone on the rictor scale back then...
 
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