Hartke HyDrive HD112 and TX600 test

[enricogaletta]

Hey guys,
here is my first video with my new Hartke rig.
I have to say that I really like the way how this cab and head sounds.
In this particular video I worked on some grooves with different dynamics and I recorded the bass using the DI from the TX600 and merging it with the signal from the mic on the cab.
It's a great combination, the DI has a perfect clean tone and the cab add the perfect warm/punchy tone needed.
The HD cab compared to the previous series, are a bit warmer and punchy.
I read on some previous post that several people feels a lack of power from the TX600, I did the same at beginning, but after studying and working with it I understood better how the TX600 works. It's very different from other class D amp and I will release soon a video talking about it.
Meanwhile hope you enjoying this first test. Happy New Year!

 

[fivestringdan]

Hartke just make great stuff. I'm a convert to their amps. Clean/loud! I see you have an LH series, eq is almost the same on the TX. Not much of a learning curve if you understood how tonestack works.

 

[enricogaletta]

Hartke just make great stuff. I'm a convert to their amps. Clean/loud! I see you have an LH series, eq is almost the same on the TX. Not much of a learning curve if you understood how tonestack works.

Yeah man I agree with you. I was surprised when I recently checked all these new Hartke products, great versatility.
I have been always a preamp/tone nerd with a personal collection or preamps but these are amazing because are very easy to use and you can get great tone without working too much on tone curve.
The fact that both preamp LH1000 (great mid choice) and the TX600 (mids the only relevant difference) are boost type only, very different from other brands from where you start on tone working with all the frequency on 12 o'clock position, make the versatility of the head already incredible using very low amount of each frequency starting from 0.
Simple, versatile and powerful.
Happy New Year fellas!!

 

[himluis1]

Yeah man I agree with you. I was surprised when I recently checked all these new Hartke products, great versatility.
I have been always a preamp/tone nerd with a personal collection or preamps but these are amazing because are very easy to use and you can get great tone without working too much on tone curve.
The fact that both preamp LH1000 (great mid choice) and the TX600 (mids the only relevant difference) are boost type only, very different from other brands from where you start on tone working with all the frequency on 12 o'clock position, make the versatility of the head already incredible using very low amount of each frequency starting from 0.
Simple, versatile and powerful.
Happy New Year fellas!!

have u use this rig in any live situation ? i currently own a 2x10 hydrive cab and im looking at this tx600 amp but heard some complaints about volume and output level ... how about your experience with it ? thanks

 

[enricogaletta]

have u use this rig in any live situation ? i currently own a 2x10 hydrive cab and im looking at this tx600 amp but heard some complaints about volume and output level ... how about your experience with it ? thanks

I used this rig live already and the TX600 worked well with both one 1x12 or two 1x12 cabs.
Honestly, at the beginning, I had the same impressions, lack of power making me thinking, 600w really?
But then I experimented to understand better how this head works and I found out that the TX600 works more as a ClassA guitar amp than a general Class-D light bass amp. I'll try to explain best I can:

All the ClassD I had until now (the last one was the Aguilar TH500) works more or less at the same.
Let's resume in this way, you get an extremely punch and high output level already when you turn the master from 7 to 10 o'clock. You can go ahead usually up to 1-2 o'clock keeping listening to an increase of volume than usually you start to hear the bass clipping and you have to stop the volume run.
Even if you low the gain, you will hear a very low increase up to the maximum level. Each time I played live with my last rig 1-2 o'clock was the maximum I can get.

The TX600 works differently and to understand better you need to abandon the visual idea to have high output with a small amount of your master volume knob.
First of all, it's important to set the gain at a maximum possible level before it clips (guitar tube amp concept) and to help to reach that, the TX600 gain start to flashing yellow when you're reaching the top and red when you got it. So yellow is good or a little less is better.

Then you will see how the Damp works. The control has a real gradual increase.
From the 7 to 11 o'clock the range increase of the volume is very slow, probably designed for practicing home/studio, than from 11 to 1 o'clock even if the knob range make a short run, the head start to increase the volume faster, than from 1 o'clock to the maximum the increase is very fast, short increases and you will hear several differences even between two dots, a fast boosting of power to make you think, hey what's happening it?
The fun thing is that, if you set the right amount of gain as well the preamp (speaking of, is a boost type, not cut/boost, very important difference) you can have the master knob to the maximum, with all the power output and never a clipped tone.
I attached some pics to resume the explanation. If you need more help please let me know.
Ciao.

