Hiwatt Custom 100

The features are limited on this amp - which is exactly what its designed for. This amp has no fx loop, no reverb, no gain channel. it just amplifies. Very well.

Okay to start.
The guitars used:
Custom strat with kinman woodstocks and a LP classic with Seymour Duncan antiquities.
the style is 70s oriented prog/psych rock although a bit "harder" than either of those genres.
The amp is designed to be played clean. and it does it oh so very well. Hearing an amp like this is hard to explain. it does not have distinctive characteristics like a marshall, fender etc... it just sounds warm and clean natively. the volumes needed for this amp to distort involve way too much pain - it is a *very* loud 100 watts.
This amp also excels at being a palette for pedals... it is so transparent that your finger tone and pedal tones will be all that colours your sound.
So good.. warm.. tube clean tone.

I had it less than a year and its broke? Doh :(
I am still waiting for it to come back from the shop to see what exactly is broke.

I am way to far away to deal with hiwatt directly but their distro in .au has taken a month so far to fix it... its such a basic amp i am pretty peeved at how long it is taking.

I have only been playing 4 years and have owned a laney and a marshall... both were too coloured for my liking.
I mainly love this amp gives me a pure clean warm valvey palette for anything else I wish to do to my tone. its amazing from that point of view.

Made in England by Hiwatt in late 70s. Forget the solid state rubbish, this is the real deal - the best. Many use the Hiwatt 103 Custom 100 (a guitar amp) for bass, but this is better - much more bottom end on the Normal channel. An all valve bass amp that is very loud and ballsey - none better. This is the best bass amp avaliable - ever. I am using it to power a 4 x 12 cab, loaded with heavy duty speakers (Celestion G12H I think). Twin channels, Normal and Bright. It has Normal and Bright inputs. Controls are: Normal Volume, Bright Volume, Bass, Treble, Middle, Presence, Master Volume, Standby and Mains on/off. Use pedals for effects. Note: the Bright channel is identical in sound to the Hiwatt 103 Custom 100, so makes it an excellent guitar amp too.

Using a Fender Jazz bass and no effects through a 4 x 12 cab this is the best loud gigging amp avaliable for bass.

Twenty five + years old and still regularly gigged. I have two Hiwatt 101 heads and alternate them. Very reliable.

I understand that Hiwatts are now being made by a company in the Midlands. Easy to find a tech to work on them.

Been playing 20 years. Regularly gig in clubs and halls. Forget the rest, nothing beats a Hiwatt. An excellent amp.

Great looks and design, very easy to handle with just basic knobs. If you want more bottom, you can link both channels together. I am a bluesman and bought this amp around 1975, has never reflected on any other amp.

With this amp you get the best sounds with humbuckers if you like a bit of the distored sound, otherwise for countrymusic the amp can deliver a totaly clear tone (best use singlecoil then). It allows your instrument to be heard without adding anything you dont like.
I add pedals as boost and overdrive, you dont need anything else if you like the sound of P Green. The perfect combination is with a Hiwatt-cab, nothing sounds better!

I have changed the tubes one time in 30 years, nothing has never been broken.

Is is very simple and strong built, you can give the job to any educated within electricity, if you have a problem with it.

Total satisfaction garanteed if you can live without all effects included, when you buy a "modern" amp. With this you need to have some pedals, but it is your choice.

1976 Hiwatt 100 watt Custom hand-wired, all tube (Mullards), 2 inputs, Bright and Normal, no reverb. I've been playing for 20 years and presently play in an 2 guitar lead Classic rock band, most gigs we play are outdoors and this amp loves it as much as I do. As far as it being versitile can can only give it a 9, as you can get away with playing Blues, but forget about Jazz or Country - she just wants to ROCK - HARD!

