Hartke TX600 - review

[sspear]

I found out that Hartke changed the taper on the gain and master after the first run of these amps. If you get one one of the first run you can send it to Hartke and they will do the mod on it.

 

[dbase]

A review of the new Hartke TX600 from across the pond in London...

So...

I've been running a Genz Benz Contour 500 head into 2x Hartke 112 Hydrive cabs.

Lovely punchy cabs, great little head. I found myself wanting a more valvey tone and just a little more headroom...
Cue me deciding to give the Hartke TX600 a go...

First impressions:

This is a nice, modern looking amp. The single handle is a good feature and the chunky dials with back lighting look good. On the flipside, it seems like Hartke have decided to change their visuals. Sitting on top of the Hydrives it looks like an amp from a different manufacturer. That said, no biggie and still a nice looking little unit that feels like it will stay together for a long time.

Switching it on:

This is a very quiet unit. It seems even quieter than the Genz, with very little hiss and the variable speed fan which only comes on when needed is a nice feature.

Gain.

Dialling up the gain reveals a tube preamp that takes a LOT to make it overdrive and even then it is very minor overdrive with the light flashing red and hardly any audible distortion. With a passive G&L JB-2 I wasn't able to make it overdrive even with it max'd out. With a high output G&L L2000 and some very aggressive playing, the backlight started to go red around the 3'o'clock mark and again was not very audible distortion. Not a tube preamp designed for tube overdrive tone, if that's what you're looking for. For clean valve preamp tone, it's great; which leads me on to...

EQ.

The EQ is not your bog standard active EQ affair. The EQ is apparently a "tone stack equilizer" which has no theoretical flat setting and I can confirm it doesn't appear to behave like other EQs I've used. Whatever it is, it is very easy to dial in some lovely musical velvety, growly aggressive, or smooth and warm tones. It certainly sounds different to a normal active eq, but it only takes a few seconds to dial in what you need and is difficult to dial in something that sounds bad. The treble is sweet and crisp with no harshness. The bass is powerful and very musical (notably set at a relatively high 80Hz). The shape control is a "scoop" setting rather than a mid boost type filter. Compared to the Genz it is smoother and more, well, valvey; exactly as expected.

Compressor.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the compressor, having never tried Hartke effects pedals and having owned some great stuff by TC, EBS etc. I found that this is a really really nice, musical sounding compressor that goes from subtle to rich, punchy and crunchy. Very nice and up there in tone with the famous EBS foot pedal, which I loved.

Volume.

Hmm. Volume. This is, unfortunately, what has lead me to decide to send the unit back and now consider getting the much heavier, less feature laden LH1000. I did a direct comparison with the Genz and Initially thought I had somehow managed to wire up the cabs wrong...or had missed a button, or misunderstood how the EQ worked. After consulting the manual and staring at the amp, A/Bing between the Genz and the Hartke into the same speakers multiple times, it dawned on me. This "600 watt" amp is significantly, noticably, frustratingly quieter than the 500 watt Genz Benz. It sounds like what I'd imagine an amp with 300 watts would sound like in terms of volume. To confound matters, the volume has a very annoying way of suddenly jumping up in volume beyond around 2'o'clock. Beyond that, when pushed, it started to sound boxy and compressed/stressed and still could not keep up with the Genz, whose volume increases in a far more linear fashion and without farting out through the range of the volume dial. On both the Hartke and Genz I pushed the preamp up to the point when it starts overdriving and then just backed off so it stayed clean to make it a fair test. I've owned Genz Shuttle 6.2s, 9.2s and GBE750s and these all were VASTLY louder. Disappointing... Very disappointing. It makes me wonder if Hartke are being a bit "creative" with their power ratings...someone with more amp related knowledge may be able to comment...

I may report back on my experience with the LH1000.

I traded mine in after a year for exactly the same reasons you encountered. ... kept my LH500 thank god. I'm staying with it.

 

[CharlieMac]

I love this amp. Played a loud bar last weekend using 2 Hartke 1x12 cabs. It sounded great. I did turn it all the way up, but it was super clean and had plenty of chest rumbling thump when I wanted it to.
These amps are very different from the likes of the Fender Rumble ( which I think sound just OK ). The eq section takes some experimenting but has a lot of variety and I can make all of my different basses sound great with this amp and the two 1x12 cabs.
Highly recommended¡

 

[enricogaletta]

I definitely agree with you man, it seems that you got the same impressions of me, after experimenting the head a little bit more. I quoted them below from my test thread!
Last but not least has an amazing variety of tones!

