Which head would you choose?

I don't have experience with any of those, but I've heard better things about Ashdown than Hartke...as the saying goes - you get what you pay for.

 

GK 2001RB

 

Yeah good suggestion, Serpent865. The 2001RB will certainly deliver the goods but it's total overkill unless you're gonna be playing some real bigass venues as you won't get the benefit of the oodles of power the 2001RB has.

Ash2008, you've mentioned two amps there that IMO are at total opposite ends of the tone spectrum. I've just very recently sold my Ashdown ABM300 as I found exactly what you said was true...wool to the max. i had to torture the preamp with ridiculous amounts of hi-mid and treble boost to get anywhere near enough bite in order for me to cut at all. Don't get me wrong, the Ashdown's a great amp and can shake the walls good and proper.

Hartke, I've never owned but I've played through them and they are good sounding amps but not to my liking either. They have plenty of brightness but somehow, just don't float my boat.

I now have two amps, both will melt your face with biting mids if you want but both have bags of power and bottom end.

One is a Gallien Krueger 1001RB (the original 540 watts version - not the mk II, which I think is closer to 700 watts solid state) and the other is a Marshall VBA400 which is 400 watts all tube. Now that thing sounds immense.


Anyway, I digress. Serpent865's suggestion of the Gallien Krueger was a good one. GK also do a model called the 700RB. I think it's got going on for 400 watts in to a 4 ohm speaker load. You might wanna look at Eden amps as well - as they are excellent ballsy sounding amps too.

Some of those might seem a bit expensive to you as a beginner but don't think to yourself, 'oh I'll just get a cheap, low powered amp for now' because you'll enjoy the sound of a better one more and you won't be forced to upgrade when you're ready to play gigs.

 

I'd say Hartke.
I have 2 3500's, one is like 12 years old and has never failed me.

the 4000 will give you 400W at 4 ohm, the 7000 is basically 2 3500's in one box, 350W rms per side at 4 ohms, 240 x 2 at 8 ohms.

Plenty loud crisp and clean sounding. especialy with the hartke cabs or a cab with a horn.

 

The difference between the Ashdown MAG and ABM series is very marked with the MAG being somewhat dull in tone, but for the money still a great amp with good features (looks great too). For a brighter sound the Hartke will fill the criteria better, but at the end of the day it's the speakers that deliver the sound and a bright head will not make dull speakers zingy. To that end Hatke aluminium cones are great at getting that fast, bright response.

Although a great many of us mix and match our heads and cabs, at the lower end it is probably (IMHO) best to try and stick with one manufacturer as the heads and cabs will have been primarily built to go with one and another. That's not to say another cab won't be better, but it's a safe way to start.

 

Out of those choices I'd go for the 7000. It should bridge to a decent 480 watts thru your 8 ohm cab. (its not stated on their site). "The latest in Hartke technology" roughly translates to "our copywriter got a B+ in marketing".

Thats right for the 4000. This would give double the juice to your 4 Ohm than to your 8- so another 8 would be best (I doubt the 4000 would deal with a 2.67 load). The 7000 actually has 2 separate power amps so will give 350 watt out of 1 channel and 240 from the other. Youd do better here with a pair of 4 Ohmers

My 2c..... I had a Hartke for a while and found it to put out a fair bit of hiss and hum- It may have been just my unit to be fair. My vote goes to you giving the GK a good hard look. They rock.

 

I've had a Hartke 3500 and a Trace AH350SMX. Hartke never failed me, but the sound was always lacking. The Trace was a beast and the build quality was far, far better. If you like the Trace tone you won't go wrong

 

Well, this is a demo of a AH500-7band through a Trace 4x10 and 1x15: (Click this)

and this is a Series 6 through a 2x15: (Click this)

I hope they help. Trace tone is really good IMO.

 

With the hartke you always just pull down the 10K fader on the EQ to kill any hiss. I've always gotten great sound out of mine and compliments for it, Thats all opinion though. If you get yer settings right it'll sound nice and warm.

A better preamp tube helps also.