Hartke A35 Combo

The amp has enough features for it's class. The effects send, cd input and headphone out are all good for this price range.

It sounds great except for one minor caveat: there is a resonant frequency problem (sorry, but I did not measure exactly what frequency) where if you play certain notes, the noise that comes out of the amp is not musical at all. This is a major defect IMO.

Don't know, don't care. It's going back to the store tonight and I will be getting the Ampeg BA115T.

Don't know, don't care.

I've been playing for close to 40 years. I own a small recording studio, so I own a lot of gear. I bought this for the studio, but it's going back to the store tonight. I was attracted to this unit because of it's compact size. I was repelled by the annoying resonant frequency problem.

Nice litte eq section, the built in limiter is nice. I liked the xlr out also. Of course, this was in the store, before I ordered it. See my reliability secition.

Pretty tight sound, when it works. Can't comment on the ones I have owned, just a model at a store.

I ordered this amp from Zzounds via mail. The first amp I recieved would only take input from the cd input, not the 1/4" input. So I sent it back for a replacement. The next one made a noise when I played like I was playing through a distortion pedal and some kind of reverb. Then it would stop making sound after about a minute. After getting two units that didn't work right out of the box, I gave up. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but I thought I would let it be known.

I bought the amp through Zzounds. They were very helpfull. Samson on the other hand, who handles Harte tech issues, were not at all intellegent. If you need help, go to your retailer first.

I've been playing for about 8 years. I'm a very poor player. I play a Mexican Fender Precision bass. I had a Crate BX-50, which I sold for rent. I'm currently playing through an amp I built out of parts I found. I play Blues, Funk, and Rock. Hopefully, the fact that I play through such crap, won't downgrade your opinion of me. I have been a Sound tech in various venues for 15 years.
Anyhoo, this amp is to risky for me to buy again. You make the call. It is a uniquely powerfull and versital amp for the price, but maybe cost is quality sometimes.

bought on march 2005 at audiophile, philippines. great controls, very useful. i play a lot of slapping and fingerstyle ala jaco so i find the sound useful to my style. it has only one channel with an automatic input gain adjuster for active and passive pickups. xlr is quite useful for live performances, cd input for playing along, and headphone jack for silent practicing. i use this amp mainly for practicing. i don't have a band. it's just my hobby to play bass. it's loud for a 35 watt amp.

i play a kubicki factor with this amp. it's a bit bright at flat eq. i find it too bright especially in the kickback position, but the controls are very effective so i just tweak the bright/treble controls. at full volume, the sound is still clear. there is one problem i see though. when i slap with the limiter off, it's ok. but when i pop the G string, it sounds like it is compressed.

havent tried it for heavy duty gigging so i can't say it's reliable.

n/a

i have been playing for ten years. used to play professionally. i would try out other amps if i lost this one.

This amp actually has more features than i would expect. it has many things, including an effects loop, and a cd input...but it lacks a tuner.

The sound is great at low volumes. Clean, yet punchy, you can get basically any sound you want out of this. I am using an ibanez gsr200 with single coil pickups and they combine great with each other. I have yet to experience any major feedback at all. One setback is, the amp does not sound nearly as good as it does at low volumes as it does at high volumes. Also, this amp is not very loud at all. of course you cant expect to get much power out of a 35 watt amp.

I have yet to experience any difficulties with this amp. It is very consistent.

I have never used the warranty on this amp, which is a good thing.

This is a great amp. If somehow i lost this amp, i would NOT buy this again. Not because it is a bad amp, but because i need something with a little more wattage, so i can get out there and jam. It would be very hard to even practice with a drummer while using this amp. If you need just a practice amp, or something small and portable...it is a GREAT amp and i would suggest this before basically anything else in its price range.

bought new late 2004. I Play in a worship team. I'm a guitar player, but I use a bass on occasion. Amp is simple has a headphone jack and (TA,TA) a XLR out so we can plug it into the PA and use the amp as a platform monitor. I believe at 35 watts it has enough power. The band has 4 singers, drums, keyboards, guitar. We don't play at very loud volume though. Don't want to knock people off the pews.

I have a old Electra bass. Looks a bit like a jazz bass and has active pick-ups. I generally don't use the actives, just turn both pups on and blend them. Here is my problem. The amp has good strong volume for its size, but at half volume if I hit a string hard I get a clicking sound. I thought this might be the speaker so I got in touch with a tech at Samson and he gave me a story about how I might be reaching the sonic limit of the speaker (didn't sound right to me). So with the option of packing the unit up to send to their shop (none local) or upgrading the speaker on my own, I decided to do a speaker upgrade. I put in a Tone Tubby Bass speaker. The Tone Tubby decreased the noticeable level of the clicking, but did not eliminate it. The amp sounds good, is light weight, and meets my needs. Too bad I have this little fly in the ointment. I am wondering if there is some type of limiter (apart from the one that there is a knob for) that is cutting in and causing this clicking/static sound.

