Hartke LH1000 issue

[TheGretz]

I bought this amp about 3 years ago and it's been a really solid amp.

It's a Hartke LH1000

After i turn it on, it always takes a few seconds to come on (sound to come out). But the past couple of times i used it, I'll wait a while (maybe up to two minutes) and no sound. Lights are on, i'm getting signal to the effects pedal, but no sound.

After i turn it on and off a few times, you can hear the ping of something turning on and it comes to life.

Could this be the tube? Or is there some sort of start up circuit that could be going bad?

I've never had it service or anything. But I've never had a problem either.

Any info would be great.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I bought this amp about 3 years ago and it's been a really solid amp.

After i turn it on, it always takes a few seconds to come on (sound to come out). But the past couple of times i used it, I'll wait a while (maybe up to two minutes) and no sound. Lights are on, i'm getting signal to the effects pedal, but no sound.

After i turn it on and off a few times, you can hear the ping of something turning on and it comes to life.

Could this be the tube? Or is there some sort of start up circuit that could be going bad?

I've never had it service or anything. But I've never had a problem either.

Any info would be great.

Folks here will need to know what type of amp this is.

 

[TheGretz]

Woops. It's in the title but it a Hartke LH1000.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Woops. It's in the title but it a Hartke LH1000.

Sorry, my bad.This has happened to me before.
I seem to flush the title in the process reading the post.
That's something I need to work on.
Thanks.

 

[TheGretz]

Sorry, my bad.This has happened to me before.
I seem to flush the title in the process reading the post.
That's something I need to work on.
Thanks.

NO biggy. I haven't done forums in a looooong time. I'll have to get used to it again.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

NO biggy. I haven't done forums in a looooong time. I'll have to get used to it again.

It is very common here. I just need to be better about re-reading the title with along with the post.
I don't have anything to contribute, but wish you well in resolving the issue.

 

[TheGretz]

Thanks

 

[tfer]

Could simply be the input jack.

 

[TheGretz]

I've tried the active and passive inputs.

 

[Clap Trap]

Check the tube, it may be dead...

 

[shoot-r]

I bought this amp about 3 years ago and it's been a really solid amp.

It's a Hartke LH1000

After i turn it on, it always takes a few seconds to come on (sound to come out). But the past couple of times i used it, I'll wait a while (maybe up to two minutes) and no sound. Lights are on, i'm getting signal to the effects pedal, but no sound.

After i turn it on and off a few times, you can hear the ping of something turning on and it comes to life.

Could this be the tube? Or is there some sort of start up circuit that could be going bad?

I've never had it service or anything. But I've never had a problem either.

Any info would be great.

The pinging sure sounds like a pre-amp tube going microphonic.
It's a easy fix and fairly inexpensive.
(I'd suggest putting a Mesa 12AX7 pre-amp tube in it. I've had very good luck with Mesa's checked-out and approved tubes.)

A delay of a minute or so is normal when you first power-up the amp.

 

[RoeyHaviv]

The pinging sure sounds like a pre-amp tube going microphonic.
It's a easy fix and fairly inexpensive.
(I'd suggest putting a Mesa 12AX7 pre-amp tube in it. I've had very good luck with Mesa's checked-out and approved tubes.)

A delay of a minute or so is normal when you first power-up the amp.

Preamp tubes (12ax7) usual take less than 10 seconds to warm up. Power tubes (which the LH doesn't have) can take a minute.
When my LH1000 was working (being warranty repaired at the moment) it took up to 10 seconds.

 

[Third Stone From the Sun]

My LH500 just broke I know that dosent help just saying. Sounds great but...

 

[The_Janitor]

Sounds like the power relay is going out. It's there to defeat speaker pops when you turn it on. Contact hartke and send it in for service.

 

[Misfit Wookiee]

Preamp tubes (12ax7) usual take less than 10 seconds to warm up. Power tubes (which the LH doesn't have) can take a minute.
When my LH1000 was working (being warranty repaired at the moment) it took up to 10 seconds.

I had a LH500 and 30 seconds or so was normal for turning on. Didn't have the problems others have had on here, just wasn't the right amp for me. IIRC, the 30 seconds was intentional to allow the relay protection to cycle.

 

[B-string]

The noise you hear is the mute relay, either the relay coil is going bad or the delay timer circuit is failing. Have it serviced. A tube will not act that way or be heard anywhere but through the speaker on that design.

 

[Wolfenstein666]

I have an LH500, a very similar thing happened to me awhile back.

Contact Hartke. Like, now. Their customer service is absolutely unreal. I had this problem, sent it back and they fixed it. A month ago it started doing it again, I contacted Hartke and they REPLACED my amp. They will 100% get you squared away.

 

[TheGretz]

Damn. Thanks for all of the info guys. Looks like i'm going to contact Hartke and see what they say. You all ROCK!!!

 

[BassmanPaul]

Any amp that uses a tube has to wait while the heater of the tube gets to operating temperature. That’s just the nature of the beast. You can try linking the effects send and return with a signal cable to see if that helps.

Larry is great to deal with and I have a lot of respect for anyone who stands behind their products the way he does.

Keep us informed about your progress.

Edit: Welcome to TalkBass.