 

[himluis1]

I used this rig live already and the TX600 worked well with both one 1x12 or two 1x12 cabs.
Honestly, at the beginning, I had the same impressions, lack of power making me thinking, 600w really?
But then I experimented to understand better how this head works and I found out that the TX600 works more as a ClassA guitar amp than a general Class-D light bass amp. I'll try to explain best I can:

All the ClassD I had until now (the last one was the Aguilar TH500) works more or less at the same.
Let's resume in this way, you get an extremely punch and high output level already when you turn the master from 7 to 10 o'clock. You can go ahead usually up to 1-2 o'clock keeping listening to an increase of volume than usually you start to hear the bass clipping and you have to stop the volume run.
Even if you low the gain, you will hear a very low increase up to the maximum level. Each time I played live with my last rig 1-2 o'clock was the maximum I can get.

The TX600 works differently and to understand better you need to abandon the visual idea to have high output with a small amount of your master volume knob.
First of all, it's important to set the gain at a maximum possible level before it clips (guitar tube amp concept) and to help to reach that, the TX600 gain start to flashing yellow when you're reaching the top and red when you got it. So yellow is good or a little less is better.

Then you will see how the Damp works. The control has a real gradual increase.
From the 7 to 11 o'clock the range increase of the volume is very slow, probably designed for practicing home/studio, than from 11 to 1 o'clock even if the knob range make a short run, the head start to increase the volume faster, than from 1 o'clock to the maximum the increase is very fast, short increases and you will hear several differences even between two dots, a fast boosting of power to make you think, hey what's happening it?
The fun thing is that, if you set the right amount of gain as well the preamp (speaking of, is a boost type, not cut/boost, very important difference) you can have the master knob to the maximum, with all the power output and never a clipped tone.
I attached some pics to resume the explanation. If you need more help please let me know.
Ciao.
View attachment 2863592
View attachment 2863593

Amazing Response and even better explanation ! Thanks ... i just got a single 210 hydrive bass cab and im looking to re-do my whole rig and make it a hartke one , but i currently own a light bass head and didnt want to get a big heavy one so this is a good option at this moment , again thanks

 

[BrentSimons]

Hey guys,
here is my first video with my new Hartke rig.
I have to say that I really like the way how this cab and head sounds.
In this particular video I worked on some grooves with different dynamics and I recorded the bass using the DI from the TX600 and merging it with the signal from the mic on the cab.
It's a great combination, the DI has a perfect clean tone and the cab add the perfect warm/punchy tone needed.
The HD cab compared to the previous series, are a bit warmer and punchy.
I read on some previous post that several people feels a lack of power from the TX600, I did the same at beginning, but after studying and working with it I understood better how the TX600 works. It's very different from other class D amp and I will release soon a video talking about it.
Meanwhile hope you enjoying this first test. Happy New Year!

That sounds great! Solid playing too!
Best wishes,
Brent

 

[enricogaletta]

Amazing Response and even better explanation ! Thanks ... i just got a single 210 hydrive bass cab and im looking to re-do my whole rig and make it a hartke one , but i currently own a light bass head and didnt want to get a big heavy one so this is a good option at this moment , again thanks

Glad you found it useful, please let me know if you need further help!

That sounds great! Solid playing too!
Best wishes,
Brent

Thank you so much Brent!

 

[dbase]

I used the TX600 for about 2 gigs and sold it. The only thing I liked about it was it only weighs 7 lbs. Even with the Gain and Master at max (which I would never do for any amp), it just didn't cut it. I kept my trusty workhorse the LH500.

 

[soong]

The TX600 works differently and to understand better you need to abandon the visual idea to have high output with a small amount of your master volume knob.
First of all, it's important to set the gain at a maximum possible level before it clips (guitar tube amp concept) and to help to reach that, the TX600 gain start to flashing yellow when you're reaching the top and red when you got it. So yellow is good or a little less is better.

View attachment 2863592
View attachment 2863593

How dangerous is it if very occasionally, my level spikes to red? Should I always avoid red?

 

[enricogaletta]

If it happen very occasionally you should be fine, for example when you rarely play some dynamics too strong, but if you see that it starts to clipping frequently, it's better decrease a bit the gain/master controls or set both in the proper way!

 

[enricogaletta]

How dangerous is it if very occasionally, my level spikes to red? Should I always avoid red?

If it happen very occasionally you should be fine, for example when you rarely play some dynamics too strong, but if you see that it starts to clipping frequently, it's better decrease a bit the gain/master controls or set both in the proper way!

