Hartke LH500 500-watt Bass Head Reviews

The Hartke LH 500 watt head .... got it from Sweetwater for about $500 or less and it was at my house
in 2 days from order to unpacking the amp. I am running it with a 4x10 cab and a 1x15 cab together at
4 ohms but have not turn it up past 3 yet ... So for it sounds great no problems and I expect it will
last for years to come, I have had Hartke amps and cabs over the past 30 years and this is the best.
Buying thru Sweetwater is plus cause you get it fast and they back there customers....BUY THIS AMP !!!

I have had several bass amps, combos, bass heads through out the years. I always want Ampeg SVT stuff but never could afford it. I finally came across a G&K 2x10 300watt combo and I loved it. I only paid $ for the G&K. Well, as life would have it, lightning took out my G&K combo. Of course the speakers are still good so I was like, I need a new bass head. I came across the LH500 and it fits easily into my G&K combo because the old G&K combo head was a 2U rack mount. After hearing the new combo (2x10 and a 4x10 cab all G&K) I am completely blown away. My 6 10's are keeping up with my brother's 8x10 powered by an older Carvin R600 (600watts). Both of us are like, this thing rocks!!! This Hartke head has some freaking balls and plenty of headroom. In fact, you should hear both stacks side by side, it's absolutely monstrous.

So I highly recommend this head. Now, I paid only $ for my Hartke LH500, but I am friends with the owner of a music store, so I get the inside deal. But even at $ this head is totally worth it. It stays super clean and can get very loud while maintaining sweet, sweet warm tube sounds. Get one, you won't regret it.

The simplicity of this amp is awesome, other amp manufacturers should take notice.
This amp is also very cool visually and very well designed.
I love the fact that this amp can just be installed into a rack within minutes.
I wish Hartke would make this exact same amp with the lightweight guts of a D class amp.
Anyhow, this amp running my single Gallien Kruger Neo 212 II sounds thunderous and jaw dropping, fellow bass player friends are definitely impressed when they hear this setup.
Cheers, Davyo

I wasn't sure which amp between the LH 1000 and the LH 500 to purchase being as my experience with bass amps is limited to ampeg SVT tube style. I'll say this: the 500 has plenty of headroom!! It is a complete monster!! I almost feel bad for putting it in my rack with the other processors and interfaces! I feel like it needs to be on display so anyone who can hear it knows where this warm low end is coming from! It's simple to use! Basic features. Limiter and bright switch. Lots and lots of headroom

I never pull a piece of gear out of the box and review it. I have to have it at least 6-months, and I really need to gig with it at least once before I write a word about it. So, here goes...

I bassist for a well known recording artist with a 7-piece band. We played a very large outdoor venue in Greenville, SC in July (95 degrees...) with several thousand people present. I play a Gibson SC bass and usually run two Gallien-Krueger RB 700 II heads; one head driving two GK 410 Neo cabs behind me and the other driving one GK MBE 115 (400 watt) cab on the other side of the stage. For this large gig, and since we had a large sound company for FOH sound, I decided to use my Hartke LH500 driving two Hartke XL 115 cabinets (great cabinets, better sounding and lighter than the 410XL, as I have two of those also). Because it was such a large venue, I set all controls on the LH500 at 12 o'clock, including the volume. This combination absolutely kicked! This amp sounded excellent! It was warm, and VERY articulate, and quiet as a mouse when not playing. It made those two big 15" drivers dance for 3-hours with clarity and authority. During a 15-minute break, a bassist from another recording artist/band we are opening for in September came up to talk to me about my sound (he uses an SVT). I told him I thought it sounded great (and he agreed) and would be using this head and cabinet combination when opening for his band. He texted me last week and said he now has this head and he bought two excellent condition XL115 cabinets. Sick minds think alike...

Now, I will tell you that this head does NOT like cheap guitar cables. It is very sensitive and really likes good, high-quality cables, and yes, you CAN tell the difference in your sound. Cheap sounds cheap. It also like big, fat high-quality speaker cables, because it is pushing a lot of power to those drivers, so invest in really good cables, as you get what you pay for. You won't regret it.

