Hartke Kilo, Genz Benz 750

Hetzer

Hetzer

Sep 5, 2010
46
8
4,551
Germany
#1
Hi People!

I am thinking of replacing my Genz Benz GBE 750 with Hartke KILO. I found one in mint condition with 6 months guarantee for about 600 Euros (prices here are a bit higher then in USA and Canada).

My question here is if the change is worth it.

There are a few arguments here that I need a bit clarified:
I never had Hartke before abd I know they are pretty famous among metal crowd. On the other hand, Genz Benz has a reputation of having really high quality products, better than Hartke. This claim I can not confirm nor deny from my experience. I have my GBE for a couple of years (bought second hand) and it is pretty solid.

The second argument ist the power. My GBE 750 has plenty of it. Through my cabs it gets loud enough when the master volume is only around 9 o'clock. Even though I play with a lot of drive, the amp clips almost never. Our drummer is very loud, the room where we rehearse is somewhat big and both guitarist have a full stack 2 times 410 cabs.
I am concerned that I would have to keep Hartke Kilo at lower volume settings and that this situation will decrease the quality of the bass sound. Since it has 3 Tubes in it, I guess that might be the case. I know that from old Marshall GSM for guitar: the louder it gets, the better it sounds. On the other hand, Hartke Kilo has its tubes only in its preamp.
It may also be a bit of an overkill, but more headroom and more is always good to have for us.

Does anyone have any complains about the cooling in Hartke Kilo? It will always run on 2 Ohms with me. Rehearsals last for about couple of hours a few times a week and when we play live it gets shorter

We are playing death metal and my sound is almost always heavily distorted (Darkglass).
I use two FMC (small company in Germany, makes nice bass cabs) cabs. One is 4x10 and the other 2x12 + 1x8. Each has a tweeter and they can handle 600 and 500 W.

Thanks!
 
#2
I really like Hartke stuff, but if you are happy with the sound of the GB750 there's no reason to change it - those are great amps. The Kilo does not have tubes in the power amp, I don't believe, only the preamp, so it shouldn't sound appreciably different at higher volumes the way a tube amp would.

But yeah, I increasingly find myself in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp. Is there a particular reason you're looking to change, other than "hey, this is a nice loud amp for a price I can afford?"
 
#3
It is the best that I've ever had, the GBE 750 and there ia nothing wrong with it. It has pretty neutral sound which has its advantages and disadvantages. It's a good platform for pedals and I use them.
I thought maybe with Hartke Kilo I could elevate my game a bit further. There is no actual need to it.
 
#5
I read somewhere that the earlier that the earlier models are more prone to overheating than the later ones. I wrote to the customer support and they told me the following:

"The Kilo has made over 10 years ago, our records do not show a change in manufacture parts/process from early to late in its lifecycle.
If you have the serial number it's possible we may be able to determine the date it was manufactured"

I have sent them the serial and now I wait further.

One more question:
If i plug a cab with 4 Ohm in each of its amps, than the each of them will get 350 W, not 500 W because none of two amps has the impedance of 2 bur each if them remain at 4 Ohm. Do I have it right?
 
#6
Hetzer said:
One more question:
If i plug a cab with 4 Ohm in each of its amps, than the each of them will get 350 W, not 500 W because none of two amps has the impedance of 2 bur each if them remain at 4 Ohm. Do I have it right?
Click to expand...
Correct
 
#7
Thanks for lighting this up for me! That means I would actually have a bit less power moving my speakers than with my GBE 750. KILO is not the options anymore.
Ampeg SVT-4 pro is exactly like that but with more power, right? 2x490 W @ 4 Ohm
 
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