Somewhere back in the 1970s, my brother took his summer job money and bought a brand new Hiwatt 100 watt stack. Purchased from a now-defunct Toronto music store, it was, in fact, the very first one they uncrated from England. This particular store had a British tech who'd do a mod to the brilliant channel before they even got the Hiwatts on the sales floor! This mod made the brilliant channel the most high gain channel of any amp I've encountered to this very day. The thing was an absolute MONSTER! Your observation about the Fane speakers is so true....and nobody else seems to have made note of that. SO DIFFERENT from the sound of Celestians. A band mate of mine used to play a big ol' Ampeg head through a Hiwatt cab - it had a noticeably "Hiwatt" sound to it.
Awesome. I rented a 100 stack for a month from a defunct Thornhill (Toronto area) music store back around those mid 70's. Loved that thing. That was after I heard a guy at a party making a Hiwatt 100 head sing all night through a Traynor Bass Reflex 15" Cab + horn. One of the best rigs I ever heard. The guy whose rig it was, told me a couple of years ago that he regrets letting it go.
@@slowfinger2 OK....you'll think I'm making this up but I'm not. My big brother was renting rehearsal space with his drummer friend. They weren't a band, in that they were out playing gigs - but they were writing songs and just generally having fun at high volumes. Down the hall, an early Rush also rented a space. Lifeson tried out my brother's Hiwatt one night and went out and bought one for himself! Alex didn't stick with the brand but that's a true story.
Cool story. I just sold my Custom 50 half stack. While I owned it I removed the 'canadian mod'. Didn't really care for it and ended up reverting the preamp back to factory spec.
What I love about your demo videos is while you’re playing, you play riffs that’ll let the notes breathe and you don’t play to show off your skill but to highlight the gear.
I agree. He plays to demo the gear and not show off, but what's really cool about him is his style. Bluesy-Rock without wanking all over the neck doing "tapping", which IMO is overplayed and boring af.
I’ve noticed the cleaner things are (amp, pickups, etc) the better your high gain sounds. I used to try to buy the highest output pickups and filthiest amp I could find. They sound good but get muddy when pushed. I’ve found PAF’s (7-8k) and a very clean sounding amp with a high gain dirt box is the way to go. Kinda counterintuitive, but works great.
Good thing in heavy combos and cabinets is that they are really stable. I have a diy 4x12 cab made from birch plywood and I used it as a bottom cabinet. Now it's not even plugged in, but it's a good looking riser. If somebody wants to steal it, they have a hard time.
Speaking of where the rest of the amps are in the world, I'd imagine Dave Gilmour has them safely stored away! lol. Man was fond of these back in the day according to every gear interview I've ever read.
FYI, just because a guitar amplifier control says "Gain" it doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually controlling the gain of the amplifier circuit. More often than not it's only controlling the output level/volume of an amplifier stage. When an amplifier has an actual gain control it is typically a negative feedback control that changes the actual gain of the amplifier circuit. One of the ways that you can tell if the control is actually controlling the circuit gain is that gain controls are almost always noisy when you rotate the control. Whereas a clean volume/level control is nearly silent while it is being rotated. An actual gain control also affects the bandwidth of the circuit, so the tone can change as the control is rotated. Although with as much distortion as many guitar players use it may be difficult to notice the tonal change. The only actual feedback control that Hiwatt used was the "presense" control which affected the midrange tone. It actually affected the midrange gain.
@@xXVIIVVWTWVVIIVXx It's the amount of amplification that a gain stage has. A volume control does NOT increase the gain! It is only capable of REDUCING the level/volume of the signal. Whereas you can actually increase or decrease the amount of gain that an amplifier stage has by changing the amount of negative feedback in that amplifier stage.
@@xXVIIVVWTWVVIIVXx gain is a value, of how much you've increased the input signal, but only in the X axis of the wave ( X axis is amplitude while Y axis is frequency ), if you increase the gain beyond the working voltage the wave will start to clip ( giving you that crunch sound ), if you increase it even more the wave will look like vertical lines ( because the wave is clipped) and that will result to that distorted sound.. manipulating the gain in the amplifier happens in the emitter side of the transistor, if the resistance values there are tweaked that's how you increase/decrease the gain.. But I always think that the first stage of gain is the volume knob on your guitar, because you can manipulate the knob to get you between 2 channels (clean and crunch) if you know how, first is set your volume knob halfway between full and zero, now set amp gain where it almost starts to break up (border of clean and crunch), now if you crank your volume knob to 10 you get a crunch sound, roll back the volume to 5 or below you get a clean sound, a lot of pros do this, watch the end of 'tender surrender ' by Steve Vai, he manipulates the volume knob to give him different levels of gain..
Speaking of gain, I think Line 6 was the place that built stuff so that every knob was a gain control. Pretty sure I just heard that on the 5 Watt World vid Keith did recently.
@@pihermoso11 You still are NOT getting it. The volume/level control connected after a passive pickup on your guitar can only DECREASE the signal level that is already there! It does NOT have any gain! Once that guitar signal reaches the first fixed amplification stage, in most preamplifiers it boosts the signal voltage level, maybe 40 times in a tube preamp. The volume/level control that follows the 1st amplification stage can only DECREASE the amplitude of the already amplified signal. The control does NOT affect gain. It only DECREASES the signal level that is already there to some degree. Or to put it another way, a volume/level control is actually a LOSS control. It controls how much LOSS there is to the signal!!!
the polarity switch is for switching the virtual ground in the AC mains supply when 2 wire cords were common. if it had been updated to a 3 wire it is not necessary. Nothing to do with audio signal polarity.
