DBerriff

Thanks Andy. At that price I will order a pair. I have not had any problems with my basic stand apart from a bolt working loose, but better safe than sorry.

Re-reading this, I seem to have been a bit lukewarm about my Sandberg VT bass. With some new strings and a minor change in string height it is now my workhorse 4-string bass guitar. My ears must have been clogged up for that first review. The Genzler gear is superb and has proved a really practical solution for my admittedly light gigging and practice schedule. One cab or two - that is the only question now.

I had a similar problem with a Genz Benz Shuttle a couple of years ago. In my case the amp would suddenly cut out for minutes at a time. The head lights were on and everything looked ok, but no output. The PA and guitar amps continued to work. It turned out that one of the caterer's fridges was overloading the generator, possibly because it was sat on wet grass (!). It does seem that Class D can suddenly stop working where Class A/B just degrades. I have stuck with Class D though as it is the best match for my requirements.

Try Bright Onion pedals. http://www.brightonion.co.uk/products/AB-Switch.html Simple and very well made.

That just gives you (and me) time to save up for the big day. The size of deposit seems to depend on the dealer.

The Sandberg costs less in the UK. You will have to wait a few months for a bespoke build but you can also specify the configuration and finish you want. I put the photo up because someone (the OP?) mentioned wanting active, passive, P and J sounds in a single bass. The VT4 has all that. The Delano pickups are, as I have said, a bit polite but I presume Sandberg or other p'ups could be fitted instead. It suits my gigging requirements perfectly now I have moved back to 4 strings. P.S. with Sandberg you get the 4-dot logo. I personally think it is a classy touch, so simple yet so distinctive.

You cannot seriously want something as ugly as this, can you? And we all know German engineering leaves much to be desired. Nah, look elsewhere [url="https://flic.kr/p/T9ijYN"][/url][url="https://flic.kr/p/T9ijYN"]Sandberg California II VT4[/url] by [url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/berriff/"]David Jones[/url], on Flickr [size=2]Just leave them to us in the know. So good I have ordered a fretless to match. [/size] [size=3]I will agree the Delano pickups are a bit polite but there are other options.[/size]

Bass Direct has the Metro 16 at what I believe is a good price. It does offer more options than the Nano, which I also have. Squeezing a Tonehammer pre and Fuel Tank Jnr on the board along with a couple of pedals is much easier.

Heavy metal? I have owned a few amps over the years but nothing comes close to HA2500 for mass/Watt. Not for everyone, especially at only 180W into 8Ohms, but for what I need it is very cost-effective.

PMT has been 100% helpful and after considering the advice I have had I am going to swap for an HA2500. This has enough power for what I need and at the current price I can put up with the large box. Time to get the soldering iron out and make up a jack-to-Speakon cable.

I am finding PMT an excellent company to deal with. Top marks for customer service.

I suspect "portable anaemia" is a bit harsh. The smiley-face EQ works for some players and gives them the sound they are looking for; it is just not for me. For all I know, with the right cabs the TX600 really can pump out 600 W at the low end, but just not where the "scoop" centre frequency is set.

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1496075428' post='3308576'] Get rid...... Your never going to get on with it by the sounds of things so move it on whilst you can. The LH500 is a great amp - fat, warm and clean - but remember it has a Fender style tone stack so will sound odd with settings at 12 o'clock. Flat is with the mids cranked right up and the bass backed off i seem to remember. Or what about the HA3500C they have for a few quid more? [/quote] The HA3500C is a good option now I have read through the manual. It has the all the power I need and the EQ makes sense to me. I will see what I can sort out with PMT.

I should have taken note of the comments in the blowout thread. I never learn.

I have bought a TX600 as a spare & practice amp. It all looked great on paper, and it would be if it wasn't for the baked-in Shape "scoop". One user review stated that it was impossible to get a bad sound out of this head, thus convincing me that the review was made up ( not on this forum, though! ). Try this: Bass and Treble at 12 o'clock; Shape and Frequency fully counter-clockwise: instant transistor radio. Turn the Shape fully clockwise and some of the bass energy returns. As you turn the frequency clockwise the "scoop" moves up the frequency range until it does least harm. I have been using a Barefaced One 10 which does not have a tweeter so I don't miss the loss of a bit of HF. Set Bass, Shape, Frequency and Treble at 12 o'clock and you have a big suck-out in the mids which might be why so many reviewers comment on the lack of power from this head. Somewhat counter-intuitively you have to turn Shape fully clockwise to minimise the loss. The gain controls are a bit unusual in their response curves, as is the compressor. Generally, not a lot happens until you hit around 75% on the scale. The good points are the price, hopefully the build quality, and the reasonable weight. It has a mute switch. It also has a Speakon connector. Given that this is a spare / home use only head, I ask you Hartke experts out there: should I just perservere with the TX600 or ask PMT to exchange it for the bigger and heavier LH500?