Bottom line, for $400 this is a serious amp. It will play anything from a coffee house to a stadium and everything in between. It sounds good and is a "set it and play" amp. It has no frills and doesn't need them. For the price, you can't beat it. So order one before they're gone!

I'm very happy with my LH500.
500 watts of pure Class A amp tone and clarity.
She is powering my Hartke 410 cab.
The combo sounds so sweet. I can't go past 1/2 volume because my roof will blow off. From sounding like Jaco, switching over to Flea's sound, the LH 500 does it and everything in between.
If you're looking at the Hartke' and are undecided on which to choose, forget the TX line with it's useless (IMHO) bells & whistles and go for either LH. You won't be disappointed. Thanks to Joe Holsclaw my sales advisor and everyone at Sweetwater.

Amp has both passive and active inputs the tube worms the sound and I like the delayed turn on so you don't get speaker thump the unit was packed very well for shipment with three layers of boxes the amp fit my needs..

excellent purchase

I bought one of these to backup my Mesa Subway Head, just in case of a failure. When I checked it out, I was blown away by the raw tube tone this amp has! I use this amp half the time just to mix things up. Sounds absolutely Great through my two 410 Hartke XLs

It goes to 11. It's felt as much as it's heard. Built like a tank.

This is my first purchase of Hartke gear. I always found their amps/cabs to have a little too much treble/brightness in the tone for my taste. But after hearing another bass player with this amp I decided to give it a try. It does not have the treble/brightness issue at all (although there is a "bright" switch you can turn on that adds some of that back in if you want it, but I don't use it). It has a very rich warm sound to it, I assume because of the hybrid design with a tube in the preamp. There is not a separate gain on the preamp tube, so you can not drive it into breakup, but I have a LeBass tube preamp pedal that gives me plenty of that when I need it. This amp sounds great as a warm clean sound, and gets very loud. The only down side for some people might be the weight. This is not an amp you can tuck into a pocket of your bass gig bag and go. It is very solidly built and can be rack mounted. The weight is not an issue for me, so I am very pleased with it. Especially when you consider the price, it is a deal that can't be beat.

We've all heard "you get what you pay for." With the LH500, that's both true and a lie. It's not overly equipped. Personally, I like that. Simple is almost always better. If you're a player who wants loads of options and magic knobs and switches, look elsewhere. If you're a player who just wants to plug in and play, and get great tone and power without having to earn a masters degree, this puppy was made for you!

I have this head paired with a GK Neo 212 II cab, and it's an amazing rig. I'm old school. I don't use effects (though the head has a nice effects loop), I don't do solos, I don't need a million sounds at my finger tips. I come from the days where we grabbed a Fender four string, plugged it in the amp, and rocked. I've been through all the options over the years, and that's just the way I still prefer it. If that's you too, you'll love this amp.

Straight up rock, blues, and country tones are all in there. The clarity and punch is amazing. The bottom is tight, but not too tight, and the top is very nice. Enough mid to get some girth and punch in a mix, but none of that Jaco "trombone" fart tone. Very clear and full.

Power to spare. I'm running mine into a single, 8 ohm cab. It's putting out about 350 watts. I've had it on the road touring it for about six months now and haven't had the master volume over 4 on the dial yet. Those who say this is underpowered either have a bad head, or are totally deaf. After thirty years of touring and gigging, I think I have the best rig I've ever owned right now. Highly recommended.

I get an incredibly punchy and great sounding tone out of this amp. My friend with an SVT-3 head says he wishes he would've saved his money and bought this head instead.

Drives my Eden 410 XLT and 15 like a champ. I can easily overpower any guitarist.
I play thrash metal, and with this setup I have never had to turn it up past 7.
Good even frequency response over the entire range. I have spent twice as much for a lot less.
Made in China. I guess that is the only way they can be so cheap.
I am guessing it is pretty durable. We shall see.

I love the sound of the amp and the power it has. I've never had to turn it up all of the way. The EQ is super simple and idiot proof which I love.

