Hartke LH500 Bass Amplifier Head User Reviews at zZounds

"hartke hair raiser 500." submitted April 4, 2010

By a customer from windstream.net

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Sound

Features

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: active musician

Music Style: country, gospel

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Sound: the sound of this head is powerful and has guts. my fender active deluxe jazz bass sounds awesome with this 500 watt workhorse! Feature: it has basic features. simple to set up. it's designed to be a basic workhorse only! it's for power and versitility! if you got to have 100 different sounds and tones; you may need to switch over to lead guitar. Ease of Use: very simple controls. easy to use. Quality: this head is hartke tough! a gigging machine! not a humpty dumpty head. Value: i've researched amp heads for a solid month. this is the only quality and powerful amp head i could find, for this incredible price. Manufacturer Support: have'nt needed to contact hartke. The Wow Factor: this head looks the way a professonal head should look like. it's tough and serious looking, but pleasing to the eye. Overall: getting ready to purchase a new hartke cabinet. don't know which one yet.

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"Simple serious business for a good dollar!" submitted August 30, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Features

Ease of Use

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Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Active musician, recording engineer, live sound engineer

Music Style: rock, blues, southern rock, gospel, christian

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Sound: Easy bottom end to dial up. No silly shape functions or buttons. Solid bottom end. Feature: Tuner output patch, effects loop, and controls for limiter would be desirable. Ease of Use: Power up, plug in, dial up and thump! Quality: Well built. Sturdy and looks like a bass amp should look. Laid out well. Well pleased thus far. Value: Dollar per watt you can't beat. Come on, 500 watts for less than 400.00 bucks is a dynamite deal! I bought mine when it was still $449.00. Manufacturer Support: Haven't had to deal with them yet. Harkes been in business a while now, they build solid gear. The Wow Factor: Wanted the LH1000, or the BR series, but these were priced right and I saved on not having to buy higher wattage cabs. Bass is DI's to board anyway, so it's plenty for stage volume. Overall: I've owned and played for about 4 months now. I'm satisfied. Great amnp. A professional piece of bass gear. No disappointments. And the current 349.99 price tag, you're not going to find a better deal from a quality company in this class.

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"Sugar please.." submitted October 20, 2010

By a customer from yahoo.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Active.

Music Style: Punk, Metal, Jazz, anything fun to play.

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Sound: The Hartke LH500 is a very nice unit. I play punk, and do not get me wrong; I love good sound, Despite what some may say about punk music. My band and i started playing a few years ago, and recently my Ex Bass head (Berhinger 4500x?, cheap Model) started getting really Muddy. I could not stand the sound it was making. When it worked it was good, and it did its job. But it bit the dust (Seen that coming)and the Left side quit working. So i started looking at a new bass head, i hit local and in state Craigslist, Online retailers, and guitar shops to find what i was looking for. I came across this head before on zZounds and when i saw that the price had been reducted i started researching This unit. All the reviews i came across helped out very much, and led me to exactly what i found in the UPS box! The sound is Amazing, i never really saw the ugly sound i was getting out of my Ex Head until i had actually played with this unit. And like many reviews said "It has the Hartke Mid range" I do not know what they do to get the sound, but they have it down, and it sounds great! Playing through a set up of 1-15 EV loaded Cab and a 4-10 Unknown cab (Really nice cab though) it shakes our practice Pad. The sound as i had it set up is warm, Driving, and a nice low end. Feature: I love the limiter on this thing, it does exactly what the manual stated it was there for. It cuts any spikes in FreQ and keeps it straight across the board. the Bright Feature is not really any use to me, but sounds good. Ease of Use: Simple 3 Band EQ is simple, i basically hooked it up to my Cabs, Turned on the volume, turned the EQ bands on to some random settins, bass at 5 o clock, Mid at 3, and Treble at 5. Took about 15 seconds to dial in the sound i was looking for. Simple. Its exactly what i was asking for. My old Behinger unit has too many Knobs for a bass head. Quality: I was really surprised at how well this unit was built. It will stand up to the abuse we put our stuff threw. The knobs have resistance when you dial then, they do not wiggle, and look sharp. Value: The Price was right, i am very happy with this unit for what i payed, i expected less. Manufacturer Support: None yet, but the warranty Card it came with is nice! Just in case Anything ever happens. The Wow Factor: ... I want it... yes. Overall: This rig is Beast, load, and has growl. Its fantastic. If you are thinking of buying this head, so it. its great.

