Hiwatt DR-103

Made in 1971 (the serial number has been cross-checked twice to confirm) the DR103 is original apart from the installation of a modern Euro connector in place of the original circular three-pin input. Unlike the Marshall 100 I swaped for this amp, it balances on the handle for carrying therefore no strain apart from bearing the weight! Physically it can easily be described as sturdy.

There are four inputs, two sensitivities each for the normal and brilliant channels. These run through a four band EQ, bass, middle, treble and presence into individual channel pre-amp pots all firing into a master volume.

End result? A fundamentally clean valve amp that has plenty of tonal versatility that can be devastatingly LOUD when cranked. No wonder Townshend and Gilmour use 'em!

It's a classic combination, Gibson Les Paul via a Rat into the DR103. The LP Standard produces a bit more guts and drive whereas the Pro Deluxe with its P90s is warmer, sweeter and that little bit less harsh.

Normally the pre-amp sections are wound right up and the distortion is controlled from the guitar. It works for Pete and it works for me. Distortion is perhaps harsher than a Marshall but not as prominent. I suppose I am saying that the Hiwatt is more musical when distorting and does not have the characteristic colouration found in Marshalls. But there again, that was one of my reasons for going Hiwatt in the first place.

A ProCo Rat 2 is used to add more distortion, but sparingly. Somehow the Hiwatt going 'Guuurrrrrrgggghhhhh!' just doesn't seem right. Rather like mugging a bishop. Adding a bit of edge with the Rat and the occasional wah-wah (Hendrix I most certainly am not!). For bluesy sounds she has it all, and there is nothing more I would ask or want of an amp.

Only failure was one of the EL34s. Audio Bros did a complete overhaul and replaced all the power valves with matched pairs. Dave Reeves certainly knew what he was doing when he put this amp together!

Only used Audio Bros. Who owns Hiwatt these days, anyway? Audio Bros deserve a full 10! No warranty as I acquired the Hiwatt off a mate. My local hi-fi/TV repair company have looked her over. They had never seen hand-wired looms like that before.

Over twenty six years playing although dear wife reckons it don't sound it! If, heaven forbid, I lost the Hiwatt, I don't think I could afford to replace her. It is simple, reliable, sturdy, loud, visually impressive and built to last. What more could a guitarist ask of his/her amp?

1970's I bought 2nd hand(the 1st one)in London about 1978 brought back to New Zealand used continously at an average of 3 times a week till about 1985 and the only prblem I had was a seized standby switch!I used it for Bass,which is a Prescicion I had bought new in 72.The speakers being EVs.I sold all my gear and went back to London,bought another Prescion over there and eventually another Hiwatt then later went back to NZ where I managed to pick up another couple of Electrovoice's and I'm still using it today!And the only trouble I've had with it is,you guessed it,the standby switch!

Although I use it for Bass,I still think its the best setup I have ever had, and I have tried hundreds!I've played all styles from soft mellow jazz, to pop, heavy rock, slap ,and even strumming the Bass and it always sounds perfect and nuetral.

Reliability wise, well you can't really say that a standby switch is going to let you down!

Fixed the switch myself,and with an Amp like that you never need it fixed.

When I first went to England I was going to buy a Marshall, but when I saw some Bass players using Hiwatt's there was no turning back,even now,why should I?The 1st one I paid 100ponds for it and it was mint with original cover.The 2nd one I paid 120pounds and was rougher and a slightly later model.

1970's I bought 2nd hand(the 1st one)in London about 1978 brought back to New Zealand used continously at an average of 3 times a week till about 1985 and the only prblem I had was a seized standby switch!I used it for Bass,which is a Prescicion I had bought new in 72.The speakers being EVs.I sold all my gear and went back to London,bought another Prescion over there and eventually another Hiwatt then later went back to NZ where I managed to pick up another couple of Electrovoice's and I'm still using it today!And the only trouble I've had with it is,you guessed it,the standby switch!

Although I use it for Bass,I still think its the best setup I have ever had, and I have tried hundreds!I've played all styles from soft mellow jazz, to pop, heavy rock, slap ,and even strumming the Bass and it always sounds perfect and nuetral.

Reliability wise, well you can't really say that a standby switch is going to let you down!

Fixed the switch myself,and with an Amp like that you never need it fixed.

When I first went to England I was going to buy a Marshall, but when I saw some Bass players using Hiwatt's there was no turning back,even now,why should I?The 1st one I paid 100ponds for it and it was mint with original cover.The 2nd one I paid 120pounds and was rougher and a slightly later model.