@@sski Yes, many years ago (early to mid 80s), I purchased a 1970s Sound City 50 Watt Head (can't remember exact model or year) from a friend for $100.00 USD. At one time pulled the chassis out of head-shell, only to find she was finalized and passed Q.C. on my birthday! I should have kept that amp! Story brought to you by a 100% Card Carrying P.F. Member, memory loss and all!
@@clemguitar63 Ah sweet! Owned two myself during the 80s (early to mid), a 50 and a 100 watt version. I kick myself now for letting them go. That's a great story about yours! Cheers, brother!
Dude your channel is criminally underrated. Great content and the way you structure your videos is great IMO, super educational but a digestible amount of time.
I love videos like this where kids are just discovering things we knew about back in the 60s. They talk like they know everything but get so much stuff wrong along the way.
Why do so many Boomers get off on being elitist and ageist? Don't get me wrong, I'm not anywhere near young myself, but I'm not enough of a fool to feel a smug sense of superiority to have lived before someone else. Instead of being a jerk, why not add something useful and informative?
Wow, that looks like it might weigh almost as much as an 70's Ampeg SVT. Hiwatts sound great, and that last tone demo you did, the third channel plus boost sounded so fat. It's a shame all that old stuff is so damn heavy.
The SVT are 90 lbs , V4B about 45 lbs SVT 300 watts both amps in one head, all tube . V4B 100 watts all tube , Both are not as Quiet as HIWATT when it was turned all the way up . The DI s are not quiet either there is a little noise going direct through the the amps XLR Direct out.
FYI, master volume turns down the signal BEFORE the power section, so you're still only getting preamp breakup. The only way to crank the power amp and lower the overall volume is with an attenuator. Most people hate vintage amps with master volume controls, because the amp isn't going to sound it's best unless the MV is turned all the way up. Also, you can skip the A/B switch if you want, and just jumper the two channels together with a patch cable.
Hitting it with boost really reminded me of my Fryette D120. I know Steve was inspired by Hiwatts when he started VHT(yes I know that’s a oversimplified history) but you can really hear the lineage between the amps here. Especially with the Fane speakers. Fanes > Celestions for heavy music.
Genuinely impressed by your content. I’m enjoying the way you handle things and can imagine you’d be a great guy to have a pint with and discuss music and guitars. Thanks for this.
10:54 I got a Sunn Coliseum Bass off a guy that the first owner converted into a 1x15 + 2 horn combo (with casters, mercifully). Sounds amazing, takes distortion like a champ, will basically never leave the corner of my room because of its weight.
Another great video, KDH. This amp is very cool and unique, and the way you had it set up sounds killer. I'm very impressed by the internal wiring as well.
You can hear why so many players of this era pulled out their PAFs and T Tops and put in a Super Distortion or a JB if they were wanting some dirty tones. Great video thanks!
..The place is really jumping to the Hiwatt amps 'Til a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps In the blackout they dance right into the aisle And as the doors fly open even the promoter smiles….. The Who / Long Live Rock
OMG dude! THAT is an awesome amp. One that I would love to have in my studio 100%. I would love to hear a bass through it as well. I can just imagine what that would sound like. Thanks for showing it off. That wiring is amazing. If you ever want to pass it on, let me know!
KDH I really respect you. I saw you first on a Star guitar programme and then on your Chappers vid. You are personable, respectful and have musical talent. Added to this your hard work investigating stuff and it adds up to.......success.
thanks for the awesome trip down memory lane. in the late 70s had to move some of these heavy amps and my back is out to this day! lol. Very loud though as you were saying. Have a great weekend and love your content.
They just don't make things that last the test of time, I remember Hiwatt, I play a Carvin Pro Bass 300 4x10's and a 15, I have to retire soon, it's on its last leg, since carvin no longer makes amps and parts are hard to come by, it has turned into a rather large paperweight. I've never played it past 4, because it's so dang loud. I'm new to your channel, and I've loved every video I've seen so far. Keep up the awesome work.
Oh c'mon man, you're trying to educate people who are complaining about the weight of the some of the highest quality hand-wired equipment ever made. Your info is far too advanced for the average disposable made in China amp user. Good try though 👍
@@deropol05 seething boomer detected, my marshall is twice the amp this grandpa guitar amp is and is only 20 watts And guess what? It's made in England Seethe
@@a-nus That Hiwatt would blow your Marshall out of the water. It’s a much louder amp. That’s why bands like the Who used them. And the Marshal 100 watt Super Lead and 4x12 cabs were made for Pete Townshend in the first place.
@@DavidRavenMoon I'll take a 20 watt amp that I can plug into a power section over a 100 watt 4/12 any day of the week, and if you say otherwise you're absolutely insane That hiwatt sounds like crap to me. Sorry, but it does And louder does not equal better, and even if it did wattage does not equal loudness The hiwatt is at best 50% louder than the 20 watt.
i have a dr201 1971 ? 4xkt88 hylight, harry joyce. member of the family since almost new apart from rumours the stranglers had used it briefly. you will never find a cleaner sounding, more powefull amp in this lifetime. i only have one sound city 4x12 (cousins !) i respect my neighbours too much to get it out often, but when i take the cover off, the lovely smell of the beast hits me, then gently comes the lovely warm hum and i'm in heaven.
