NAD Hartke LH1000

[poochiecheeks]

I walked into guitar center last weekend (first mistake) and found this poor, neglected and abandoned Hartke amp. It made sound but the preamp stack wasn't working properly, only the treble control did anything. Over the chorus of sunday afternoon sweet child o bad timing that you typically find at guitar center, I showed this to the employee and they gave it to me at their cost, which was roughly $230. Took it home, the case has rust on it and upon opening it I found more rust and what looks like bug parts strewn about inside. I have no amp tech experience and I wasnt about to "diy it" and end up a premature life insurance claim so I was ready to take this to an amp tech that's done good work for me in the past. However I read through a lot of great threads about this amp with a lot of smart people responding to them, and after checking the preamp board harness connections and spraying the pots and tube socket (lightly) with deoxit, somehow the preamp sprang to life good as new.

Wow I love this thing. Only having 4 knobs and two buttons is just so simple, its hard to make this sound bad. Plugged it into a 4 ohm 2x15 with the bridged output and it got WAY louder than I was willing to turn it up. All 3 knobs at 12:00 is definitely a scooped sparkly sound, but being a fender tone stack the mid control sounds best higher up with the bass lower down.

Yes I have the cover, I had just fixed it when I took these pictures.

Who still uses one of these and what do you think of them? Also whats the best way to clean that brown stuff off and should I be concerned about the case rusting? Has anyone swapped the preamp tube with any noticeable difference in tone?
Thank you

 

[agedhorse]

Leave it alone.

 

[gtirard]

Has anyone swapped the preamp tube with any noticeable difference in tone?

Not with that amp but I did tube swapping with a preamp pedal.

I couldn't hear any difference when trying other brands of 12AX7, even with the most expensive I could find. Not worth it at all.

Using a 12AT7 or 12AU7 makes a difference (lower gain), but since there's no gain knob on your amp I suppose it always stays clean, so you won't hear any difference.

 

[Pep]

Since you now have it working, don’t mess with the inside guts anymore than you have. Don’t clean or do anything. If the rust is on the outside I would just mask off everything that needs to remain the same and then spray paint the case. Make sure all openings are masked off so you don’t get paint inside the case.

 

[poochiecheeks]

I couldn't hear any difference when trying other brands of 12AX7, even with the most expensive I could find. Not worth it at all.

That has been my experience also.

Thanks all for the responses

 

[GKon]

Good on you!

I have an LH1000. It's my only bass head I have that I play through, other than my small Marshall B30 practice amp

I love mine! When I was looking for heads years back, it's the one I wanted. It makes som fan noise when I first start it up but, after a few minutes, it's quiet. I've taken it apart to try and fix that issue but, like you, I'm not an amp tech so after a minute or two of poking around I put it back together and left it alone.

I'd suggest that to you, too. Don't worry about those rust spots. They're not hurting anything.

 

[PNW Tony]

Good on you!

I have an LH1000. It's my only bass head I have that I play through, other than my small Marshall B30 practice amp

I love mine! When I was looking for heads years back, it's the one I wanted. It makes som fan noise when I first start it up but, after a few minutes, it's quiet. I've taken it apart to try and fix that issue but, like you, I'm not an amp tech so after a minute or two of poking around I put it back together and left it alone.

I'd suggest that to you, too. Don't worry about those rust spots. They're not hurting anything.

Agreed. I've had mine for 2-3 years after my G-K something died. It's quiet (but loud!) and trouble-free. Love it.

 

[pbassnut]

I walked into guitar center last weekend (first mistake) and found this poor, neglected and abandoned Hartke amp. It made sound but the preamp stack wasn't working properly, only the treble control did anything. Over the chorus of sunday afternoon sweet child o bad timing that you typically find at guitar center, I showed this to the employee and they gave it to me at their cost, which was roughly $230. Took it home, the case has rust on it and upon opening it I found more rust and what looks like bug parts strewn about inside. I have no amp tech experience and I wasnt about to "diy it" and end up a premature life insurance claim so I was ready to take this to an amp tech that's done good work for me in the past. However I read through a lot of great threads about this amp with a lot of smart people responding to them, and after checking the preamp board harness connections and spraying the pots and tube socket (lightly) with deoxit, somehow the preamp sprang to life good as new.

Wow I love this thing. Only having 4 knobs and two buttons is just so simple, its hard to make this sound bad. Plugged it into a 4 ohm 2x15 with the bridged output and it got WAY louder than I was willing to turn it up. All 3 knobs at 12:00 is definitely a scooped sparkly sound, but being a fender tone stack the mid control sounds best higher up with the bass lower down.

Yes I have the cover, I had just fixed it when I took these pictures.
View attachment 7368636View attachment 7368637View attachment 7368638
Who still uses one of these and what do you think of them? Also whats the best way to clean that brown stuff off and should I be concerned about the case rusting? Has anyone swapped the preamp tube with any noticeable difference in tone?
Thank you

I have a Hartke LH500 that I bought (N)ew (O)ld (S)tock from the Sam Ash eBay store for $220/shipped a couple of years ago. I'd been keeping an eye out for some kind of Bassman/Showman preamp pedal to add the Fender tone stack to my preamp stable and happened upon the above LH500 which was cheaper than any of the Bassman/Showman preamp pedals I was keeping an eye out for. I think it's a real sleeper of an amp ... powerful, great tone, and about as plug & play as it gets.

 

[Joebone]

LH1000 is a total beast! Encountered one on a backlline, eventually bought one. Kicks like a mule; limited EQ capability but the native tone is strong and true.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I also bought a new old stock LH 500 this year and it’s my favorite amp for rehearsals and shows. Plenty of power with my two GK Neo IV 112 cabs for a room up to the size of a church basement. A little bit of hiss or pink noise when I’m just beside my cabs in a silent room but can’t hear anything right from the first note.

I changed the vacuum tube only because I didn’t know the whole story about the amp but didn’t notice any sound difference so I just kept the original tube as a spare. I didn’t see any trace of leaking electrolytic capacitors or overheating of resistors so I didn’t do anything other than removing some dust with a paint brush.

If it’s working fine, I wouldn’t touch anything and wouldn’t care about the little rust spots neither. To me, it’s part of the vintage/road worn look. The only thing I would recommend verifying are the fans to make sure they all work fine as this is an a/b type of power amplifier inside and they tend to become warm to hot when in use.

Mine is a 500 watt and I’ve never been able to turn it more than 3/10 so I guess yours will almost work at idle so it should last a lifetime without any need for servicing if you keep it stored inside in a dry environment.

 

[odarellmc]

The LH1000 is beastly, I love mine, great find!

 

[Polardog]

Glad you found and saved it! That a great amp!