daz Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 (edited) I got my present Hartke LH500 maybe 5 months ago. After a few weeks the noise started happening. Strange thing was sometimes it happened from the moment you switched on, but mostly it started to appear after a half hours playing. Changing bass and leads did nothing. But moving leads around or touching the strings muted it a bit, and it was much worse with the treble on high, or roll the bass off.. The noise it makes is this. Minor crackling pulses for two seconds then a gap and then starting over again. Definitely regular loud pulses though. Then after it not happening for several weeks it started again a few weeks ago. I was getting ready to send it back to GAK, when I bought a BDI21 bass driver DI/ pedal. As soon as I plugged this in the noise disappeared, no matter what settings I used ? Anyone have any thoughts ? [u]Magic Pedal ?[/u] Edited April 2, 2012 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I had a crackling sound from my GB stl600 when i first used it but traced the issue back to my Fender Jazz bass scratchplate. Every time i moved my hands across the plate it would crackle until i touched the strings and earthed it. I checked all the earthing on the bass with a meter and it was fine. I put a layer of tinfoil (Blue Peter style ) under the plate and earthed it via the edge of the metal control plate by tucking 1/4" under. Now seems to be fine. It was only my Jazz that had this problem. Obviously static IMHO. Not sure if this is the same kind of thing. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Addendum to this, the noise has started again I thought it had gone, I now realized it was just considerably quieter than before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Try replacing the valve if you have one at hand or see if a friend lends you one just to try (i'm assuming the LH500 has a 12AX7 on its preamp). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumbo Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Hi As Ghost Bass said above try replacing the valve in the preamp. I had a noise problem with my Hartke HA7000 when I (out of curiosity) changed the valve to a Groove Tube valve. After about a week or so I started getting a pulsing helicopter chuffing noise after it had been on for about half an hour. I borrowed one of the legendary Mullard valves out of my old Wem Dominator amp, stuck it in the Hartke and hey presto noise gone! BTW I could hear absolutely no difference (tonewise) in any of the valves I used. Hope you get it sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsgbass Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I'm using a Hartke LH500, paired with a Hartke AK115 cab. No problems here. I did however have the pulsing problems with some Marshall MB Series Combos, and MB450H Heads. After about a hour of playing, the fan motor started to rev. It was pretty loud too. There was no way they could be used in a studio. I gave up on the Marshalls, went to my Hartke set up, with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.