Question: HiWatt
MAurelius9
Hello-
Did HiWatt create a 100W head model in the 60's and 70's called an AP100?
I have only heard of the DR103. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Please post here, or e-mail: MAure...@AOL.com
John McNairn
maure...@aol.com (MAurelius9) wrote:
>Hello-
>Did HiWatt create a 100W head model in the 60's and 70's called an AP100?
>I have only heard of the DR103. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I've only heard of the DR101,DR102 and the DR103 100W head, but if its
a HIWATT you can guarantee on on good sound. I am a proud owner of two
HiWatt 200W heads, one with 6xEL34s and one with 4xKT88s.
Regards,
John
Buzco
but if its a HIWATT you can guarantee on on good sound.
After Dave Reeves (the founder of HiWatt) died, th company went thru a lot
of transitions..
They continued to make a few original models for a year or so.
Then the right to the name was sold H. Saito, the owner of Fernandes
Guitars of Japan.
During that period there wer HiWatt made in Japan, Signapore, by Moog in
Buffalo, NY.
They had incorporated channle switching and master volumes and other crap
into a superb design Dave Reeves and Rob Joyce had perfected in the
sixties and early seventies. Joyce is making exact replicas of the
original HiWatts in England under the names of BullDog and Joyce.. They
can't be legally imported into the US though as Saito/Fernandes still owns
the name HiWatt in the US.
Fernandes to their credit has gone back to Britain to reissue the
original; HiWatts, but they are not made by the people who made the
HiWatts under Reeves & Joyce. Hope this clarifies some info for you.
buzco
D.Coke
This was an "all pupose" amp, like all Hiwatts, that worked good
with Bass & Guitar. I'll check my files, and get back to you.
Yup, those 60's/70's Hiwatts were Great amps...you can still
buy a old 100 watt head (INSIST in toggle switches, IF it has
lighted rockers, AVOID THEM!) for far less then the reissue
units..although the RI are VERY GOOD.
Ask Pete (loudly) what ear he's deaf in...you'll find it's the one
that always faced (no pun) his Hiwatts whenever the Who took the stage.
British bands in the 60's/70's LOVED these clean sounding LOUD amps,
Pink Floyd still uses them. I own a super-rare 400 watt Hiwatt that uses
6 (or eight, I haven't needed to open it) GEC KT88s. Makes an SVT, new
or old, and that Peavey 'Classic400' sound solid-state (yes, the Peavey is
a hybrid). I put it on top of a 60's Hiwatt 4-12, that is loaded with (again,
rare) Celestion "Power-Cell" speakers...and the cabinet handles the power
no problem.
I can move walls with this monster......
Liam Davis
Buzco wrote:
>
> but if its a HIWATT you can guarantee on on good sound.
> Not always:
>
> After Dave Reeves (the founder of HiWatt) died, th company went thru a lot
> of transitions..
> They continued to make a few original models for a year or so.
> Then the right to the name was sold H. Saito, the owner of Fernandes
> Guitars of Japan.
>
> During that period there wer HiWatt made in Japan, Signapore, by Moog in
> Buffalo, NY.
>
> They had incorporated channle switching and master volumes and other crap
> into a superb design Dave Reeves and Rob Joyce had perfected in the
> sixties and early seventies. Joyce is making exact replicas of the
> original HiWatts in England under the names of BullDog and Joyce..
I always thought his name was Harry joyce. Have i been misinformed?
They
> can't be legally imported into the US though as Saito/Fernandes still owns
> the name HiWatt in the US.
>
> Fernandes to their credit has gone back to Britain to reissue the
> original; HiWatts, but they are not made by the people who made the
> HiWatts under Reeves & Joyce. Hope this clarifies some info for you.
Thanks to Buzco for the info. I just thought i'd add that part of the
reason the early HIWATT's rarely need repair is that Joyce was a
certified British Govt. Electrician, and built all his amps to military
specifications; i.e., he wired the amps according to a British
governament model for electrical connections for military applications.
This means not only are all the connections and components
super-organized, but also that every single connection and component is
labeled according to the british military system. kinda cool.
Does anybody know what Joyce's amps sound like? has anyone heard them?
has he made changes to the original HW design? i can't imagine what
improvements he might make!
