Hartke

[magic1]

I purchased a hartke 3500 head, hartke 4x10 and 1x15 cabinet with the highest praise of the shop about a year ago. I've never really been happy with the tone of it. When you try for any low's it gets real muddy. I thought it to maybe be my bass, but other basses have the same problem plugged into it. Has anyone ever had this problem or know how to get a good tone from it?

[Addix Metzatricity]

Yes. I have an HA3000 and 4x10 cab. I hated the tone for years...

 

Here's the trick (trust me, it really works and it's not a snide comment). Zero out the EQ. Completely. Take that Shaper knob (or whatever it's called. The one right next to the volume), and move it so it has no effect on your sound (There's an intensity knob too, right? Move it to 0).

 

THEN, if your bass is active, play with those knobs to get your sound.

 

Turn up the amp volume and control the actual volume from your bass.

 

It worked wonders for me. I love my sound now!

[Afro_Man]

I don't have a Hartke, but i did have this problem a while back and i thought it was my bass but i wasn't sure. There is two ways that i recomend and i have tried both a) turn the bass nob down (or all of them down the same amount and then the volume up to compensate) or b)buy a bass compressor pedal, there about £80 new here in the uk so it might be different where you are, but they are hard to find, it took me months to find one and its second hand, thats the only advice i can give except possibly do a search on low end sound, the guys more in the know will be more help than me.

Try www.roland.com they make boss pedals.

Nic

[Mr. Phil]

You could always not use a Hartke Head....they aren't the greatest.

[...]

Aha!! The main reason I don't like Hartke!! They sound like ass! I've heard rumor that the silly BBE Sonic Crack-o-Meister (Maximizer) can drastically improve the tone one gets out of Hartke gear. I've never actually tried it though, no desire or need to.

 

I'd suggest kicking that salesman in the junk the next time you see him.

[Bartolini]

Here's the trick (trust me, it really works and it's not a snide comment). Zero out the EQ. Completely. Take that Shaper knob (or whatever it's called. The one right next to the volume), and move it so it has no effect on your sound (There's an intensity knob too, right? Move it to 0).

 

THEN, if your bass is active, play with those knobs to get your sound.

 

Turn up the amp volume and control the actual volume from your bass.

 

It worked wonders for me. I love my sound now!

Ya, thats what I do. Its better than the EQ on.

[hags2k]

Originally posted by phil6006:

You could always not use a Hartke Head....they aren't the greatest.

However true it may be, sometimes I think that suggestions like this are really the worst thing you can say to someone, especially in a situation like this. I mean, ideally it's best to have an amp where it takes very little effort and knob tweaking to get the tone you want, but if you CAN get a decent tone with a lot of knob tweaking, it's a hell of a lot easier to turn a few knobs than scrounge together the cash to get a new rig. Maybe that's just people like me who don't have the money to spend, but even still...making the best out of what you had is what many of the greats have done to get their sound before they were revered by all and had tons of cash.

[Mr. Phil]

Originally posted by hags2k:

Originally posted by phil6006:

You could always not use a Hartke Head....they aren't the greatest.

However true it may be, sometimes I think that suggestions like this are really the worst thing you can say to someone, especially in a situation like this. I mean, ideally it's best to have an amp where it takes very little effort and knob tweaking to get the tone you want, but if you CAN get a decent tone with a lot of knob tweaking, it's a hell of a lot easier to turn a few knobs than scrounge together the cash to get a new rig. Maybe that's just people like me who don't have the money to spend, but even still...making the best out of what you had is what many of the greats have done to get their sound before they were revered by all and had tons of cash.

Jeez, I was just trying to liven up the thread.

[hags2k]

I didn't intend to sound so "uppity", though I guess it did. I guess I just hear things like that a lot, but sometimes the statments are not meant to "liven things up", but are said in a condescending way, like "obviously you've already made a big stupid mistake by using *fill in manufacturer* and there's nothing you can do about it" of "just buy something else!"

 

Anyway, I'm sure you didn't mean it that way. Sorry to jump on you.

