Hartke LH1000 issues and repair refusals

[LilRay]

Okie dokie, I'm at a bit of a conundrum. A few years ago (3 IIRC) I got a Hartke stack. LH1000/HD-410/HD-115. Recently I began to get a serious buzz after about 15 minutes of warm up. Turn off, cool down, works fine for 15 minutes before buzzing again.

Here's the strange part; I look up Hartke repair near me. Atlanta GA area. Called the two closest to me. First guy says he's swamped, call the second guy. Second guy tells me to buy a used head to replace this one because quote "you can buy all day for $300. And it's going to cost at least that to fix yours.

I don't want to buy a used head. I don't want to buy another LH1000 if they have problems after only 3 years.

Don't know that I trust Hartke to buy a different model head.

Looks like I'll be searching for a different manufacturers head to pair with the cabs.

What would you do in my situation?

God Bless, Ray

 

[ardgedee]

Were they authorized Hartke service centers, or just guys who were willing to work on Hartke amps?

 

[KevInDaBassment]

A couple of questions first:
- Are you generally playing or played really loud with this rig?
- Tried swapping speaker cables or seen if it happens with just one of the cabs hooked up?
- Does it do the exact same thing if you turn it on and don't play anything for 15 mins?

If you're buying new, I'd check and see who has a decent warranty to cover your needs for a reasonable period of time. Do you have any tonal preferences that made you pick Hartke to begin with? Any other heads you've been looking at that piqued your interest? The Hartke stuff is typically regarded as sturdy, but no brand is impervious to issues.

 

[Jefenator]

I might give the repair avenue one more good try – maybe cast a wider net, see if there's a facility a little farther out that can help? If you can ship it, that might expand your options.
Failing that, add that brand to the blacklist & get something else to power your stack. FWIW I've never had any problems mixing amp & speaker brands – as long as the impedance & power handling are right.
Unfortunately, lemons do happen. And this doesn't seem to be a golden age for getting repairs done locally.

 

[FunkHead]

Okie dokie, I'm at a bit of a conundrum. A few years ago (3 IIRC) I got a Hartke stack. LH1000/HD-410/HD-115. Recently I began to get a serious buzz after about 15 minutes of warm up. Turn off, cool down, works fine for 15 minutes before buzzing again.

Here's the strange part; I look up Hartke repair near me. Atlanta GA area. Called the two closest to me. First guy says he's swamped, call the second guy. Second guy tells me to buy a used head to replace this one because quote "you can buy all day for $300. And it's going to cost at least that to fix yours.

I don't want to buy a used head. I don't want to buy another LH1000 if they have problems after only 3 years.

Don't know that I trust Hartke to buy a different model head.

Looks like I'll be searching for a different manufacturers head to pair with the cabs.

What would you do in my situation?

God Bless, Ray

Does it do the same thing plugged into the effects return?

 

[FunkHead]

Also: The LH-1000 Input Jack design is crap. I repaired mine with total success(see Link)

 

[LilRay]

Were they authorized Hartke service centers, or just guys who were willing to work on Hartke amps?

Both were authorized Hartke repair centers. Although the guy who said to buy used said Samson Hartke about a dozen times. LOL

A couple of questions first:
- Are you generally playing or played really loud with this rig?
- Tried swapping speaker cables or seen if it happens with just one of the cabs hooked up?
- Does it do the exact same thing if you turn it on and don't play anything for 15 mins?

1. Amp has never been above 4 on the volume. Bridged it's pretty loud.

2. Swapped cables, connected each cab independently. Same issue. Haven't tried not playing. Will do that.

Does it do the same thing plugged into the effects return?

What do I plug into the effects return, my bass? What does that indicate?

God Bless, Ray

 

[agedhorse]

Hartke and Sampson are both owned by the same company, Hartke is a brand under the Sampson ownership.

The tech has a point, the amps can be expensive to repair (though we don't know what's actually wrong with it) and sometimes buying a good used one is a better approach.

 

[FunkHead]

Both were authorized Hartke repair centers. Although the guy who said to buy used said Samson Hartke about a dozen times. LOL

1. Amp has never been above 4 on the volume. Bridged it's pretty loud.

2. Swapped cables, connected each cab independently. Same issue. Haven't tried not playing. Will do that.

What do I plug into the effects return, my bass? What does that indicate?

God Bless, Ray

Hi, yes plugging your bass in to effects return will bypass the preamp and at least rule that side out.

 

[LilRay]

Hartke and Sampson are both owned by the same company, Hartke is a brand under the Sampson ownership.

The tech has a point, the amps can be expensive to repair (though we don't know what's actually wrong with it) and sometimes buying a good used one is a better approach.

I don't necessarily disagree with the tech at all. HOWEVER, my position is, in my opinion, this head has an issue serious enough for it to be unusable within 3 years. I don't want to invest 300 in a used one with a possible failure at any time. I don't want to invest the nearly $800.00 into another LH1000 with the possibility of getting only 3 years of light use. I would rather cut my losses with Hartke heads and choose something else that I might be able to get a better outcome on investment.

If we're assuming this happened as a result of time failure, had I giggled 6 hours a week, this would have happened within a year.

I'm aware of it being a gamble, but
Being this happened so quickly, I'm hesitant to choose another Hartke.

God Bless, Ray

 

[LilRay]

Hi, yes plugging your bass in to effects return will bypass the preamp and at least rule that side out.

