hartke?

[bazz]

what kind of sound do hartke cabs produce particularly the ones in the VX series, in general/stereotypicaly?

 

[unatratnag]

I'm not familiar with VX series. My experience with Hartke has always been slightly scooped with a heavier emphasis on a loose low end. I've always found it easier for a Hartke or Peavy cab that is pushed to get that harsher old school gritty breakup tone. *shrug*

 

[Kael]

I'm not familiar with VX series. My experience with Hartke has always been slightly scooped with a heavier emphasis on a loose low end. I've always found it easier for a Hartke or Peavy cab that is pushed to get that harsher old school gritty breakup tone. *shrug*

Weird. This is pretty much diamterically opposed to my experiences. The Hartke rig that I used for about 7 or so years (3500 MOSFET head, 115" + 5" tweeter both aluminum cones, and a 410XL also aluminum cones) was VERY mid punchy. I frequently had to scoop the mids not to attain a scooped tone, but to flatten out that rig. It also stayed pretty clean in the sense that there was none of that old school "my head/cab is on the verge of breaking up" thing going on at all either. If I farted out the speakers it was pretty much clean to flatulence in nothing flat without a lot of warning stress sound before hand. Of course, this was with the aluminum coned XL series and not the cones like on the VX's. I have not cared for any Hartke lines other than the XL series personally. I actually think that the 4.5XL is a pretty decent low budget cab that gets needlessly maligned.


Unatratnag, with what series of cabs did you experience the scooped sound?

 

[unatratnag]

B series, kickback HS, and various others i've heard through stores/live gigs. Cheers.

 

[will33]

Don't no about VX specifically, is that the newer one with paper cone speakers? Anyway, I use a kickback 15 for practice alot (aluminum cone) and while it doesn't have the deep low end of a traditional 15, partly because it's in a small cab, it works great and has a lot of mid-punch and can get very bright for no tweeter. Mine's reliable and sounds good for what it is, wouldn't pay the price for a new one though, got mine used and there's a lot of other good stuff out there in that price range. I think most the stories about hartke reliability come from the 3500 series, I had one of those and although it sounded good while it lasted (on the tube pre side only) it didn't last long.

 

[lazyone2]

My experience is simular to that of KAEL. The 4.5XL has been good to me I also use the 2.5XL over a 115XL. I think those are the only Hartke cabs worth buying. I`m not at all familiar with the paper cone models. 4.5 XL deep, with lots of punch but it weighs 100LBS.

 

[DbNBassist]

i have the paper cones, one 410 and as of this morning a 115, i love them both, i have no experience of mid boosts or scoops, i like the mids, but not too much but i have mids on my head bout 3 o clock so id say the cabs make the mids pretty flat. they sound fantastic, but i wouldnt use the 410 without the 115 as the 410 doesnt have fantastic lo-end.