I don't see how this is possible.
A few months ago, I played a gig where the backline was an Ampeg B2R head and the new (at the time) Hartke Hydrive 410. I considered this a sweet setup, and opted to use it instead of my rig... which weighs like 200 pounds, so that was fine. I was, unfortunately, disappointed with the tone. I've used the head before and the tone is fine, but I was not impressed with the output of the cab. Oh well, the gig went great overall.
Fast forward a few months.
I decide that I was being close minded since you can't judge a cab on 1 venue with 1 head. My buddy's dad has a classic rock band and their bassist uses the HA3500 head with the Hydrive 410. He's out of town, and they needed a sit-in, so I went to jam with them. I figured "well it has a Hartke head with it now, I'm sure it will sound better". I plugged it in and started lightly plucking a few notes and even at practice volume the speakers started farting. I was shocked... so I turned the EQ down completely flat. This helped some, but the slight distortion/clipping was still present. I made sure a speaker cable was attaching the head to the cab and it was. The more volume you cranked into it, the more distortion you would get... but none of the speakers were blown. This just doesn't make sense.
I stand by Hartke products, I'm not bashing. My main head is the 5500c and I swear by it. I use it with one of the Peavey TVX-412 cabs and my tone is massive, tight and thunderous. But how is it that a Hydrive cab, which is newer, state of the art, and has a (supposedly) higher power handling will fart out with a less powerful head?
I wanted to like these cabs so much.
A few months ago, I played a gig where the backline was an Ampeg B2R head and the new (at the time) Hartke Hydrive 410. I considered this a sweet setup, and opted to use it instead of my rig... which weighs like 200 pounds, so that was fine. I was, unfortunately, disappointed with the tone. I've used the head before and the tone is fine, but I was not impressed with the output of the cab. Oh well, the gig went great overall.
Fast forward a few months.
I decide that I was being close minded since you can't judge a cab on 1 venue with 1 head. My buddy's dad has a classic rock band and their bassist uses the HA3500 head with the Hydrive 410. He's out of town, and they needed a sit-in, so I went to jam with them. I figured "well it has a Hartke head with it now, I'm sure it will sound better". I plugged it in and started lightly plucking a few notes and even at practice volume the speakers started farting. I was shocked... so I turned the EQ down completely flat. This helped some, but the slight distortion/clipping was still present. I made sure a speaker cable was attaching the head to the cab and it was. The more volume you cranked into it, the more distortion you would get... but none of the speakers were blown. This just doesn't make sense.
I stand by Hartke products, I'm not bashing. My main head is the 5500c and I swear by it. I use it with one of the Peavey TVX-412 cabs and my tone is massive, tight and thunderous. But how is it that a Hydrive cab, which is newer, state of the art, and has a (supposedly) higher power handling will fart out with a less powerful head?
I wanted to like these cabs so much.