I play both a 1990 US Stratocaster and a 1974 Epiphone Scroll SC-550(fancy SG). This amp seems to love humbuckers so much that I put a Seymor-Duncan hot-rail in the bridge position of the Strat. This amp is absolutely silent with infinite tone. I use the Bright input with about 50% preamp volume and Master as needed (usually @3, never had the need to go past 5). I play thru a homemade infinite baffle cab with 2 12" Force 65watt speakers. There seems to a huge variation of sounds just by varying guitar volume/tone/pickup selection and pick attack. This amp hasn't reverb, put in a wood floor hall you can understand what sound the inventors of reverb were trying to achieve. For songs with more edge I use a Tonebone tube preamp with absolutely no power boost. This give this amp a crunch that makes a Marshall blush. Controlable feedback is amazing, it seems this amp likes to play guitar as much as I do!

I bought this amp in 1987 and have never even dusted it. It will outlive me.

Can never imagine needing it.

I also own a 100 watt Marshall & a 65 watt Peavey Studio pro, both have their places but not beside the Hiwatt. Sorry Marshall fans, its just seems these amps give away Tone for Crunch. With a little help the Hiwatt can develop incredible Crunch, but there's nothing you can do to give a Marshall Tone.

Your usual hiwatt, if you're reading this, you know what features they have.

some say they're really basic, but to me thats a good thing. I'd rather have 7 knobs which actually make a differance to tone, rather tan 50, each one doing bugger all!

I've got 3 of these things (have had 5) and they are the loudest, most "hi-fi" amplifiers ive ever heard.

I use P90's in an SG with it, cos I'm a shameless townshend fan, and it really makes the amp sing! I play alot of 60's rock n roll, and 70's rock, for this type of music, it can't be beat! Stuff marshalls, really, this is where its at!*

Really fat clean sounds, jangly, with sparkle (spangly?!) and real bright. Once again, super super loud, and very pedal friendly. If you dare turn it up to get your distortion, you'll be pleased, it crunches up better than any other amp I've heard. It doesn't offer singing sustain, but thats for marshalls, if you want definition, clarity, and all out balls, get one of these!

good for jazz, and blues too, stays clean nicely, but like i said, with it crunching up, you can get some real sweet blues sounds with humbuckers!

Can I depend on it?!

Yes!!! It's a hiwatt, compare its build quality with anything else out there and you'll be stunned, it really is a thing of beauty!

Tis also good I've got 3, i don't keep 2 for spares (i dont need too!), i use them all at the same time! :-D

Company's been long gone, but MusicGround are okay if you just want info.

but, if you get one, you'll never need to contact the company.....well, maybe to say "cheers for the amp, its the best sounding in the world ever!"

What can i say? My amp for life, without a doubt. It'll outlast me, thats for sure. If you can find one, buy it, you won't be dissapointed.


....and if you are, not only will i mock you for having no taste, i will also offer to buy it off you! :-D

Made sometime in 1970's This is the most Versitle amp ever!
Suits My Metal scene with it's Tank-like features
2 Channels, Unfortunatly no effects, reverb.
This Beast has more than enough power to blast out my riffs.
As with all good amps, TUBE!

This Amp is the Best sounding amp on EARTH! It has a nice clean sound which doesnt need effects to cover up crap sound. NO NOISE WHAT SO EVER Nice, Warm overdriven sound (Almost lost my hearing getting it to overdrive) No built in Distortion but nothing a Pedal cant fix. Awesome clarity. I use 2 Humbuckers

Never has and probably never will breakdown. The Tubes (to my knowledge) havent been replaced since new and hasnt been seviced since 1974
Would do a gig with a million people and not run a backup.

Havent contacted them, dont know if they exist anymore.
Dont think it has a warranty anymore

I have been playing for 5 years and If this was stolen or lost i would go to the ends of the earth to find it or another one. Awesome Bands have used Hiwatt's and they have ultimate sounds. Have had 6 offers for it since i started giging (3 Months) I would pick this over any amp and would recommend Hiwatt to anyone, Good luck finding one though!

