HIWATT: Dave Reeves

[|=>SonicVision<=|]

HIWATT was founded by Dave Reeves. Somebody was wondering what the
"DR" in the DR series stood for. I'm guessing it's Dave Reeves
initials. Some of the best amps ever made.

SonicVision

"The artist must yield himself to his own inspiration,
and if he has a true talent, no one knows and feels better
than he what suits him." - Giuseppe Verdi

[jjt]

Yes, the DR stood for Dave Reeves.

Mil-spec wiring, real KT tubes (alot of
the DR heads that came to the USA had
*REAL* KT77 and KT88 tubes), Partridge
transformers (Orange too used them) and
good speakers (Fanes).

Loud?

Here is a scan of the DR400. I also have
the schematic, if anyone has one (hahaha)
and needs repair help..

Partridge, I believe, still makes transformers
and with the correct ##, will build anything...

Enjoy..anyone want more?

jjt

[Xavier van Unen]

>HIWATT was founded by Dave Reeves. Somebody was wondering what the
>"DR" in the DR series stood for. I'm guessing it's Dave Reeves
>initials. Some of the best amps ever made.

That's right. There are ace when it comes to repairs. You don't need a
schematic.
Everything is wired beautifully. Way to go.
Xavier.

[steve]

Hi,

I'm the original poster of this thread. Did Dave Reeves make some bad
Hi-Watts at the end of his time with Hi-Watt. Again, the amp I was looking
at is a DR-105 Custom 100 with two inputs. I don't know if it used a
printed circuit board because I couldn't really see inside the head. The
tubes did look like they were mounted into a metal base.

Thanks

Steve

Xavier van Unen wrote in message <7pui50$2au8m$1...@reader2.wxs.nl>...

[|=>SonicVision<=|]

Hi,

I'm still trying to find out more about HIWATT myself. I know that
early on Dave Reeves hired Harry Joyce who was responsible for the
great mil spec wiring. Apparently Dave died, and the company has
changed hands several times since. I don't know what years were the
golden years for the classic HIWATTs. I'm guessing just a few years in
the early and mid 70's. I'm wondering if Tim Tube knows some of the
details? I don't know anything about the amp you listed. But make sure
to try it out because some of the PC based amps sound great. Tim has
mentioned that some are not well built though.

Here's a HIWATT website:
http://members.tripod.com/~dcsbulldog/index.html

It's a good place to start. They have some info, but it never seems to
be updated or maintained.

Good Luck, post what you find out.

SonicVision

[Bcoolstuff]

<< I don't know what years were the
golden years for the classic HIWATTs. I'm guessing just a few years in
the early and mid 70's >>

Contrary to popular opinion, Hiwatt didn't build just one or two good amps.
True, the models most commonly associated with the Hiwatt nameplate were the
DR series heads of the 1970s, but there were others built before, during and
after this period that were good and (sometimes fantastic) units. Dave Reeves
died in '81. The period that immediately followed (up til 1983) is referred to
as the Biacrown era, since that's what the manufacturing company was named, as
opposed to Hylight Electronics. These amps were basically the same circuit
designs (and model #s) as the Hylight models, but more gain was added to make
them more appealing to the mainstream. Marshall had just issued the JCM 800
series, and an effort was being made to keep in step with the times. To
simplify production, Hiwatt becan using printed circuit boards during this
period (much to Harry Joyce's dismay). These are still wonderful amps, and the
PCBs are of very high quality. All tubes were chassis -mounted, and there was
still a pretty fair amount of mil-spec hand wiring present.

Following this period was the "Sterling era", (around 1984-ish) where another
company was licensed to produce and distribute Hiwatts. This is when the
PCB-mounted tubes (and reliability problems) began. While not bad amplifiers,
these models were not as indestuctible as the Hylight and Biacrown amps. The
classic Hiwatt sound was gone, and was replaced my a more mainstream rock
sound. There were some jewels, though-the CS-30 head and combo, which was
modeled after a very limited productin model of the 1970s (SA112/30) was issued
and is a killer amp, with a very un-Hiwattish "brown" cranked-Plexi sound. This
one was also a mix of PCB, & mil-spec, with chassis-mounted tubes. The Lead 20
head/combo was really cool as well, but the tubes were mounted on the
PCB-exercise great care when retubing these amps.

The late 80s and beyond featured more ownership changes, and a run of really
bad amps-the dreaded 2000-Series. Characterized by their cheesy, semi gloss
black covering, (think 1970s car dashboard) these amps are the reason for the
permanent tainting of the Hiwatt badge. Avoid at all costs, unless you're a
masochist.

Fernandes guitars took over US distribution around '94 (?), and set about
resurrecting the DR-series amps, which were built by Audio Bros. in the UK. At
the same time, AB was producing their own Hiwatt designs for distribution in
the UK and elswhere. This resulted in much confusion over who owned what. Will
the real Hiwatt please stand up? Not to be overshadowed, Fernandes launched the
DC40 Bulldog, a 40-watt channel switching combo, designed by Tom Crocker in
1997. A really good amp, the DC40 featured classic Hiwatt clean with mondo gain
available at the flick of a footswitch.

Hope this helps-and do visit
<< http://members.tripod.com/~dcsbulldog/index.html
>>
Read thoroughly-these guys were there!

Billy

[|=>SonicVision<=|]

Thanks for the info Billy!

I own one of the Sterling Imports Ltd. CS-30 112-R's made in 1983.
It's probably the best EL-84 based amp that I've ever heard. I love
it. I'd like to get one of the DR-504's and would like to know which
years to watch for. Hopefully when the new website is up
(www.hiwattstory.com) they will list some info on dating HIWATT's.

Do you know if the CS-30's are Class A like the SA112/30's were?
I'd also like to find a copy of the schematic and layout. Do you
happen to know the preamp tube functions from left to right for this
amp? I don't know if the FX loop is tube driven/return and if it uses
a 12AT7/ECC81 PI tube etc. like the other designs, and which position
is which.

The Audio Bros. era stuff looks like it was a return to top-notch
construction.

Thanks again for the info.

SonicVision