Hartke Bass Attack Pre/DI [Review + Clip]

[Sloan]

http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/52/sloan_hartkebassattack_test01.mp3

1. raw bass
2. shape engaged
3. ON without shape engaged
4. ON with shape engaged
5. raw bass

The clip is rather noisy because I'm in an ancient house sitting next to a CRT monitor with single coil pickups.
There's no additional effects or processing on the file, just the bass and the Hartke Bass Attack.




FEATURES I LIKE:
- Very sturdy METAL
- Knobs feel good man
- Can run off of phantom power if you use the direct XLR out
- SHAPE is like a boost with a sweepable mid cut
- The "harmonics" actually doesn't sound shitty
- The affected signal is not full on, it's mixable with your dry signal
- Bigass rubber skids on the bottom
- All EQ stuff seems very responsive, wide range of ROCK TONES
- Cheaper than a SANSAMP!

BLAHS:
- The 9v battery door is plastic and rather awkward.




RECOMMENDED PRODUCT.
I will try this out in a live situation soon, but really bought it for recording. I can see it being used probably every time I track bass, especially if I need a more overdriven, or KILLER tone.

 

[iamandy]

dude.. that sounds nice!

have you tried MXR "M-80"? i've got one sat here, and i'm thinking using it to record with my band, but i'm abit unsure..

 

[Sloan]

I would suggest always taking a clean DI signal at the same time, so if your affected tone (with the m-80) doesn't work in the mix, you can just reamp the straight DI back through the m-80.

 

[Sloan]

Also, just in case anyone asks, I'm using this 90's Fernandes bass. I just traded an ashdown mag cab for it yesterday, not sure if i like the pickups or not, i will try it LIVE.

 

[xFkx]

Thin Lizzy, nice

 

[Metaltastic]

Hahahahhaha, looks like a pretty monstrous amp you're plugging it into back there

 

[Metaltastic]

And I love how your desk chair is a lawn chair hahahahhahahaaha

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

sounds like a versatile tool to me! never been a big fan of most Hartke stuff though but 3 sounds pretty cool to me.
and the blend function really is a must have for every bass tone shaping tool IMO.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, now listening, pretty sweet - for the raw bass, I prefer it without the shape on, cuz it's too scooped, but with the effect on, it's got some serious mid-honkage, so the shape is just the ticket (though it might make the really low bass a bit overkill, so I'd tame it a bit). Sounds good though dude! What were the SETTINGZ?

 

[Metaltastic]

And holy shit, I only just now checked - $90 for that thing? Damn, if it's reliable, then that's a steal!

 

[Sloan]

The SHAPE is a -20db notch that is SWEEPABLE. this was just a quick test with different settings to give people an overall idea of the unit. everything is tweakable and all the knobs have really good range, so there's probably lots of tones in this thing. I might do another quick test with my other bass that's definitely more "mellow" than the Fernandes.


I actually got it for like <$70 at samedaymusic.com

also, i have been reading about the Behringer BDI21 which some say sounds exactly like the SansAmp bass driver for about $30 usd.





ALSO,
that's the desk at THE SHOP where i help fix hifi gear with this old electrical engineer dude. we sell shit on ebay. it's the most unorganized place in the WORLD EVER.
since he's not a guitar freak, it's hard for him to understand the concept of wanting distortion, he's so used to having everything clean. i'm always asking him shit trying to learn, but he's a fucking ace handy-man with this shit. it's amazing. check out some of our stuff at http://myworld.ebay.com/bcguitar there's an awesome Crown PSA-2 power amp up right now. i wish i could keep the damn thing!

 

[Deus.exe]

my bass player has one and its freakin' awesome. Great distortion and the shape feature is invaluable.

 

[Sloan]

I think it was one of your posts that lead me to reading reviews and eventually purchasing it. THANKS BRO.

 

[Sloan]

I just tried this shit with GUITAR and through an IMPULSE and it worked "OK". It did not sound great, but it also didn't completely suck asshole. WOAH.

 

[Metaltastic]

I really might have to buy this sucker, especially cuz of it's built-in DI functionality...

 

[iekobrid]

Dude, you live in my grandfather's garage. After it burned down.


The last time I was up at Rondo Music* they were blowing out them thar Hartke units for $30 new. Wish I had grabbed one.

* [shortly before they closed their doors to the public so they could just sell Agiles online]

 

[tobin1]

Damn, what the hell is this thing?

Sloan, how old is that amp?

 

[Sloan]

That's an old PA amplifier from late 50's (i think?). You can add 1/4" jacks in place of the "birdseye" microphone inputs and output terminal strips and use guitar or whatever. Probably wouldn't be useful for metal stuff, but some of them sound awesome as fuck for overdrive and clean. They don't really have a lot of EQ stuff, this one only has Bass and Treble, which is normal, but they sound good straight up usually.

I was actually gonna buy this one for myself, but my car blew up and I can't afford shit.

We've got a lot of these type of PA amps and they all sound completely different a lot of times, most of them are pretty good, but usually require a lot of replacing caps and other work before being fully functional.

 

[Dave1978]

Damn, what the hell is this thing?

Sloan, how old is that amp?

I know the guy who built this:

 

[Metaltastic]

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