Liam Davis
of the Moviegoers
liam...@earthlink.net
Tom HIWATT
I'd like to correct some factual mistakes in a recent post.
bu...@aol.com (Buzco) wrote:
>but if its a HIWATT you can guarantee on on good sound.
>Not always:
>After Dave Reeves (the founder of HiWatt) died, th company went thru a
lot
>of transitions..
>They continued to make a few original models for a year or so.
> Then the right to the name was sold H. Saito, the owner of Fernandes
>Guitars of Japan.
Not so fast. HIWATT went through a world of changes before Fernandes
picked up the pieces. After Dave Reeves died Mary Clifford and J.
Sheridan ran the place and introduced plastic rocker switches and other
crap. The first new owner after Dave Reeves was Biacrown in England.
Biacrown contracted with Sterling in Buffalo NY. to import and then to
build amps for the U.S. Sterling made the 30 watt EL84 amp. Problems
developed between the companies and a long legal battle insued and all the
while quality and performance fell by the wayside. After that went on for
a while the HIWATT name was sold to Four Life in Japan who fooled around
with designs from Groove Tubes (a Fender-style HIWATT!) before bringing on
Frank Levi and building a new series of HIWATT products including the 2000
Series amps and the PRE-1 preamp. The 2000 Series did not live up to the
level of performance one comes to expect from a HIWATT so when Fernandes
aquired the HIWATT name a few years ago they destroyed (literally) all
existing stock of the 2000 series not three feet from where I am writing
this. The only HIWATTs built by Fernandes are the currently available
Reissue Series, exact copies built in England.
>During that period there wer HiWatt made in Japan, Signapore, by Moog in
>Buffalo, NY.
Sterling and Four Life made them in New York, Biacrown in England and to
my knowledge no HIWATT tube amp was ever made in Asia.
>They had incorporated channle switching and master volumes and other
crap
>into a superb design Dave Reeves and Rob Joyce had perfected in the
>sixties and early seventies.
Dave Reeves used Master volumes in the '60s. Harry (not Rob) Joyce was
not a design engineer. He built electronic equipment under contract for
the government and was tapped to build HIWATT Chassis's, hence the MilSpec
wiring design. Dave Reeves was the sole designer of HIWATT until his
death. After Mr. Reeves died Harry ripped off his design and started
marketing the Joyce line of amps. If Harry is still alive he would be
quite old.
> Joyce is making exact replicas of the
>original HiWatts in England under the names of BullDog and Joyce.. They
>can't be legally imported into the US though as Saito/Fernandes still
owns
>the name HiWatt in the US.
Joyce is not making HIWATTs. Fernandes owns the HIWATT name in Europe,
Asia and the America's. Richard Harrison of Biacrown has been building
his own HIWATT rip-off in England and selling them through MusicGround.
His reputation is spotty and it should be remember that the backward slide
of HIWATT quality and tone started with the Biacrown era and Harrison
nearly burried the name. The Bulldog thing is based in the states and
seems to possibly be a stock swindle or some other scam as the people
involved, from all reports, are really, REALLY flakey.
>Fernandes to their credit has gone back to Britain to reissue the
>original; HiWatts, but they are not made by the people who made the
>HiWatts under Reeves & Joyce. Hope this clarifies some info for you.
Again, Joyce built the amps but did not design them. He was a contractor
just like Partridge, who were contracted to build Mr. Reeves transformer
designs. The Fernandes Reissue Series amps are hand-built exact replica
of the '70s era HIWATTs.
Tom Crocker
Tom HIWATT
TimTube
In article <4udas0$a...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, tomh...@aol.com (Tom
HIWATT) writes:
>
>Again, Joyce built the amps but did not design them. He was a contractor
>just like Partridge, who were contracted to build Mr. Reeves transformer
>designs. The Fernandes Reissue Series amps are hand-built exact replica
>of the '70s era HIWATTs.
>
>Tom Crocker
Hi Tom,
I've heard that there is a connection between Hiwatt and SoundCity. You
seem to have significant knowledge of the HiWatt story. Is there a
connection?
Thanks, Tim
A great amp can make a lousy guitar sound great.
A lousy amp will make a great guitar sound lousy.
Akbar Anwari
tim...@aol.com (TimTube) wrote:
>I've heard that there is a connection between Hiwatt and SoundCity. You
>seem to have significant knowledge of the HiWatt story. Is there a
>connection?
