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Double Bass Hartke LH500

T

ThomClaire

Dec 31, 2012
135
1
Asheville, NC
#1
After looking through the FAQ and searching, I didn't find anything, so I thought I'd just go ahead and ask. Has anyone here used a Hartke LH500 with their DB? I'm trying to find a rig that would be suitable for both DB and BG. I'm thinking of having the LH500 or possibly a GK MB500, with a single 2x10 cab (for DB), and being able to add a 1x15 to that mix when playing BG.

Opinions?
 
#2
ThomClaire said:
After looking through the FAQ and searching, I didn't find anything, so I thought I'd just go ahead and ask. Has anyone here used a Hartke LH500 with their DB? I'm trying to find a rig that would be suitable for both DB and BG. I'm thinking of having the LH500 or possibly a GK MB500, with a single 2x10 cab (for DB), and being able to add a 1x15 to that mix when playing BG.

Opinions?
Click to expand...

Tom Claire,
When using a piezo pickup, the preferred input impedance should be at least 1 Meg Ohm. Both the Hartke's inputs are set at 1 K ohm. Based on my understanding of these things, the Gallien Krueger has the a more suitable input impedance for piezo pickups. Have you considered the Markbass Big Bang. It sounds really great with both DB and EB, is reasonably priced and has a 2 Meg Ohm input impedance. In the past Hartke's amplifiers really weren't voiced suitably for Double Bass as their EQ voicing emphasizes the upper midrange, which while great for electric bass, doesn't compliment DB. Just my take, I hope this helps.

Ric
 
#3
Thanks, Ric. You are right, the MB500 has an input impedence of 1MOhm (just looked at the manual). Is 1 MOhm the minimum for a piezo pickup? Or is it a recommendation? Also, if the input impedence of the amp is high enough, does that take away the need for a preamp?

I haven't looked at the Markbass Big Bang, but I will look it up.
 
#4
ThomClaire said:
Thanks, Ric. You are right, the MB500 has an input impedence of 1MOhm (just looked at the manual). Is 1 MOhm the minimum for a piezo pickup? Or is it a recommendation? Also, if the input impedence of the amp is high enough, does that take away the need for a preamp?

I haven't looked at the Markbass Big Bang, but I will look it up.
Click to expand...

Tom Claire,
Well, I can tell you for a fact that before anyone else had even addressed this issue Walter Woods, who built my two heads used the first Underwood pickups to set his heads at a 1 Meg Ohm load. Acoustic Image, Euphonic Audio, and Gallien Krueger all have there amps set there. Markbass finally recognized this with the Big Bang and set there's at 2 Meg Ohms. So, 1 Meg Ohm is kind of a "defacto" standard of sorts. Phil Jones sets his 4 Meg Ohms.

Ric
 
#5
I use the Hartke LH1000 with my DB (with a Realist on it), and also for electric bass. The LH1000 is the same thing, just double the wattage. It's a great sounding head, especially with the Hartke HyDrive cabinets (I use the HyDrive 410).
 
#6
I like the LH500 a lot for electric, but I do not think it would be a great head for double bass. It has the Fender tone stack(flat with bass-2, mid-10, treble-2) which doesn't lend itself to really isolating frequencies. I would strongly lean towards the MB500 which actually sounds very good with upright. The frequency points on it are well suited for both basses. I've been using Genz Benz Shuttle heads with both basses with pretty good success.
 

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