The closest I can get to that Hiwatt sound is with my rackmount amp, Peavey Classic Stereo Tube Amp 50/50 into a sealed 2x10 and a sealed 1x15. Honestly, with the right preamp style pedal that old Peavy rack head imitates classic stuff quite well but no "Master Volume" knob to save my ears! It's the cabinet styles that are a harder match. The two Falcon 10's and the Eminence 15 seem to give me some versatility in tone shaping close to some old amps. My rig is a trip, the amp was likely made for keyboard line level stuff because the only volume knob for each channel is BEFORE the preamp stage, so I crank those to max and push it with an old but awesome Yamaha MV802 stereo line mixer. All this leads to patching three different stereo signals from my pedal board via DB25 to TRS cable, reverb, delay, and a side chained "synth" channel from a EHX Superego+ and mix them all before going to the amp. It sounds exotic when I can crank up the mixer past half. Master Volume, - what a concept, wish I had it on the Peavey. Long Live the Hiwatt- killer amp,
Great video. I had a couple friends in the late 80s, early 90s, who played in an L.A. thrash band and they both had Hiwatts. What happened was Hiwatt was trying to make a comeback so they reissued some of their old 100 Watt stacks. They didn't sell well so my friends were able to each buy a stack less than half off. As my drummer was also in the same band with these clowns I would often plug into one of their amps for band rehearsal, as they kept them in his home studio, rather than bring my heavy Boogie combo. I'd throw a fuzz box in front and it sounded workable. Not great, but workable. These days high gain amps with better features, not to mention lighter weight, are a dime a dozen.
You need to time travel back in time when big was better. I gigged a lot in the early and mid 80's. Everyone used or wanted big amps. My old band had two guitarists, one had an early full Carvin stack and the other had a full Marshall stack. Not to mention one guitarist had a rack of effects too. I played bass with a Sunn beta combo and lined out to a peavey power amp with 2x15 cabinet. We played bars, weddings and other types of small venues. House PA's didn't exist at all places and were usually underpowered, so everyone needed big amps. This amp would easily fit in back then. Amazing that we had the energy to play after setting up all that stuff.
For clarification, what most people call the effect of "gain" in a guitar amp, is actually clipping.or distortion. Overdrive occurs when the power amp is hit hard enough to cause power amp clipping which is the type of tone we all know from Classic Rock and is what you get when you crank a tube amp. Preamp distortion occurs in a "high gain" amp, with moderate amounts of clipping between stages to add harmonic complexity and is then run into a super clean, over built power amp
Well explained… I ran across one at a music festival in NZ. It had headroom to burn but most impressive was the low end freq response and the overall tightness of the sound. I was greatly impressed….
Should be a second E on the end of "obsolete" ;-) Oh, and there's no such thing as an obsolete Hiwatt, they sound absolutely fabulous. That Pedal Show briefly had two Hiwatt heads in their studio and, even without the Fanes they should have had, they sounded utterly epic...
Of course they're not obsolete. But they're not essential. Man, we now have tiny boxes that sound amazing, but they don't sound as good in comparison with real amps. Still, the average listener doesn't care. If I played live, I wouldn't use the biggest, heaviest amps. A combo with enough headroom works fine, if it's miked up.
Probably a better choice of word would have been "redundant". I agree, not obsolete. Don't know that I'd wanna move that thing around though. Be fun to have in the studio though!
@leonkennedy74 sound engineers have killed live music. Sod the lot of 'em and their horrid sounding PAs. Let's just have valve amps on stage absolutely cranked until they sizzle and smoke... silent stages and music of any kind are mutually incompatible. But then, I came to rock music from the world of pipe organs, where moving air is the entire basis on which sound is produced... a large organ can shift 100,000 cubic feet of air a minute (47 cubic metres per second!), while spanning frequencies from 16Hz up to so many kHz as to trouble dogs and bats... I've heard bands play properly loud live, and only with big speaker cabs and loud amps can they come close to the sheer vitality and BIGNESS of a large pipe organ... I've heard it done the Kemper-straight-into-PA way too, and honestly, it sounds like a live drummer playing along to a backing track, there is zero sense of the instrumentalists being present in the room. It's utterly sterile. Not only is it not rock'n'roll (let alone metal), it plain ain't music, full stop.
When I was looking at another video, the thumbnail for this video was in my side view, and for a second I thought it said “1974 Hiwatt - An Absolute Hammer” which would have still been an accurate title, haha
I have a 1973 Traynor YRM-1 that is also shockingly silent compared to modern amps A recap on your Hiwatt might get rid of that tiny little bit of buzz with the volume cranked. The polarity switch should probably be removed btw.
I built a HiTone 50 watt kit years ago. Fujian Cedar Cab. 4 x Jensen 12” lightweight neodymium speakers. Its unreal. Yes, dead quiet. Plug a ToneKing Ironman II attenuator between the amp and cab and you enter a beautiful universe. I’ve found I prefer to drive the amp more and the pre-amp less. This breakup suits my needs.
