Will Lee's Letterman Amp

[Pilgrim]

I was just grading papers while playing back some recordings of Letterman's last week.  On the 3rd show before he signed off, Eddie Vedder was the musical guest.  During that segment, they departed from their usual shots and had some side shots of Will Lee.  Right behind him was a good-sized Hartke amp sitting on top of a 4x10 Hartke cab with the aluminum speaker cones.

I thought that was worth a note here. His website says that live, he uses a Hartke HyDrive amp system. The website shows a combo but the Letterman gear is a separate amp and cab.

[Dave W]

The Hydrive uses combination paper-and-aluminum cones.

The XLs (aluminum cone) were popular about 25 years ago and sales seem to have gradually declined since then. Might have been a good fit for a situation like he had on the Letterman set.

[Pilgrim]

That was my thought, too.  For a while I had a Hartke kickback with the aluminum cone - it was definitely a punchy amp.

[rahock]

Over the years I've heard a lot of "I love Hartke" and probably as many "I hate Hartke" comments. I never owned one, but I have played a couple including the 4 10" one. I really liked it, good tone , good volume and a bucket of punch. As I recall, the price wasn't bad either. There is better stuff out there, but I would definitely put them somewhere in the top half of the list of amps that I would buy.
Rick

[Dave W]

They still have a pretty impressive list of endorsers.

http://www.samsontech.com/artists/hartke/

[Nocturnal]

I have heard a lot of positive comments about the newer style of cabs and heads from Hartke. The Hydrive speakers and amps seem to appeal more to people (at least the people that I know) than the original aluminum speakers did. I have yet to hear the Hydrives on a stage anywhere but when being tested in the store they have always sounded nice.

[gearHed289]

They still have a pretty impressive list of endorsers.

http://www.samsontech.com/artists/hartke/

I've noticed a lot of (former) Ampeg endorsers have jumped to Hartke since Ampeg got bought by LOUD. Can't say I ever liked the original Hartke cabs. Haven't tried the new stuff.

[Dave W]

The original aluminum cone cabs didn't appeal to me either. Plenty of punch, not enough bottom, inefficient too.

[Hörnisse]

I really liked the Hydrive cabinet I used.  With the Hartke LH heads they had plenty of headroom and looked great on stage. 

[slinkp]

Butler's current touring rig looks pretty sweet.
http://www.samsontech.com/artists/geezer-butler/

[westen44]

Yes, it does. 

[copacetic]

Tried a friends Hartke A100 combo yesterday. These ones with the half aluminum & half paper are a little warmer sound and not so punchy as the all aluminum speakers. Great little combo. Might have to look into it. Anyone else tried these newer series?