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"No frill Frills!!" submitted June 24, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: active musician, recording engineer

Music Style: christian, rock, alternative, southern rock, blues

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Sound: Pretty musical for a 3 band para eq. Easy to dial in a good punchy tone. This is a no frills ready to work amp. Turn it on and start pumpin out bottom end. Tube in the preamp is a plus for this workhorse. Best value for the buck per wattage! Feature: Stand by switch would be nice, as well as tuner out. The xlr direct out is clean. I'm not impressed with the limiter, maybe if it had a couple of control pots incorporated and was more of a compressor. It does work though, just not effective or pleasing. Ease of Use: Turn it on and plug in and you've got bottom bounce baby! Quality: It's Hartke, sturdy, looks good, sounds good, does what they say it will do! Value: Best value per dollar per watt! No frills easy dial up bottom end! Manufacturer Support: Haven't had to use them yet. The Wow Factor: The LH1000 is a better unit, but you've got to have the wattage in cabinets to use it! A bit pricey, but compared to others in its range, and the tube preamp, this one wins hands down. I researched dozens, Hartke wins hands down. Bottom line, she'll hold up well, resell well, and 3-500 watts will handle any medium to large gig. I'm sold! Overall: I'm sold thus far. Dependable and sounds really ballsy and thumps. I really with the limiter function was more user controllable. EQ section simple, but musical. Really needs the tuner out patch. Clean and loud overall, nice head man! You can't be disappointed with the price, tone, and wattage all considered!

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"Great amp if your looking for something good but for a decent price." submitted May 30, 2011

By a customer from yahoo.com

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Sound

Features

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: active musician

Music Style: hard rock, metal, funk

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Sound: Very simple amp, but it does get a good sound if you know how to mess with the EQ and the EQ on your bass. I normally never use the bright especially on my musicman bass... but the limiter switch helps the sound quite a bit. I did some research and flat EQ on the amp is something like 2-10-3...so keep that in mind when you are adjusting EQ because if you start everything at 12 o'clock or "5" then you will notice how much of a treble and bass boost that is but I like it at about 6-5-4 for a 4 string bass and then for my shecter 5 string i turn the treble up to about 6. The passive and active inputs seem to make a huge difference in not only volume but sound as well. I'm running hartke cabs (4.5xl and 115xl) so its definitely a crisp, bright sound that im getting. I recommend that if you own this amp that you should get at least a good compression pedal. I bought a Boss GEB7 EQ and the Zoom b9.1 big multi-effects pedal and I can achieve any sound I want and it doesnt mess up my bass signal. Granted it takes some tweaking but once you get your sound you will love it. Feature: I wish it had speakon outputs for the cabs but oh well just run a nice thick 1/4in speaker cable and you'll be fine. I also wish there was a level knob for the direct out... but hey for what you pay for the amp its at least got an fx loop, its rack mount design, seems to have a heavy duty fan... good for the money. Ease of Use: Like I said you need to know about EQ to get the perfect sound but if you just play around with it for a lil bit and make small adjustments it makes a big difference. Quality: This is my second one. My first one fried within the first month... I dont know what went wrong... there wasnt a fuse I could find to check or replace but luckily it comes with a good warranty and zzounds let me send it back to them and they sent me another one very quickly and its been great. Value: 500 watts for this price and considering you get a good tone I think the value is great Manufacturer Support: When my first one went out I called Samson and they were pretty helpful about telling me a place I could go nearby where i live to get warranty work done. The Wow Factor: Its not a beauty queen because it doesn't have a lot of features to it but at least you can rack mount it and it does look like a professional bass rig. which i guess really it is. Overall: I wish it had a couple more features, and I was upset about my first one just going out for no particular reason but its a good amp for the money and I'm glad I bought it. I will eventually buy another bass amp head like an SWR 750x or GK700RB just because they are a lil bit more of an amp with more features, more watts, a little bit better sound shaping capabilities etc.

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"great sound for the money" submitted April 28, 2011

By a customer from yahoo.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: hobbyist

Music Style: rock, metal, alternative, funk

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Sound: very straight forward simple amp but with great tone. I use with the 4.5xl cab and it has plenty of punch. i play a sterling music man bass and i can get the perfect slap tone that i want without any effects but i sometimes use the the zoom 9.1 to get some even better sounds. The only thing i dont like about it is there isnt much to play around with as far as eq but i use a boss eq pedal along with the zoom which also has a good eq. I recommend this amp to someone looking for the swr/hartke/GK sound if you want ampeg sound this is not the amp for you. Feature: the limiter and bright switch are pretty cool to mess around with but other than that there arent too many features. Ease of Use: plug it straight in and dial in a good eq for your sound and you will be happy Quality: its nice and heavy...has a fan filter and seems to be built very solid. Value: I think you get a lot of amp for half the price of a lot of other good sounding heads. Manufacturer Support: just got the amp not too long ago so far so good The Wow Factor: rack mount design is cool and its just a solid looking head Overall: I plan on keeping this amp until it kills over on me or i get rich then im going with mesa.

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Hartke LH500 Bass Amplifier Head (500 Watts)

User Ratings

"hartke hair raiser 500." submitted April 4, 2010

"Simple serious business for a good dollar!" submitted August 30, 2009

"Sugar please.." submitted October 20, 2010

"No frill Frills!!" submitted June 24, 2009

"Great amp if your looking for something good but for a decent price." submitted May 30, 2011

"great sound for the money" submitted April 28, 2011