Hiwatt Bass Heads (history)

[Jakkeko]

Tell me, tell me...
All about the Hiwatt bass heads. Where are the current models manufactured? Are they PTP or PCB? How much difference there is between the old DR -models and the new Custom/DR -models? And what about the difference between DR103 (guitar?) and DR 201 / DR 405 (bass) -models. How long have these bass models been available? I've seen Hiwatt bass amps from the 70's. And how has these older DR models developed into these current models? It seems that the old ones as the new ones are using KT88 tubes but some models have EL34s. And I've seen DR201 with only 2 inputs (without brilliant inputs). I haven't yet been able to find decent Hiwatt "bass history".

-Jaakko

[BOD2]

There's general informatio about Hiwatt here -

[url="http://hiwatt.org/"]http://hiwatt.org/[/url]

Not much specifically about bass amps, though.

[chris_b]

I believe that generally in the old amps, Hiwatt, Marshall, etc the only difference was in the eq, the pots. I used to play a Marshall 100 watt lead amp because it sounded clearer and punchier to me. So you can use either lead or bass models just as well.

[Jakkeko]

I've seem that hiwatt.org before but at least as I scrolled it through quickly, I didn't find any detailed information about the current amps. And I know that the old British are all quite similar but what about the old Hiwatts compared to the current ones?

[pete.young]

The reason you are struggling is that there is no connection between the Hiwatt amps produced by Dave Reeves company up until 1984 and the 're-issues' produced by the owners of Music Ground in the current century.

When Hiwatt folded in 1984 Dave Reeves widow sold the rights to the name to one of the guys running Music Ground. That's it - end of connection, end of story.

Don't know what the revival amps are like, but they're probably made in China. They're definitely not hand-wired by Harry Joyce, they definitely don't have Partridge transformers. Other than the name, there is no connection.

All this is explained in painstaking detail on the hiwatt.org site and there's probably more information on plexi palace.

[sk8]

my reissue has partridge transformers, and is point to point hand wired in the uk i beleive

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='sk8' post='996696' date='Oct 22 2010, 09:10 AM']my reissue has partridge transformers, and is point to point hand wired in the uk i beleive[/quote]

Reissue Partridge transformers might not be the same thing either. You can get ones that are 'Original Partridge designed transformers', and they have been [url="http://chambonino.com/work/hiwatt/hw4.html"]criticised.[/url] As always, the important thing is how well it works, and not what name badge is on it.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Mr. Foxen

[pete.young]

I beg SK8's pardon. Hiwatt do use Partridge transformers, not sure whether these are made to Hiwatt's spec or the original Hiwatt spec which may be different. The Partridge Transformers brand is now owned by Transformers and Rectifiers Ltd and claims to be making them to the original design. As Mr Foxen says, if it works, it works. I'm sure they're fine amps.

The point that there's no connection between the old and new Hiwatts other than the name, and no continuing manufacture or development and hence no consistent history or historical links still stands.

[umph]

[quote name='sk8' post='996696' date='Oct 22 2010, 09:10 AM']my reissue has partridge transformers, and is point to point hand wired in the uk i beleive[/quote]
They're made in uk but they aren't partridge transformers they havn't been made for quite a few years unfortunatly. Quite a few people claim to have the right and be making them to the original specs but i'm unsure to which has the actual rights to the name.

Not a huge fan of the biacrown amps either.

[4 Strings]

That's my understanding too, hand made in fairly small factory in the UK to as near original specs as modern components availability will allow, plus any 'improvements' they may have made. Not so the MaxWatt tranny range which, I believe, is made Eastwards.

Can someone explain what actual difference the transformer manufacturer will make?

One of my hankerings is their 400W bass amp.

[umph]

[quote name='4 Strings' post='999228' date='Oct 24 2010, 07:59 PM']That's my understanding too, hand made in fairly small factory in the UK to as near original specs as modern components availability will allow, plus any 'improvements' they may have made. Not so the MaxWatt tranny range which, I believe, is made Eastwards.

Can someone explain what actual difference the transformer manufacturer will make?

One of my hankerings is their 400W bass amp.[/quote]

generally quality effects level of distortion and frequency response, proper partridge are normally 3Hz - 30k at like 0.1%thd or something stupid. What that means is they don't colour the sound at all and make for very clean lows and proper full harmonic content

[sk8]

well i like how my Custom 200 sounds

[Lee-Man]

I have a Hiwatt 200, its about 5 years old and ace. Partridge transformer, point to point and a load of KT88's. As has already been mentioned Music Ground own the name now. I believe (but could be wrong) that many of these amps are made by Matamp for Music Ground. These amps are not the same as the Chinese Maxwatt which are totally different.

Hope this helps.

[umph]

[quote name='Lee-Man' post='999280' date='Oct 24 2010, 08:20 PM']I have a Hiwatt 200, its about 5 years old and ace. Partridge transformer, point to point and a load of KT88's. As has already been mentioned Music Ground own the name now. I believe (but could be wrong) that many of these amps are made by Matamp for Music Ground. These amps are not the same as the Chinese Maxwatt which are totally different.

Hope this helps.[/quote]
definatly not made at matamp as far as i know, there is a conection there though

[Jakkeko]

Hi,
Thanks for the info. It helped me at least a bit.
I read the history part from the hiwatt.org and yes... It explained most of the stuff. The things is (which some of your posts already answered) that I'm really interested to know how good clones these new amps are (modern Music Ground made Hiwatts, Weber MyWatts, etc.). I personally do believe that current Hiwatts and Weber MyWatts are good amps... And it is a fact that building a re-issue is a really hard 'cause you can't get those old-school components anymore. Re-issue is a re-issue. But I'm delighted to hear that the current re-issue Hiwatts are true to the old models as far as what comes to manufacturing (hand build in UK).

So one might say that the current Hiwatts and other clones are decent (or excellent) amps and has the same basic idea then the old ones had (with some modifications) but they don't have that old school magic made by the original components? Has anyone actually been able to test an original and current Hiwatt side by side?

[umph]

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