Hiwatt DR-103

All the features that you need. Balls and TONE. If your a sissy and you can't live without preamp distortion, then its not for you. If you like to use fuzz boxes and boutique effects and you want them to sound the best that they possibly can then this is all you'll need to rule the world.

Henious is the first word that comes to mind when I think of my Hiwatt. These things are great if like I said, you use fuzz boxes and you like to neutralize the first 3 or so rows of your audience. If your that kind of guy, then this amp with make you sound absolutely enormous and louder than most people will ever need to. I'm the type of guy who wants to make shit blow up when I play guitar, but even I don't turn this thing up past 5. You can feel the air move past you when you stand in front of this amp and hit a fat power chord. Without fuzz boxes or slaving to another hiwatt, you can't make this thing distort unless it is your speakers are giving out.

I bought mine used and had it completely rebuild to orginal specs by ASA Audio in Dallas, Texas when I lived there. My Hiwatt is a '72 and it won't give up. Hiwatt...you can't bust em.

I've never dealt with the real Hiwatt. I emailed Fernandes (current owner and distributer of Hiwatt) when I was in search of the date of birth for my Hiwatt. They never even emailed me to tell me that they couldn't find the info that I needed. It makes me question whether I would ever even buy a new one from them. You can email some of the cool British sites that specialize in Hiwatts and they can give you some info on the old ones. Thats how I found out when mine was made. Fernandes though, they can lick my ass cause I emailed them more than a few times so its not like my question slipped through the cracks or anything

Over all I'd say that this amp is THE SHIT!!! I don't ever compromise my sound and I spare no expense, so when a piece of gear makes it into my arsenal of weapons it is a achievement. If it was lost or stolen, I would first go get shit faced drunk cause I would seriously be depressed. It would be like losing a testacle or something. After the mourning period was over I would buy another Hiwatt of the same vintage and move on with my life. I've had Marshalls, I've had Mesa Boogies. This thing makes my Marshall sound like faggot shit and even though I don't like to talk trash about mesa boogie, I would say that my Hiwatt sound considerably better. Nothing else compares to flat out Hiwatt. Its like the Hemi Dodge Challenger of British amplifacation. Hiwatt is God.

The front panel includes 2 inputs: Bright and Normal. Each input has its own preamp volume control. The Bright input utilizes both its own and the normal channel's preamp gain stages and therefore both the normal and bright preamp volume controls contribute to the bright channel's tone. The tone controls, which are shared for both channels, consist of Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence. And then there is the ever important Master Volume. On the back of the amp there are 2 speaker outputs and an impedance selector for 4, 8 & 16 ohms. The circuit utilizes 4 12AX7 tubes in the preamp section and 4 EL34 tubes for the power amp. Older DR vintage Hiwatts are built with all point-to-point hand wiring. The later DR models used a printed circuit board for some portions of the circuit and hand-wiring for the rest.

This is the real reason I love Hiwatts. The way I use the amp is turning the Master Volume, Treble, Mid, and Presence on Full Out (that's more than 11 for you Spinal Tap fans), and the Bass, Bright and Normal volumes each on roughly 2/3'rds. I attenuate the wave of volume this would normally create through a Marshall Power Break. To me this is the best setting - great for all kinds of overdrive or spanky semi-clean tones. I'm not a fan of knob twiddling on amps (too many choices gives me option anxiety). I prefer to adjust the tone by using the volume control, and pickup combination, on the guitar and varying picking/fingering styles and feels to achieve dynamics.
If you like to twiddle the knobs you can achieve quite a range of tonal variations - much more than a Marshall - because the tone section comes before the gain circuit. However, the tone controls, as in most tube amps, become less sensitive the higher you have the master volume cranked. Personally, I probably wouldn't play through a Hiwatt if I couldn't crank it full blast through an attenuator though because at low master volume levels (less than around 6) the type of distortion the amp produces is kind of harsh and buzzy.
Many people remark on how clean Hiwatts sound. That must be the way they sound at master volume levels of less than, say, 5 because at full blast through the Bright channel (through the Power Break - or not) the amp pumps out a thick, sweet, woody, rich tone with lots of sustain and easy feedback. It's great for fans of hard rock who like a thick tone with rich mids and a singing tone (think something along the lines of Joe Satriani's "Flying in a Blue Dream" solo tones). For instance, using the Bright input with the guitar's volume control set to around 4 the overdrive level is about the same as a Marshall Plexi that is on full blast. At around 1.5 on the guitar volume it cleans right up and makes a nice bright spanky tone ? though it is highly responsive to changes in picking style. With the guitar volume on 10 the Hiwatt's overdrive level is as thicker and richer than any of the new hi-gain amps I've ever played through. A lot of that is probably due to the fact that I'm using power amp overdrive instead of preamp overdrive which tends to be buzzier and much less dynamic. It loses something in terms of headroom when it's running full blast, but in my experience it gives significantly better note definition than a Marshall amp. The Normal channel gives a very tight crunchy sound at full volumes - great for rock rhythm guitar work.