This amp is a vintage 4 input, 2 channel (non switchable) 100 watt Brittish tube powerhouse! Not a lot of useless features, just pure TONE!!! This is the amp that made me give up rack gear. Not because it's the most versatile, all in one amp, but because it simplicity and killer sound makes me want to rock my ass off!

I use these amps with a vatiety of guitars and pedals, but my favorite combo is any American Fender Telecaster with a DiMarzio Fast Track 2 in the bridge and the Marshall Guv'nor Plus distortion or Fulltone Full Drive 2. The Guv'nor is a bitch to set up, but once you get it dialed in, it's a match made in heaven (think Black Sabbath, Melvins or even the Pixies distortion with Pete Townsend's clean tone). I'm getting a chubster just thinking about it. So the chain is Guitar, Pedals, Hiwatt into a Mesa big box Dual Recto 4x12 straight cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's. This setup sounds so good I bought a second DR-103 and Mesa Cab to run in stereo. This system moves so much air that I don't like to play both amps in small places with glass windows (seriously) for fear of breaking them. I think I should get a couple of THD Hot Plates. Oh, I do mostly rock/noise pop and other stuff. You can use a Hiwatt for most rock styles. This is not a jazz or commercial music amp. This is pure rock-n-roll. Get ear plugs if you plan to still hear stuff when you're in you 40's.

If you are familiar with Hiwatts, you know that these are famous for their build quality

Get a good tech if you ever need one.

FYI my amps were built in '71 & '75. While the Hiwatt is not for every taste, it more than suits mine. Of the numerous amps that I own, these are the only two I would never sell EVER! They're loud as hell, but they also happen to sound great so I live with the volume happily. If you've never played through a point to point wired Hiwatt, you don't know what you're missing.

1976, 4-input, hj/reeves amp. if you're reading this, then you already know what to expect from a vintage hiwatt. all tubes and hiwatts seem to favor svetlana

custom baritone guitar. i had to order some different speaker cabs because the bari is 61Hz at the lowest note. the head handles and delivers. only noise is that which can be expected from a 25-year-old amp. PURE CLARITY.

i have two amps: 63 fender showman and the hiwatt. basically, i have a back-up, but i don't think i'll need it.

don't bother with hiwatt. find a tech.

beautiful amp in every way.

This is an all tube 100 watt head. It has 2 channels: normal & brilliant with 2 inputs each. It had no effects loop, but I had one installed. Why? Well, first of all I like to eliminate hum when possible. So if you put your effect module ( in my case a Yamaha FX 500 ) between the pre-amp and the power amp the noise gate cancels unwanted noise coming from your pre-amp. Furthermore your sound gets smoother and fatter too, which is real good for playing hard rock (my style).

The DR 103 is a very clean and bright sounding amp, meaning that the normal channel is in fact a bright channel and the brilliant channel a super bright channel ! I link the two together and turn them both up to 7 without hearing any distortion when playing clean. No other tube amp I've heard of can do this ! It's true that it lacks sustain ( too clean ? ), but turning up the presence control helps a lot. Anyway, I love this amp for its clarity and its tremendous power. It really kicks, but you need effect pedals for a distortion sound.

This thing never breaks down. 100 % reliable.

No experience with customer support. I have my local technician in case of problems, but I only needed him once for the effects loop ...

If you can get one of these at the price I paid for it, don't hesitate. Mine's from 1975 and as good as new. The best tube amp I ever owned (far better than my Marshall Plexi ). It's a warm, clean and powerful tube amp. What more do you want ?

This is really an update to my review ofd 10/27/99. I have discovered that any reviews of this head, or Hiwatts in general, must be taken with a grain of salt; apparently there is little of no consistency in the sound of Hiwatts. Mine sounds unbelieveably amazing. But I've had the chance to play or hear several DR-103's since then, as well as custom 50's. Some sound like complete garbage, some sound OK, some are killer. So you can't really say "the DR-103 is great" without hearing it first. For instance, a friend of mine came through town and our bands played a show together. He also played a DR-103, but he asked me before the show to borrow mine, because his had blown a tube the night before. He almost shat himself when he plugged into mine. He said that his was at most 1/2 as loud as mine and not nearly as powerful. Where on his, to be heard, he had to dime out the master and put the preamp at 7 or 8, on mine he was barely above half on each. After the show we did some investigation. His was a year after mine, same head, same features, same brand of tubes even. But mine killed and his was quiet. So while I must tell you this is the best amp I've ever bought, I feel I should warn you all to PLAY IT FIRST before you buy it. Avoid Ebay or any sight-unseen buying. Good Luck!

