Hartke KB15 Kickback 1x15" 500-watt Bass Combo Amp Reviews

Super powerful and LIGHT!

Im not a bass player by trade, im a lead/rythum guitar player. But i have fun playing bass, and i wanted to get a bigger bass amp that wouldnt destroy my back hauling it around. If always been interested in Hartke products with thier speaker desgin. Well this amp will not disappoint! I have a roland DB500 with a 12 inch speaker ive been using and the 15 inch makes a big difference! It can go much lower than my roland, which is a great amp too, but heavy! I made the right choice for me and Matt was great with advice as always!

The Hartke KB15 Kickback combo bass amp is outstanding. I purchased a demo model and was a little skeptical about prior to its arrival. It arrived at my doorstep beyond fast. I was also a little skeptical opening the box expecting a few exterior imperfections. Nothing was observed. It was like new. Upon my first hookup the tone very good. After I dialed-up what I was looking for the sound was perfect. Add the power of 500 amps, WOW. Adding the kickback feature is another WOW. I've been a bass player for decades and I've owned just about every amp there is. Bigger isn't always better. With this amp I can get all my practice sessions done. I can complete my recording sessions and get my gigs done all with this amp. I highly recommend it. Once again the Sweetwater staff are also outstanding. I love this amp combo! I love Sweetwater.

Awesome combo bass amp. Plenty of power, light, simple, and has a line out and headphone jack if/when I will need it.

Still haven't been able to use it in practice with the guys yet but it hasn't dissappointed! I continue to learn the controls and am very impressed with the clarity and volume that it puts out. The shape control really takes it over the edge!

Lightweight, good tones, jams well next to drums.

I have owned 3 KickBacks and 1 Hartke 4x10 cabinet. No complaints!

It's a simple and powerful bass amp. So far I have been very pleased with its power, versatility, sound and portability. I own several bass amps and this is looming like it's going to be my "go to" amplifier.

My friend Roy Chaney the bass player for The Count Five, Psychotic Reaction, 1966 has one and convinced me to buy.
Everything he said was true, great tune quality, plenty of volume with 500 watts for any gig and lightweight
The solid tilt back design makes it very easy and simple to move Great price and quality!!!

This 1x15 combo packs some serious bass, we play in dropped A and most amps can't hang with that key.

My son loves the amp! It's light, easy to get a great sound, and it kicks back!

I am VERY pleased with the Hartke KB15! Not only does it sound great, but the controls are nice and simple and the weight (only 35 lbs) is right on the money! The 'kickback' feature is fantastic for personal monitoring in small to mid-sized venues ... I don't have to tilt back my speaker cab with a spacer block or put it on a chair anymore! I have been using a similar rig purchased 15 years ago with the same specs, and it weighs over twice as much ... with not as big and tight of a sound! I'm very happy with this purchase - many thanks to Sweetwater for providing fantastic customer service!

-Steve

I have been playing bass through a Hartke 10" kickback amp, connecting direct out through the sound system. It always performed great, sounded great for its size and never disappoints. Hartke has since upgraded the small amp to a 12" Kickback. I played through a friends for 3 gigs and the sound is incredible. Needless to say I decided I needed one of these. I looked at the Hartke 2X10 500 watt, the 12" kickback and the 15" kickback. I decided on the 15" model. FANTASTIC sound. whether using the SHAPE feature (which provides a sound that just seems like has more air driving the notes) or without the SHAPE button engaged you will be blown away by the depth of sound, especially when at lower volume. The direct out sends the same pure notes though a sound system and makes the mix tighter and thicker. When other musicians comment on the great sound you know you have a quality instrument. Donald is a great salesman and customer service pro. I WILL ONLY SHOP AT SWEETWATER from this point forward. I've bought a great bass and a great bass amp so far -- this is not over yet. B

I bought this combo and changed the amplifier out with the help of my salesperson, James Masterson.
We put in a Mesa Boogie Subway 800 Plus, which has the same height, but controls more to my liking.
The Hydrive 15" is by far my favorite speaker. It has just the right amount of treble with no help from EQ in that range. This cab has no tweeter, but I don't miss it, and it saves weight.