I used this rig live already and the TX600 worked well with both one 1x12 or two 1x12 cabs.
Honestly, at the beginning, I had the same impressions, lack of power making me thinking, 600w really?
But then I experimented to understand better how this head works and I found out that the TX600 works more as a ClassA guitar amp than a general Class-D light bass amp. I'll try to explain best I can:

All the ClassD I had until now (the last one was the Aguilar TH500) works more or less at the same.
Let's resume in this way, you get an extremely punch and high output level already when you turn the master from 7 to 10 o'clock. You can go ahead usually up to 1-2 o'clock keeping listening to an increase of volume than usually you start to hear the bass clipping and you have to stop the volume run.
Even if you low the gain, you will hear a very low increase up to the maximum level. Each time I played live with my last rig 1-2 o'clock was the maximum I can get.

The TX600 works differently and to understand better you need to abandon the visual idea to have high output with a small amount of your master volume knob.
First of all, it's important to set the gain at a maximum possible level before it clips (guitar tube amp concept) and to help to reach that, the TX600 gain start to flashing yellow when you're reaching the top and red when you got it. So yellow is good or a little less is better.

Then you will see how the Damp works. The control has a real gradual increase.
From the 7 to 11 o'clock the range increase of the volume is very slow, probably designed for practicing home/studio, than from 11 to 1 o'clock even if the knob range make a short run, the head start to increase the volume faster, than from 1 o'clock to the maximum the increase is very fast, short increases and you will hear several differences even between two dots, a fast boosting of power to make you think, hey what's happening it?
The fun thing is that, if you set the right amount of gain as well the preamp (speaking of, is a boost type, not cut/boost, very important difference) you can have the master knob to the maximum, with all the power output and never a clipped tone.
I attached some pics to resume the explanation. If you need more help please let me know.
Ciao.
View attachment 2863592
View attachment 2863593

 

[CharlieMac]

Wow. . 'das a funky groove dude! Sounds great.

 

[enricogaletta]

Wow. . 'das a funky groove dude! Sounds great.

Thank You Charlie

 

[Phlipper]

Dunno how the sales dude had it set ... but I played an SR700 thru a TX600 with a Hartke 115 that I assume was 8 ohms at a local store and he was cranking each of the amps I tested to demonstrate volume. And the TX had every drum in the store rattling ... the windows rattling ... people running for cover. It was hella loud. Bone shaking loud. And had a pretty sweet tone to boot. Stayed very clear.

I can't imagine adding a second Hydrive 15 wouldn't be loud enough for anything. I definitely believed the spec'd wattage rating. Perhaps this one was new enough to have had different pots spec'd when it was made?

On that note the new 12" Kickback was also impressive, volume wise.

 

[CharlieMac]

I read in some review ( sorry.. can't remember where) that the class D amp parts are made by a company who spec them as 400 watts. That's just what I read.
Part of the confusion may be that bass player are not used to turning amps all the way up. On any other amp I've tried to do this on things start to clip pretty bad. I've never had this amp clip when it all the way up.

 

[enricogaletta]

I read in some review ( sorry.. can't remember where) that the class D amp parts are made by a company who spec them as 400 watts. That's just what I read.
Part of the confusion may be that bass player are not used to turning amps all the way up. On any other amp I've tried to do this on things start to clip pretty bad. I've never had this amp clip when it all the way up.

That's is exactly what I found out after an attention test of the head Charlie and what I meant in my impressions.
People expect that all the Dclass amp sounds equal, a big boost at beginning, but at the end it seems that most of them ends the volume run after 12 o'clock position, after that it starts to clipping more or less, no matter which bass you are using.
This is the first head that works as a real guitar amp A class, after you set the right gain, you can boost to the maximum volume, you will get an amazing punch with no clips. simply Awesome!

 

[Phlipper]

I read in some review ( sorry.. can't remember where) that the class D amp parts are made by a company who spec them as 400 watts. That's just what I read.
Part of the confusion may be that bass player are not used to turning amps all the way up. On any other amp I've tried to do this on things start to clip pretty bad. I've never had this amp clip when it all the way up.

I was kinda wondering about the volume thing being mentioned in so many posts. Cuz the one I heard was massive. I mean L-A-F!

