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Hartke Kilo Amplifier Head

Hawaii Islander

Hawaii Islander

Aug 11, 2007
3,906
776
68
Rio Rico, AZ
#1
I checked using the forum search before posting. The amp had a brief mention; most of the one thread were arguments over the weight of the new Hydrive combos and cabs.

The new Hartke Kilo is a hybrid 2x500 watt (1000 watt bridged) head, selling for about $1000.00 USD. I think it only handles down to 4-ohm minimum impedance. Could be wrong on that, but I didn't see anything to the contrary on their site.

It looks good, but I haven't been able to find any sound samples or video demos yet.

Did anyone see it at this year's NAMM?

Here's a link with pics and description:
Invalid Link Removed
 
#2
I've been looking all over the interwebs for reviews and haven't been able to find much. No demos... nothing. It's gotten consistently high ratings, but I haven't seen reviews.

I'm getting a new rig this month and I would go for it and just try the kilo but I know the manager at a local music store and *he* told me that there have been problems with the kilos and told me to avoid it.

If anyone has actually played this amp or purchased it, please post a review!
 
#4
Brother Michael,

That's funny...your dealer must be a psychic, or full of it, because we have not produced a single Kilo amplifier yet. The Kilo is ready, but there are a lot of considerations that go into the launch of any product and timing is everything, especially in a soft economy. The Kilo will be comimg soon but right now our LH amplifiers are dominating in the market place because they are the right product, at the right price, at the right time. People don't have a lot of money to spend these days so price and quality matter more than ever...to everyone, everywhere.

I hope that helps..

If you would like to know more you are most welcome to call me anytime 201-680-8153 cell. Thanks so much for considering Hartke!
 
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#5
The Kilo's probably getting retrofitted with an SMPS and class D amp if I had to guess because there is no way in hell anyone is gonna pay 1000 bucks for a 30lb Hartke at this point. Especially considering Carvin offers the same features in a 10lb package @ 629 :)

Here's hoping I'm right on that.
 
#6
Personally cant wait to see a Kilo... and try one at that! Like my GBE 1200 but its lacking a little oompf in the low end department.

If its as good of an amp as the LH 1000 but has all the more features.... I think Id pay $1000 for it
 
#9
I love my Laney NXT400, 13 tubes 400w of all valve power with 8 x KT88's (I have to admit I retrofitted this beast with NO$ tubes tho) , but at 90 ****** lbs. it will put a hurtin on ya.

I ride the new Carvin B-2000 as my back-up unit (also retrofitted with an NOS 12AX7) and for the weight/power and snappy tone it's a damn nice package, but something about this KILO is getting my interest.
And if it has 3 tubes, class D and the VXL Attack built in, lawdy lawdy lawdy.....Larry's gonna give me GAS
 
#11
rpsands said:
The Kilo's probably getting retrofitted with an SMPS and class D amp if I had to guess because there is no way in hell anyone is gonna pay 1000 bucks for a 30lb Hartke at this point. Especially considering Carvin offers the same features in a 10lb package @ 629 :)

Here's hoping I'm right on that.
Click to expand...

Sorry man, I have to respectively disagree. I would totally buy a 30lb Hartke at this point. It's still lighter than an SVT and has a more flexible front end. I use mostly rack gear for my organization and to me the only thing missing from this amp is a built in tuner. Carvin also does not offer a switchable overdrive.
 
#13
I think that I got a lemon Mesa Titan made in the last production run. The music store let me use a older model silver faced Titan until my new one was done being made and I can't get my new Black faced Titan to sound as good as that one sounded. Plus with my Black faced when I turn it on in Standby it made an electrical crackiling noise that would make my speakers jump , and the silver faced never did that - it was dead quite when in standby. I took it to the music store to be repaired and got it back this Saturday and used it at a gig that night and there seemed to be much more hiss than normal out of my tweeter on my PH412 cabinet. I'm getting ready to tell the music store to take it back and I'm done with it. I've been to Milwaukee 4 out of the last 6 weeks over this dang amp and its about a 7 1/2 round trip. That's why I'm looking into these newer Hartke. I've always been curious about Hartkes (even the older models back in the day) , but always ended up going a different direction for some reason. I was a newer Hartke rig at the music store last time down and it looked pretty interesting. Victor wooten actually played through it at a clinic a couple weeks earlier. I just don't know what to do at this point. :confused:
 
#14
Ohh ya - I was going to trade the Black faced in for the silver faced a couple of weeks ago because that one worked better for me. I went down to trade the black face in for the silver face and decided I to play through the silver faced before I took it home because I seem to have bad luck. Good thing that I did because it made a terrible humming sound that it didn't make when I brought it back. I don't know what happened to it the two weeks it was back at the store , but it was messed up for sure. Even their amp tech couldn't figure it out. That was a wasted trip for sure.:mad:
 
#15
Hawaii Islander said:
I checked using the forum search before posting. The amp had a brief mention; most of the one thread were arguments over the weight of the new Hydrive combos and cabs.

The new Hartke Kilo is a hybrid 2x500 watt (1000 watt bridged) head, selling for about $1000.00 USD. I think it only handles down to 4-ohm minimum impedance. Could be wrong on that, but I didn't see anything to the contrary on their site.

It looks good, but I haven't been able to find any sound samples or video demos yet.

Did anyone see it at this year's NAMM?

Here's a link with pics and description:
Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Billy Sheehan got one. Search UGoog (you-tube) for his latest vid and you will see him playing it.

But I've got to say... this head has been on back order with most stores for the last 3 or more YEARS!! I have now gotten to the point of screw it! I already got my amp. SWR SM won out for me! Of course I got one free from our management.
 
#16
Ronny49 said:
Billy Sheehan got one. Search UGoog (you-tube) for his latest vid and you will see him playing it.

But I've got to say... this head has been on back order with most stores for the last 3 or more YEARS!! I have now gotten to the point of screw it! I already got my amp. SWR SM won out for me! Of course I got one free from our management.
Click to expand...

I saw Billy Sheehan's video with the new head (he didn't play through it though). This thread is so old I almost didn't recognize my own writing. :D
 

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