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Hartke HD and KB Combo Club

Yahboy

Yahboy

May 21, 2008
10,409
12,753
#1
Even Hartke HD and KB combo is not as famous as Fender Rumble at TB here , but as a KB owner , let us start a club to share/discuss our opinion, EQ setting suggestion, pro and con here.

Welcome to Hartke HD and KB Combo Club.


Here is mine, from Fender Rumble 200/150 to Hartke KB15.
The reason choose the KB15 is Tone , Watts , Loud , Tight Lo-End , Easy-Simple Tone Dial,
light weight, Great Solid tone present with Low B string .

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#3
Yahboy said:
Even Hartke HD and KB combo is not as famous as Fender Rumble at TB here , but as a KB owner , let us start a club to share/discuss our opinion, EQ setting suggestion, pro and con here.

Welcome to Hartke HD and KB Combo Club.


Here is mine, from Fender Rumble 200/150 to Hartke KB15.
The reason choose the KB15 is Tone , Watts , Loud , Tight Lo-End , Easy-Simple Tone Dial,
light weight, Great Solid tone present with Low B string .

View attachment 2772255 View attachment 2772256 View attachment 2772258
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Funny you should post this .. I'm looking to trading my Hartke LH500 with two Hydrive 112's for a small combo that I can carry but has balls and tone. Also been looking at the Fender rumble combo. I play in bands with loud drummers. One band has a large PA system and I can always use the DI output to be heard but the other band I cannot so I need all the loudness I can get from the amp. I don't want to loose any headroom so tell me.. does this KB15 hold its own in a band setting or is it just for small gigs and practice? I've seen them at my local music store just haven't tried them out yet. I need three things, 1. Lightweight, 2. Loudness/Tone, 3. Must fit in my car trunk.
 
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#4
dbase said:
Funny you should post this .. I'm looking to trading my Hartke LH500 with two Hydrive 112's for a small combo that I can carry but has balls and tone. Also been looking at the Fender rumble combo. I play in bands with loud drummers. One band has a large PA system and I can always use the DI output to be heard but the other band I cannot so I need all the loudness I can get from the amp. I don't want to loose any headroom so tell me.. does this KB15 hold its own in a band setting or is it just for small gigs and practice? I've seen them at my local music store just haven't tried them out yet. I need three things, 1. Lightweight, 2. Loudness/Tone, 3. Must fit in my car trunk.
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The KB 15 is only 15.6kg in weight and acceptable size for carrying. But i have no idea about the tone / loudness different between KB15 Vs LH500+Hy112x2.
 
#5
I am a great fan of the KB12. I don't have one but it's on my list. I tried 3 of them in three different shop. It's powerful, it sounds great, the shape knob is amazing, It has all the features I need, kickback, lots of power, tight bass and it growls like crazy.
 
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#8
So just last night I went to my local Sam Ash in Hollywood, CA and tried out their HD410 with a darkglass 900 head which i would think is a KILLER combo but I left rather disappointed. Not the cabinet but the Darkglass Head, after two hours of trying out the head I ended up switching over to Hartkes LH1000 Head and had decent results. It seemed to have done a hell of a better job than darkglass :eek:

When testing out the darkglass Head the results sounded way too boomy and untamed in volume. Especially when engaging the Microtubes, it seemed to drastically increase in volume by at least 10+dB then when disengaged my clean tones dropped by -15dB which right there is an issue. I’m pretty sure it’s an amp problem and most likely more suited on a darkglass thread I’m in but I just wanted to address it out there from personal experience.

The Hartke HD410 was very responsive on my playing when paired to the LH1000 with high end clarity and punchy low end. It was very easy shaping my tone like I do my Hartke HD500 210 I own and gig with consecutively. Loving the new upgrades Hartke has been delivering :thumbsup:
 
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#11
Hey! Hope it's not too late to join the club lol.
I recently purchased a hd25 combo. It's really great! The low end and clarity of that single '8 speaker is amazing! In the band's rehearsal room we have a A100 old Hartke combo with a 15 inch speaker. It seems both have the same punch and clarity but it's an obvious difference: volume! I'm in love with hartke lol!

Here is with my beloved gt1b.
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#14
I have had my normal rig (Hartke 210XL cab and Warwick Gnome 200w head) at my band's practice space, and have been wanting a practice amp. So I ordered this on Thursday and it arrived today. I think we're going to be very good friends.

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#15
Just found this thread when researching cabs. I've become a total KB fan after using my 12 the past 3 years. Last Sunday I had an audition with the loudest metal band I've ever heard. All older guys like me, but playing halfstacks (Egnator and Soldano) and with the drums mic'd. My little KB actually kept up. Had to pull off some bass and edged the volume to 6+ but it never farted and stayed clean. I was shocked. My regular gig gets loud but not like these guys. My ears rang for 24 hrs. There was a Fender 400 Pro 2x10 combo there I could have used but I wanted to drive the KB12 as far as I could. I just turned toward the guitarists and cranked it. Figured I'd pop a speaker. But it hung. I think the KB15 would have been even better and would have filled the building more fully.

Again ... hugely impressed with these things. My wife just bought an HD50 for herself and I have a pair of HD115s in-process for my 'big rig. Love Hartke stuff.
 
#16
I should have mentioned, this was using my fretted 5er, SR505e. The little monster box doesn't miss a beat on a down-tuned 'B' string. Half the songs were in drop-D and tuned half step down. No sweat.
 
#20
Here’s my latest Hartke setup. I went from the HD115 and HD 410 with a LH1000 head to the HL410 and HL210 Lightweight cabs with the LH1000 head. Sounds amazing! I really can’t believe after all these years since my earlier post in 2018 that there have been hardly any posts in the Hartke Club. I live mine and I know there has to be a lot of people out there playing Hartke. I also have a KB12 500 watt for a more portable rig. Here is a pic.
 

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