Hiwatt question
 

I was deliriously happy with my old Hiwatt 200 head. WAS, because I was stupid enough to sell it with the cab many years ago. (Yes, I know, I know!)

Now I'm thinking about getting one of these again. They obviously cost a small fortune now (not when I sold mine) and I'm looking to try out a few products from their range.

Just a wild shot: a friend of a friend told me I should try the Maxwatt G200. That is obviously a guitar amp. The old ones were "ap" and for both guitar, bass and whatever. So my question is: A Maxwatt G200 would be a waste of time for bass, right?

IMHO there are better options out there. A 215 loaded with Faital pro 15PR400's can be built under 60 pounds, but will out perform most 810's.

Hi Watt Replacement
 

It might be real good... A Reeves 225 [made in Cleveland ] might be as good as any Hi Watt. New Hi Watts are said to be good and expensive. A Ashdown head is very good for the buck.

Reeves Amplification has several Hiwatt inspired products, including some straight Hiwatt "clones" and more germane to your situation a more "bass specific" 4 x KT88 than the original AP DR201.
It has a little more headroom/power than the Hiwatt did, more bottom end, and more user friendly features; only 24" wide to fit on standard bass cabs, OT driven DI, input pad for active basses, etc., but still retains the classic DR201 tonal qualities and character.
It's the Reeves Custom 225, often just called the Reeves C225 and you can find numerous reports and posts about them here on TB.


EDIT- Oops! Grenadilla must have posted while I was typing.
BTW; right state, wrong corner... Reeves is in Cincinnati, about 250 miles SW of Cleveland.

Thanks guys! Very much appreciated.

I will try to check out the Reeves C225. Sounds very interesting indeed.

I am looking to try the Maxwatt B300 head. That's a bass spesific amp. I just wonder if the G200 will be too weak and I'll kill it since it is guitar spesific?

(Ah, the modern technology. It was much easier in the good old days when we just plugged in and crancked it up!)

I run a Hiwatt Custom 100 guitar head for bass every once on a while, but 100 watts isn't enough for big gigs.

If you look in the 200w Range, Hiwatt has great bass gear, but is crazy expensive IMO. Reeves is a great alternative and Orange (bit different tone) might also be a fit.

S/H old 200w valve amp and a good full service is probably the way to go, a Sound City 200 mk3 is pretty close to a Hiwatt, just wired scruffier. I have a vintage 200w Hiwatt PA that sounds great but is on the market since its brutally heavy and I don't need that power with my cabs.

+1
 

This is a very good idea with a good service these old amps will serve you well, if its got to be new I think I would see what Matamp can do for you these days.:bassist:

+1 The Reeves heads are just ridiculously good. :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :cool:

maxwatt is there cheap chinese range. Wouldn'[t recommend it at all

Mywatt 200. I've got one and it's brilliant, KT88s as well. Worth a look.
http://weber-amps.de/en/index.html

I think I just sent you a PM about a Hiwatt, but thought I would throw this out there...
There is a Mesa Boogie Buster for sale in the TB classifieds (no affiliation with me), and the guy is selling it for CHEEP. It's a head ripped out of a old combo, so needs some love, but might be worth a look.

There are a few threads on the Buster here on TB if you want to find some info. It is a nice big, clean, fat 200 watt tube head. While it's not a Hiwatt, I might put it in the same family... distant cousins or something. Somewhere between a Hiwatt and a Fender maybe.

I think that option is dependent on where Electrophonic is located, I suppose it's safe to assume that you aren't located in North America bertbass?

Regretfully, most of us stateside players will never know how the Mywatts sound.

I inquired about buying a Mywatt 200 a while ago and Max Weber emailed me back that retailing to the US wasn't feasible due to high import taxes and duties, and that he wouldn't even pursue shipping to the US because "The paper war for duty Is unbelievable high".

So unless something had changed in the last year or so, I suppose the Mywatt is an option for our European brethren exclusively.

Uhmmm, I think there is some confusion between what the OP is talking about and what the rest of the posters are talking about; at least on my part anyway.

When you posted about your "old Hiwatt 200" and how it was "ap", I assumed you were talking about the vintage British hand wired tube amps that are among the elite MI amps in the marketplace.
After doing some searching for "Maxwatt" it seems they are as MAMMOTH mentions; entry level, mass produced Asian transistor amps that the real Hiwatt contracts from a Chinese manufacturer.
I thought "Maxwatt" was yet another all tube Hiwatt inspired amp. :hiding:

So sorry to inadvertently misdirect you, but my comments are totally irrelevant to your original question.

Good Luck with your search!

The real Hiwatt ended in the early 80s.

The real Ampeg ended in 1967, too, but they still made great stuff subsequently ;) Heard nothing out of the newer Hiwatt that indicates differently.

Think Ampeg had more than one person checking the quality levels, being mass produced amps, and would assume although ownership of the company moved about, a bunch of the workers and engineers went with it. Hiwatt's thing was based on a really high level of oversight, specifically the one dude going through every amp checking every joint and marking them off. Component quality wise they were pretty much same as Sound City, since pretty much all the parts were in common, it was the attention to detail in the construction that made them something special. The current Hiwatts don't have that going on, it was the name alone that was sold, the owners of the name will stick it on anything cheerfully. Dodge practices with the 'Partridge designed' transformers too, the actual construction is different, the laminations size and composition is different, wire is not wound in the same way, not really anything in common with actual Partridge transformers aside from having brackets at the edges. Nothing the name stood for went with it.

+1
 

This is all correct, the Hiwatt of the Hylite amps Southend fame was overseen by an ex RAF wiring technician called Harry Joyce with a chap called Dave Reeves doing the buying design and stuff.
That's why a Reeves 225 is called a Reeves this is in deference to the original designer.
I don't think a new Hiwatt is quite the same as the super quality old military spec amps.
I have seen some amps with Just "Harry Joyce" written on, I believe where also made to those standards in the USA.

Another interesting Hiwattish amp is the old Roost SR150 its got 6 EL34's in the output stage and proper Partridge transformers if original. Although not fully hand wired it has two small pcb's one for the bias circuit and one for the preamp.

Like Sound City it was made by some of the same people in Southend Essex that also made some original Hylite amps but not under Harry's supervision.:bassist:
http://www.andy-duke.co.uk/roost/roosthistory.html

All the Roosts I've poked about in had Electro Voice transformers (not had a 6 EL34 one though), or generic looking ones in the later Leeds made Roosts. EV ones basically look the same as Partridge but are not lacquered, so generally get called Partridge for the good rep. They sound quite Hiwatt, but the wiring wasn't so finicky, still a reasonable standard, but Hiwatt is a high bar.

Actually, many did not, and Jess Oliver had left even before the sale. For example, the SVT designers were hired by Unimusic after the sale.

Maybe so, but I've heard the same things about SVT's and they all sound the same to me, new or old. I don't have any newer Hiwatt experience, so I'll have to defer to you on the sound quality, but honestly, if the sound's there and the parts and build quality are reasonably reliable, I don't sweat that the transformers aren't identical or the PCB's aren't dipped in gold ;)