I was going to order smaller one but got a great deal on this one 320. Shipped and is in mint condition. Great little amp.
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I recently caved in, and agreed to fulfill low-end duties to a local jazz-standards cover ensemble.
That meant that my wee practice amp wouldn’t cut it anymore, so I looked for an affordable solution that would be loud enough, aiming at 100 watts or more. I wanted it to be punchy and tight rather than The Last Word In Plaster-shaking, so 4x10 rather than 2x15, and I wanted it to be reliable and durable, but without costing Aguilar money.
So I hit upon a 6 year old Hartke top/cabinet combination that hadn’t been “toured”. It was sold by a jazz cafe that was closing down and selling its inventory. Power was… sufficient, at 340W @ 4 Ohm, and while Hartke doesn’t have a high-end reputation, they’re apparently solid and dependable. So, I loaded the Cort PJ in my estate, and drove up to the cafe to try it out.
I wasn’t disappointed. Within 5 minutes, I got the sound I wanted the Cort to make, and I was pretty sure the rig was versatile enough to serve my needs and much more.
So here it is. It’s not inducing earthquakes, but it packs a punch, and it’s plenty loud enough to rattle the wires of our drummer’s snare even in an outdoor situation.
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My understanding is that you could call them up/email them and they would still provide support and parts for your gear. Read stories of people being sent pots, etc for free. Though I think there is some controversy due to the Samson acquisition and quality/service (don’t quote me on that).
Still, a solid rig for what it is either way 
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Yeah I have actually heard nothing but good about Hartke.
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Yeah Victor Wooten always recommends them 
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Aargh. 
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Pulled a muscle (lightly, not badly, thankfully) in my back getting it into my car
The Gallien-Krueger BLX 4x10 they had was even heavier. Oof. It is an older version of Carvin’s 4x10 (I assume) because it doesn’t use Speak-On connections.
It’s also… got issues. It crackles a bit, especially on lower end notes and higher volume/louder playing. It’s a 600W cab, and 8 ohm; my Exponent 500 only puts 500W into 4ohm, so… blown speaker? How do I even check for that? I assume it would crackle all the time.
I’m wondering if the 1/4" jack just needs a little TLC…
The story is they bought it “as-is” and I played it in the store, assuming the crackle was absolutely appalling condition of the beastly Peavey head I was playing through.
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Oh, fornicate.
I decided to not be negative and shut my trap about Carvin electronics.
Your Exponent shouldn’t feed any more than, say, 300W @ 8 Ohm.
I hope you get it to work to your satisfaction.
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I intended to mention its 8ohm rating and completely forgot 
For some reason the number 380W is sticking out, because I remember that seeming weird. But the manual doesn’t list it at all, just that it’s minimum load is 4ohm and it’s 500W. Either way, I can’t actually find the number lol.
But yeah, that’s all the more reason that I felt the shouldn’t overpower the speakers. I sprayed some contact cleaner into the jack. The tweeter pad sounds like some sort of ancient, archaic rotary lever/switch. It’s metal grinding on its way around XD it could just be the part used…
…or it could be the source of the crackle. I turned it all the way one way and then the other, didn’t seem to change much other than make string noise a soul-piercing shriek from beyond the grave
I had a mind to replace the speakers on down the road, but damn if that is not another $500+ lol, there are entire 4x10s that cost $600 from say, Ashdown. These cabs also weigh 20lbs less; I wonder if doing new speakers would shave 20lbs off this thing 
Edit Well that didn’t work. Getting this thing down a flight of stairs to return it will be joyous…
Or maybe it’s just some soldering that needs touching up. It’s at least 20 years old… and sometimes the sound craps out almost completely, which has me thinking wiring…
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If you still have the opportunity to return it… do yourself a favour. A guitar player whom I knew, and who wholeheartedly endorsed Kiesel guitars (same company, different offshoot), but who is no longer in our plane of existence, would have said (in a thick Yorkshire accent) “run, don’t walk, for the nearest exit”.
