Hartke LH-1000

I bought this amp before I even knew anything about bass amps. The amount of power it is able to conjure up seemed too impressive to pass on for the price.

I have thus far only used this amp for one outdoors gig, but I have tested it in depth in our band house. One thing was clear from the start. There is plenty of headroom for everything with this thing.

Pros:

Great sound

Lots of headroom

Simple but effective eq

line out

multiple ways of connecting for increased or decreased wattage

Cons:

Thick as a brick (weighs a ton)

learning curve on the eq (boost only filters)

Band members won't let you use it with volume up more than "2" in regular band rehearsal.

You could bust a cabinet with this.



Summary:

Hartke LH-1000 is quality product no doubt. The sound is there and the sheer power and warmth will make you shiver in your pantaloons. The EQ needs a little time getting used to, but mostly cause instinctively you don't want to believe that a "flat" eq as in all knobs on "5" is really good on this amp. Having a direct out readily available is really nice.

Now, first off, you will hate yourself for buying this when you carry it home, cause it seems even heavier than it is. That huge toroidal transformer and tube pre-amp are there for a purpose but man is it heavy. After you finally use a forklift to get this bad boy in your rack you will forget the weight of it though.

Also I have never had the chance to play with a band with this with the volume really turned up. Even when it isn't in bridged mode, there is a lot of sound pressure. I Really think it has too much power for my purposes at the moment, but that is a self made problem. I'm rocking this through two Hartke cabinets. Hartke 1x15 and a 4x10 xl series.

LH-1000 and LH-500 are amps I can really recommend. For the price, a lot of great things are there. Whenever you are feeling down, just amp it up and let the warm powerful tone cheer you up.

Even though I have heard many times that other brands work better when handling low tunings, this amp head delivers an extreme amount of low end. I play modern Metal, with a 5 string bass that is tuned down to drop A, and my old Peavey amp could not do the job (sounded amazing for the rest pf the strings actually but it didn't for the thicker one) so I started researching a lot how to get an affordable and effective full bass stack system.

And here it is, combined with two Hartke cabs, HX410 HyDrive and HX115 HyDrive, it delivers an outstanding efficiency and power for the purpose I needed. About volume.... 1000 WATTS!!! No more words needed. Its Brite button thing bright the sound of your bass and its Limiter function works more as a Compressor than a Limiter, which is great either way.

On the bad side of it, I would say that 3 EQ knobs are just fine, but a couple more would have created a huge machine.

If you're looking for the specifications mentioned above, and don't want to spent a few salaries with it, this is a perfect choice. Period.

When this worked, it sounded amazing - exactly what I have been looking for. Unfortunately, it didn't work very often.
1st amp lost B-channel, returned and replaced under warranty.
2nd amp lost B-channel, returned and replaced under warranty.
3rd amp lost A-channel, and I'm done with Hartke amps.

I gig every weekend, in UK and Europe, and this just isn't reliable. I can't trust it.

Thomann have been excellent, but Hartke customer service outside the US is non-existent.

I use this as my main gigging rig along with a Hartke HyDrive 410. It's the right size for any venue, from small to large-mid sized (around 500 people), even with minimal to no PA support. With 1000W it will always have headroom for even the loudest guitar player and drummer in your band.

The amp is very transparent, so you can "only" dial from very clean tone to slightly warm. If you want an Orange sound, it's the wrong head for you. But if you have a specific tone you like, and it's already dialed in your pre-amp/pedalboard, this is the last amp you'll ever need. The controls are extremely simple, and you are guaranteed to spend under 5min. to dial the ideal tone you want. The only peculiarity worth mentioning is the odd EQ: flat is around 2-10-0 to 2-10-2 (allowing for tolerances). Out of the factory the LH line has a remarkable mids scoop, that Hartke likes. Nothing that getting used to can't cope with.