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Reeves Bass Amp Prototype Pics

edbass

edbass

Nov 8, 2004
1,622
404
#1
After much waiting I finally got my hands on the new Reeves 200 watt head prototype. I only had it for a few hours, and didn’t have any test gear besides the trusty Fluke DMM and my ears, so I just played it through a limited variety of cabinets that I had on hand. The only comparable (4 X KT88) tube amps I have are a pair of Sunn 2000S’s, one with KT88’s and one with 6550’s. For cabinets I used a 2000S cab with K140’s, a 200S cab with D140’s, a Kustom 2 X15 with EVM 15L’s, and old Hartke 410 XL and 215 XL cabs.
I also drug out a Sunn 2 X KT88 200S amp to use as a tone comparison, with “like new” tested 60’s vintage Genelex Gold Lions, Mullard 12AX7 and tube rectifier for a decent tone benchmark.
Mute point, I ran out of time way before I got around to the 200S!

Compared to the 2000S, the first thing that is apparent is the difference in power. The Reeves is much more powerful, tons more headroom. According to the Reeves techs, it measures well beyond the design target of 200 watts on the 8 ohm tap, and it sounds it. They were a little hesitant to tell me the actual #, because after all it is a prototype and they don’t want any misinformation about output figures floating around in cyberspace.
Tonally it’s similar to its Hiwatt heritage, clean, rich and very hi-fi tone until you start to saturate the tubes, and then it flat roars. Not unlike the 2000S, but at a substantially higher SPL than the Sunn.
This is no easy feat, those who have 2000S experience know how powerful those old amps are, they are almost the stuff of legend; “can snuff a match at 2 feet by plucking an open E string” etc… Side by side with the 2000S the Reeves seems like it has an additional pair of KT88’s in it. It’s been over a year since I had a British built Hiwatt DR201, but going from memory the Reeves and the current Hiwatt are pretty close. I remember the Hiwatt being more powerful than my Sunns, but not the disparity that is immediately apparent with the new Reeves. They weren't kidding about "well beyond the design target of 200 watts on the 8 ohm tap". Also, the Reeves gets “deeper” than the Hiwatt. I asked about this after just a couple of minutes playing, and they told me that while the original Hiwatts had the “AP” or “All Purpose” designation, the prototype circuit I was playing was specifically modified for Bass Guitar use. In the pics you can probably see the extra little switches mounted on the chassis, these are to switch between different value caps and resistors on the fly. The circuit started as the original Dave Reeves design, all of the modifications from this design are A/B’ed back and forth between the baseline of the original Hiwatt circuit.
Of course, even in this working prototype, the typical Reeves attention to detail and impeccable build quality is obvious.

That’s all I got, I’m sure the Reeves folks will be forthcoming with more info on their website soon, (Invalid Link Removed) and I’ll post again when I get some real world gig time with the amp.
 

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#5
edbass said:
After much waiting I finally got my hands on the new Reeves 200 watt head prototype. I only had it for a few hours, and didn’t have any test gear besides the trusty Fluke DMM and my ears, so I just played it through a limited variety of cabinets that I had on hand. The only comparable (4 X KT88) tube amps I have are a pair of Sunn 2000S’s, one with KT88’s and one with 6550’s. For cabinets I used a 2000S cab with K140’s, a 200S cab with D140’s, a Kustom 2 X15 with EVM 15L’s, and old Hartke 410 XL and 215 XL cabs.
I also drug out a Sunn 2 X KT88 200S amp to use as a tone comparison, with “like new” tested 60’s vintage Genelex Gold Lions, Mullard 12AX7 and tube rectifier for a decent tone benchmark.
Mute point, I ran out of time way before I got around to the 200S!

