Hartke HA2000 powers up-no output

[jay525]

Hi I,m new here I got a Hartke HA2000 bass head from a friend that had the volume
and hi pass contour pots sheared off I,ve replaced them with OEM from Samson
checked for loose solder joints and any other damage all looks ok. The amp powers up
but has zero output. Not much invested this is a good amp to gain some knowledge
any help where to start for a new newbie would be great thanks.

[Jazz P Bass]

Do you have signal on the send jack?
Send it to another amp.
This will tell you if the preamp is functioning.
Next, try inputing a guitar signal into the return jack.
This will tell if the power amp is working.

[Wrongdog]

WTF? just posted and it disappeared!!? Check cap LEGS and not just cold board solders. Get out your chop sticks and start tapping. Great sounding low power bass jam amp!!!

[jay525]

Thanks for the reply yes I did check through send and return and there was no signal and none through either front input.
On power up I had the cooling fan,panel light,and preamp tube power then the mainbd switch would close and that was all
but while I was waiting for a reply I chop sticked the whole thing and still found nothing. Then I read your reply and thought
I would start from there again to be sure I didn't miss something only this time I got some hiss so I pluged in my guitar
and it works? I picked around a bit and it still works. any input Thank you for the reply.

[jay525]

Thanks I checked everything caps,res,dio,ics,pots,tranny. But now it works fine? can't be that easy.
If it keeps working I might try some mods I think this would make a great blues amp Thanks for the reply.

[Wrongdog]

yeah! you can actually EQ these to sound okay for a clean blues thing. Clean all jacks efx etc - they can go lame from lack of use and silicon all standup caps - the legs break from vibration etc.

[Jazz P Bass]

I think you "cleaned" the send jack when you inserted the cable.
There is a normally closed contact in the jack that passes the signal when there is no cord inserted.
When the jack gets "dirty" it may interfere with that "pass" contact.

[Ronsonic]

When you lifted the preamp board to install the pots, did you resolder anything. Like, just for example and taking a wild stab in the dark the two TO220 shaped voltage regulators that power the preamp? Add a short bridge of RTV between the tabs on those Regs and the caps standing behind them. They do vibrate loose.

This is one of those units that need a lot of reflow work, like everything bigger than a 1/2W resistor should probably be resoldered.

[jay525]

No I didn't solder anything but the pots but I have found 2 103z caps that feel iffy I'm going to touch up everything that looks iffy and tie it all down with RTV.
This thing did sit for a year it took 7 months for my local dealer to get the pots they musta came on the slow boat. with the EQ I don't think it will need
any mods to lower the bass Thanks so much for all your help. Now I need to find something else to play with.

[Ronsonic]

Samson has always been terrible for getting parts. Slow boat, slow factory, slow mining operation to obtain the ore .... Just slow.

[sperely1]

Hey everyone, I have a HA3500 that recently crapped out on me. I did the send/return test and i get sound plugging a guitar in the return port, but nothing when running a cable from "send" to another amp. When plugged in normally through the passive input, ant the EQ on i get very low volume crackling and distorted "farts". where do i turn now. It appears my preamp is inop. I appreciate any suggestions.