1974 HIWATT DR-103 Custom 100, 4-input(Hi/Lo Normal & Brilliant), 2-Channel. Built like a tank, it's nearly unbreakable. No Reverb, no FX Loop. This amp is very "pedal-friendly" and doesn't produce any noise. The best amp I've ever had. Equipped with Mullard Tubes ..... it sounds amazing. This thing is louder than hell!! I use it on stage and in the studio. Enough power for everything I would say.

I mainly use Gibson SG's and Les Paul's with this amp, but also a Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster. I've tried different pickup-combinations. Just try out! My music style is mostly hard rock, alternative and blues. If you need a good clean amp .... this is the real deal. With a good distortion/overdrive pedal you get a FAT tone. Nearly everything is possible. This amp isn't made for Hi-Gain-Sounds, but hey ..... with the right pedal you will blow every rectifier away. You have to drive the Hiwatt at very high volumes if you want distortion! This could blow your speakers ...... :)
Very versatile!

Hey ..... it's an HIWATT. Any Questions?

You could smash several guitars on this head and it would still do his job. A friend of mine dropped his DR-103 down the stairs ... and it survived the fall!!!

Again ..... it's built like a tank. Wired after Military-Specs. Easy to service! Perfect!!!!

NO Customer Support! The production stopped in the 80s!

There are two Hiwatt websites on the net (for US: www.hiwatt.com /Fernadez Guitars; for UK www.hiwatt.co.uk). But I would not contact them, they only built reissues. ;)

Everybody who knows how to read a schematic and knows about amplifier electronic will easily repair your amp! I did it by myself.

I've been playing about 14 years, tried different amplifiers (Marshall, Soldano, Mesa Boogie, Fender, ....) and the Hiwatt is one of my main amps next to a Mesa Boogie. For clean tones and crunch distortion I use the DR-103, for harder stuff or hi-gain Mesa Boogie!

I would definately try to get another one if it were stolen, but only one of the older (4-input) models.

If you find a good one .... buy that thing!!
Look for the Partridge Transormators inside!!

This is my third Hiwatt Custom 100. Bought this one because it was in very good condition and my other was looking a bit tired after 10 years of road work. All valve. Made in early 70s. Single channel. Reverb would have been nice. Using a pedal board in front of it for effects. Very loud through a 4 x 12. Top end sparkle and bottom end grunt. Never mind the bollocks, you just can't get the sound through a tranny or digital amp. This is why valve amps are far superior to solid state. You also need loudspeakers with a heavy magnet assembly - whatever make they are.

Playing 70s - present covers on club scene. Through a 70s Marshall 4 x 12" with greenbacks.
Very clean. No hum or hiss - even at silly volumes. What you play is what you get, so no excuses!!! Use a pedal board for effects. I use a DS1, Wah, Vol boost, reverb + chorus.

Change the valves sometimes - thats it. I only gave it a 10 because there wasn't an 11! Used Marshall JTMs for a while in the early 90s but there were major reliability issues. Post 80s Marshalls are overengineered rubbish.

N/A

Been playin pro + semi over 30 yrs. Currently own lots of guitars, but mainly play a custom Strat with Lace sensors, Les Paul Studio or a Yam SG.

This amp was given to me from the father of a child that my mom babysat, thank god for him. I'm guessing it's around 30 years old. I play punk rock, jazz, electroclash, rock, plenty of stuff. It has two inputs, normal and bright, with seperate volume controls. There's a bass, midrange, treble, prescence, and master volume control. No FX hooplah, nice and simple the way it should be. I play in a band, it's definitely loud enough and it cuts through. It's a tube amp.

As of right now I play a strat with a seymour duncan humbucker, I can get some nice warm tones out of it even though it's a strat. It screams and chugs, too. It fits my styles perfectly, there isn't a single sound I can't get out of it. In my garage it picks up AM radio stations, it might be my guitar though. It doesn't do it on stage. No static noises or buzz. You can get an awesome overdrive with the normal volume higher than the master, the only reason you would get an overdrive pedal or a tube screamer is for the switch. Sounds awesome. It's obvious why The Who and The Damned used Hiwatts.

