hartke ha3500 question

thedanned · Newbie Alert Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 3

so i recently got a barely used ha3500 head. does it actually have a tube in the input? if so, should i be able to get some grit by cranking the gain on the tube side? all this does is make it louder and it remains clean. i can plug into the passive input (my bass is active) and i get some dirt but it sounds bad. this is the first amp i have had that has a tube in it so i really dont have a whole lotta exp with em. does this indicate a bad tube or something? thanks for any help.

thedanned · Newbie Alert Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 3

was this a stupid question? replies, anybody???

bcf717 · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject:

No, not a stupid question. Here's what the official site had to say about it;

Introduced in 1991, the Hartke HA3500 amplifier has become an industry standard in bass amplification. There is no better way to power a Hartke (or any other) speaker cabinet.

The 3500 is designed with more control in mind. Virtually unlimited tone-shaping and plenty of power for maximum headroom in any playing situation. Selectable tube and solid state preamps for a rainbow of new tone colors. Pinpoint equalization, tone control and compression to fine-tune each sound. Built rugged, each amp is known for the clean, high-impact sound that put Hartke on the map.

Specifications

Power: 350 Watts at 4 Ohms
240 Watts at 8 Ohms
Selectable Tube & Solid-State Preamps
Rotary Bass & Treble Contour Controls
10-Band Graphic Eq
Adjustable Compression
Balanced XLR Out
Total Harmonic Distortion: Less Than 1% At Rated Power
Signal-To-Noise: Approx. 78 dBm
Effects Send & Return
Bipolar Design
Passive/Active Input Jack
Rack-Mountable
Dimensions: 2U Space, 13" Deep

It does have tubes on one channel, but from the description it sounds like the head is designed to produce a clean sound rather than Marshal style gain distortion.....?
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thedanned · Newbie Alert Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 3

oh cool, thanks man. yeah i was just wonderin, would like to get some free grit (ie not buy a distortion pedal) outta it but i guess that just isnt going to happen. no worries though, it is a *Holy Censor, Batman* fine sounding head, lotsa grunt and it is VERY clean sounding, doesnt color my tone as much as other amps i have owned.