JamesBass Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Been browsing for a new amp lately and somehow until yesterday forgot about Hiwatt, anyone know if they are still any good or even still going? Can't find much locally in shops and there are virtually no new Hiwatt bass head videos on YouTube, I know poor researching skills but I'm lazy Anyone own one or played through one? Are they worth looking out for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Er... you could always try their website. [url="http://www.hiwatt.co.uk/products.aspx?cid=12"]http://www.hiwatt.co.uk/products.aspx?cid=12[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Been on the phone to them recently, an ebayer won a vintage Hiwatt PA from me but didn't pay up, so I got their contact details from ebay, an interestingly got through to Hiwatt/Hylight. In unrelated, I heard at one point they had owners in common with Music Ground. Anyway, much better off getting a proper Hiwatt than a modern repro one. New ones are just another standard amp with an expensive name badge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1360082562' post='1964567'] ...much better off getting a proper Hiwatt than a modern repro one. New ones are just another standard amp with an expensive name badge. [/quote] Or maybe a Matamp instead..? [url="http://www.matamp.co.uk/"]http://www.matamp.co.uk/[/url] Or a Mywatt... [url="http://weber-amps.de/en/index.html"]http://weber-amps.de/en/index.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Sk8 on here is selling a recently built Hiwatt Custom 200 for £600 I think, it's a bit of a beast, maybe drop him a PM if yer interested... Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1360082709' post='1964573'] Or a Mywatt... [url="http://weber-amps.de/en/index.html"]http://weber-amps.de/en/index.html[/url] [/quote] Have a look at the pics of the Mywatt 200 and a look at some pics of the Smarvo valve amps, like the Ashton ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Or Boogie 400+... [url="http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Out_of%20_Production/Bass_400_/bass_400_.html"]http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Out_of%20_Production/Bass_400_/bass_400_.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1360082782' post='1964576'] Have a look at the pics of the Mywatt 200 and a look at some pics of the Smarvo valve amps, like the Ashton ones. [/quote] Taiwan..? Really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1360083015' post='1964585'] Taiwan..? Really? [/quote] Compare with the back panel pics on the Weber site, which I can't link to properly. Plus the toroidal PT and drop through OT layout, stuff not in common with Hiwatt. Different amps, but looks to be same builder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 (edited) Nothing Taiwanese about Mywatts. Made by Max Webber in Germany, Hiwatt clones and very nice too. Not a lot of similarities in the back panels either other than being blue. Edited February 5, 2013 by bertbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 And the bias adjustment. Aside from the internal similarities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Ist decent valve amp I had as it actually had tone and a tad of EQ. Far superior to the Marshall head I had before it. No idea what the new ones are like...and frankly, not sure I'd want to find out, but the old one was a very powerful amp for the time. No idea what a 70's Hiwatt bass amp would cost today, but it would be the one I'd look at if I was interested in that sort of thing. The Matamps might be a better bet over SVT's and 400's... but I'd add a DB7 type amp to that sort of list. Not fully valve, but no lack of b******* AT ALL...!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1360093660' post='1964795'] No idea what a 70's Hiwatt bass amp would cost today, but it would be the one I'd look at if I was interested in that sort of thing. [/quote] I'm after £1100 for my 70s 200w PA, does fine for bass, didn't want to carve it up to make a bass head of it, probably get cheaper if someone actually wants to sell it, rather than tokenly putting it up for sale to justify having it about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 (edited) The name of Hiwatt was bought by Music Ground a few years ago. MG began recreating Hiwatts allegedly based on a few vinatge "Hylight" models they got hold of. Problem being that most of the component manufacturers had gone out of business by then (Partridge tranformers for eg.) That is the only claim to the heritage that they have. They seem to want to sell their copies of Hiwatt Custom 200s (DR201) for around £1200, which by coincidence is what you can buy a decent Hylight original Hiwatt 200 for. The Hiwatt current HO used to be MG's Doncaster branch, the father & son team who ran MG were recently sentenced for dubious practises. They've yet to be done for the alleged forging of various classic amps based on the rebuilding of cheaper PA amps of the same manufacturers. If the OP has £1200 or thereabouts handy, he'd be well advised to hold out for an original coming available. The DR201 is a beast of a bass amp, but the maintenance of a vintage valve amp is not for the faint-hearted. Edited February 5, 2013 by Big_Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 A vintage amp that is fixed right won't need much maintenance, its just there are a lot of bodgers about, and a lot of people too tight to pay for a proper job to start with. My Hiwatt is still on pretty much all its original parts aside from someone beat me to having all the nice valves out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3below Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Having owned both Dr103 and 201 in the late 70s early 80s I will just confirm their reputation. Loud, clean, great sound, awesome build quality. The DR201 is not for weaklings - it is rather heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 As a current owner/user of a DR203 Hiwatt amp (200w PA, 4 x KT88...) I will confirm their reputation. Loud, clean, great sound, awesome build quality. The DR203 is not for weaklings - it is [s]rather[/s] very heavy. Do not go down this route if you're looking for anything but 'clean', however. Any 'dirt' or 'grit' will have to come from outside (and will be faithfully reproduced...); these amps are for clean headroom, not for o/p valve overdrive. Just my tuppence-worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There are dirty mods for them, fairly sure will apply to bass one as well as guitar ones. They'll drive if you put some boost into them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1360100233' post='1964931'] Do not go down this route if you're looking for anything but 'clean', however. Any 'dirt' or 'grit' will have to come from outside (and will be faithfully reproduced...)[/quote] Well you can; but to get to that level of volume & playing with a band it would have to be a fairly big venue, or a HM band that handed out H&S disclaimers & ear-plugs at the door. Also, if you're used to playing only tranny heads you'd do well to swot up on valve amps. They're very picky about the speaker resistance you put into them. I had a 4x12 and a 2x15 in mine running at 16ohms each to give the amp 8. A pro player I know said to me a couple of weeks ago, "hell fire!". Then I put the bass's overdrive on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigjas Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I have a Hiwatt DR112 100w PA head from 1974. Its a great amp, has plenty of power and I use it about twice a month for most of my gigs. Yes its heavy, but it is built like a tank, great reputation for quality, sounds awesome and looks great IMO. You don't see many for sale, and I can see why having owned this one for the past 15 years or so. Jas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afterimage Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Lovely amps original hi watts I want one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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