Hasn't broken down yet. Pretty sure it won't.

It's an old amp so I don't think customer support is even around for it anymore.

I love my amp, it is perfect. I would not modify it. Plus it was free.

This is a 1971 HIWATT DR 103 CUSTOM 100 watt head,four inputs, two normal, two bright, with individual volumes,the amp comes with the normal EQ,bass, mid, treble and presence. Having used just about every Marshall amp going I tracked down my first love a HIWATT! although this amplifier will not appeal to thrash metal merchants I feel with pedals in front it will cover any other style. I play a lot of Hendrix and this amp simply blows away the usual competition.It is powered by four Svetlana EL34s, and puts out an incredibly musical sound whatever the EQ settings, my fave being master on 3'oclock the two channels linked by a small patch lead and the channel volumes on 1'0clock...heaven! I am using a JD sessionmaster for the overdrive, but you don't have a HIWATT to mask the basic sound. I am using this amp for touring, rehearsing and recording, for me it has all the features I need, but if you must have a multi switching all singing amp....look elsewhere, this is a players amp and is very unforgiving if you don't get the notes right, it has tightened up my playing no end, without tons of distortion to cover up sloppy playing.

I use a Strat with Lindy Fralin 69's and get a very organic sound that suits my style, it is also very quiet, due no doubt to the military spec wiring. The amp also is all purpose though I doubt it would suit a modern day bass player, but I can get some amazing Jazz tones from it,( if only I new any jazz chords!)The amp will not distort unless wide open, and if you like that sound you will need a powerbrake, or get in the queue for your hearing aid!

I feel I can rely on this amp without a backup, when i purchased it it had been serviced and had new valves.But I can use my JD sessionmaster (pre-amp) as a backup as I know only too well things can go wrong.

As it is 32 years old I think the warranty may have expired! but any amp tech who knows his stuff can work on these amps.

I have been playing over 33 years. I run the HIWATT through a reissue Marshall 4x12" loaded with greenbacks I run the guitar through a modified Jimi Hendrix wah,Voodoolab microvibe,Award JD sessionmaster then into a Danelectro Danecho.

1973 Straight up single channel - 100watt - milspec point to point hand wired - 4 input model. simple and nice!

Basicly it does what it is designed for, no nonsence!

Play in a indie rock band, and a covers band. this replaced my tsl 100watt head.

I wanted one of these from the day i started guitar playing, i tried to get what i wanted from fender and mainly marshall, those had some really good tones but just didnt cut it.

this amp is unbelievable, Put it like this, it reflects your guitar and you with unparraleld accuracy, it takes no crap, but gives no crap, to put it short, its range of sounds are always clear and cut though the mix and track your playing no matter how much gain and volume. no matter how muddy, no matter how fast. tones range massivly, but most people are in this for the clean WHICH IS BETTER THAN FENDER!!! and the huge crushing sounds that you can get without even touching the volume on your guitar. The amp is pure quality from the start to the finish. I waited till i was good enough to get this amp ! but that was too long. Dont wait, just buy.

oh by the way i use an 61 sg and a strat plus, so not very hot pups

wont break - if does easy to fix if you know what youre doing, do not mod this amp, you will go straight to hell.

Hiwatt only lives through those scum on earth music ground, no customer service, no help, rip off prices and insulting staff.

however i dont need to see them since this thing is so goddamn easy to service and i would never ever need it any way, its even more reliable than a marshall, and i used to throw them around! this thing wont get thrown, god no. this is my baby and it is another to the "never sell" list!

The End, get a hylight made or some early biacrown era Hiwatt and you have the single greatest amp ever no questions asked!