The only connection I know of is that they both used Partridge
transformers.
Kap'n
Buzco
Reply-to: tomh...@aol.com (Tom HIWATT)
from: bu...@aol.com (Buzco)
buzco> And I would like to correct some of Tom Crocker's mistakes
tc> Not so fast. HIWATT went through a world of changes before Fernandes
tc> picked up the pieces. After Dave Reeves died Mary Clifford and J.
tc> Sheridan ran the place and introduced plastic rocker switches and
other
tc> crap. The first new owner after Dave Reeves was Biacrown in England.
tc> Biacrown contracted with Sterling in Buffalo NY. to import and then to
tc> build amps for the U.S. Sterling made the 30 watt EL84 amp.
Are you wrong on that Thomas:
I was involved with Randy Curlee during the 70's-80's with importing
Hiwatt, Orange and Coloursound into the United States. I also tried to
help put a deal together with Guild Guitars when it was still owned by
Mark Dronge to distribute Hiwatt in the US two times but to unavail
because of the problems with the banks involved.
Sterling Imports was located in Modesto CA not Buffalo, NY as you state.
I have their price lists and catalogues as well as those from
HiWatt/Buffalo, NY out in my garage. I also have rep agreements and
cancelled copies of commission checks from both Sterling and HiWatt/USA in
Buffalo. Two totally different companies Tom. I was a rep for both of
those companies.
The Moog's facility in Buffalo, New York built Lead 00R MkII,Lead 50R's,
Bass 100, and the Trinity Combo (the Bulldog revisited).
Bedrock Amps I believe did some subassembly for HiWatt in Buffalo, NY.
tc> Problems developed between the companies and a long legal battle
insued and tc> all the while quality and performance fell by the wayside.
After that went on for
tc> a while the HIWATT name was sold to Four Life in Japan who fooled
around
tc> with designs from Groove Tubes (a Fender-style HIWATT!) before
bringing on
tc> Frank Levi and building a new series of HIWATT products including the
2000
tc> Series amps and the PRE-1 preamp. The 2000 Series did not live up to
the
tc> level of performance one comes to expect from a HIWATT so when
Fernandes
tc> aquired the HIWATT name a few years ago they destroyed (literally) all
tc> existing stock of the 2000 series not three feet from where I am
writing
tc> this. The only HIWATTs built by Fernandes are the currently available
tc> Reissue Series, exact copies built in England.
buzco>During that period there were HiWatt made in Japan, Signapore, by
Moog in Buffalo, NY.
tc> Sterling and Four Life made them in New York, Biacrown in England and
to
tc> my knowledge no HIWATT tube amp was ever made in Asia.
continued
Buzco
buzco> Yes there were HiWatts made in Singapore bearing the Series 2000
logos.
buzco> I have one sitting in my garage (part of commisssions never paid me
by HiWatt/Buffalo so I kept it) and I probably could tell you where you
might be able to find others.
tc> After Mr. Reeves died Harry ripped off his design and started
tc> marketing the Joyce line of amps. If Harry is still alive he would be
quite old.
buzco.> Mr Joyce is still alive and making amplifiers under the HiWatt,
Bulldog and the Joyce name.
Trevor Wilkinson a few years ago was bringing in small quantities of the
Joyce built HiWatt heads. Trev's now back in the U.K.
buzco.> Joyce built amps can be had thru Lionheart Industries located in
Carmel, CA for the US, Canada
tc> The Bulldog thing is based in the states and seems to possibly be a
stock swindle or some other scam as the people involved, from all reports,
are really, REALLY flakey.
The people in the US were quite flakey and distrustful, but it is not a
stock swindle (you should be very careful when stating something like
that- slander and libel you know)
During the latter part of Randy's and my involvement with Hiwatt, Dave
Strelz now of LionHeart approached us about doing the distribution of
Hiwatt on the west coast out of Reno, Nevada. Dave stiffed not only us but
Dave Reeves for substantial amounts of cash.
buzco.
judgega...@gmail.com
In the early 80's I bought a Sterling Hiwatt, Lead 30 Combo from Top Shelf music in Buffalo, NY. THe sales guy called it a bulldog for some reason. I really have been trying to chase down somebody that can give me some history on this little monster of an amp.
MY email is:>> judgegarry@founderspirit..com
Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, JudgeGarry
Lord Valve
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