Hartke Bass Amplifiers

When you want a potent combination of power and tone, Hartke bass amplifiers have no equal. Backing up artists as renowned as Jack Bruce of Cream and Frank Bello of Anthrax, these are serious amps for serious performers. Hartke amps have been all about finding the perfect bass sound ever since Larry Hartke built his first amp in a basement workshop over 30 years ago. Their big break came in 1984, when Jaco Pastorius used the first Hartke bass cabinet and attracted the attention of bassists everywhere. One of the most visible differences setting Hartke cabinets apart from other bass cabs is the hybrid HyDrive speaker design. These two-part cones use a combination of paper and aluminum to give you the best of both materials: warm, rich tone together with powerful attack. The sound of a HyDrive-powered Hartke stack is something you need to hear to believe: deep, resonant lows accented by highs that are striking, and yet smooth as honey.

Today, Hartke believers can be found in every genre. Their ability to deliver precise, clear tones at incredibly powerful volumes makes them very popular in metal, for instance. Megadeth's David Ellefson and Alice Cooper bassist Chuck Garric are two examples of metalheads who trust Hartke to power them up onstage. Both of these artists use the HyDrive 810 cabinet with Kilo and LH1000 heads, a combination that's readily available to you if you want sounds like theirs.

Another acclaimed bassist using the LH1000 is Nate Watts, whose work with Stevie Wonder emphasizes just how versatile that head really is. Nate pairs his LH1000 up with a tag team of HyDrive 115 and HyDrive 410 cabinets; a setup that he loves for its ability to handle the high-output down-tuned tone of his custom bass, which had proven too much for other amps he tried in the past.

That's one of the best things about Hartke bas amplifiers and cabinets - they'll take virtually anything you can throw at them without breaking a sweat. When you need venue-rattling power that maintains every ounce of nuance and precision in your instrument's tone, Hartke will deliver exactly that.