He was pretty well versed in amplifier and speaker electronics, and there was, apparently, a reason why his endorsement only extended to their guitars. I’ll leave it at that, if you don’t mind (and also if you DO mind).
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I have 30 days to return it. I’m a bit achy today so I plan to open it up tomorrow. I might just use the bones and replace the drivers, but a whole ass Ashdown Rootmaster 4x10 is about the same price as 4 10" speakers, depending on make/model, and weighs in at 46lbs.
I have thinking to do. A cheap but functional 4x10 that was reasonable in the weight department was what I was looking for (A lot of these are 90lbs+). Replacing all the speakers would give me speakers I want, vs what is in a cab already, so I have thinking to do.
It sounds pretty decent when it isn’t crackling, and I can fix electronics easily.
I actually can’t find which speakers are in this. The only manual I can find for the RL410T is the latest 800W version with 200W PS10 woofers. Judging by the weight of the cab they could be ferrite speakers, as most ceramic cabs I find are 90lbs+, ferrite cabs are around 70lbs, and then, ofc, neo cabs are 50lbs. So in theory I could turn this into a pretty light-weight cab…
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so 1996 to 2002 RL410Ts were the 600W cabinet like mine. It changed to 800W in 2003… in 2001 the inputs were changed, it looks like. Mine is before that style.
so mine is over 20 years old XD Unfortunately there’s not really a way to date it based off the serial number. Maybe the speakers will be stamped with a date 
(I’ve been digging through the carvin museum site tonight).
Edit I narrowed it down to 96 to 97. In 98 Carvin released the “Redline Series II” and changed the knobs on the amps from the style that’s on my cab, or a newer red aluminum vs the red-capped black plastic knobs.
Well alrighty then.
Edit I read some more comments that go along with the shoddy electronics thing XD apparently these things can eat through crossover electronics. I might look into bypassing it…
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Maybe they do some magic and provide the same load to higher ohm as well? Is something like that even possible?
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I don’t know, and since I can’t find it, I’m just going with “250W at 8ohms” XD
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I took a 9V battery to the speakers and confirmed none of them should be blown, so I’m going to have to dig into the electronics then…
However, the speakers are also now worth more than I paid for it, at least 
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I always thought that, if an amp would deliver N watts @ 4 ohms, it would do N/2 watts @ 8 ohms.
Apparently, I’m wrong --my Hartke delivers 340W @ 4 Ohms, and is rated at 250 Watt at 8.
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Confusing, isn’t it @peterhuppertz . . . ??
And now, don’t forget the weight factor {lol}
Cheers
Joe
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Yes, but for me, not worryingly so. Either way, even at 250 watts it’s bleepin’ loud enough.
The head’s weight, even though it’s… substantial, doesn’t bother me. It’s the cab’s weight that makes me frown and curse my age.
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the amp head I demo’d this cab through was an ancient Peavey that felt like it weighed as much as some cabs I did some digging, the Peavey Mark III was made in the late 70s. The manual didn’t specify the weight, but it was 300W into 4ohm with that era’s technology. It was beat to hell, had some rust on the face, and they considered it “fair” condition and wanted $230 for it.
Maybe if I was 20 and in a punk or metal band XD
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Well, I took the rear plate off and discovered what I think is some sort of poop or bug-related things lol, and the circuit board on the crossover is date 1996, so now I know how old it is. The electronics look very simple and primitive.
That jack on the left has some corrosion on the outside.
Somehow this was under the cover I removed, so maybe old bug egg sacs or something?
I looked inside, and the speakers have probably been replaced with some no-name knock-off trash 
They are black, just black, unlabeled speakers.
so if I can’t figure out if these are generic speakers or not, I’ll probably return it and let Guitar Center deal with it. Not my fault they bought a cabinet “as-is” and have to sell it now
Not unless I can get a steep discount to keep it
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