Absolutely indestructible.

1972, 100 Watt, 4-input design, normal and bright channels

Using Stratocasters with DiMarzio HS-3 pickups, 2 Meg volume pots, and various preamps.
The HiWatt is incredibly noise free and has a consistent powerful, full range sound. I've got three Marshall tube 100 watt heads, and the Marshalls are much thinner sounding as well as having much less power. The Hiwatt is pure balls and pure rock. You do need to pump the input voltage with a preamp to get heavier distortion, but it's worth it once it's all dialed in. What an experience!

This is a hand-wired amplifier made to military spec. Never a problem and I don't expect any.

Not applicable.

This is what an amplifier should sound like. Tonal ranges that are diverse, lots of power. Again, you need to boost it for distortion with a preamp, but with the amount of punch it provides, it really makes my Marshalls sound like they are less ballsy (I still love 'em though - A first-year '76 Master volume, a 100 W. JCM 800, and a 100 W. Silver Jubilee head).

The amp was made in 1969. It's a perfect recording or live applications. It's 100 watts with a normal and bright channel.

Use a Telecaster with a "Little 59" by Seymour Duncan in the bridge and a Pro Co Rat peddle. It's a humbucker which works really well with this amp. Also, with the Rat pedal, it cleans up nicely. I play in a trio, so this amp gives me enough punch.

This amp is very dependable for gigs. It's thirty years old and at times needs some tender care, but it's minor maintenance.

No customer support...just find someone you can trust. I had some minor wiring problems that cost about $30.00 to repair.

I have been playing for about 15 years. Use a MXR Phase 90 and Micro Amp, Pro Co Rat, Electro Harmonix Poly Chorus, Boss DM-2, and an Ibinez Bi-Chorus. I own two Hiwatts and I will always try to buy more if I come across one. My second choice would be a Marshall 100 watt Superlead from 1971 or earlier.

I have a 1974 head running through a new-ish Marshall 1960 Cab. 2 inputs (bright and normal), Volume knob for each input, Bass, treble, middle and presence controls, Master volume. Simple, right? But there's zillions of useable tones in between the very responsive and musical settings. I'm not one for lots of processing or anything - Generally I look for the shortest signal path between the pickup and the speaker. Call me a purist. When I bought it it had tubes with a very low performance rating of 1, so the power amp distortion was so solid it was kicking my ass. So I changed those out to 3's, which gave a bit more headroom and versatility.

This amp's sound is so absurdly huge that whenever I play it, people ask me, "man, that sounds amazing, what kind of preamp processor was that, what kind of pedals are you using, is that modified?" blah blah blah. I tell them "look. I've got a Hiwatt and a guitar." Every time I play it I get this rush of adrenylin from the sheer balls of this amp. When I bought it, I was searching around for an overdrive pedal for my Fender Bassman blackface, which I thought at the time kicked serious ass. I saw the Hiwatt sitting in the corner, plugged in, turned everything to twelve o'clock and I heard nothing. Not a hint of hiss or crackle. So I hit an open A chord - WOW. I literally felt my insides rearrange themselves. I immediately traded in my Bassman for this amp. I had never heard something so loud, clear, and... EXACTLY what I wanted a guitar to sound like. It was so... realistic. Every Marshall I've tried has this sort of hyped-up, "aaaggghhhh!!!!!!" kind of bland generic thunkiness to it. It's been done to death by all of the trillions of bands that use them. It's so easy to make something sound like a Marshall - they just sound like every distortion pedal on the market, only with more bottom. But a Hiwatt is something entirely different. You haven't lived till you've hit an open A chord on a dimed-out Hiwatt. Tone for days. You can ride the preamp gain high and the master low for a cool totally rad mid-70's midrangey roar, or you can ride the master high and preamp low for the cleanest glassiest tone you could imagine. This is a serious amp that goes to 11. Some people have trouble getting it to break up - either switch to a lower number of tube or try an overdrive pedal that works with the amp's natural distortion.

It's been dropped, kicked, smashed and my stack fell over once. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. It's impossible, impossible to harm it. It's built like a friggin' tank.

Never dealt with it - never had to (refer to above reference to indestructability) (though seeing as how it's 25 years old I doubt it's under warranty)

This is without a doubt the most kick-ass amp I've ever heard. If your notes ever get lost in the mix, it has to be you because this amp is serious, serious. It's very, very, very loud and a lot cleaner than most. Kind of like AC/DC - the tone is actually quite clean, and that's what makes it seem so loud and huge. Adding more distortion makes things lose character and body until it sounds like a Peavey Rage.