Normal Vol,Brill Vol,Bass,Treble,Middle,Presence,Master Control. Four jumpable inputs...100W of pure 70's valve tone,clean as clean can be until you hit quarter-past on the preamp volume,when it crunches up nicely...jump both Norm and Brill channels together and you have unadulterated Townshend!
Alternatively slam a Strat through a delay into it when running clean and you're as close to The Edge as it is possible to get without falling off!

This amp is powerful as hell,I use it with the original basketweave straight Fane cab (both head and cab in mint condition,original 1975 model too,used by a church guitarist for nearly 30 years...and now mine!)and I run a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Tele Thinline '74 and occasionally a Fender Jaguar through a Boogie V-Twin overdrive and a Boss GT6 for effects. It kicks ass,basically. It's kinda dead-sounding when you fire it up for the very first time,but that's cos it has no reverb-dial up a wedge of Reverb from the GT6 and it's sweeeeeeet...awesome for both shimmery clean and slamming,chocolatey solos...when using the LP and the V-Twin it reminds me a little in tone of a LP though EVH's 5150 or a Carvin legacy...but more vintage-y and tasteful.For clean the Tele and Jaguar are very,very lush and sparkly,but warm and never glassy-metallic like Fender clean...all in all a very,very loud (if you want it to be) very,very clean or naughtily dirty amp.

Blew a fuse the 3rd time I rehearsed with it,but we were playing all day and the fuse had probably been in there for 30 years so I can forgive it!

I think Hiwatt shut down in 1907 or something!

If it was nicked I'd cry.Then hunt down the culprit and slap them from here to Baghdad. It's best friends with my Les Paul now and it'd be strange to rehearse without my big black tank. I'd like it to have onboard spring-reverb but if wishes were horses and all that.
I tried all the new Boogie amps,the Single Rects and the Nomads but this has so much more character and fun about it. Plus it's verrrry trendy on the Indie-rock scene here in the UK to own a Hiwatt...it looks and sounds grrrrrrrrrrreat!!

It has your basic 70's features, 4 inputs at low/high brilliance and normal gain, no effects loop or reverb but that's easily fixed through any high quality effects pedal, I run it through a 70's Big Muff distortion, a Marshall Chorus, a Boss reverb/echo and a Boss compression/sustainer and through that there is no sound this amp isn't capable of.

This is the single greatest guitar amp ever built, it's military like point to point wiring is unquestionably the only way an amp should be built, handmade one by one, from the moment you plug it in you'll know why artists like Pete Townshend from the Who, the Edge from U2, Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam and countless others swear by it. The best sound for this amp is as follows: all knobs from left to right at 95% south-east (that's almost all the way, and include normal gain, brilliance gain, middle, treble, bass, and presence,) with the main volume at about 25% directly west, but be careful with this main volume when you have all other knobs turned at max, because as you approach 30-35% this already screaming amp will become almost uncontrollably loud. With these settings straight through you can put on the The Who's Live at Leeds and play to almost the exact sound, throw in U2's Achtung Baby, add a 200ms delay and it's unbelievably right on, and with any Pearl Jam song after 1998 with a little sustain and a little distortion and once again, perfect. But I like it clean, it's tone feels like it will rip off the dead skin from your flesh, awesome, totally awesome

never had a problem, the way it's built probably never will.

This is no customer support, so find a repair guy that loves and knows how to repair an amp of this quality, it shouldn't be too difficult their's alot of them.

I would by five of them if I had the money, I could have the Edge's setup on "Beautiful Day" ohhh baby five full Hiwatt stacks lined up next to each other, even better than Pete Townshend's 3 full stacks in the mid 70's. If anyone has a gray cloth straight Hiwatt cab I would be very interested. Right now I'm playing through a black cloth slant Hiwatt cab from the late 70's. My email address is r13789@hotmail.com

This custom 100 is from 1972. I bought it off a 'tube-head' who had the tubes replaced once, otherwise the amp is solid. There are only 2 inputs: Normal and Brilliant. The EQ is totally versatile. You usually need to back off a lot on the bass, as this head is very 'dark'-sounding. I like simple, pure, hand-wired tone, and this amp has it all, plus 100 watts of ear-piercing mayhem. Any of you who play newer Marshalls, Boogies etc., which are mass-produced with PC boards in them, are out of your skulls. Only point-to-point wiring can give you this kind of tone response.