My early gigs in '76 I played with a non-preamp volume amp...set very loud! Sometimes with the amp turned fully around to face the back wall. Ah, memories.
Check out Reeves Amplification as he is making new Amos based on the original Hiwatts. He also is selling replacement "purple back" speakers. The sample videos on his site are out of this world good with the tone he is getting with these amps!
A few technical inaccuracies in here. The greatest one is that a master volume does not give access to power amp crunch, not even if it is a post phase inverter master volume or PPIMV (which only allows the phase inverter tube to potentially overdrive, which is admittedly a part of the power amp, but not a power tube). It is as much preamp distortion as in 'modern amps'. Also even though guitarists say so, turning a clean amp's overall volume up until break-up does not deliver pure power amp distortion, but most commonly a mix of the preamp AND the power amp being overdriven. This is exactly what makes the signature sound of non-MV Marshalls and all those oldschool Rock bands.
Steven Fryette has talked about loving Hiwatts and their tone influenced the original VHTs(now Fryette). For this reason, I must bow to Hiwatt. If you've never played a Fryette, you're missing out. I'm settling for a Mesa at the moment because I can't find/afford the Fryette I want.
That is one killer amp. Awesome video man. Certainly overkill for me. Yet I admit the name Hiwatt holds a special place in my heart due to Gilmour. I know thats so silly. However it is he and my son that sonically convinced me, a then 27 year vet drummer, to instead of returning to kit right away, I'd pick up a guitar in the first place. Great video here KDH!!
I definitely wouldn't tour with one of these lol, but I've seen amps like them in studios and music schools as like in house amps for productions. The big Christmas performance for the kids, etc. They're awesome for recording and if you only have to move it once in a while, it's not a bad purchase at all.
I had one of these in the late 80s. You didn't mention the problem of just moving it around in a vehicle. Yea, it is insanely heavy but it also won't fit in most passenger cars. I had to use a truck or a van. Then, imagine the problem of going to a gig and it starts to pour rain and your miserable amp is uncovered in the back of a truck. There is no place to move it because you are by yourself so you try to find an overpass or something.
Big, heavy, loud, and obsolete?
Yes, please.
Also, I love the way it sounds
Word.
Sounds killer with the Tube Screamer in front of it!
Somewhere back in the 1970s, my brother took his summer job money and bought a brand new Hiwatt 100 watt stack. Purchased from a now-defunct Toronto music store, it was, in fact, the very first one they uncrated from England. This particular store had a British tech who'd do a mod to the brilliant channel before they even got the Hiwatts on the sales floor! This mod made the brilliant channel the most high gain channel of any amp I've encountered to this very day. The thing was an absolute MONSTER! Your observation about the Fane speakers is so true....and nobody else seems to have made note of that. SO DIFFERENT from the sound of Celestians. A band mate of mine used to play a big ol' Ampeg head through a Hiwatt cab - it had a noticeably "Hiwatt" sound to it.
Awesome. I rented a 100 stack for a month from a defunct Thornhill (Toronto area) music store back around those mid 70's. Loved that thing. That was after I heard a guy at a party making a Hiwatt 100 head sing all night through a Traynor Bass Reflex 15" Cab + horn. One of the best rigs I ever heard. The guy whose rig it was, told me a couple of years ago that he regrets letting it go.
@@slowfinger2 OK....you'll think I'm making this up but I'm not. My big brother was renting rehearsal space with his drummer friend. They weren't a band, in that they were out playing gigs - but they were writing songs and just generally having fun at high volumes. Down the hall, an early Rush also rented a space. Lifeson tried out my brother's Hiwatt one night and went out and bought one for himself! Alex didn't stick with the brand but that's a true story.
Cool story. I just sold my Custom 50 half stack. While I owned it I removed the 'canadian mod'. Didn't really care for it and ended up reverting the preamp back to factory spec.
What I love about your demo videos is while you’re playing, you play riffs that’ll let the notes breathe and you don’t play to show off your skill but to highlight the gear.
His finger tremolo is nice too.
Ya and it’s in one take,,, WHAT!!?? Lol
I agree. He plays to demo the gear and not show off, but what's really cool about him is his style. Bluesy-Rock without wanking all over the neck doing "tapping", which IMO is overplayed and boring af.
Some of the cleanest wiring ever produced. Nice amp!
Minor correction- Matt Pike with Sleep still tours with a massive wall of amps. During his Rig Rundown, the idling noise alone was massive.
“Watt?”, get it?
This brand is the ultimate clean amp. They take effects really well.
Well the Roland JC120 is the ultimate clean, but it is a good clean.
I’ve noticed the cleaner things are (amp, pickups, etc) the better your high gain sounds. I used to try to buy the highest output pickups and filthiest amp I could find. They sound good but get muddy when pushed. I’ve found PAF’s (7-8k) and a very clean sounding amp with a high gain dirt box is the way to go. Kinda counterintuitive, but works great.
@@Justafeller nah man, roland jazz chorus sounds Meh. Deluxe reverb or princeton reverb.
@@jameshickson8174 Princeton or Deluxe for cleans? Twin Reverb and Vibrolux are my picks.