Exactly.

[quote name='la bam' timestamp='1495643401' post='3305570'] Would the advice given previously for the lh500 amp help? [/quote] Thank you, but only partially. Bass on 3 seems to agree with what I have been finding - turn bass down to get a more balanced sound. The Shape control though is not a simple mid. My practice cab does not have a tweeter and I find it difficult to judge what the Treble control is doing. My settings are Bass at 3 o'clock, Shape and Frequency at the max to move the scoop to where it does least harm for my needs. Treble to 12 o'clock as it doesn't really seem to matter much with my BF One 10. Bright off. At the least the head is now useable and the bass emphasis is ok with a jazz bridge pickup.

You are right, it is scooped by design. Hartke seems to have a good name but what is wrong with a normal parametric mid? The manual text (adjustable notch) and specification don't tell you what the absolute notch value is: just +11/-3dB relative to 12 o'clock. As we don't know what the Shape value is at 12 o'clock this is useless information. My ears suggest you are forced to have scoop, or even more scoop, somewhere in the mid band depending on the frequency setting (of course). Turning the Shape control counter-clockwise (manual is wrong on direction) increases the depth to point where you can make the amp sound like a transistor radio if you drop the frequency to around 200 Hz. I just wish I could turn the blasted Shape section off. I might get away with max frequency and min scoop. You are also barred from the usual trick of winding in positive mid gain, finding the troublesome frequency (stage resonance like I had on Monday), and setting negative gain to dial our or reduce the problem. There is an input jack for the power section so the head could be used with an external preamp; I have yet to try that. I will probably keep it at the price as it feels solid and is ok for practice sessions. But when you bake in an eq profile that not every one wants, then you are unnecessarily limiting the appeal of the head. Why would you do that? P.S. I feel a bit mean being so negative. PMT/Dolphin's service was excellent and this head might be perfect for many players. This is my first Hartke amp and perhaps I should have known better, in that there is a Hartke "sound" and that is what I am going to get, like it or not.

TX600 arrived today - that was quick service. The EQ is going to take a bit of deciphering when the text and specification do not agree (for the Shape). As a spare/practice head that is a terrific price though.

The Hartke products are listed on standard PMT pages with minimum 2 yrs warranty quoted.

Thanks for alerting me to this. I have a TX600 on order. I have read that it isn't all that powerful - but for me that isn't an issue. And at that price I didn't really have to think about it for long.

I did receive an order from them a couple of months ago. It was not next-day delivery like it used to be, though. It is disappointing to learn of this total lack of communication. That does not bode well.

The concept worked well, as I have described in another thread. I got a positive response from the band members; normally they never comment on my sound.

That is the first gig successfully completed. Our venue was the village hall in Greetham, Rutland, which has poor acoustics with bass-heavy reverberation. I had to turn the bass down to around 10 o' clock. But the band approved of the sound and with a touch of mid added for the EUB so did I. This little cab has plenty of low-end energy. It seems every review now is amazed at how much low-frequency bass small cabs can output. Sorry, but here is another. I was amazed by how much low-frequency bass this small cab can output. Overall I was running the volume at around 9 o' clock. So a single cab will easily keep up with a big band using a PA for vocals and solos. Two cabs will, obviously, get one off the floor and improve self-monitoring and, so I read, dispersion. Better, best. When I say the band approved, they do not normally comment at all. The clear mids of the Genzler allowed me to push the mids to get a clearer sounds without bringing out the piezo artefacts from the NXT. They have a sound in their heads of clear bass, not loud bass. This is what the 10-2 cab is able to deliver. I have to wonder what the larger cabs in the range sound like! But this is a combo. I have enough gear already what with doubling on bass and EUB. To be able to pack the combo and its associated cables into a single bag is really convenient.