Plug in my 90s Les Paul studio, add a boss heavy metal, and I am chugging my way into power heaven. The clean sound of the amp is tight, full and covers every possible frequency. What you play is what you hear. Whoever calls this amp tone-dead is a derivative wanker. If you want a Marshall, buy a Marshall, this is no Marshall.

This amp is older than I am, has seen more trouble, and will probably never break down.

Never dealt with Hiwatt before. I understand they are re-creating these classic beauties now, supposedly all to early spec. I think they retail at over $2000.

This is my dream amp and I can only imagine supplementing its fire with one of those rare Custom 200 Watts from the early seventies. This thing is a tone demon with more power than a truckload of synthetic amps.

Two high, two low inputs, basic tone controls, master volume, no reverb.

At the time I was using it with a Les Paul and stratocaster. This is a very clean amp. In many ways it reminds me of a hifi amp because it offers so little coloration. The previous owner had modified the amp to cascade the two channels and provide more distortion (which was a bit rough sounding) so I returned it to the original specification. It's also VERY LOUD. I turned it up just to see at what level it would break up nicely - far too loud. I used a multi effects pedal to add reverb and some distortion to the sound, but I thought this defeated the object of having a good valve amp.

Stunningly well made amplifier. If you get the opportunity, take off the back and look at the point to point wiring in this amp. They have a reputation of great reliability.

Don't know

In the end I part exchanged it for an old 1970s Park 50W Lead valve combo which gave me the sound I was after.

Conclusion: If you want to get a Marshall sound, get a Marshall. (and if you want a Les Paul sound, get a Les Paul. There's no point buggering around with a guitar/amp combination and trying to fix the sound with effects - it just sounds terrible)

This amp was made in the early 70's i believe

It's and all around amp, you can use it for bass and guitar, play nearly any style you want.

One Channel with 4 inputs Bright (high and low) Normal (high and low)
no effect loops or reverb just at plain amp, with bas, treble, mid, presence, master volume plus bright volume and normal volume.

I wish it had effect loops.

I use the amp fully.

I use it for live gigs, and I hardly need to turn up more than 50%, coz it's an all tube amp.

all tube amp head

I use a Gretsch Reissue Anniversary with humbuckers, Gibson Les Paul with humbuckers, Fender Telecaster with single coils, Fender Stratocaster with single coils, Fender Squier Jagmaster with one Fender humbucker and one Gibson 1957 Humbucker, Epiphone Acc. with active mics., Warwick Corvette Proline active pickups, Epiphone Les Paul Special with one Epiphone humbucker and one Gibson 1957 Humbucker.

It's not noisy at all.

If you turn all the knobs south-south-east, you'll get fat sounded semi distortion, but it's an amp that allmost refuses to distort the sound, it only want's to sound good, so you'll need a distortion pedal og effects unit.

It's very dependable, I would use it for any type of gig.

It's broken down once, because of old tubes

Never delt with the company

I've been playing for 11 years.
I have one Marshall Anniversary Amp Head, 1 Marshall 1960Bx and 1 Marshall 1960 stereo cabinett, way to many effect pedals, and modules.

I've got a 70's model that is in emmaculate condition.
It's got two inputs for normal tone and two for high, four total, which allow for patching between channels thereby using both channels at once.
It's got bass mid treble and presence for tone and volume for normal and high channels as well as master volume.
NO REVERB!!! At first I figured would this fact would remove me from my reverb crutch, but it turned out that this amp's characteristics could use the padding reverb adds.

