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Hiwatt

#21
bgmww said:
Hiwatts are ALL PURPOSE... not only guitar amps.. The sound is SOOOOOO CLEAN.. you wouldn´t believe... This is not a MARSHALL head... nothing to do with it.

This is my stuff...

alx3.jpg
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HA! El segundo Argentino que encuentro en una semana aca! Excelente el tributo a Floyd che!!
 
#22
oddio said:
Apparently the Fernandes scrap has been over for a little while and HiWatt (the current owner) is able to provide their product in the USA. I was checking out the Custom 400 with visions of finally being able to obtain a DR405 dancing in my head. One of the vintage tube amp sites actually managed to do a tear-down, or more accurately a repair, on one. Based on the pictures I guess I'll have to keep scouting for an original. *sigh*
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The Reeves appear to be less expensive.
 
#24
oddio said:
Apparently the Fernandes scrap has been over for a little while and HiWatt (the current owner) is able to provide their product in the USA. I was checking out the Custom 400 with visions of finally being able to obtain a DR405 dancing in my head. One of the vintage tube amp sites actually managed to do a tear-down, or more accurately a repair, on one. Based on the pictures I guess I'll have to keep scouting for an original. *sigh*
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Went to this site www.reevesamps.com/. found this comment quite ammusing This amp is the same spec as the one extensively used by a British rock star...Who? I suppose if Roger Daltry Expires it will be a British Rock Star.

:hyper: :) :p :bassist:
 
#25
David Reeves also built the Sound City amps. I have a Sound City Bass 150, which I like very well. It does not sound at all like an Ampeg, but also doesn't sound like anything else, either (other than a Hiwatt, I presume). Great all-tube head that can pull bass our guitar duty.

Here's a shot of my amp back when it was up on the British Audio Service website:

front.jpg
 
#26
tombowlus said:
David Reeves also built the Sound City amps. I have a Sound City Bass 150, which I like very well. It does not sound at all like an Ampeg, but also doesn't sound like anything else, either (other than a Hiwatt, I presume). Great all-tube head that can pull bass our guitar duty.

Here's a shot of my amp back when it was up on the British Audio Service website:

front.jpg
Click to expand...

:mad:
 
#27
i used hiwatts back when
blew up each and every one of them
that would be three of them over about four years and playing at larger venues
loved the tone and while they lasted longer and were more reliable the guitarists marshalls
i ultimately went with svt
they were just more reliable at every level
at least at that time
 
#28
and of course when we saw the one tour with the who using sound city we just had to try those too
those never quite made it out of rehearsal
their nick name became sound sh--ty
of course maybe it was just us
 
#29
What do you all think about putting a Preamp before my Hiwatt Custom 100 ?
I mean... i already have a preamp inside the hiwatt... do i really need a preamp ?
Could it damage the amp head ?
How could it affect the sound ?

thanks guys.. oh.. BTW.. i´m planning to get an Alembic F2-B.

regards
 
#30
bgmww said:
What do you all think about putting a Preamp before my Hiwatt Custom 100 ?
I mean... i already have a preamp inside the hiwatt... do i really need a preamp ?
Could it damage the amp head ?
How could it affect the sound ?

thanks guys.. oh.. BTW.. i´m planning to get an Alembic F2-B.

regards
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It COULD work, although you'd probably have to keep the input gains very low on the head.
 
#31
The 0x said:
Oh yeah, another great Hiwatt tone is John Wetton's on "Red."
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Hey Ox,
I've only seen a few photos of Wetton's KC-era Hiwatt rig. I sure loved his sound. You're one of the vintage tube rig guru's here, I have a few questions:
Do you have any idea what type(s) of cabinets he was using?
Were his Hiwatt's specifically designed for bass guitar?
How many watts per head and typically how many heads was he using?
Thanks.

BTW, TB has turned me onto "YouTube". I found a live Who video where Entwistle was using a massive all-tube rig. It looked to be Sunn gear. What a great sound!!!
 