I just received this amp about a week ago and just put it through its paces on 3 gigs this weekend. First off let me say WOW at the overall build quality and sound of this amp. I sold my GK MB500 and Mesa 2x10 cab because I simply could not hear myself, plus the Mesa cab was heavy (65lbs). I bought this and it beats the GK/Mesa combo hands down. I played a outdoor festival with this combo (Everyone in the band had a monitor with a full mix going though each monitor. I am the only one who did not have a monitor. My band consists of drums, accordion, vocals, guitar, and keys). I could hear myself perfectly with the monitor in the kickback position. I could actually feel the bass while I was playing. This is an amazing amp and is way better that any Markbass, Fender, GK, ect.... combo. Plus it only weighs around 35lbs, so it is very easy to carry around. Just buy this amp, before Hartke realizes what they have!

....Great tone, light weight, lots of power, pick two.
With this amp you get all three. Best bass rig I've ever owned.
Buy it! You won't be disappointed.

As a life time user of Ampeg, I am presently surprised at the performance of this amp.im getting up in my years and wanted something lighter to transport. Only 35 lbs fits the bil, but this amp sounds great. I would recommend it to everyone.

Without a lot of bells and whistles, this combo amp really has impressed me. I needed a portable 15 inch for playing out and recording in my home studio. The loudness is more than enough for a medium-sized venue. The shaping EQ really works and can get that rounded sound or with a twist of a knob get that funky treble. Push the button and the EQ cuts out - easy. I was drawn by the kick-back design as I'm using it for several purposes - tip back so I can hear over the drums in practice or straight up to aim the sound at the audience. The headphone plug is great and away from the input plug in so the cords don't get tangled. For a larger venue, the XLR will always be there. The metal grill is good and the amp generally feels sturdy.

After opening the box and moving my KB15 around I was happy to feel that the 36lbs was very manageable. After powering it up and plugging my 68 P bass in I would say it took less than a minute before I thought Wow! I just bought a new amp that will cover a large portion of my live performances. So far I'm very impressed.

Once again, AJ did a fine job of steering me to my new Hartke Bass Amp !! I'm not at the point where I can make Sweet Music, but I'll get there. It's a nice strong single speaker amp. My ONLY complaint and why I didn't give it 5 stars is, it's heavy and there's no setup to add casters to the amp, to help move it, so you either need a strong back, or a nice cart or dolly. It's well built except I'd have made it easier to install casters, without buggering up the box.

I was looking for an amp that could do it all. Specifically, portable, lightweight (only 35 poinds), and powerful. I wanted something I could practice with at home, with the band, or at gigs. I was debating on this amp or the Fender Rumble 500, but this sounded louder and more powerful to me.

If you play an active bass, I highly recommend this. I noticed it was about twice as loud with the active bass over passive. And it automatically detects the type of input, no active or passive switches or separate inputs needed.

The only reason I give this 4 1/2 stars and not 5 is the cooling fan noise. After about 30-45mins the cooling fan kicks on and it can definitely be heard at idle when not playing. When playing at low volume it cant really be heard though. But it is significantly loud which is unfortunate, but it's the only negative thing I have to say about it. But not a big enough deal breaker for me to return it.

…it's well worth the money.

Being that I'm not an equipment guy, I can only compare the Hartke to the amp I replaced it with, which was the roughly analogous Ampeg 15" bass combo amp (B-115). The Hartke, about 30% more expensive, is physically smaller, weighs a significant ten pounds less, and is way cleaner at loud volumes. I play loud but not extremely so---not deafening---so I can't speak to how the amp handles extreme volume, but I don't think anyone who plays that loud is looking for a combo amp anyway.

This is a great overall amp for someone looking for portability in every scenario from home practice to a large venue amplification (with PA system support). As a standalone amp, it can drive a good amount of volume up to medium size stage/venue without going thru the PA unless you happen to play for a very loud band. As I've mentioned if you are playing thru a large size stage/venue or even a loud band then you definitely need to go direct thru the PA.

