Hiwatt CP504

This is a brand new amp (2006) made in England by Hiwatt UK to the exact specs of the classic Hiwatts. It is the 50 watt version of the Pete Townsend model CP103, exactly the same except two EL34s vs 4 in the 100 watt model.

It has 4 inputs, which can all be used at once with the right cable (contact REEVES Amplification in the US for one of these), Bass, Treble, Gain, and Master. Standby. That's it. This is a basic amp, no tricks, all handwired, Partridge transformers.

This is a HUGE 50 watts. Loud, but very usable in the studio as well. I am using it with an also new Hiwatt 2*12 cab with Celestions in it. I wanted the amp to break up a little sooner so chose Celestions over the normal Fanes, which most Hiwatt users have.

It's hard to rate this category, because it doesn't have many features, but I don't care for many features. I care about the sound.

This amp has wonderful, full, and shimmering clean sounds. With the channel gain all the way up, it gets the "Won't Get Fooled Again" sound, nails it exactly with a humbucker. So that's the amount of gain we are talking about....it's overdriven, punchy and unique. It's not a Marshall, and miles off from a Boogie.

You could use this for anything from jazz to hard rock. Think of a Fender Twin with an attitude, and a drier, more Brit sound to the cleans. Cleans can get very Beatles-esque (listen to the rhythm guitar on "You're Going to Lose That Girl"). One wonderful thing about this amp is that it really sounds like whatever guitar you put through it, without giving it a "Fender sound" or "Vox" sound, or whatever. It really seems to stay out of the way and sounds the way you would hope it would whatever toggle position you are on. That's a hard thing to explain, I realize.

The amp is extremely well built, the head is very big and heavy, and looks fantastic. Mine is in black and the "Hiwatt" plate looks like it is saying "We are ready to rock." ;)

Listen to The Who "Live At Leeds" and you'll get a great idea of this amp cranked. I can't imagine the 100 watt...it must be the loudest amp in the world.

Too soon to tell. The build quality is very high, boutique quality, but hey, it's a tube amp, so who knows. Fortunately, mine is only for studio so it won't get moved around.

The amp is imported in the US via Fernandez in California, and they were very helpful. These amps are having a resurgence and are spoken for pretty quickly upon arrival in CA, so it pays to get your order in.

I've spoken with Fernandez, as I said, and also emailed Hiwatt in England and always received helpful responses from both. There is a 5 year warranty on the amp.

I've been playing since the 60s and would buy it again in a heartbeat. I love everything about this amp, and dislike nothing about it. I tried a MESA Stiletto recently which was great, very Marshall esque, but it's cleans had nothing on this. And it's "slightly overdriven" sound couldn't come close to this beast, which is where Hiwatt really shines.

This could be my favorite amp of all time. It's so basic, so pure, and so different from the pack out there, where most amps are either Vox, Marshall, Mesa, or copies of them, it's great to have an amp with a huge heritage and one that has it's own vibe going. You can play anything but heavy metal on this, and it would probably sound great doing that with the right pedal.

These are EXPENSIVE amps. Not for the faint of heart. But I must say I've spent this much over the years on many other amps (all together) and none were as cool. The only other amp I could see having is some kind of Fender with reverb and vibrato if I wanted a surf type sound, otherwise, I'm done.

I can also see getting a Hiwatt 4*12 cab, not for volume, but just to hear the sound spread out even more. It is a huge joy to play clean, just strumming chords puts a huge smile on my face.