I'm having a amp crisis!

Jubestonethroat

Jubestonethroat

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Sep 5, 2017
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#1
Okay sooooo for the first time in my. Ass playing career I'm playing music that's not weddings restaurants and party's. Sooo I went big and put myself a rig together for a heavy doomy stonery metal band. But the last few rehearsals when I turn up my amp the attack seems soooo harsh that it kinda cracks. It sounds similar to rubbing the strings on the poles of a pickup. For refrense my rig from bass to cab is..... fender p bass to a darkglass - vintage ultra - darkglass duality - mxr chorus then to a hartke LH500amp and to a hartke hx4x10 hydrive. Always doing smaller gigs Iv used combos and never had soo many things in the chain. Iv noarrowed it down to ether the amp bass or cab . But I don't know how to diagnose it or even where to get it fixed. If you got any advice I'd be eturnaly greatfull!

❤️ Jules
 
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#5
Cracks and pops?

Why did you go with Hartke?

I know people like it but I've had nothing it problems with them.

Dump it and get a Mesa or GK rig. Or do what I did and combine the two. Mesa subway head and a pair of GK 410 cabs. Talk about sweet.
 
#6
Does that cab have tweeters?? If so turn em down or better yet off!
For the most part I can stand horns on bass cabs. Especially when dirt and fuzz are concerned. So first thing I'd check is that.

I've Hartke Hydrive cabs sound great so their not bad cabs if they're working properly.

Agree I'd remove everything from signal chain and start there.
 
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#7
joel406 said:
Cracks and pops?
Why did you go with Hartke?
I know people like it but I've had nothing it problems with them.
Dump it and get a Mesa or GK rig. Or do what I did and combine the two. Mesa subway head and a pair of GK 410 cabs. Talk about sweet.
Click to expand...

Please do not follow the advice from joel406. You don't NEED to replace anything until you have properly tested your gear. You have some good equipment and should be able to get some great tones. Nothing wrong with Hartke gear AT ALL.

EQ settings on the LH500 - what are they? Try running the Mid at 10/10, Treble and Bass both 2/10. That is the approximate flat setting for the amp. My guess is that you are boosting the low end to the moon, hitting the strings too hard, and/or hearing a mostly scooped midrange tone that has entirely too much high end for your taste. The tweeter on the cabinet should have the knob on the back side turned all the way down.

Recap - try the new EQ setting, take all pedals out of the equation, try the bass and the amp head ALONE. If you can get those components sounding good, you are on the right track.
 
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#8
I want a orange ob1 500wtt And it's a 4 ohm amp and my cab is a 8 ohm .so I'd have to get a new cab aswell and I don't have a lot of money ATM.

And yeah it's a passive pbass . If I back the eq off is helps a little bit it's still there if I attack it hard even if the volume is right down!
 
#9
Gearhead17 said:
Please do not follow the advice from joel406. You don't NEED to replace anything until you have properly tested your gear. You have some good equipment and should be able to get some great tones. Nothing wrong with Hartke gear AT ALL.

EQ settings on the LH500 - what are they? Try running the Mid at 10/10, Treble and Bass both 2/10. That is the approximate flat setting for the amp. My guess is that you are boosting the low end to the moon, hitting the strings too hard, and/or hearing a mostly scooped midrange tone that has entirely too much high end for your taste. The tweeter on the cabinet should have the knob on the back side turned all the way down.

Recap - try the new EQ setting, take all pedals out of the equation, try the bass and the amp head ALONE. If you can get those components sounding good, you are on the right track.
Click to expand...



I'll take a photo of the set up tonight dude and show you. I'm just worried Iv broken somthing and I wouldn't even know what to fix. Thanks for the advice dude . I do like my rig!(when it's working)
 
#18
I think Gearhead and other's suggestions are correct, in that, what you are hearing is your rig doing what it's told, and so your highs, maybe helped along by mids, are really cranking things. Get that tweeter knob on the cab turned down and see what that does. Work backwards in your chain and slowly, component-by-component get the highs down just a little tiny bit at a time. At each step see what changes the tone knob on your P Bass has to your sound. Bet that solves it. If not, lower your pick ups a little, go back to square one, and repeat. I'll bet you that your equipment isn't broken - rather, it's working fine at trying to do what you are setting it to do.
 
#19
A crakle is a crakle. without sound example im guessing driver rubbing, or preamp tube thats going out. or another amp issue if no tubes
you can push on the speaker cones and see if their is rubbing. if so its driver damage.
try turning tweet off see if that was pushed to hard. or tweet is already been off and something is frying on the crossover board. lots options for a crakle

likewise bypass the pedals to see if its a pedal thing, im guessing you already tried that
 
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#20
there something wrong, verify cables, jacks, preamp tube of your amp, its a nice rig it should sound great. don't forget eq on that passive tone stack Bass 2, mid 10, treble 2
keep your money, just find whats wrong
 
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