 

[blubass]

How dangerous is it if very occasionally, my level spikes to red? Should I always avoid red?

Unless the TX600 is special in some way, on most amps the red clip light just alerts you when you are starting to clip the signal. Clipping isn't necessarily bad, its just another word for overdrive. Since the TX600 has a preamp tube, it can wear out over time with a constantly overdriven signal, but it's a wear item that's easily replaceable. I used to own a Hartke HA3500 that I hit hard all the time, maxing the gain out on the tube side.

 

[enricogaletta]

Good morning guys,
here is a new Hartke video test
It's the turn of the HyDrive 112b, powered by the TX600. This cabinet is more powerful of the HD112 or the regular HyDrive because is 300w 4 ohm native. Alone is a truly punchy cab.
I hope you will find this video helpful.
Let's groove!

 

[Pedro Cofre]

Hey guys,
here is my first video with my new Hartke rig.
I have to say that I really like the way how this cab and head sounds.
In this particular video I worked on some grooves with different dynamics and I recorded the bass using the DI from the TX600 and merging it with the signal from the mic on the cab.
It's a great combination, the DI has a perfect clean tone and the cab add the perfect warm/punchy tone needed.
The HD cab compared to the previous series, are a bit warmer and punchy.
I read on some previous post that several people feels a lack of power from the TX600, I did the same at beginning, but after studying and working with it I understood better how the TX600 works. It's very different from other class D amp and I will release soon a video talking about it.
Meanwhile hope you enjoying this first test. Happy New Year!

Hi bro! Thanks for the review. I am looking for a new amplifier and one of my options is the tx 600, I have been reading some things in this forum and I have read what you mention, which does not have as much power as the manufacturer specifies. This is my main concern since my new amplifier must defend well in concerts. A great tone and a powerful sound. what do you think? Do you recommend it?

 

[enricogaletta]

Hi bro! Thanks for the review. I am looking for a new amplifier and one of my options is the tx 600, I have been reading some things in this forum and I have read what you mention, which does not have as much power as the manufacturer specifies. This is my main concern since my new amplifier must defend well in concerts. A great tone and a powerful sound. what do you think? Do you recommend it?

Hey Pedro, happy to know that you find out my post helpful.
I think that with the right cabinet setup you'll be more more than fine, I both used the TX600 with two HyDrive 1x12 or one 4x10 and the head was perfect.
Please let me know if you need more help.
Ciao

 

[Pedro Cofre]

Hey Pedro, happy to know that you find out my post helpful.
I think that with the right cabinet setup you'll be more more than fine, I both used the TX600 with two HyDrive 1x12 or one 4x10 and the head was perfect.
Please let me know if you need more help.
Ciao

Bro, and with a 2x10 cabinet (Hartke Hy drive)? Or with a 4x10 it's the deal?

 

[enricogaletta]

Bro, and with a 2x10 cabinet (Hartke Hy drive)? Or with a 4x10 it's the deal?

It depends from what kind of live scenario usually you play, for medium or small places or if you need a portable solution, probably the 2x10 is more than enough, than if you play on very large places than 4x10 is the key

 

[nilorius]

It depends from what kind of live scenario usually you play, for medium or small places or if you need a portable solution, probably the 2x10 is more than enough, than if you play on very large places than 4x10 is the key

Hi, great video and text review - thanks. A question - how does exactly the eq. works. Is it better to start from the midle or from zero, when starting to get the right tone ?

 

[enricogaletta]

Hi, great video and text review - thanks. A question - how does exactly the eq. works. Is it better to start from the midle or from zero, when starting to get the right tone ?

Hey man thank you, glad you like the video and the review.
Well the EQ works in a different way compared to other bass amps.
The LH and the TX works similar to old fender amp with Tone Stack preamp. They are not a cut/boost type where usually the 0 is at 12 o clock position and you cut or boost the frequency.
Been just a boost type make things very easier. So the best way to work is starting from the zero position (7 o clock) and, move slowly, experimenting each frequency combination and believe me, they are very effective.
Usually, I like to use Bass 3.5, Middle 3.5, and Treble 1 but with the bright filter engaged.
But you can really get different tones with small edits on the EQ. For example in the new video below, I recorded a slap groove with the bass preamp set flat and using an Avalon U5 signal and a Mic on an HyDrive 112 powered by the LH1000. The head EQ was set Bass 5, Middle 3.5, Treble 1, Bright on.
If you have any other questions just let me know