Hartke bass combo amps
Prefer your bass tone to come from an all-in-one rocking package? Hartke combo amps take the best of Hartke bass amp heads, the best of Hartke bass speakers, and put them together to make some of the best bass combo amps you can find today.
The Hartke HD series of combo amps are always a favorite for bassists all over the world. The Hartke HMHD508 is the heartbeat of the series with 500-watts of venue-shaking power from a Class-D amp driven by four eight-inch speakers. And the best part? It comes with wheels for easy transport! No more breaking your back on the way to the gig.
Swap out the four eight-inch speakers for two innovative ten-inch HyDrive paper/aluminum hybrid cone drivers and you get the iconic Hartke HDHM500 bass combo amp. If you’re looking for a high-powered 500-watt bass amp with an incredible blend of warmth and attack, this is the combo for you!
For smaller venues, rehearsal spaces, or bassists who don’t have roadies, the Hartke HD150 provides a smaller, lighter, and more transportable 150-watt combo amp without sacrificing any of the tone or power that makes Hartke amps so beloved in the bass world.
Hartke bass cabinets
What goes best with a genuine Hartke bass amp head? A Hartke bass amp cabinet! Hartke makes several models of bass cabinets designed to pump your incredible bass sounds to the crowd while maintaining all that lovely tone.
Hartke’s popular HyDrive HD design incorporates their innovative paper/aluminum hybrid cone drivers to produce the best sound possible. Really the only question you need to ask yourself is: “How many HyDrive speakers do I want in my bass cabinet?”
If the answer is four, check out the Hartke HL410. With four HyDrive speakers pumping out 1000 watts of power, this speaker cab will make sure everyone hears your amazing bass lines — and maybe a few people in the next state over!
Customize your cabinet setup with the Hartke HD210 with two ten-inch HyDrive speakers or the Hartke HD115 with one 15-inch speaker, each pushing 500 watts of low-end power. No matter which one you choose, it’s impossible to go wrong with a Hartke bass speaker cabinet.
Hartke Kickback combos
Want a little throwback in your bass amplification setup? The Hartke Kickback series adds a classic touch to modern amp design with two models ready to power your bass setup.
The Hartke KB15 Kickback bass combo amp features 500 watts of power driven by a Class-D power amp and a premium 15-inch HyDrive speaker for exceptional performance and power.
And if you want something slightly smaller (but still classically cool), check out the Hartke KB12 Kickback bass combo. This little amp still thumps with 250 watts of punchy power and a 12-inch HyDrive speaker.
History of Hartke amps
In the 1970s, two electronics wizards named Larry Hartke and Ron Lorman started working on a revolutionary design for bass speakers that featured aluminum cone speakers, rather than the traditional paper cone speakers. After some experimentation and testing, in 1984 Hartke (which was now officially a company) released their first bass speaker cabinet with aluminum cones, an eight-inch aluminum woofer, and a free edge tweeter in a two-way bookshelf system. They custom built this bass cabinet for none other than the legendary bass player Jaco Pastorius.
By 1985, everyone was talking about Jaco’s incredible bass tone, and they wondered how he did it. Moreso, they wondered how they could get that tone for themselves! By 1989, Hartke had a full line of bass cabinets they named the XL series.
Hartke bass amps had become famous for their incredible tone, and the company grew exponentially over the next few decades. In 2002, Cream performed a reunion concert at Madison Square Garden, and bassist Jack Bruce played through an aluminum Hartke 410XL cabinet and a pair of traditional Hartke paper-cone cabinets together. This gave the Hartke engineers an idea…
If they combined the aluminum cones that made the company famous in the first place with some traditional paper cones, they could give bassists the best of both worlds! And that’s exactly what they did. Today, Hartke’s HyDrive paper/aluminum hybrid cone drivers are at the heart of many bass amps they make. The combination allows players to enjoy more dynamic playing and maintain that incredible warmth and punch bassists for decades have known and loved. Plus, all Hartke amps are built using the best methods and materials to ensure they’ll be able to rock for years to come.
For bassists in the know, it’s hard to beat that wonderful dynamic sound of a genuine Hartke bass amp.
