Hartke 4.5XL Problem

[jasbury]

Hi all,
I am currently running a Hartke 4.5 XL cabinet with a Hartke 3500A amp. Recently, my cabinet has began making a weird noise off and on when I play the low E string. It's not a hissing but more of a paper blowing in the wind sound. At first I thought it was a blown speaker, but it only does it every now and then, and only when I play on the low E. I've taken it to shops but of course, it worked fine at the time and they could offer no help

Has anyone heard of this before? Thanks for the help.

[DAS]

If you can try another cabinet or another amp head it might help to positively be sure it's in the cabinet, which is probably the case...it's just nice to be sure. There are a number of things up stream from the cabinet that could cause weird noises like you describe.

Assuming it is in the cabinet it almost has to be one of two things:

1) Something is lose - could be a screw, the surround of a speaker, the grill, a handle, a wood joint, etc. These can be really hard to track down sometimes. Sometimes they just go away....

2) A speaker is failing. Occasionally the voice coil of the speaker will slightly rub inside of the magnet gap. In more severe cases this will sound like radio static, but sometimes it can have a character like what you describe. Causes can be numerous, but the fix is a speaker re-cone or replacement. The one exception could be that sometimes if a cabinet gets banged hard in the right way the wood of the baffle can become stressed, which can put some torque on a speaker and cause some of the rubbing. That's pretty rare though.

Unfortunately you may just have to wait to see if it gets worse before you spend much more time chasing it down.

[Majcm]

I had maybe the same problem..I had a rattle when I played my low B string. I play a Hartke 3500 with a ampeg B410-H....My problem was I had my cabinet sitting in a road case onstage and the latches on my case were rattling when I played certain low notes! I solved the problem by just pulling out the latches a little bit so they didn't touch the bottom of case.....it did go on for a while..drove me crazy too till I found out what it was!

Hope this helps

Joe

[Adj]

Hi,
I am refering to a problem regarding Hartke posted by you. I have exactly the same problem using a Harke 4000 amp with 2x200 watt XL speakers(115XL and 2.5XL) . At first, I thought I needed a bigger (at least) 600watt speaker to handle a 400 watt amp but Hartke support told me a 400 watt 8 Ohm speaker should be sufficient and asked me to cut the low equalizer down. But untill now the problem is still not resolved, even if I cut the low EQ right down. I am wondering if you have managed to solve this problem yet? If you have, please could you let me know the solution. Thanks.

[Alter Ego75]

I run a Hartke HA4000 through a 4.5xl and had exactly the same problem you did. It only seemed to happen when I'd play low notes so it was a bit confusing. I actually took the front grille off and tried listening to each speaker individually and was able to find the problem. Turns out it was the paper cap that covers the voicecoil coming loose and was vibrating against the aluminum cone. My solution was to use (black silicone II) you can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. Remove grille, lay cab on it's back, apply a bead of silicone to each speaker cap. I let mine dry for a day just to be safe. It worked for me, hopefully it works for you.

[Serious Business]

Hi all,
I am currently running a Hartke 4.5 XL cabinet with a Hartke 3500A amp. Recently, my cabinet has began making a weird noise off and on when I play the low E string. It's not a hissing but more of a paper blowing in the wind sound. At first I thought it was a blown speaker, but it only does it every now and then, and only when I play on the low E. I've taken it to shops but of course, it worked fine at the time and they could offer no help

Has anyone heard of this before? Thanks for the help.

own the VX3500 combo amp...have had same issue twice. first time a local elctronic repairman repaired it for $165. problem was cold solder joints in head section. worked great for about 5 months until same problem came back. loved amp but cutting ties with it. good luck

[JoeS]

Ouch!

I never did like Hartke - especially with regard to tone of their stuff....always sounded like tin to my ears.

Apparently their build quality is questionable as well....

Long live Gallien-Kruger!!

I hope you find an acceptable solution.

Respect,

Joe