I have to agree with others that this thing sounds great right out of the box. But it does sound different from the old Trace Elliot head I was using. I understand how the vintage style passive tone stack works (same as my Blue Tube pedal or what you find on an Alembic preamp), so with that in mind I set all the controls at about 6 to start with. From there I was able to tweak the mids and highs to get just about any tone I wanted.

it's a very clear sounding amp, and took me a little bit to get used to, but I'm really enjoying it now. And it's loud. It doesn't song like the solid state Hartkes, but it does have a great warm tone, while being clear as a bell.

I love this amp! It's well made, sounds great, and doesn't have a ton of knobs and buttons to make things confusing. I just set the bass, mid, and treble to the neutral position and then dial up my tone on the guitar with active EQ. It's so simple it's stupid. Thank you Hartke for giving us a great sounding amp at an affordable price! It's warm and punchy and has all the power I need. If you are planning on playing a big hall then I would suggest the LH1000. But for a 2-300 person venue with a decent P.A. system the 500 is more than enough for on stage presence. HARTKE ROCKS!

This head sounds great right out of the box. This is plenty powerful, and the tones are pure musical sweetness. It definitely is a no nonsense amp with minimal tweaking capabilities but that's what I love the most about it. I don't have to spend weeks and weeks messing with a hundred knobs and switches to find a great sound. It has everything you NEED and nothing you don't. If constant tweaking and tinkering is your thing then get something else, but if you want to set up, plug in, and play get this amp.

Before getting this amp I Had the Hartke5500. It was a sweet amp I had it and gigged withit forever 14yrs. What a fine amp. So feeling the way I did I chose the LH500 Hartke amp. I'm pleased with the raw power it has a little more simple EQ than the 5500 But with all the power you need. I use a Sans Amp RBI as a pre amp along with a BBE sonic maximizer and a pitchblack tuner. Back up and running with harke 410 XL and a15 XL Cabs Superior Sound. I hope I get 14 good years on this amp too! Buy it you wont be sorry you did The Brum

This one had a noisy 12AX7 tube. I replaced the tube and all is well. This has to be the best under $400 bass amp on the market. Great tone with lots of power. This is my 5th Hartke amp. All 5 are still working perfectly since 1996.

Good tone. Easy to use and loud as hell! Only complaint is there is no rack tuner input. Other than that a solid, great sounding bass head for a more than fair price.

I originally bought this amp because many of the worlds greatest bassists use Hartke products, most commonly the 1000 watt head. This amp looks great and is built like a tank, but does not deliver the modern tenor bass tone I am after. I have tried every conceivable combination of pedals and processors, but am still unsatisfied with the tone.

This is a great head no doubt. But it does have an issue that seems to bug me. And that is when its raised past 6 on volume it starts hissing that is very annoying and loud! Even if you raise your bass volume and lower the the volume on the head, you'll lose some volume and reduce some hiss but will still be there. If its before the 5 range in volume you'll be ok in volume. But at the volume you'll like mostly get 200 watts coming out of it but not be able to use it to its potential without having it hiss back at you. The Bass, Mid, and high is standard and does their job in sound quality, but when compared to others with more options to tweak your sound, it kinda lacks. Limiter does limit those peaks and bright.... really don't like to use it because its hiss is way more annoying. Currently got myself a Fender Rumble 500 head and LOVE IT! The gain knob really helps reduce the hiss along the master and the nice tones you can get out of it, its what I recommend for someone on a budget for a 500 watt head. But ultimately If your on a budget this would be a fair buy. If you have a bit extra cash I say go for the Fender Rumble 500 if you prefer the Hartke Brand the Hartke TX600 is the better choice.

Sold my 1990s 410 transporter cab and 200 watt transit attack head about two years ago and thought I would upgrade. Purchased a 410 XL cabinet and LH500 head. My god what a mistake! Amp has no power unless your cranked to the max. My old 200 watt would blow this POS out of the water. I'm presently looking for used amp like the one I sold and going to use the LH500 as my boat anchor. Very disappointed.

You just can't get a good sound with this head. I have owned a Hartke 5500 and thought I would try this because it supposedly pairs nicely with the Hydrive speakers. The speakers are great and I would recommend them, but the head is just awful. It is noisy at high levels. There is no way you could record with it. Move along and get a 5500 if you like Hartke stuff.