Hiwatt Hi-Gain 50 2x12 Combo

This is one of the new Hi-gain series without all of the bells and whistles. No loop, no reverb, just two channels and channel switching. It's 50 tube watts and like all Hiwatts LOUD, you could play anywhere with this amp.
It's kind of Spartan. However, it's been my experience that the more buttons, knobs, loop features, etc... those worse the amp sounds. Granted this is an over simplification since there are a handful of amps that do have great tone but also a lot of features. However, none of them sound like this amp.
The amp has all I need but I tend to purist tone wise. If like bells & whistles, lights behind your tubes (Engl), and other gadget amps you should look elsewhere.

The amp essentially has 4 voices with some push pulls and separate gains (plus the Hi-Gain channel has its own master) but shares the EQ. Channel one can be Crystal Clean with the preamp turned turned down. Turn the preamp up and you get into Pete Townsend land. Very in your face and punchy.
The second channel is tricky. If you try to dial this in like you would a Marshall it's going to sound flabby, muddy, and basically like crap. If you spend some time playing through the amp while rotating the preamp knob you will find that it has some very sweet spots.... dimed out on 10 is NOT a sweet spot since this has some kind of serious gain stacking.
With the Hi-gain channel's preamp knob in the pushed-in position you can get a beefy classic rock ala late 70's early 80's. When you pull the hi-gain knob out you get Hiwatt's highest gain channel.
If you are looking for gain like the Engl Powerball, well you should buy one of those! I'm not saying you couldn't do metal with amp, heck with the right pedal you can do all kinds of things...
I think this amp is better suited to hi-gain hard rockers, classic rockers, indy rockers, alternative, country, even jazz (this has some excellent clean sounds since it has the same circuit as their Custom 100's.
I am using some Tele's, Strats, Les Paul's, Gibson 339, Hill Custom guitars, etc... every one of the sound excellent through this amp. The extra gain is nice for the single coils. I've found all I need to do is roll back the gain a bit for the humbucker guitars and it's great. The amp keeps it's own voice and the guitar keeps it's voice. This amp very full sounding. Fat and ballsy. I normally use closed back cabinets since they have more low-end. But this amp sounds darn near a 4X12.

I've had the amp about a month. Like all amps I tweak them a bit by trying different preamp tubes. This amp came with all JJ's loaded. I put in some of the new Mullards in the preamp sections and some JJ KT-77's. It went from great to killer.....
The amp is hand built in England, it's not all hand wired though...
The cabinet is 18 ply marine grade Baltic Birch. Heavy is understatement. You could whack this thing with a sludge hammer and it would hold up. It's construction is superb. The transformers on this thing are about 10X the size of a Marshall head. Even tough it uses a PCB board it seems very sturdy and thick. Looks like quality parts through out the amp. I'll have to wait and see how it holds up before I can give this a number.

You're probably on your own here. Hi-watt has had some management problems over the years. It seems that they are trying to get back into the game. Their web presence is pathetic. These are built like tanks, and sound very, very, good, but if you are type that has to know that everything is going to be taken care of perfectly, my advise would be to take a look at their website. I've had tube amps for years and do the basic service myself. I also know some fine techs that can fix about anything so I'm not concerned.
Hiwatt needs to get off their ass, put some sound clips on the web, get all the manuals up in pdf, answer their emails in a timely fashion. This is the 21st century, if you want to compete you need to get with the program. One of things that helped me decide to buy my Bogner was all the sound clips on their website.

I've been playing 28 years both professionally and semi-pro (now). I use this amp with an Orange Rockerberb 50 and 2x12 cabinet. At larger venues I use the Orange with the 2x12 and an Orange 4X12. I also run the Hiwatt into a 4x12 while using the 2x12 open back as well. Like all tube amps when you get into a room where you can turn these up it's tonal bliss. The Orange is mid heavy, the Hiwatt has super low end and high end sparkle. While is sounds good on its own, mating it with the Orange is just unreal. At very small venues I use my Bogner Metropolis with the Hiwatt.
I love the sound of the amp, its very in your face and punchy. The distortion has a nice clean element to it while being full and chunky.

For guitars I'm using a mix of things depending on what I feel like dragging along that day. I try to only take 3 or 4 guitars. I have a Gibson 339, Gibson Les Paul w/ P90's, LP standard, Gibson Schenker flying V, Gibson 1275 Double-neck, Fender Yngwie Strat, Fender USA Ash, Tele and a Fender USA B-Bender Tele.
My main guitars are Hill Custom guitars which I have 3 with one being a Strat clone and the others his newer Raster body design but custom painted and all that stuff. I'm featured on his "Who Play's Hill on their website. Awesome guitars.
All of my guitars sound great through this amp. Considering I got great deal on a new one of these, I couldn't be happier.