Compared to the 2000S, the first thing that is apparent is the difference in power. The Reeves is much more powerful, tons more headroom. According to the Reeves techs, it measures well beyond the design target of 200 watts on the 8 ohm tap, and it sounds it. They were a little hesitant to tell me the actual #, because after all it is a prototype and they don’t want any misinformation about output figures floating around in cyberspace.
Tonally it’s similar to its Hiwatt heritage, clean, rich and very hi-fi tone until you start to saturate the tubes, and then it flat roars. Not unlike the 2000S, but at a substantially higher SPL than the Sunn.
This is no easy feat, those who have 2000S experience know how powerful those old amps are, they are almost the stuff of legend; “can snuff a match at 2 feet by plucking an open E string” etc… Side by side with the 2000S the Reeves seems like it has an additional pair of KT88’s in it. It’s been over a year since I had a British built Hiwatt DR201, but going from memory the Reeves and the current Hiwatt are pretty close. I remember the Hiwatt being more powerful than my Sunns, but not the disparity that is immediately apparent with the new Reeves. They weren't kidding about "well beyond the design target of 200 watts on the 8 ohm tap". Also, the Reeves gets “deeper” than the Hiwatt. I asked about this after just a couple of minutes playing, and they told me that while the original Hiwatts had the “AP” or “All Purpose” designation, the prototype circuit I was playing was specifically modified for Bass Guitar use. In the pics you can probably see the extra little switches mounted on the chassis, these are to switch between different value caps and resistors on the fly. The circuit started as the original Dave Reeves design, all of the modifications from this design are A/B’ed back and forth between the baseline of the original Hiwatt circuit.
Of course, even in this working prototype, the typical Reeves attention to detail and impeccable build quality is obvious.

That’s all I got, I’m sure the Reeves folks will be forthcoming with more info on their website soon, (Invalid Link Removed) and I’ll post again when I get some real world gig time with the amp.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the inputs. While the standard Hiwatt circuit has a normal and a bright input, with separate preamp gain controls for each, this prototype Reeves has three inputs; Normal, Bright and a “Blend”. The Normal input is controlled by the Normal gain pot, the Bright input is controlled by the Bright gain pot, and the “Blend” (I made the term up, Reeves hasn’t actually named it) input uses both gain controls. You can mix both preamp circuits; similar to the old trick of using a jumper cable to bridge the two inputs for more gain.
They are gauging reaction from players trying to decide whether or not this feature will actually make it to production.
 
#7
fender3x said:
Wow! This is really cool looking...and sounding evidently. Where and when will they be available?
Click to expand...

I know that Reeves went away from it's dealer network a while ago, to keep their prices reasonable. You can get their stuff direct from them, but you'll have to ask them about availability. As of last night, they were still "auditioning" the prototype with other bass players, but I think (hope!) the circuit is pretty close to being finalized.
 
#9
Here’s a question posed to me by the guys at Reeves, but is best asked on talkbass;
How important is a passive/active input or switch on a bass amp?
The new Reeves is based on the original DR201 circuit, but the Hiwatt had an “AP” (All Purpose) designation, for use with bass, guitar, keyboard, etc. This amp is more bass oriented, so should they design in an active/passive feature, or is it just an unnecessary expense for most bass players?
 
#12
HI

Looks nice, especially the inside.

However, I have a few suggestions.

Bias-control outside the chassis -like Ampeg SVT-is a nice feature.

Put some kind of tube retainers to the powertubes.

I prefer speakons at speaker outputs.

200W at 4 ohm means 7 amperes. Or 200W at 8 ohm means 5 amperes. That's a lot for the jacks.

Though, keep the jacks. If you lose the speakon cord, you can use a jack output in pinch.

Probably you already have visited. But if not, here's some pics of my SVT-clone amp and cab.

http://www.okabass.suntuubi.com/?cat=8
 
#13
I dont want to hijack this thread. :) I guess the Reeves Amps will be primarily available for the US-market, isnt it?. So theres a hiwatt-clone for the other side of the ocean.

okabass:

Heres everything you want to have:

Invalid Link Removed - The Webpage really sucks in design, but it delivers basic information like pictures of the circuit.

They have testpoints and bias-pots for every single kt88 at the backplate of the amp. Speakon and Standard-Jacks. An adjustable transformer balanced DI out - it captures the signal after the output transformer - so you get all the power-tube sound. The four JJ KT-88s are secured with Tuberetainers.

I have the Mywatt 400 which is a clone of the DR405. It has a toroidial mains-transformer and a standard output transformer which is about oneandahalf time bigger than the transformers in my vintage SVT. Unfortunately the circuit doesnt have the single-tube-bias circuit, but everything else, listed above. The amp weighs about 33kg and is built like a tank. The Sound is so much tigher and more precise than my SVT. Max clean Volume exceeds the SVT - Max distorted is about the same.

The producer of the amp is a very kind guy and it was a pleasure to deal with him. He answers mails very quickly and cares much about his customers. Its a one-man company. All his heads are soldered by him personal. The chassis is made of high quality thick Aluminium. He uses only the best parts in his amps.

I would never buy a modern Hiwatt Custom. Those heads are ridiculously expensive and not that well made than the old, original ones.
 
