Oxblood Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 (edited) Recently I've been thinking about getting a small practice amp. The trusty old Peavey MicroBass (secondhand) is top of my list of possibles, but as I was in town today, I took a trip down Denmark St, where I saw the HiWatt Maxwatt B20. It looked quite pretty, so having nothing better to do, I thought I'd give it a try. Oh dear. PRICE PAID: It was on sale at two prices, depending on whether you want the old style case (£89) or the slightly bigger, boxier new one (£129). Didn't buy either! FEATURE LIST: 20 Watts (supposedly) 10 Inch Speaker High and Low Sensitivity Inputs 3 Band EQ Presence Control External Speaker Output Headphone Jack Limiter FINISH: 5/10 Looks quite nice. SOUND: 0/10 Absolutely dreadful. This has to be one of the weediest sounding practice amps I've ever experienced. I've heard louder transistor radios. Any attempt to get it near to a usable practice volume (and believe me, I'm not talking loud here - just audible) results in it overloading horribly. The EQ section is a joke: the mid control has no effect at all! I tried both 'styles' of the amp, and both were equally awful. RELIABILITY: n/a CUSTOMER SUPPORT: n/a OVERALL SCORE: 2.5/10 (on looks alone) SUMMARY: AVOID THIS PRODUCT. I could make a louder - and more attractive - noise by farting into a tin can. Edited August 10, 2007 by Oxblood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwbassman Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 so it's no good then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxblood Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 [quote name='jwbassman' post='43900' date='Aug 10 2007, 06:08 PM']so it's no good then [/quote] Aww, now let's be fair: I didn't say that. I'm sure it would work very nicely as a door-stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwbassman Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 that's one expensive door stop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxblood Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 [quote name='jwbassman' post='43908' date='Aug 10 2007, 06:27 PM']that's one expensive door stop [/quote] LOL! It's HiWatt, though: worth every penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxblood Posted August 10, 2007 Author Share Posted August 10, 2007 Oh my Gawd, I've bin Wikkied! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMech Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 well I bought the B15 which I still have for i think £75. I'm not sure what you find so bad, its certainly loud enough to practice with, and is just about audible over drums, although not without the limiter intervening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 sounds to me like you tried a f***ed one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBeefChief Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 If you want sh*t, try the "Hiwatt Maxwatt Hurricane Bass Amp". Its a hefty 10watts which makes it almost totally useless for any sort of practice. I've got one and I'd struggle to give it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fekalizatorius Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I`ve had the Hurricane 10w version of that, and it SUCKS A LOT. The feedback on this boy is so ridiculous, that half the time i use my Zoom B2`s stereo output instead of that. Seriously, this amp was seriously my worst purchase in the music section. The only good thing about it, is that it does not take up much space. I was better off spending some more cash (50eu more ;((( What a pity) and getting a Laney which had 30w output, or even an Ashdown. The only music that it sounds good is heavily distorted metal stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmsjabb Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 You didn't look at the Hiwatt B100 15 while you were there? Just wondering what these are like? Is HiWatt a "liked" brand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4 Strings Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 HiWatt proper certainly is, anything with Maxwatt on is Eastern in all respects. Similar to the proper stuff in badge and colour only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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