Hartke LH-500 Reviews

I have had this for about six years now, so it has been well tested.

I am still using this amp head, but just after the warranty ran out I had major problems with it. The sound started to cut out and come on again randomly, once at a gig which had me running around trying to get an amp off another bass player. Not good.

After investigating it I discovered it was the thermal overheat protection which was faulty, so I bypassed it with an extra switch and it has worked ever since only of course under a watchful eye [and nose].

It is also much noisier than when I bought it. I did find an post online by someone who said parts of the circuit were wired wrongly and I believe him. He said he contacted hartke but they didn't seem to care enough to do anything about it.

My advice is DON'T BUY it's a waste of money

Easy understandable and powerful!

I couldn't want anything more, a lot of headroom and easy understandable controls.

Sounds great!

Great sound for rock/metal

I play a 5 string Bass and this amp really sounds great for rock and metal. It is simple to set up and use, with no unnecessary/gimmicky features - it amplifies your Bass and has basic tone controls with an additional "Bright" switch (I personally don't use this but it does what it says). Note- this amp is 500w only when run into a 4ohm cab and 350w into an 8 ohm cab. The bundle option with the Harley Benton 4x10 cab will only give you 350w output!

I was amazed!!!

Great amp. I upgraded from an old harley benton amp to this one along with a Hartke VX410 and a Hartke 115 B XL. Okay the two amps are obviously uncomparable. So about the Hartke:

Great and versatile sound with simple equilizer controls. You can adjust your sound to any kind of taste and music easily and fast. It is actually really hard to not like the sound this amp makes. One downside is that it is kinda heavy and transportation would be a problem. Other than that the quality looks great and the price is affordable. All in all the Hartke LH-500 is a great semi-proffesional amp and i would recommend it to every kind of bass player.

Hartke LH-500

A sturdy workhorse of an amplifier, this is a replacement for the same unit i've used for years without any issues whatsoever. The old one is still being used for rehearsals and as a backup.

A super quality bass amp at an affordable price

So good we bought 3!

I absolutely love these amps! Absolutely perfect for the rehearsal rooms/recording studio I run. So simple to use and virtually impossible to dial in a bad sound.

We've rack mounted all 3 of ours in 2U ABS cases and they've held up well to the constant use and abuse in our rehearsal rooms.

Very Loud, very simple to use, very punchy and very durable and great value for money.

Quelques petits soucis

Très bon son, rien à redire en général, sauf quand il y a des soucis technique. J'ai du le renvoyer 2 fois d'affilée sur le même mois pour ravoir une tête d'ampli qui fonctionnait correctement.

La première fois, le SAV était nickel, en 1 semaine c'était renvoyé et reçu, avec détail de ce qu'ils avaient fait.

2eme fois, SAV qui promet un entretient avec un technicien pour décider ce qu'on allait faire concernant cet ampli, j'attends toujours l'entretient. Ils m'ont renvoyé l'ampli et maintenant il fonctionne, mais aucune idée de ce qu'ils ont fait dessus.

Sinon, en dehors de ça, très bonne tête, pour répète ou concert, sans problème, même pour les grandes salles de concerts

Great value powerful amp

It is what it is, it gives great tone across the frequencies when paired with my gk 2x10. The rest of the band noticed immediately the difference in sound quality over my previous ashdown mag250.

It's simple but effective

Hartke LH500

Love the simplicity of this amp. Bags of power coupled with good strong build quality. The Best Hartke Bass Amplifier I've tried, by far. For the price you pay, this amp far overcomes my expectations!

A stable amp, but nothing more

If you just want sound coming out of your speakers and is not too picky about HOW it sounds. Buy this one. It's a standard amp that will make your bass audible.

It doesn't sound very good, but not exactly bad either. It just sounds...

It's very easy to use though, so for beginners it's a sensible choice but it'll probably end up being sold for an upgrade very soon, if the beginner wants power. It's pretty weak.

It IS however a solid build that won't break easily.

Good hybrid amp for low money

If you want only a powerful hybrid bass amp head, and don't need any extra features like graphic eq, built in overdrive, tuner, than this is the perfect one. Easy handling, great sound.

lh 500

nice sound and price! But problems with fans and thermostat

Awesome!

I recently joined a death metal band, and i needed something that would deliver a really big and heavy bass sound, and also a really loud amp since the boys in the band tend to get really loud. So i looked around for quite a while, i looked at combos, i looked at different types of stacks, i really searched high and low.

Eventually i settled on this amp and it really suits me perfectly, it is a workhorse of an amp, the build quality is really top notch, and the sound of this amp is fantastic! you can get a really wide variety of sounds with this amp, and you can play pretty much any genre with it. The interface is very straight forward and easy to use. All in all it is a fantastic amplifier.

Would absolutely recommend it for anyone looking for a real workhorse gigging amp!

Far too good for the price...

I use this amp for extreme metal - black metal, thrash, and doom. I've used this for a few months now, playing a lot of gigs, and have lent the amp out to quite a few friends. It has taken all these tasks on and performed admirably.

The build quality of the amp is great. It's a nice solid body, all the input jacks are nice solid metal, and the switches don't rattle around or get loose. One minor complaint is that the knobs don't feel massively solid, but keeping the amp in a flight case negates this problem. I've never actually used the handles (due to the aforementioned flightcase), but they are solid enough that I would completely trust them.

The sound of the amp is great. There isn't a separate gain control, so the sound is very clean, but I happen to like this. It takes pedals with ease as well, so distortion isn't a problem if needed. The outputs are really easy to use, the manual explains everything one needs to know clearly and simply. Running at 8 ohms through a 4x10, the amp sounds great. Running the full 500 watts through a 4 ohm Ampeg 8x10 is amazing.

The amp is plenty loud enough for just about any situation. Despite being 500 watts and solid state, I've found that it is loud enough to match, and even overpower full band setups - certainly, in my power trios, I am constantly having to turn it down - I've never taken it beyond 7 at a gig. In full bands that I've lent the amp to, it's perfectly capable of matching two 100 watt tube guitar heads.

Overall, this amp is an absolute steal for the money. If mine gets broken or stolen, I would not hesitate to get another one straight away.

Not many features but great sound!

This is a no frills, straight to the point, plug and play, built like a brick bass heads.

I bought this as I couldn't afford an ampeg but wanted something that delivered the same classic rock tone. I play this head through a 4x10 ashdown cab using a Fender Jazz bass.

I was really impressed with the tone and compared to an ampeg I think its close but not quite there. The bottom end is great (huge even), theres no signs of it struggling however where this head falls short in comparison is in the higher frequencies. Not that it struggles it just doesn't quite give you that 'jingle jangle' high end pop punk sound I was after. However team it with a Sansamp and this thing comes alive!

If your looking for a blues/pop super smooth sound this head can deliver everyday, but if your looking for something with a bit of edge and twang make sure you have a sanamp (or similar) at the ready.

Hartke LH500

I was looking for a cheapish backup amp, with enough power to do larger venues without PA support, and the LH500 more than fits the bill.

Simple EQ (bass/mid/treble) gets a pleasing tone very quickly.

This amp is clean - you won't get any valve "grind" from it - but if you're looking for a lovely clean, warm, fat sound then the 12AX7 tube preamp certainly delivers. Matched with a 500W output stage, this is one very loud beast.

This isn't a lightweight, but the build quality seems very good. Given it's price, this must be one of the best bass head bargains out there at the moment.