I believe I can count on the amp. I am just starting to use it more in a band situation. This means I need to run it on theses settings: vol 6, bass 5, mid 7, treble 5, bright 3, limiter 0. At these setting with my bass guitar on full I get good volume and a slightly trebly ring (nice).

They answered my e-mails. The talk with the tech was not too satisfying. I don't really believe the speaker sonic limit stuff. They use the same speaker in their 120 watt kickbacks. For a $200.00 amp I don't feel as if the costumer support people really were that interested in looking at the amp. With a amp at this price point I wonder how much you could expect. I decided to pursue a remedy on my own. You pays your money and takes your chances even when you have a warranty.

I have been a picker since the Beatles were in diapers. I have a few guitars including a 56 Fender lap steel and a G&L Bluesboy. I have a Fender Blues Jr and a Kalamazoo two 5 watt amp that is my main band amp now (believe it or not)and other stuff that we players can't help ourselves collecting. I am happy with this amp overall, except for the click problem. In a way I hope that by writting this review I will get feedback from someone else with a similar problem that has found a solution. If I was a electronic wiz I bet I could change a couple of resistors and have a dead quiet amp. Please write a review, especially if you can be of help in this area.

Features as mentioned in previous review. The pair of phono inputs for a CD player is a nice touch. The shape of the amp is nice (it looks like a little monitor wedge). It looks way too small to be a powerful bass amp, so it's a big surprise to plug in and discover that it packs an amazing punch for something so small.

For a tiny little bass amp, this thing sounds stunning. It sound just as loud as amps with higher wattage. However, using my Squire P-Bass I found that you couldn't realistically crank it much past six on the gain before you could hear it struggling. Nonetheless, even at that setting it was surprisingly loud and wonderfully clean and punchy, and reproduces the harmonics of a low "E" wonderfully. This is a classy-sounding bit of kit

Don't know about reliability - I just spent a lot of time in the shop playing with it.

This is clearly a fine product - something you could be proud to own. Its sound really is stunning for something so small. Its also extremely good value for money (it is not an expensive amp by any means). The only reason why I didn't buy it on the spot was because it is a bit too low power for me. You could certainly do small pub gigs with it, but you'd not get away with it on stage unless it was mic'ed up to the PA system. That having been said, with its CD inputs on the front panel, good sound quality and wedge-shaped styling, you might still possibly find use for it on stage as a monitor wedge if you found the volume loud enough.

From Samash.com: 35 Watts and a 10 inch aluminum driver, Low, Mid, High and Bright tone controls. CD input, XLR balanced outputs, effects loop, headphone jack and chrome hardware. All in a KickBack design cabinet.

This is a very impressive little amp that may just be loud enough for gigging. The cool thing about it is it was able to handle a low B while cranked all the way up. A little bit of distortion, but no big deal. Sounds much better than the GK Backline 10 or 12, for that matter. The GK doesn't handle low end at all past a low-moderate volume.

Certainly, this little amp is not an 8-10" cab with 1000 watts... For what it is, it is very impressive.

I have never owned Hartke before, so I have no experience to draw upon... I would be merely guessing.

See Reliability...

I've been a musician for many, many years and have performed with multi-platinum selling artists as well as various cover bands, sessions, etc.

My bass rig of preference is my Roland DB-500, but sometimes I have to double -- two gigs in one day... Many of the contracts are for a week or more and you can usually leave your gear, so I like to have a second rig for doubling and rehearsing.

At any rate, I didn't actually buy it, however, because I came across an Ampeg BA-112 new at Guitar Center tagged at $199 -- I think they may have goofed on the pricing since I can't find them anywhere for near that price... Musician's Friend is selling the BA-110 for $199... Probably an error on Guitar Center's Part... Lucky me!!! I may pick one up at some point...

I compared this amp to the GK Backline 1-10, my Carvin PB-110 which needs to be repaired, and the Ampeg BA-112. The Ampeg isn't really a fair comparison since it is a bigger (and usually pricier) amp. Still, the Hartke sounds better than the GK Backline 1-12, which is also a bigger, pricier amp...

When I was shopping for amps, I was certain that I was going to love the GK and almost bought one on several occasions online... Then I came across one at Guitar Center and had to look elsewhere for a compact bass amp.

Finally, I was literally on my way to Sam Ash to buy the Hartke and just stopped in Guitar Center (which was on the way) on a whim and came across the Ampeg for the same price. I couldn't pass that deal up... That being said, I surely would have been happy with the A-35.