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hartke LH500 on the way :)

pcake

pcake

Sep 20, 2011
10,169
31,502
Los Angeleez
#1
i am mostly playing at home as i continue to work on my playing after several years of physical issues. that being said, i like a fat, round tone that can be adjusted to cut through when necessary, and i haven't found my carvin BX250 delivers that - it's uncolored, but i prefer something baked in with more bottom, and it has no effects loop.

our finances are okay as long as we budget, so price was a factor, and i wasn't in a real rush but i must admit that my carvin through my GK neo 112 2 is usually not pleasing to me. as i explained it to my husband, it's a good thing i love playing more than i dislike the sound of my head :D

i've played some hartke LH1000s and an LH500 in stores, and i like their sound a lot, particularly through GK neo cabs. there were a few other heads on my radar, but i found i kept thinking of the LH heads and their sound and simplicity, and that they sound good turned way, way down like middle of the might volume. and when sam ash offered a 36 months no interested deal, which adds up to a whopping $10 per month, i gave in (with my husband saying "you should get it, you should get it" in the background). well, he handed me his sam ash card, and the bottom line is my very first piece of hartke gear ever is on the way - an LH500. can't wait :)
 
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#2
Congrats! The LH500 is a great pickup and people seem to love theirs around here. Keep us informed on how the tone is, I've heard the EQ section is a bit different on them with flat being 0-10-0 (lows, mids, highs) which to me indicates a baked in "scooped" tone with any deviation.

Be sure to post pics!
 
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#3
Ive played through one and its a great amp with bags of power ! I played it throught the Hartke 4x10 with neodium speakers (I forget the model number) and it sounded ace and very easy to dial in a great sound on my active bass .
 
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#4
scooped and baked, indeeed - just the way i like it ;)

i have played it through a GK neo 4x10 that just blew me away but it also sounded great through other cabs. have played the LH1000 at several GCs and a sam ash and the LH500 at one sam ash. would have played the LH1000 at the other sam ash, but all four of them had that issue they get, so none of them worked :D and yet the store left them on the sales floor *lol*
 
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#5
pcake said:
scooped and baked, indeeed - just the way i like it ;)

i have played it through a GK neo 4x10 that just blew me away but it also sounded great through other cabs. have played the LH1000 at several GCs and a sam ash and the LH500 at one sam ash. would have played the LH1000 at the other sam ash, but all four of them had that issue they get, so none of them worked :D and yet the store left them on the sales floor *lol*
Click to expand...

Its our local rehearsal studio that has it . They previously had an Ashdown 450 head and 4x10 Ashdown cab that after 10 yrs was starting to have issues . The Hartke is a marked improvement in my opinion . Best of luck with it bud .
 
#6
Actually, I think that tone stack is a Fender style such that with everything at noon there is a touch of a mid scoop (or "shape" in Hartke speak). While that may sound like an odd set-up, if the amp hits the mark for you with everything at noon, there are a lot of voicing options that sound very nice.

I've never heard that head with the Neo 112 II's, but having owned Hartke heads in the past and using Neo 112 II's now I can only imagine how good that rig will sound. Congratulations!
 
#7
It's a great sounding amp. The tube front end is round and fat and warm.

The only thing that I found odd, is you can kill the volume output by turning down the mids. Keep the midrange at 10, and shape the sound with the lows and highs.

I also never activate the Brite switch - for me, it just adds hiss.
 
#9
Yeah. The Fender tone stack starts at the mids, so by turning it down, you are turning down the signal. Leave it all the way up, and play with the lows and highs.

Mine is personally set with the highs at 3 and the lows at 4.

Deep, round tone, with enough mids for clarity.

Good luck and enjoy it. It's a great piece of gear.
 
#12
I picked one of these up used as a back up a few weeks ago. I generally run Ampeg gear so I'm still getting the hang of the tone stack, but I wanted something different to play with anyway. Lots of good info here on settings for b/m/t got me most of the way there, and yeah, I'm really digging the clean, warm tone.
And yeah, lots and lots of volume! Congratulations!
 
#17
Those LH amps are excellent and a great value. I have come close to buying one a couple of times but always end up going with something lighter.

Five hundred or 1000 watts for the price of an expensive pedal is tough to beat. Class A preamp with Class A/B power section (instead of Class D) is becoming an endangered species too.
 
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#18
Good choice. Great sound for the price point and Larry has hooked me up not once, but TWICE with outstanding customer service / warranty repairs, going as far as to replace my defective unit with a brand new one at no cost to me.

I would be hard pressed to find an amp / CS package at this price point that even stands on the same level as Hartke.
 
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