Will give that a try this evening. Thank you

God Bless, Ray

 

[agedhorse]

I don't necessarily disagree with the tech at all. HOWEVER, my position is, in my opinion, this head has an issue serious enough for it to be unusable within 3 years. I don't want to invest 300 in a used one with a possible failure at any time. I don't want to invest the nearly $800.00 into another LH1000 with the possibility of getting only 3 years of light use. I would rather cut my losses with Hartke heads and choose something else that I might be able to get a better outcome on investment.

If we're assuming this happened as a result of time failure, had I giggled 6 hours a week, this would have happened within a year.

I'm aware of it being a gamble, but
Being this happened so quickly, I'm hesitant to choose another Hartke.

God Bless, Ray

Since we don't know what's actually wrong with the amp, we can't possibly know if this is an endemic issue. I do know that there are plenty out there without issues.

Hartke has a 2 year warranty, other manufacturers have shorter or longer warranty periods, you might look at an amp that has a longer warranty.

 

[LilRay]

Since we don't know what's actually wrong with the amp, we can't possibly know if this is an endemic issue. I do know that there are plenty out there without issues.

Hartke has a 2 year warranty, other manufacturers have shorter or longer warranty periods, you might look at an amp that has a longer warranty.

I don't necessarily believe it to be endemic. I may well be able to replace it with another LH1000 and get many more years of use.

My old USA made Peavey lasted over 20 years before it got to the point of replacing it being the best solution above repair.

I guess I'm old school enough to be shocked by "just replace it/cheaper" on a piece of gear barely out of warranty. LOL

God Bless, Ray

 

[6thplanet]

I'd agree, both places blowing you off is pretty lame. As stated before, maybe widening the search for a different repair shop that'll at least look at it?

I've had my HA7000 for well over 20years. I replaced the bi-amp switch, that's it...

Honestly if I lived closer to you/Atlanta area, I'd offer to look at it. Good luck.

 

[Norm Nelson]

I very much understand wanting to fix something rather than buy new. I am pretty empirical so I tried doing that once and recounted the experience here. Bummer that you couldn't even get techs to look at your head. It is true that repairing can cost as much as a new unit. Having the warranty is nice, but dang. I hate generating the waste. Modern electronics are built this way. I know the old days aren't coming back but when I watch a video of a good tech repairing a tube amp older than me I'm annoyed that we can't do this with modern equipment.

 

[agedhorse]

I very much understand wanting to fix something rather than buy new. I am pretty empirical so I tried doing that once and recounted the experience here. Bummer that you couldn't even get techs to look at your head. It is true that repairing can cost as much as a new unit. Having the warranty is nice, but dang. I hate generating the waste. Modern electronics are built this way. I know the old days aren't coming back but when I watch a video of a good tech repairing a tube amp older than me I'm annoyed that we can't do this with modern equipment.

I agree with minimizing waste for sure, that's part of the motivation for the Genz Benz factory service program, but in fact for a truly qualified service tech, the more modern manufacturing techniques are just as easy (or easier) to repair. The exception to this is switchmode power supplies and class D power amps, these are often (much) less to replace than try to repair. They are just that complicated.

 

[MindinAction]

Why not contact Hartke themselves? Not necessarily for a repair, but to report your frustration with their amp and their service centers. Not an ideal customer experience, and if I were a manufacturer, I'd want to know about this. Their attitude could tell you plenty about how their values -- especially the value they place on customers. Might be a bit of work to get through to someone, but you never know what could happen.

 

[Pings Bass]

An LH500 I bought used died, and it would have cost as much to get it checked out as I paid for it.

Instead I put that toward a new class-D micro head and haven't looked back. I think the person I gave the LH500 to was happy once she diagnosed and fixed it.

If you can find a qualified tech to do the analysis, it may be worth spending the bench fee to see what's up. They still make the amp so parts are probably available. On the other hand it retails for ~$500 and a repair bill could end up getting close to replacement cost.

You never know when you're just throwing good money after bad, and cutting your losses now and getting something more modern with a better warranty/service plan might be the better plan long-term. I'm very happy with a smaller rig, even though the rig you've got would have been my dream rig 30 years ago.

 

[groooooove]

Hartke and Sampson are both owned by the same company, Hartke is a brand under the Sampson ownership.

The tech has a point, the amps can be expensive to repair (though we don't know what's actually wrong with it) and sometimes buying a good used one is a better approach.

i do agree with this.

hartke is what it is. they're not too expensive. they're known for reliability. i've had issues with a product or two from them over the years, but overall i think of them as a quality brand.

I have an LH1000 i've never had an issue with that i'd consider selling. I love running a pedal or other preamp into the effect return and just using it for that wonderful (and very heavy) 1000 watt power amp.

 

[LilRay]

Why not contact Hartke themselves? Not necessarily for a repair, but to report your frustration with their amp and their service centers. Not an ideal customer experience, and if I were a manufacturer, I'd want to know about this. Their attitude could tell you plenty about how their values -- especially the value they place on customers. Might be a bit of work to get through to someone, but you never know what could happen.

I may call Hartke tomorrow. I don't really want to out the tech as doing something.bad if he's telling the truth. If anything, I'd discuss what happened with the head.

On the other hand it retails for ~$500

Retails for $779.00 now.

God Bless, Ray