@@Justafeller solid state crap
Worst clean amp i ever played
Even with casters lugging that amp on gravel must have quite tough, just for that you earn a thumbs up. A very informative video. Thank you.
his mums back is shot 😁
The wiring is is a true work of art... 👏 👏 👏
Good thing in heavy combos and cabinets is that they are really stable. I have a diy 4x12 cab made from birch plywood and I used it as a bottom cabinet. Now it's not even plugged in, but it's a good looking riser. If somebody wants to steal it, they have a hard time.
i just learned more about amps in 12 min than i have in my whole life! master volume, thank you! gain and boost, thanks again!!
Speaking of where the rest of the amps are in the world, I'd imagine Dave Gilmour has them safely stored away! lol. Man was fond of these back in the day according to every gear interview I've ever read.
Pete Townshend may disagree with you.
@@northernthrifter8817 True!
Lifeson had them as well.
& if you're wondering where many, many Vox AC30s went, Brian May bought as many as he could lay hands on.
Robert fripp had a few as well
FYI, just because a guitar amplifier control says "Gain" it doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually controlling the gain of the amplifier circuit. More often than not it's only controlling the output level/volume of an amplifier stage. When an amplifier has an actual gain control it is typically a negative feedback control that changes the actual gain of the amplifier circuit. One of the ways that you can tell if the control is actually controlling the circuit gain is that gain controls are almost always noisy when you rotate the control. Whereas a clean volume/level control is nearly silent while it is being rotated. An actual gain control also affects the bandwidth of the circuit, so the tone can change as the control is rotated. Although with as much distortion as many guitar players use it may be difficult to notice the tonal change. The only actual feedback control that Hiwatt used was the "presense" control which affected the midrange tone. It actually affected the midrange gain.
Uh... What do you think gain is?
@@xXVIIVVWTWVVIIVXx It's the amount of amplification that a gain stage has. A volume control does NOT increase the gain! It is only capable of REDUCING the level/volume of the signal. Whereas you can actually increase or decrease the amount of gain that an amplifier stage has by changing the amount of negative feedback in that amplifier stage.
@@xXVIIVVWTWVVIIVXx gain is a value, of how much you've increased the input signal, but only in the X axis of the wave ( X axis is amplitude while Y axis is frequency ), if you increase the gain beyond the working voltage the wave will start to clip ( giving you that crunch sound ), if you increase it even more the wave will look like vertical lines ( because the wave is clipped) and that will result to that distorted sound.. manipulating the gain in the amplifier happens in the emitter side of the transistor, if the resistance values there are tweaked that's how you increase/decrease the gain..
But I always think that the first stage of gain is the volume knob on your guitar, because you can manipulate the knob to get you between 2 channels (clean and crunch) if you know how, first is set your volume knob halfway between full and zero, now set amp gain where it almost starts to break up (border of clean and crunch), now if you crank your volume knob to 10 you get a crunch sound, roll back the volume to 5 or below you get a clean sound, a lot of pros do this, watch the end of 'tender surrender ' by Steve Vai, he manipulates the volume knob to give him different levels of gain..
Speaking of gain, I think Line 6 was the place that built stuff so that every knob was a gain control. Pretty sure I just heard that on the 5 Watt World vid Keith did recently.
@@pihermoso11 You still are NOT getting it. The volume/level control connected after a passive pickup on your guitar can only DECREASE the signal level that is already there! It does NOT have any gain! Once that guitar signal reaches the first fixed amplification stage, in most preamplifiers it boosts the signal voltage level, maybe 40 times in a tube preamp. The volume/level control that follows the 1st amplification stage can only DECREASE the amplitude of the already amplified signal. The control does NOT affect gain. It only DECREASES the signal level that is already there to some degree. Or to put it another way, a volume/level control is actually a LOSS control. It controls how much LOSS there is to the signal!!!
That crunch sounds really good ! What a cool sounding amp
Really a fantastic video. Also, I couldn't help but be amused watching you play 70's classic rock riffs thru an ancient amp with a space-age Ormsby.
Loving the puke stain down the front from someone trying to carry it up the stairs to the rehearsal above the pub.
Being in the desert I get to see bands with Hiwatt on stage and the sound is sweetly different 🤘🏻🌵🍺
the polarity switch is for switching the virtual ground in the AC mains supply when 2 wire cords were common. if it had been updated to a 3 wire it is not necessary. Nothing to do with audio signal polarity.
Nothing beats an amp when it's seriously pushing air!
Remember Sound City amps? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
@@sski Yes, many years ago (early to mid 80s), I purchased a 1970s Sound City 50 Watt Head (can't remember exact model or year) from a friend for $100.00 USD.
At one time pulled the chassis out of head-shell, only to find she was finalized and passed Q.C. on my birthday! I should have kept that amp!
Story brought to you by a 100% Card Carrying P.F. Member, memory loss and all!
@@clemguitar63 Ah sweet! Owned two myself during the 80s (early to mid), a 50 and a 100 watt version. I kick myself now for letting them go. That's a great story about yours! Cheers, brother!
Geez man, you must have some pretty tolerant neighbors.
Loadbox?
Or deaf
@@LIFEAFTEREVERYTHING dont wear out the word by using it wrong idiot
I don't, but I also live in the country in Pennsyltucky PA and with no noise ordinance, I don't care!
@@KelticKabukiGirl sweet! I'm jealous. I've always wanted to set up a band outside and make a record. Pensultucky sounds like a great spot for that!
Thanks for this man. I recently moved abroad and your video uploads just feel like home.
