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Hartke Kilo unboxing

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oenomaus

Jul 17, 2011
71
6
#1
Well it wasn't actually my unboxing of the new Hartke Kilo, but I witnessed Larry Hartke receiving his brand new amp and unboxing it at the store. I am too much of a newb to comment on the sound of the new Kilo but if looks could kill....

The top row of this 3 space rack mount (weighing in at 40 lbs) sports clear back lit rectangular buttons that light up in green for overdrive, active, mute (orange back-light), shape, bright, deep, geq and maybe one or two buttons that have escaped my memory. There is one input jack for active/passive and an a tuner input in front with an output in the back. I believe the eq section is 10 band. It lights up in red and has a level control.

Only 100 in the U.S. right now and I got the honor of being the first to play the one that Larry opened up in the store. Larry daisy chained her to a pair of 410's in bridge mode and ran me through the myriad of switches and sliders. Unfortunately I am too much of a newb to coment much on running her through the paces. I plugged up a Sterling while Sr. Hartke ran through the overide, compression, bright, eq etc. I played a lil motown pentatonic and tried a lil octave slap on her. :hyper:

Three tubes inside and the overdrive dirtied her up nicely. And well, with a kilo of power, you can only imagine the clean. Not really a review but I am just sharing the fun that I had.

By the way the gentleman and a scholar the Larry is, he offered to fix up my discontinued Hartke Kickback 10 for me. Like so many others I might be roped in for good and may be selling off some of my gear soon. ;) .
 
#3
You mean like my Phantom bass head in my signature? I have been waiting for that bad boy for so long, canceled it twice. I am currently using a Kickback 10 as a head and maybe practice amp when I get the new dime in 'er.

As far as seeing, if you brave the traffic of the NYC marathon, you will find the kilo waiting for you on 48th street.
 
#4
I also got a chance to demo the Kilo at the 48th Street bass lounge on its first day out of the box. Its got a ton of tonal options and it sounds terrific. The first thing I asked Larry was, "why would I want to replace my LH1000 with this?" As usual, Larry shot straight and said I may not, and it turned out he was right. One of the big reasons I love my LH1000 is its simplicity. I set the EQ flat and use my board to shape my tone. So for me, the options on the Kilo would mostly go unused. I liked all the features, especially the ability to control the Direct Out signal without touching any other setting. The 10 band graphic EQ also has a Level control and you can toggle the EQ on or off (as well as most of the other options) with a foot switch. Very sweet.

In the end, the Kilo would be redundant for me but thats mostly because I've spent years building a board that does everything I want from a tonal perspective. Fpr others who haven't, this amp is something to try.
 
#7
Well, I didnt a/b them but I noticed the knob settings for flat are the same for the Kilo and the LH1000 (3 , 10 , 0) I think. So if you want to try it, thats a start.

The Kilo has overdrive, not sure if the LH 1000 does. The Kilo has 3 tubes and I think the LH1000 only has one tube. Coupled with a 10 band eq, you should have more options soundwise, assuming you have time to play with it. But flat, who knows.

btw, my speaker for my kickback 10 arrived today after contacting the rep on Friday.. Thanks Larry !!
 

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