Hartke HyDrive 410 Review

grimmbass · Post by **grimmbass** » Monday Oct 19, 2009

All,

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm here to tell you that I'm in love with a new girl and her name is Hartke.

No, not Larry Hartke, but his new HyDrive speakers!

I picked up a HyDrive 4x10 at Guitars N Stuff a little over a month ago and I haven't looked back! Despite the risk of getting my heart broken, I fell hard and fast for this hot little number, which may be the best bass cab all 'round that I've ever owned. As time is of the essence, my review will be direct and to the point. Here goes...

Setup: I'm running my Carvin BX1200 in bridge mode to push 800 Watts at 8 ohms into this cab.

Tone: Freaking massive yet transparent. My basses finally sound like MY BASSES! I'm getting the ringing piano tone out of my Spectors (and even the low B on my Hohner 5) that I've been missing since I jumped to Carvin cabs. You have to push this cab to ear splittling levels to get it to distort. To date, I have had no problems on stage volume. The horn is a 3 position switch (wide open, minus 8 db, and off) rather than a rotary adjustment, but the presets are all VERY musical. I tend to crank it for Lies and back it off for the Jim Donovan gigs.

Volume: Have I mentioned this thing is freaking loud and efficient? I have yet to push my master past "1" to cut it on stage volume alone. I have not gone through the PA at Glenn's or Bar 53, yet I'm having to back off to avoid burying Dax's Mesa. I have pushed the drive knob on my amp to get a little warm distortion that sounds pretty killer too.

Construction: Really well put together and protected, including a rubber mounted metal grill (which just got its first dent at Bar 53, dammit!). Comes with casters and is covered in a generic Tolex rip off. The fake Tolex scratches easily. One other construction problem is that the rear jack plate (with two speakons and one 1/4" jack) is not recessed, meaning it could get smashed if this thing gets slid (or dropped on its back).

Weight: This thing weighs 68lbs. Yes, 68lbs. You could almost one hand this thing up a flight of stairs. 68 lbs and handles 1000 watts continuous at 8 ohms.

Looks: My Hydrive gives me Mesa looks on a Behringer budget. Shiny steel corners and handles complement the gloss grey metal grill and black leather-like covering very well. This thing looks MEAN.

Bottom line: I am in love with this cab and may buy another to make a full stack. The clarity of the hybrid aluminum/paper cone speakers has made me LOVE my Carvin head all over again (read: Terry and Guitars N Stuff has saved me money!). The clarity makes amp tweaks really stand out, and with a decent eq this cab will handle anything from dub to metal to funk/jazz and back. I've heard some folks complain about thin mids, but I haven't experienced that problem. If more mids are your thing, dial them in and this cab will oblige!

I have a cab that won't break my back, will handle anything I can dish out, and looks killer! A few small tweaks to the design, and Hartke may have, in my humble opinion, the best bass cab on the market. Bummer that it's made in China, but what can you do?

I love this freaking cab. Get one.

KT

JackANSI · Post by **JackANSI** » Monday Oct 19, 2009

Thanks for the review.. I've been pondering one of these since I heard one myself, but I have not had enough "alone" time with one to really decide on the purchase..

I think I might have to buy one now..

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Monday Oct 19, 2009

excellent review kent. i've seen these for awhile now, and the look alone had me saying "hmmm hartke cabs looks pretty damn cool" but the lack of places that deal hartke in the general area had me kinda wishing i could hear one. hartke's get a pretty good wrap on talkbass.com.

RamRod 1 · Post by **RamRod 1** » Tuesday Oct 20, 2009

Picked up a Hartke "Kickback 12" on ebay about 3 years ago for about 225 bucks. We do mostly clubs just about every weekend and I always have enough power. Lots of flexability in the tone too. Throw it in the van and forget about it.

Here's the story on Hartke: It talks about hydrive too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartke

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Wednesday Oct 21, 2009

and here is larry hartke's phone number. he wants you to call.

http://www.calllarryhartke.com/

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Tuesday Nov 24, 2009

Just want to say after catching Kent a few weeks ago and checking out his Hartke, I went down to Terry's two days later and picked up a HyDrive 4x10. I have three gigs on it so far, and I'm quite impressed. Everything that Kent said has been pretty much my experience as well. I did notice a more scooped sound when first plugging in, but with some EQ tweaks, it was punching. I also was a little worried about the lack of a rotary knob for the horn, but I really find the cross-over points to be extremely musical and natural sounding.

Sound-wise: I find the cab to be much more transparent than my Aguilars. The Ags are bit more dirty, which makes sense, since Aguilars are generally thought to be more refined-sounding Ampegs. I've always had a love/hate relationship with Hartke's enclosures. I've always loved the clarity of the aluminum drivers but always felt the cabs lacked a certain warmth. I never tried any of Hartke's paper-loaded cabs. I don't know if it's a factor related to the hybrid design, but Hartke definitely made a great match of clarity and warmth with this enclosure. The projection out of this thing is quite nice.

The specs officially say that this cab is 99 db per watt, but it seems more efficient than that when compared to other cabs I have that are supposably more efficient (or maybe the other cabs just aren't as efficient as they've been claimed to be). This is an insanely loud cab, and my Mesa 400+ can be unbearable depending on the room at half volume. I can only imagine running a high-watt solid state head through this thing...or maybe I don't want to imagine that. Maybe Gosteelers will use a pair of earplugs, then.

Also one thing really nice I like about this cab - There are caster slots on top, so you don't have to remove the casters on another cab if you want to stack. I always found removing casters a PITA when I would use two cabs.

Cons: I agree with Kent on the jack plate. It could have been a lot more recessed. I don't lay my cabs down during transport, but I could definitely see that as a problem if you do. You'd have to lay the cab down with the speakers facing the floor or bed. Also, I tried the cab with the 1x15 and didn't dig it as much. I felt a lot of the nice punch was lost with the 15. That's not so much a design flaw as it is my preference for smaller drivers, I think. Hartke is putting out HyDrive combos with 12s in them, so I'm really hoping for a 2x12 cabinet.

JackANSI · Post by **JackANSI** » Wednesday Nov 25, 2009

Gave old hartke a call and the 12" bare drivers are $150 each... ouch.. The sales guy didn't know of any plans for a 2x12 cabinet when I asked.