Id like your opinion on 2 very different sounding vintage Hiwatts:
Bout a year ago I plugged my P bass into a hylight era Dr103 and instantly knew it was the tone I'd been looking for all along....
I fought tooth and nail and managed to buy that very amp from the guitar player in my band ( 100w was too loud for him to push in order to get the most of the head in most clubs we play, so I found a 50w version locally and bought it so we could swap)
Being so blown away by the head I kept looking for a 200w version, the dr201, and eventually found one on eBay, INSANELY cheap, seller saying amp wouldn't turn on.
I took a gamble hoping he didn't know anything about amps, that maybe it just needed a fuse or just had a broken connection somewhere in the amp.
I took it to my tech who found a few minor issues, disabled a mod, reverted the amp back to stock, all fresh tubes, and told me I'd found the score of the century.
BUT, while the amp has had zero issues since then, it just doesn't have the same magic as the 100w head, not even close...
While the 100w sounds rich, full, and lush with gain pushed, amazing dynamics and grit, the 200w sounds pretty sterile, dry, and not as responsive.
I keep going back to the 100 even though I could really use the extra 100w for some gigs.
The power tubes are similar in both, the preamp tubes are NOS telefunken in 200w, new mullard 12ax7 in V1 of the 100w.
Any ideas what could be making such a difference in sound? I know every amp will have its own characteristics, but to have such a difference between two Amps from same era, company, with nearly identical gain stages seems strange.
I'd love to get some suggestion in what I could try to improve the tone of the 200w beast.
Bout a year ago I plugged my P bass into a hylight era Dr103 and instantly knew it was the tone I'd been looking for all along....
I fought tooth and nail and managed to buy that very amp from the guitar player in my band ( 100w was too loud for him to push in order to get the most of the head in most clubs we play, so I found a 50w version locally and bought it so we could swap)
Being so blown away by the head I kept looking for a 200w version, the dr201, and eventually found one on eBay, INSANELY cheap, seller saying amp wouldn't turn on.
I took a gamble hoping he didn't know anything about amps, that maybe it just needed a fuse or just had a broken connection somewhere in the amp.
I took it to my tech who found a few minor issues, disabled a mod, reverted the amp back to stock, all fresh tubes, and told me I'd found the score of the century.
BUT, while the amp has had zero issues since then, it just doesn't have the same magic as the 100w head, not even close...
While the 100w sounds rich, full, and lush with gain pushed, amazing dynamics and grit, the 200w sounds pretty sterile, dry, and not as responsive.
I keep going back to the 100 even though I could really use the extra 100w for some gigs.
The power tubes are similar in both, the preamp tubes are NOS telefunken in 200w, new mullard 12ax7 in V1 of the 100w.
Any ideas what could be making such a difference in sound? I know every amp will have its own characteristics, but to have such a difference between two Amps from same era, company, with nearly identical gain stages seems strange.
I'd love to get some suggestion in what I could try to improve the tone of the 200w beast.