Dude your channel is criminally underrated. Great content and the way you structure your videos is great IMO, super educational but a digestible amount of time.
I love videos like this where kids are just discovering things we knew about back in the 60s.
They talk like they know everything but get so much stuff wrong along the way.
Why do so many Boomers get off on being elitist and ageist?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anywhere near young myself, but I'm not enough of a fool to feel a smug sense of superiority to have lived before someone else. Instead of being a jerk, why not add something useful and informative?
Wow, that looks like it might weigh almost as much as an 70's Ampeg SVT. Hiwatts sound great, and that last tone demo you did, the third channel plus boost sounded so fat. It's a shame all that old stuff is so damn heavy.
Well don't move it then. Use it as a recording amp.
@@EbonyPope Oh FFS. Duh.
@@aprilkurtz1589 Well you don't have to move it if it's always at the same spot. ;)
@@EbonyPope Very true. When I was younger that's all we had was extremely heavy gear and I for one am thankful everything is lighter now.
The SVT are 90 lbs , V4B about 45 lbs
SVT 300 watts both amps in one head,
all tube .
V4B 100 watts all tube ,
Both are not as Quiet as HIWATT when it was turned all the way up .
The DI s are not quiet either there is a little noise going direct through the the amps XLR Direct out.
HIWATT are still some of the most road rugged and serviceable amps.
Glad you gave some love to Hiwatt. Wish they were better know and more available.
i like to see how this channel is upscaling in quality content. Keep it up!
FYI, master volume turns down the signal BEFORE the power section, so you're still only getting preamp breakup. The only way to crank the power amp and lower the overall volume is with an attenuator. Most people hate vintage amps with master volume controls, because the amp isn't going to sound it's best unless the MV is turned all the way up.
Also, you can skip the A/B switch if you want, and just jumper the two channels together with a patch cable.
Hitting it with boost really reminded me of my Fryette D120. I know Steve was inspired by Hiwatts when he started VHT(yes I know that’s a oversimplified history) but you can really hear the lineage between the amps here.
Especially with the Fane speakers. Fanes > Celestions for heavy music.
Genuinely impressed by your content. I’m enjoying the way you handle things and can imagine you’d be a great guy to have a pint with and discuss music and guitars. Thanks for this.
I’d love to see a video on a vintage high powered solid state amp!!
10:54 I got a Sunn Coliseum Bass off a guy that the first owner converted into a 1x15 + 2 horn combo (with casters, mercifully). Sounds amazing, takes distortion like a champ, will basically never leave the corner of my room because of its weight.
Good job with the video. Not an amp we see every day for sure
Saves time on home improvement projects. Very handy for peeling paint off the walls.
4x12 combos are rare beasts indeed. Fender made one called the quad reverb. Certainly not something an individual would lug around.
What a beast of an amp! Dan Hawkins is the man. Made me reeeaally want a 1987x
I think the video he did with Marshall made everyone want a 1987x !
Another great video, KDH. This amp is very cool and unique, and the way you had it set up sounds killer. I'm very impressed by the internal wiring as well.
You can hear why so many players of this era pulled out their PAFs and T Tops and put in a Super Distortion or a JB if they were wanting some dirty tones. Great video thanks!
Dude I own the Reeves Custom Jimmy 100 it's the equivalent to the Hiwatt and I absolutely love it.... I was a high gain amp guy but now I use pedals.
..The place is really jumping to the Hiwatt amps
'Til a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps
In the blackout they dance right into the aisle
And as the doors fly open even the promoter smiles…..
The Who / Long Live Rock
OMG dude! THAT is an awesome amp. One that I would love to have in my studio 100%. I would love to hear a bass through it as well. I can just imagine what that would sound like. Thanks for showing it off. That wiring is amazing. If you ever want to pass it on, let me know!
KDH I really respect you. I saw you first on a Star guitar programme and then on your Chappers vid. You are personable, respectful and have musical talent. Added to this your hard work investigating stuff and it adds up to.......success.
thanks for the awesome trip down memory lane. in the late 70s had to move some of these heavy amps and my back is out to this day! lol. Very loud though as you were saying. Have a great weekend and love your content.
First time I’ve ever heard a RUclipsr play a Tora Tora riff 🤘🏼Good on ya 👍
Dude, that was a very quirky, interesting video. Really enjoying the channel!
They just don't make things that last the test of time, I remember Hiwatt, I play a Carvin Pro Bass 300 4x10's and a 15, I have to retire soon, it's on its last leg, since carvin no longer makes amps and parts are hard to come by, it has turned into a rather large paperweight. I've never played it past 4, because it's so dang loud.
I'm new to your channel, and I've loved every video I've seen so far. Keep up the awesome work.
No. You miss something. The high/bright input was for guitar. The low for bass and keyboards.
It was a instrument amplifier.
Oh c'mon man, you're trying to educate people who are complaining about the weight of the some of the highest quality hand-wired equipment ever made. Your info is far too advanced for the average disposable made in China amp user. Good try though 👍
@@deropol05 seething boomer detected, my marshall is twice the amp this grandpa guitar amp is and is only 20 watts
And guess what?
It's made in England
Seethe
Same with Marshall amps
@@a-nus That Hiwatt would blow your Marshall out of the water. It’s a much louder amp. That’s why bands like the Who used them. And the Marshal 100 watt Super Lead and 4x12 cabs were made for Pete Townshend in the first place.