Worth mentioning here: it's 250W RMS of power which is what you really get with this amp but I haven't had any issue hearing myself on any stage size especially when you kick it back for monitoring and let the PA do its job for ya.

As far as tone, its got that Hartke crispy tone, not a warm tone to my ears like the Aguilar TH500 that I recently sold but good enough to dial your tone to cut thru the mix at any situation. The shape function is more like a notch filter type of sound and I couldn't really find a sound that suits my needs for a warmer but again it's a Hartke voiced amp.

Overall, can't go wrong with this amp. The 15" version seems to have better mids than the 12" and obviously better low range definition. At 35 pounds is a no brainier.

I purchased my KB15 because I wanted a smaller and lighter rig for gigging. This combo makes it easy to shape the sound to your liking, and looks to be of excellent build quality. Had my first gig with it two nights ago and it was great in every way. Plenty of power, nice tight clean sound but with plenty of bottom. The only thing that would make it better is if it came with a cover. However, there are several vendors who make covers designed for this combo. For overall quality, sound and value, this KB15 is a winner.

I purchased a Hartke KB15 from Sweetwater about a month ago. I"ve waited for a few weeks to review the amp so I could get some experience with it. I am a beginning student of the bass and it sounds great when I use it with the bass. However, a working drummer and not a bass player. I use a 4 piece SJC custom kit with 3 V-drum pads and a Roland SPD-20 and have been using a Roland KC-550 keyboard amp to amplify the electronic pads and send a line out to our sound board. The Roland weighs in at 70lbs and after 6 years of use, I grew weary of carrying it around 3-4 times per week. We had a replacement bass player a few months ago that used the Hartie KB15 (at 35lbs) and I asked him is I could plug into his amp just to see how it sounded with e-drums. It seemed to work just fine so I finally decided to make the purchase. Using it for about a month now in rooms that seat up to 600 people I find that it works fine and without much visible stress on the speaker from my triggered kick drum. While I believe the sound from the Roland amp was a little richer, the Hartke is doing the job. If you"re a drummer with a hybrid kit or a e-drummer, I can recommend the Hartke KB-15, especially if weight is an issue. The amp was delivered promptly and Sweetwater customer support is excellent. I"m sure I"ll be doing business with Sweetwater in the future.

I really like this amp. It has a great deep sound. It's got more power than my smaller Hartke but is lighter and easier to transport.

Looks good, nice controls, sounded good till I got to around half way up, and it started distorting , at lower volumes very nice sounding, so I guess I would say it depends on what you want, if your running through a sound system, it would work great, by itself I would not recommend.

Pros- Lots of power for its size, lightweight
Cons- Noisy fan, no soul

Just a basic power amp and EQ with a 15" speaker. No distinctive "voice" or personality (which to be fair is pretty common nowadays). Probably perfect for synth/keyboards, electric drums, etc. I use mine for band rehearsal.

Apparently, Hartke amps all have this disgustingly loud cooling fan. (see blogs) When you audition this amp you get excited because it does sound awesome. It's light weight and powerful. It also has cool features. So you buy the thing and 30 minutes into the first set of your gig you wonder why your tone sucks all of a sudden. The next day you're practicing and you discover whats wrong: THE COOLING FAN KICKS ON. Now, if you're like most people who have no ear for tone or you just play thrash metal all the time, you either don't care or don't notice. But, if you cherish your tone and don't want the sound of a hair dryer spoiling the ambience of your jazz trio DON'T BUY HARTKE.

I purchased a Hartke KB15 in November 2017 to use as a monitor and DI for my bass. This combo amp was intended to be used as a backup monitor only. On the fourth gig, that"s correct the 4th, that the amp was used, the speaker developed a burnt voice coil. Thank goodness we carry spare DI boxes.
My equipment engineer reminded me that four years ago I had a Hartke extension cab with a 15" speaker that did the same thing.