#32
BillyB_from_LZ said:
What is the power tube compliment on a 200 Watt HiWatt head? 4xKT88 (6550) or a whole lot of EL34s?
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The older Custom 200 had 6xEL34, the later ones, as well as the re-issues, had 4xKT88. Check out mhuss.com, he gathered a lot of info about HIWATT.

Imho, you can't compare the Hiwatt 200 to the SVT. It's two completely different pairs of shoes. The Hiwatts were (are?) known and loved for their enormous clean power. Even at low volumes a Hiwatt sounds great, hereas the SVT... well...:rollno:
 
#33
Arthur U. Poon said:
Hey Ox,
I've only seen a few photos of Wetton's KC-era Hiwatt rig. I sure loved his sound. You're one of the vintage tube rig guru's here, I have a few questions:
Do you have any idea what type(s) of cabinets he was using?
Were his Hiwatt's specifically designed for bass guitar?
How many watts per head and typically how many heads was he using?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Wetton used the 100 watt models. I heard at one point he was using a Cerwin Vega 18" folded horn cab that was extremely efficient, but i'm pretty sure he used the Hiwatt 4x12s as well. I haven't really looked up his gear, so don't quote me on that.

Arthur U. Poon said:
BTW, TB has turned me onto "YouTube". I found a live Who video where Entwistle was using a massive all-tube rig. It looked to be Sunn gear. What a great sound!!!
Click to expand...

Could you post the link to this video? The only ones i've seen are of him using massive solid state Sunn rigs. The only time he used tube sunn rigs were in '67-68 during their first american tours, when they didn't have enough money to bring over their Marshall/Sound City/Hiwatt stacks from England. At first they signed an endorsement deal with Vox, and had to endure crappy Super Beatle amps. After those got smashed up, they signed with Sunn, and both Pete & John each used two 100s heads, and 2 to 4 2x15s. I haven't found any videos of them using these rigs, though. Is the video you saw from the '70s? If so, those are solid state Coliseums.
 
#35
bgmww said:
What do you all think about putting a Preamp before my Hiwatt Custom 100 ?
I mean... i already have a preamp inside the hiwatt... do i really need a preamp ?
Could it damage the amp head ?
How could it affect the sound ?

thanks guys.. oh.. BTW.. i´m planning to get an Alembic F2-B.

regards
Click to expand...

Why on earth would you put another pre in front of a hiwatt? You've paid a premium for a great all tube head. I don't understand it.
 
#38
The 0x said:
Probably because that's what both David Gilmour and Roger Waters did. He is in a Floyd tribute band, after all. ;) I think they may have used Slave heads, though.
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That´s correct. Waters used the Hiwatt heads till 1977.. with Alembic preamps. Then he swithched to Phase Linear 700B... and now he is using Ashdown King Combo.

@nysob... you are right... GAS sucks... :smug:
 
#40
The 0x said:
The only ones i've seen are of him using massive solid state Sunn rigs. The only time he used tube sunn rigs were in '67-68 during their first american tours, when they didn't have enough money to bring over their Marshall/Sound City/Hiwatt stacks from England. At first they signed an endorsement deal with Vox, and had to endure crappy Super Beatle amps. After those got smashed up, they signed with Sunn, and both Pete & John each used two 100s heads, and 2 to 4 2x15s. I haven't found any videos of them using these rigs, though. Is the video you saw from the '70s? If so, those are solid state Coliseums.
Click to expand...

I think you're right on this being SS, but I'm not too familiar with this era of Sunn amps. Is this a solid state Sunn setup? BTW the video is really off-sync, but you can really see his amp. (I'm not 100% sure if it's the same video I'd found before, but):



I found some early videos where he's using a Marshall stack, and then some with Vox amps. The late 70's videos I've found he's definitely using Sunn solid state amps. It's the same setup he used when I saw the Who live in '79 or '80.

I managed to battle my way to the front row during the warmup act (Blackfoot) and I watched him from the front row. IMO his sound was still very bad**s:cool: :bassist:
 

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