A few weeks ago one of my Hiwatts developed a problem with the power switch. It seems it doesn't want to turn off - go figure. This is the first problem I've ever had with any of them - not bad for a 20+ year old amp. I'm sure it will be quite simple to replace the toggle switch. Other than that I've had no problems with the 3 Hiwatt heads I currently own. The craftsmanship of these amps is really great. Check out http://www.audiobro.u-net.com/ for a picture of the insides of a Hiwatt amp with the point-to-point wiring. Very neat and tidy.

I have no experience with the current support you'll get from the current owner of the Hiwatt name: Fernandes Guitars. They are producing re-issues of these original designs for a tremendous price.

I'm going to give these old beasts an overall rating of 10 because they're the only amps I've played through that satisfy my particular tonal desires. I love the sound they produce at full volume and that's the most important thing to me. If I were in a pop band and I needed a huge range of sounds I would be less enthusiastic, but I'm more interested in getting one unbelievably great tone for hard-rock and lead-guitar sounds than in almost, but not quite, reproducing a zillion different sounds at the flick of a switch. I have a simple setup: plug straight into the amp (no effects pedals), crank everything up full-out and blast out beautiful rich singing tone and for that purpose this amp is the only thing that has satisfied me.

The Hiwatt is an all tube, no-frills single channel amp. It has 4 inputs (Hi and low for both Normal and Brill(iant) channels. Each has it own volume control. If you patch Normal to Brill, you can use both preamps. There is no effects loop and no reverb. Even with limited controls, this amp is very versatile. The tone controls are extremely sensitive, the most variations I've ever heard. The amp has more than enough power but lacks a real distortion channel (Gain). Reverb or an effect loop would have been nice. I've used this amp at home and in clubs for many years -- it has always performed very well.

This amp has only one sound -- LOUD. If you've ever stood in front of a Hiwatt through a 4x12 you know what I'm talking about. This is the cleanest amp you could ever play out of. If you turn all controls on 10, the amp is still clean. This amp is really punchy. It seems to cut through unlike Marshalls that come across sounding like mosquitos (thin). If you want distortion, you better bring your own ... the amp doesn't have any. Any tube preamp will do. I use a Les Paul Custom, SG, V, and an EDS-1275 as well as various Strats (Single coil and Humbucker equipped) and they all sound great. Just adjust the tone (bass, middle, treble) to suit the guitar. You can get any tone you want.

No Problems at all. I hauled it around for 7 years when I played clubs. I've had it now for 13 years. Never had a problem. Even dropped it once. Still no problems. This amp is built like a tank. If you open it up and look at the way it was made, the point to point wiring is a work of art. I wish all amps were built with the craftsmanship that this amp has. I changed all 8 tubes once.

The Hiwatt company, now owned by Fernandez Guitars, has changed hands at least 3 times since my amp was built. Getting any real cutsomer service is impossible. Theres no way to trace the serial number for year/model design variations, limited, if any, orginal schematics available and no "Factory" service. I believe the new Hiwatt amps (which are nothing like my mid-'70's original) are serviced through Fernandez. No experience with Fernandez.

I would definately buy another one. (I'll never sell the one I have) You just don't see this kind of craftsmanship anymore. The only comparable amps are the VHT Pitbulls. They are the only thing that even comes close. I now run stereo with the Hiwatt as my punchy clean tone and my 100W Mesa/Boogie MK-IIB for the distortion tone ... what an awesome setup !.

Traditional British amp from the early 70s. 2 channels, Normal and Bright. Each channel has its own Gain control and two inputs, High and Low. Tone controls are common to both channels, usual Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence to add high end sparkle. One Master Volume control. On the back it has a voltage selector switch for all common voltages around the world and an impedance selctor switch for 4, 8, and 16 ohms as well as 100volt line. No channel switching and no FX loops. This is a 'plug in and go' amp, all controls are from the guitar. This may restrict some people but its fine for me.

The clean sound from hell! The amp itself is very quiet with very low hiss. It is incredibly loud and incredibly clean. It is possible to overdrive the pre-amp but it is an unpleasant buzzy type of distortion. Much better is to overdrive the power amp. This is done by whacking the Master up full and adjusting the channel Gain control, then the amp sings. I use an early 70s Telecaster and for banging out chords it is unbeatable. The tone controls are excellent, very smooth in operation and give a wide range of sounds. This is not a heavy metal amp, it's far too clean for that, but for full tilt prog rock it is unbeatable - standing in front of one of these on full cry makes you realise why Pete Townsend liked them. On that basis I give it a score of :

This amp was bought in 1971. It has had one repair in 25 years of serious gigging (although the last 6 have been rather more sedate), a failed blocking cap in about 1973. Other than new tubes, it has worked flawlessly since. Truly dependable amp.

It was a one year warranty, but I never had to deal with cutomer support. The one thing that went wrong, I phoned Hylight Electronics - the then owner of the mark and they pretty much nailed the fault over the phone straight away. This was 1973 customer support! Yikes! So, other than contact with the now closed manufacturer, I've never had call to use the services of the new owners of Hiwatt.

Well, I don't think I'd pay the price being asked for them now! Would I buy again? Possibly, although at times I crave a little more versatility however I wouldn't sacrifice that clean tone for anything and I haven't heard anything to match 'that sound' when its in full pelt - even today's amps seem to lack that 'something' when the clean channel is cranked. Set against the fact that I paid 80 pounds for it (about $120) all those years ago and its never failed me it has to qualify for a: 10