@@DavidRavenMoon I'll take a 20 watt amp that I can plug into a power section over a 100 watt 4/12 any day of the week, and if you say otherwise you're absolutely insane
That hiwatt sounds like crap to me. Sorry, but it does
And louder does not equal better, and even if it did wattage does not equal loudness
The hiwatt is at best 50% louder than the 20 watt.
Love the brutal sound with a tube screamer ! ♥
This was a great video. It really sounded like Townshend. It was a bummer when Pete switched to Mesa Boogie amps with those awful EV speakers.
Great video..would love to see more about hiwatt amps. Thank you. 2thumbs up.
i have a dr201 1971 ? 4xkt88 hylight, harry joyce. member of the family since almost new apart from rumours the stranglers had used it briefly. you will never find a cleaner sounding, more powefull amp in this lifetime. i only have one sound city 4x12 (cousins !) i respect my neighbours too much to get it out often, but when i take the cover off, the lovely smell of the beast hits me, then gently comes the lovely warm hum and i'm in heaven.
this is the best sounding amp ive EVER heard, good lord…
Sounds great! Especially with the boost
The closest I can get to that Hiwatt sound is with my rackmount amp, Peavey Classic Stereo Tube Amp 50/50 into a sealed 2x10 and a sealed 1x15. Honestly, with the right preamp style pedal that old Peavy rack head imitates classic stuff quite well but no "Master Volume" knob to save my ears! It's the cabinet styles that are a harder match. The two Falcon 10's and the Eminence 15 seem to give me some versatility in tone shaping close to some old amps. My rig is a trip, the amp was likely made for keyboard line level stuff because the only volume knob for each channel is BEFORE the preamp stage, so I crank those to max and push it with an old but awesome Yamaha MV802 stereo line mixer. All this leads to patching three different stereo signals from my pedal board via DB25 to TRS cable, reverb, delay, and a side chained "synth" channel from a EHX Superego+ and mix them all before going to the amp. It sounds exotic when I can crank up the mixer past half. Master Volume, - what a concept, wish I had it on the Peavey. Long Live the Hiwatt- killer amp,
Great video. I had a couple friends in the late 80s, early 90s, who played in an L.A. thrash band and they both had Hiwatts. What happened was Hiwatt was trying to make a comeback so they reissued some of their old 100 Watt stacks. They didn't sell well so my friends were able to each buy a stack less than half off. As my drummer was also in the same band with these clowns I would often plug into one of their amps for band rehearsal, as they kept them in his home studio, rather than bring my heavy Boogie combo. I'd throw a fuzz box in front and it sounded workable. Not great, but workable. These days high gain amps with better features, not to mention lighter weight, are a dime a dozen.
You need to time travel back in time when big was better. I gigged a lot in the early and mid 80's. Everyone used or wanted big amps. My old band had two guitarists, one had an early full Carvin stack and the other had a full Marshall stack. Not to mention one guitarist had a rack of effects too. I played bass with a Sunn beta combo and lined out to a peavey power amp with 2x15 cabinet. We played bars, weddings and other types of small venues. House PA's didn't exist at all places and were usually underpowered, so everyone needed big amps. This amp would easily fit in back then. Amazing that we had the energy to play after setting up all that stuff.
That’s just awesome.
Thanks for sharing this.
Wow - I'd love to have one of these! I used a 200 watt valve amp (4 x KT88) in the 1970s and always used an external preamp (Echolette NG51)!
I love the way John Wetton used these amps back in 1974. They sound beastly!
Man that sounds PERFECT.
Love those quality built tube amps.
Kind of a nice change too listen from the high gain screech overload thanks for the demo
Truly a vintage sounding amp. Really killer.
Lol. Great video! I have a '75 Quad reverb, 4x12 combo. When he said "it's heavy" I feel that pain. Lol
For clarification, what most people call the effect of "gain" in a guitar amp, is actually clipping.or distortion. Overdrive occurs when the power amp is hit hard enough to cause power amp clipping which is the type of tone we all know from Classic Rock and is what you get when you crank a tube amp. Preamp distortion occurs in a "high gain" amp, with moderate amounts of clipping between stages to add harmonic complexity and is then run into a super clean, over built power amp
Well explained… I ran across one at a music festival in NZ. It had headroom to burn but most impressive was the low end freq response and the overall tightness of the sound. I was greatly impressed….
The guitarist from the Kiwi post rock band Jakob uses two 100w Hiwatt heads in stereo with matching cabs. Absolutely brutal. So much volume.
Great informative Presentation.
Great breakdown of tube amps.
It sounds big... real big.
that sound, without the boost, is amazing
wow i literally was just wondering yesterday why there is 2 volume knobs and looked up what the actual difference is, good timing.
Yeah, that stumped me too (way back when), but we didn't have the luxury of the internet to find out the answer.
Sounds Awesome!
Should be a second E on the end of "obsolete" ;-)
Oh, and there's no such thing as an obsolete Hiwatt, they sound absolutely fabulous. That Pedal Show briefly had two Hiwatt heads in their studio and, even without the Fanes they should have had, they sounded utterly epic...
