I'm Lovin It!

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!

Fantastic amp

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.

don't waste your money

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.