Before sales dude took over and asked me to stand as far away as I could with the 10' cable, I had dialed in my usual clear-but-not-sterile and warm-but-punchy and smooth hi-fi thump. It stayed sweet all the way up to car alarms in the parking going off.

(Ok ... I exaggerated that last part)

It's as if the amp I demo'd is a different one from the TX some here described. I was actually going to buy one if the MiniMax hadn't worked out so well.

 

[jsa0100]

I have bought the newest one, and i will say it's rather loud. However some says it's a 400w not 600 based on specs for the digital power amp module.

The tube preamp part is really wonderfull, and the compressor works great. So i tried to run the preamp in to a Crown microtech 1200, and i just couldn't believe how good it sounds. If Hartke could make a rack version of the preamp, i would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[enricogaletta]

I have bought the newest one, and i will say it's rather loud. However some says it's a 400w not 600 based on specs for the digital power amp module.

The tube preamp part is really wonderfull, and the compressor works great. So i tried to run the preamp in to a Crown microtech 1200, and i just couldn't believe how good it sounds. If Hartke could make a rack version of the preamp, i would buy it in a heartbeat.

Definitely agree with you Jsa, the preamp section it's awesome, the first preamp boost type I saw in a long time and I have to say that is pretty awesome, easy and versatile, plus never get a clip.
The DI output sounds great too!

 

[Lb50F]

I have bought the newest one, and i will say it's rather loud. However some says it's a 400w not 600 based on specs for the digital power amp module.

The tube preamp part is really wonderfull, and the compressor works great. So i tried to run the preamp in to a Crown microtech 1200, and i just couldn't believe how good it sounds. If Hartke could make a rack version of the preamp, i would buy it in a heartbeat.

Yeah, I just got one from Sweetwater and it is LOUD. much louder than my BH550. A lot. No volume issues here!

 

[enricogaletta]

Yeah, I just got one from Sweetwater and it is LOUD. much louder than my BH550. A lot. No volume issues here!

Definitely louder than BH550

 

[enricogaletta]

Good morning guys,
here is a new Hartke video
Ciao

 

[DoctorZee]

Yeah, I just got one from Sweetwater and it is LOUD. much louder than my BH550. A lot. No volume issues here!

I tried out the new 300-watt version yesterday, and running at 4 ohms it really cranked. The 300 also has a drive knob that is pretty usable, especially nice at low levels for just a little touch of hair. I was about to pull the trigger on a Aguilar TH350, but at almost half the price I am thinking about the Hartke instead. It has everything I like about my HA3500, and none of the things I hate about it.

 

[enricogaletta]

I tried out the new 300-watt version yesterday, and running at 4 ohms it really cranked. The 300 also has a drive knob that is pretty usable, especially nice at low levels for just a little touch of hair. I was about to pull the trigger on a Aguilar TH350, but at almost half the price I am thinking about the Hartke instead. It has everything I like about my HA3500, and none of the things I hate about it.

I still hadn't the chance to try the TX300 but I heard a lot of positive feedback about it.
Can't wait to try it ;-)

 

[Core Creek]

Four years late to this thread…

I did a gig last night with the TX600 as a backline going into a Hartke HD410. It was pretty darn loud. I admit by the end of the night I had the volume up to almost the 3’oclock position. I also suspect the venue had the DI directly in the subs under the stage, but I was surprised to read here how many people had volume issues with this amp. All I know is I was considering picking one up until I discovered there are so few out there.

 

[enricogaletta]

Four years late to this thread…

I did a gig last night with the TX600 as a backline going into a Hartke HD410. It was pretty darn loud. I admit by the end of the night I had the volume up to almost the 3’oclock position. I also suspect the venue had the DI directly in the subs under the stage, but I was surprised to read here how many people had volume issues with this amp. All I know is I was considering picking one up until I discovered there are so few out there.

I agree with you, in my opinion after years of using the TX600, there are no volume problems with this head, the power amp just works in a different way compared to other class D amps, but most people are not used to it.

 

[obieito]

Hi! Because it was hard for me to find all the info in this thread, I just want to drop my cents here, I had bought one of these a few months ago but never had the occasion to try it with a decent head.
So I've had two days rehearsing with an EBS proline 4x10... And man, after reading all the advice here, this head is SO LOUD and has a deep bottom, I loved it, my mateas loved it, still much to investigate but im delighted.

It pisses on my usual rig of Ampeg BA210 with an Eden 2x10, should be 483W, then the hartke sounds like 1000