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SOLD: HIWATT Custom 400 (DR405) head


Stuee
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Hi guys,

This awesome amp has done very little work and is absolutely immaculate. It did a short tour (flight-cased) about 18 months ago when it was brand new and it has been in storage ever since. I brought it home a couple of weeks ago to use it, but to be honest it's overkill for everything I'm doing right now, and I would like to free up its value to put into more immediately useful gear.

Current stocks of these are selling for £2,275 at Digital Village (who are usually about the best price around). [s]I'll cast my line at around £1,695 and see what happens. That's an instant saving of nearly £600 / more than 25% off street.[/s]

[s][b]Now priced at £1,275 o.n.o for a quick sale! That's an instant saving of £1,000 or 44% off street.[/b][/s]

[b]Final reduction to [u]£1,000 firm[/u]. This head must go![/b]

[s]I may consider trades also.[/s] Watcha got? Sorry but I can no longer consider trades. I need the dosh :-/

This is a fantastic amp, really well made in England. It's silent in operation and sounds absolutely beautiful. Warm, but also clear and accurate - not soft and smooshy like some valve gear - and with the right cabinets it's very powerful. You will enjoy playing through it!

As you would expect it is not light - in fact it's very heavy - so you will not want to be a weed. Having said that, the handles are very good and it's not too much of a bugger really - and it's worth it for that gorgeous TONE :-)

There isn't all that much literature online about these, but here's some info:

[i]As you may or may not know, the vast majority of bass amplifiers in today's market are not tube amps, and not even most tube bass amps are all-valve, many have a solid state power section powered by generic circuit boards and no power tubes. If you want that warm and solid all-valve tone, best craftsmanship and materials, look no further, Hiwatt Custom bass heads are for you. These hand-built classic bass amplifiers are based on the famous 1970's range made known by John Entwhistle, now used by countless touring bands such as Coldplay, The Hives, Supergrass and Franz Ferdinand. Completely made by hand, point to point wiring and construction, these are the real deal in British bass amplifiers.

[b]The main features of the Hiwatt DR405 Custom include :

[indent][/b][/i][list]
[*][i][b]400 Watt of valve bass power[/b][/i]
[*][i][b]6 x KT-88 pozer amp valves[/b][/i]
[*][i][b]4 x ECC-83 and 1 x ECC-81 valves in the preamp section[/b][/i]
[*][i][b]Partridge transformers[/b][/i]
[*][i][b]4, 8 & 16 ohm output into 2 x speakon connections[/b][/i]
[/list]
[i][b][/indent][/b][/i]

Here's what it looks like. If you'd like pics of my actual amp I will take some, but it's just like this:



Cheers, Stuee.

Edited by Stuee
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[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1103057' date='Jan 26 2011, 12:50 AM']Any chance of gutshots? Totally can't afford it unless you wanna do some severe trading, but totally curious.[/quote]
Thanks for the interest, Mr. Foxen. I'm not keen to take it apart, but I will be adding HQ photos as soon as we get some decent whether around here! The right light makes all the difference :)

Feel free to PM me with any stuff you might have to trade. You never know!

Cheers, Stuee.

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  • 4 months later...

Good evening, Stuee...

Perhaps this is what puts the punters off..?

[quote name='Stuee' post='1100376' date='Jan 24 2011, 08:01 AM']...It's silent in operation...[/quote]

(OK, sorry, I'll close the door behind me...) :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still here! BUMP!

Note: Although I am willing to ship this amp anywhere, please bear in mind it weighs about 100lbs without a case, so this will be tricky and expensive! Cheers x

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  • 8 months later...

[quote name='Steve Spector' timestamp='1333389559' post='1601061']
There's a GT200 available on here too - why not both and tell us how they compare! :)
[/quote]

Why not both [i]what[/i] and tell you how they compare? ;)

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Nice; I like Hiwatts - a lot!
Only time I saw or heard a 400 it was clean - perfectly clean, both to hear & to look at. It was one of the original Hylights first batch IIRC. It had two handles on top & took two of us to lift on top of a Trace stack to try it out. Didn't get past 3 before you had to shout to be heard - and that was outside.
I'm assuming this is a MG version, ie. Doncaster.
It's now in NM, USA & being well used.

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  • 4 months later...

I've never used a VBA400 but it looks like it probably has more extensive tone control via the 3-band EQ with switchable mid contours.
Other than that I guess it would just be a matter of subjective taste?

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