This is the weirdest sound amp i've ever used! It really does not flatter a Les Paul by any means. It has unfathomable tone! I have no idea how to get a consistent tone out of it, every dial is VERY sensative and you can breath on the bass knob at it will instantly sound like garbage. As for it's clean reputation, sure, it's clean up to a certain point then it just gets gritty and uncontrollable. Even when your at the point where it's screaming it doesn't compare to the volume of my Ampeg V-4, which is capable of being reasonably faithfull to the notes you're actually playing.
Then, the worst part, the sustain. ZERO. I don't know how this is possible in such a high powered amp, but it just sucks the sound so that you get a whollop of an initial punch and then a vaccum.
This fact, however, is crutial to one of it's past users - Pete Townsend - and one of the reasons I picked it up.
If you want to use something like a strat or SG and you like to really bang the strings, I'd say it may be a good choice.
By the way, the distortion it gets is pretty harsh and scathing, which can be good in some circumstances.
Sure, it's loud but...

Very reliable for the most part. If you ever get a chance to look inside of it you'll be instantly amazed by the insanly neat and tidy way these amps were built, almost anal-retentivly so. I've had to replace tubes once in 5 years which is normal (it's my back-up amp).
At one point I lost the power cable which proved to be a nightmare! I had to special order the jack from a parts maker in the U.K. for $40, and then make the rest of the cable myself!
Other than spilling beer through the top grate on a hot tube, no problems.

I've heard that Hiwatt is still vaguely making amps.?

This is a specialty amp. I've heard it on record played by several people and it sound glorious but overall it's too unforgiving and unfriendly to work on anything but hard and powerfull guitar.
Anyone want to buy mine?

70's 100W head, master volume, basic tone controls. Clean is an understatement. This is its strength. If you want metal master volume heaven dont bother.

I use single coil and humbucer guitar with this amp. Sweet, sweet, sweet. Pure tone, lovely. Not noisy at all. It is a great clean sound. It is easy to dirty up a clean amp, but nigh on impossible to make a dirty amp clean. So this is a great amp to build a sound on. No distortion to speak, and this is what I like.

I have revalved once in 8 years, never broken down.

Amp too old.

Had it for 10 yrs , never disappoint, awesome value for money, am looking for another (maybe the guy above will sell his) Love it.

1972 vintage (bought new at Terminal Music, NYC), basic controls, no reverb, no effects loops, no distortion, a master volume that was totally useless unless you had two guys playing through the same amp 'cause the amp will NOT break up - very loud, with two basic sounds.. "Headache" and "Super-Headache"- Looked super cool, so it gets a 2 in this catagory.

Again, this amp would NOT break up at all... with any guitar. So you got none of the harmonic coloration of that sound that tube amps are cherished for. NO overdrive or sustain at all, zilch. I have often likened the sound of this amp to the effect of someone whacking you upside the head with an iron skillet. Not my idea of fun. In all fairness, I must say the amp sounded killer for bass and would probably also make a great keyboard amp. The rating I've given relates to guitar.

I prayed the thing would break down so I could get rid of it.... no such luck. I could always depend on it bumming me out whenever I played through it with it's sterile non-tone.

No experience with Hiwatt's service department. What could they do for such an amp, short of a major redesign?

I went to New York to buy a Marshall Super Lead 100, and I let the salesman talk me into the Hiwatt. I was psyched all the way home with it. That's when the honeymoon ended. I have to say that that amp was by far the worst sounding guitar amp I've ever owned in 30+ years of playing. I woke up in the morning cursing that amp, and went to bed at night cursing it as well until i found a guy to swap me even for a Marshall like I originally wanted. I have to say that my style is a cross between Hendrix and Clapton blues - I like tone, and I like sustain. But I also say that it would be the same story for other styles as well. All the amp did was HURT. If you like hurting your ears and the ears of your listeners, this is the perfect amp for you.