I've got a Hartke HyDrive 115 combo. I'm very happy with it except for one aspect: its outer shell and lining. It doesn't have wheels or side handles, the top handle seems like it might eventually rip out, and the vinyl covering has torn a little bit in a couple of places. It's a clumsy unit to carry, so use a cart or handtruck whenever possible. Or force your guitarist to help you carry it. Hartke seems to have invested more in the guts and less in the package, in order to keep the price down.
Tonewise, I'm very glad I got it. I use it for both my Status Buzzard-2 and my Alembic Rogue, and I get great tones with both. The controls are very versatile - you can easily go from Jamerson to John Paul Jones to Jaco to Marcus Miller to modern dance music to metal, plus anything in between. You can get a clean sound or a bit of distortion, and I like the warmth and compression that can be added in varying doses. The controls take a bit of experimentation to learn properly, but it's well worth the time investment.
The overall tone is open, warm, and full of character, without infringing on your bass's natural tone. I can get a very present, room-filling sound out of it, especially with the Status. Lots of tweaks can be made to help cut through the other instruments.
I've gigged it stand-alone, miked, and cable-out through the PA.
I play mostly rock, but I think it'll do well with any style.
The kickback option is great, but be careful about the narrow base when the amp is in standard upright position - in a car or other circumstances, the amp can be pushed over into the kickback position, and there had better be a level floor under it when that happens. Mine fell out of an incline-parked vehicle that way, almost broke my leg in 2 places on its way down, and then tumbled head-over-base about 15 feet down another incline. No damage to the amp, and it's played perfectly ever since. That was about a year ago.
