Product: Hiwatt Bulldog 40 112 Combo
Price Paid: N/A used
Submitted
09/02/2001
at
03:02pm
by
Bob Smith
Features
:
9
2 Channel amp with 4 EL84s for 40 watts, 1/2 power mode, parallel effects loop, recording out, single 12" speaker with impedance switch and external output. Footswitch controls channels and effects loop, overall presence and damping. Pretty full featured for a smaller amp.
Sound Quality
:
9
I've tried it with a humbucker equipped guitar (Steinberger) and a 57 strat, with and without overdrive (SIB Varidrive). Tones are just killer. It especially loves the strat, but it goes from a tough clean (brighter than a Fender clean, more along the lines of Hiwatt or VHT Pitbull), thru a Marshallesque grind, to some fairly high gain tones. All of them are characterized by that bright tough sound. Very touch sensitive, doesn't have the harsh overtones that some EL84 amps develope (Mesa Blue Angel).
Reliability
:
7
UPS dropped it and pulled the baffle out of the cab-gotta get it fixed, but it still sounds great. I'd gig with only my Sansamp classic as a backup (carry spare tubes, though).
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never called them
Overall Rating
:
8
Very solid little amp-at least as useful as the standard amps (Fender Deluxe Reverb or Blues Deluxe, Vox AC15, Marshall Bluesbreaker, Mesa etc) with some tones all it's own (hard to get that true middle Who sound without Hiwatt). It could easily be your only amp, or makes a nice addition to the herd. I'd keep either this or a VHT Pitbull in the collection for that tough clean tone.