[thrawn]

Hey I'm a n00b here, but I have a suggestion (if I can picture your head correctly. I have a hartke transient attack 5000 (two 250 watts in series or something..). I hated the sound of my shitty fender (I hate my bass...) JP-90 through my old amp. After I bought my hartke, I had trouble gettting the 500 watts to pump a reasonable amount of sound out of it, let alone get a good tone. Here's my solution:

 

1. My tone knob on mi fender makes the bass sound like I'm playing in a giant metal room, so ixnay on that (my god I'm going active as soon as humanly possible).

 

2. I put my volume at about 7, as to not overdrive anything. That's all variable according to your own output and the way you attack.

 

3. I have both preamps all the way up.

 

4. the TA 5000 has a 10 band eq, so (on that) I cut the bass all the way on the 1st four slider thingys. when I came to the 4th (about where I like my mids to growl) I put it up about half way, to a little above no cut/boost. for the 5th and 6th, I put them progressively higher, (this also will radically effect your sound so do what you like). on the 7th, 8th and 9th sliders, I have them to 100% boost. for the treb, I ususally vary that depending on my sound of the day, just like the two low mids.

 

5. On the countour knobs (bass, treb) I put the bass at 4.5 for gigging, and the treb at about 7.

 

6. add some compression. This will make it sound killah punchy (if that's what you like).

 

7.run a little more out of your 4x10 than your 1X15. that will give you a less muddy sound (i have a 2x10 that I also want to puke on).

 

I got my rig for $475 total becasue the cabs were home made though, so this might just be me-specific...

[Mr. Phil]

i still think you should return the amp and go buy a Carvin

[Lawnmower8]

I've used a Hartke 3500 with a Hartke 215XL for 10 years now, and I never thought it sounded "muddy"... I liked the fact that the 2x15 cab never bottom'd out, but I could get a wide range of tone through the 10-band EQ, the mix of tube and solid state, and the high and low pass... and the aluminum cones are sharp...

I'd expect the 4x10 cab to have more definition than my 2x15...

Perhaps you haven't tweaked around enough with the EQ?

 

Now, all that being said, I went out and got myself a 2x10 Avatar cab... but that was because I was tired of hauling around a 110 lbs. cabinet to practice... I love the Avatar, tons of low end for such a small cab (50 lbs.)... but I'd recommend the Hartke heads and cabs to anyone...

[Hanshananigan]

I have a Hartke, I think a 3500 (the one without the crossover with, I think, 350Watts.) and use it with an inexpensive 1x15 that maximizes vibrating ankles with an active bass. Our band plays college rock stuff.

 

The biggest impact on the tone for me was the preamp settings. I like mostly tube with a bit of solid state. I set my eq kinda like this (I think it's a ten-band? I don't have it here...; the dots are added because of html formatting issues):

 

.....0.0.0

...0.........0

-------------0-0-------------

........................0 0 0

 

Then turn the hi contour to about 2-3 o'clock. I know it sounds rediculous, but this gives it a different flavor than leaving the contour at 0 and just using the eq. Note the lowest band on the eq is not as high as the next few bands. I individually set each low-end band at stage volume to "muddiness", then brought each down to where the sound was clean. Good luck!

[Drum Bass]

I have the hartke 3500 and 4x10 Cab which I feels works great for what it was intended great articulation in the mid range on up. I purchased a peavey 2x15 Black Widow bass enclosure to handle the low end. If possible trade your 1x15 in for a Hartke MX series paper cone 1x15 you mike like te results better.

[Bytor]

I've never used a Hartke head, but I have a 2x10 cab now. I use an SWR-SM500 head, the Hartke 2x10, and a Carvin 15". The Hartke just adds some bite/punch/definition, and the Carvin 15 " lets some warmth come through. An all Hartke setup would just be to bright, even for metal. New strings, (or boiled if neccessary), and a scooped EQ is all I need. Any other tonal variation comes from fingers/pick, and onboard bass controls.