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Hartke LH500 Noise

B

basssoundbass

Jul 19, 2009
42
0
UK
#1
I have been really delighted with my LH500 Bass Head, it is so simple to use and produces an excellent tone.

The only downside is that it produces a whooshing noise through the speaker. I have eliminated all other equipment so the sound is being made by the head.

It doesnt bother me in gig situations as I can get by without noticing it, but I can hear it when I am practicing on my own.

Has anyone else experienced this, and what could be causing this to happen.

Thanks
 
#2
I mostly use passive basses and my LH500 seemed to suffer from a substandard signal to noise ratio too. I don't think people with active basses would have this issue. I found I could run a preamp upstream and feed the LH500 a much hotter signal and all was good. It didn't overload the input, there was no downside to using a pre. Some might not want to go this route, but I thought the s/n ratio greatly benefited and having the extra eq section was really handy too.
 
#3
Interesting. Mine is dead quiet and works great with my passive P basses, no extra preamp. Not sure what's different about mine?

Not in any way disputing anything! It just works fine for me as is.

Cheers,
Liam
 
#6
I think there's a description of something similar being related to a bad or not properly seated preamp tube in the main LH500 thread. Not completely sure, but it sounds familiar.

Good luck,
Liam
 
#8
Hey Basssoundbass,

Sounds like a tube to me, they can do that. Check to see if your tube is seated correctly and if it is then replace it with a new 12AX7. Tubes can be noisy, now as to what brand of tube to get, well there seems to be a lot of different opinions about that out there depending on what you like but any working tube should solve your noise problem.

Hey I<34080,

Don't be lazy, let's make this easy for you just give me a call and I will help you. 201-680-8153
 
#10
That's great Larry,

Great to hear from you, I will get the tube checked.

By the way, I have been so pleased with this amp. I have used it almost every day since I have had it. I use it for practice, band rehersals, gigs etc. I just find it so easy to get whatever sound I want, it's just so easy to work with I can just concentrate on my playing and know that the amp is taking care of the sound.

Thanks again for your help and support.
 
#11
To update my situation with my slight noise problem.

I have replaced the pre amp tube with a new one and I am delighted to find that the slight noise issue has cleared, superb.

I think this is really good amp and paired with my 1x15in Barefaced Compact Cab delivers a great bass tone.

Thanks again for your replies.
 

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