#14
The sound sample on the Mywatt site is a burpy distorted tone that some people call tube tone. It is and is representative of a Ampeg to Jaco thing. No flame intended, just that's not what Hiwatts sounded like.
I played Hiwatts in the late 60's and I can assure you they sounded so HiFi you wouldn't believe it. Just really clear but add huge warmth. Sort of like a 60's Fender Showman on 1 but clearer still with great clarity and no sterility.
If the Reeves get that going then, "tubes, I'm back!"
The new Orange is nice but not in the same ball park.
My impression from the reviewer is that they may have nailed it. Sunns had it but Hiwatts were clearer all throught the volume taper. Sunns would go into "Mountain tone or Grand Funk Railroad tone". Okay but that's not what Hiwatts sound like. They were capable of huge smooth low end and full frequency response across the spectrum. Live at Leeds is JEs tone; pick, rotosounds, treble up bass and mids rolled down.
 
#15
bongomania said:
Interesting too to learn who the heck Reeves is, although they don't say very much on the site. ;) I'm looking forward to future reviews as well!
Click to expand...

Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick uses Reeves amps and cabs for his 12 string basses, though I think he uses the guitar amps.

Curious to see if he will use these new bass amps, or stay with the guitar amps.
 
#16
chadds said:
The sound sample on the Mywatt site is a burpy distorted tone that some people call tube tone. It is and is representative of a Ampeg to Jaco thing. No flame intended, just that's not what Hiwatts sounded like.
I played Hiwatts in the late 60's and I can assure you they sounded so HiFi you wouldn't believe it. Just really clear but add huge warmth.
Click to expand...


I agree, that the Soundsamples on this site do not show up what those amps can do. The whole Website is designed really poor if you ask me. :rolleyes:

Here are two more Soundsamples - Mywatt 200 miked with a condenser from a 2x12" Cabinet. So this comes close to what your ears will hear: (unless you play it thru crappy laptop or pc speakers :)) - And NO - its not me playing... :p

Invalid Link Removed

and

Invalid Link Removed

Maybe my ears are so misguided after years of ampeg playing, but IMHO the Mywatt sounds very clean and accurate. It puts out what you put in. Spiced up with some nice tube-warmth.

I never played a Vintage Hiwatt, but a Hiwatt Custom 200. My experience was, that the Mywatt exceeded this Hiwatt in clarity, lowend thightness and treble response.

I am looking forward to sound-samples from the Reeves-Amp. It creates big expectations with carrying such a proud name. ;)
 
#18
Hi Willem,

It seems like youve been searching your whole life! :)

I have never tried the 200. I play in a loud Rock-Band and my bass is tuned down to a low C. A clean and tight Bass-Response eats a lot of power.

I wanted to stay on the Safe-Side and went straight with the 400. It was EUR 600,- more and its about 7kg heavier. I dont mind that.

Actually the Mywatt 400 does NOT deliver 400 clean Watts. Its the same with the original Hiwatt DR405. It has "only" six KT-88 and brings something about 300 Watts clean Sinus Wave Signal. Max reports something about 600 Watts in Full-overdrive. Also the Mywatt 400 (and DR405) has one extra Preamptube. There are rumours about a "real" Hiwatt 400 Watt Amp that existed once - using eight KT-88, but it had to fight with heat problems.

But its not only the amount of tubes. The output Transformer of the 400 is at least double as big as the Trannie of the 200. :D
But still the 400 weights about the same as the original Hiwatt DR201. ;)
 
#19
Hahaha, my whole life, it's not that I don't know what to pick, it's because I don't really have the money and as long as I don't have it, I don't have to make a decision so I keep looking at everything ;).

The thing that bothers me about the Mywatt is that it is wider than a Bergantino NV610 which I'm certainly gonna get...
 
#20
I'm looking forward to hearing the Reeves myself.

The clips on the Weber site were delicious to my ears: I thought they were recorded and mixed really nicely, and they had that mixture of warmth and clarity with that girth and presence low down that Hiwatts were famous for. The growl was big and fat on a few samples and nothing like jaco's tone either (which never had much to do with tube tone or Ampeg anyway). The second set of samples sounded a bit more scooped or closer to the way Entwistle EQed to me, too.

Anyway, I'd look at the Mywatt based on those samples alone, and I'm familiar with the Hiwatt original myself.

Hoss, what did the 200 and 400 cost in euros in Germany, out of curiosity?
 

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