Of course they're not obsolete. But they're not essential. Man, we now have tiny boxes that sound amazing, but they don't sound as good in comparison with real amps. Still, the average listener doesn't care. If I played live, I wouldn't use the biggest, heaviest amps. A combo with enough headroom works fine, if it's miked up.
@@nedim_guitar there's still no substitute for lots of moving air... which is why a lot of stoner bands still play big all-valve rigs live.
Probably a better choice of word would have been "redundant".
I agree, not obsolete. Don't know that I'd wanna move that thing around though. Be fun to have in the studio though!
@leonkennedy74 sound engineers have killed live music. Sod the lot of 'em and their horrid sounding PAs. Let's just have valve amps on stage absolutely cranked until they sizzle and smoke... silent stages and music of any kind are mutually incompatible. But then, I came to rock music from the world of pipe organs, where moving air is the entire basis on which sound is produced... a large organ can shift 100,000 cubic feet of air a minute (47 cubic metres per second!), while spanning frequencies from 16Hz up to so many kHz as to trouble dogs and bats... I've heard bands play properly loud live, and only with big speaker cabs and loud amps can they come close to the sheer vitality and BIGNESS of a large pipe organ... I've heard it done the Kemper-straight-into-PA way too, and honestly, it sounds like a live drummer playing along to a backing track, there is zero sense of the instrumentalists being present in the room. It's utterly sterile. Not only is it not rock'n'roll (let alone metal), it plain ain't music, full stop.
@leonkennedy74 I can concur.
Sounds amazing
it sounds gorgeous
A thing of beauty.
When I was looking at another video, the thumbnail for this video was in my side view, and for a second I thought it said “1974 Hiwatt - An Absolute Hammer” which would have still been an accurate title, haha
I have a 1973 Traynor YRM-1 that is also shockingly silent compared to modern amps
A recap on your Hiwatt might get rid of that tiny little bit of buzz with the volume cranked.
The polarity switch should probably be removed btw.
I built a HiTone 50 watt kit years ago. Fujian Cedar Cab. 4 x Jensen 12” lightweight neodymium speakers. Its unreal. Yes, dead quiet.
Plug a ToneKing Ironman II attenuator between the amp and cab and you enter a beautiful universe.
I’ve found I prefer to drive the amp more and the pre-amp less. This breakup suits my needs.
Great shirt 😎 I also did not realize you were Superman, if you can carry that amp. Also, great mini-documentary of this amp. 😁 Cheers!
So awesome!
Was that a little of Tora Tora I heard? That brings back some memories.
I love these old "built to last" 70's amps
My early gigs in '76 I played with a non-preamp volume amp...set very loud! Sometimes with the amp turned fully around to face the back wall. Ah, memories.
Check out Reeves Amplification as he is making new Amos based on the original Hiwatts. He also is selling replacement "purple back" speakers. The sample videos on his site are out of this world good with the tone he is getting with these amps!
A few technical inaccuracies in here. The greatest one is that a master volume does not give access to power amp crunch, not even if it is a post phase inverter master volume or PPIMV (which only allows the phase inverter tube to potentially overdrive, which is admittedly a part of the power amp, but not a power tube). It is as much preamp distortion as in 'modern amps'. Also even though guitarists say so, turning a clean amp's overall volume up until break-up does not deliver pure power amp distortion, but most commonly a mix of the preamp AND the power amp being overdriven. This is exactly what makes the signature sound of non-MV Marshalls and all those oldschool Rock bands.
Love the amp! Despite the massive size (and sound!), would really love to have one.
That's a great crunch sound!
That was an incredibly good sounding amp.
Exodus used Hiwatt amps boosted with Boss SD-1s on Bonded By Blood.
Steven Fryette has talked about loving Hiwatts and their tone influenced the original VHTs(now Fryette). For this reason, I must bow to Hiwatt. If you've never played a Fryette, you're missing out. I'm settling for a Mesa at the moment because I can't find/afford the Fryette I want.
Finally a tone I like on this channel 😈
That is one killer amp. Awesome video man. Certainly overkill for me. Yet I admit the name Hiwatt holds a special place in my heart due to Gilmour. I know thats so silly. However it is he and my son that sonically convinced me, a then 27 year vet drummer, to instead of returning to kit right away, I'd pick up a guitar in the first place. Great video here KDH!!
i m a bass player, but the sweetest guitar sound i ve heard came 1st from a fender twin reverb, and 2nd from a vox ac130
Great video
That Hiwatt sounds great !
wow man thx for the vid, my band mates dad had one of these's laying around the studio, we loved fucking with it.
My God. It's beautiful!
"And that is why you are never going to see one of the big heavy Hiwatt's ever again" (walks out to concert) "Hey, look, there's one right now"
i picked up a '75 504 head and the cab last year and now i need not anything else ever.
I definitely wouldn't tour with one of these lol, but I've seen amps like them in studios and music schools as like in house amps for productions. The big Christmas performance for the kids, etc. They're awesome for recording and if you only have to move it once in a while, it's not a bad purchase at all.
I had one of these in the late 80s. You didn't mention the problem of just moving it around in a vehicle. Yea, it is insanely heavy but it also won't fit in most passenger cars. I had to use a truck or a van. Then, imagine the problem of going to a gig and it starts to pour rain and your miserable amp is uncovered in the back of a truck. There is no place to move it because you are by yourself so you try to find an overpass or something.