Hiwatt Lead 50R

HIWATT LEAD 50R HEAD
- x2 EL34 power section, x3 12AX7 in the preamp section
- Made in UK in 1986
- TWO (2) Footswitchable Channels: RHYTHM (Controls: Volume, Bass, Treble) and LEAD (Controls: Gain, Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble) with Global PRESENCE and MASTER VOLUME
- Switchable Spring Reverb
- FX loop
- 8/16 ohm switchable power output
- Line Out with adjustable Volume Level Send

This amp NEEDS a footswitch because without it, you're stuck with the Lead Channel. I improvised mine by using a stereo PL jack and alligator clips to short the ground and hot of one channel to turn the Rhythm and Lead channels on and off.

This amp is LOUD but has a very nice breakup tone midway up.

The RHYTHM CHANNEL is GLORIOUS. Whatever guitar you use, a Tele, Strat, ES335, SG or Les Paul, it works wonders! It has that Pete Townshend (The Who) and Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) tone in an instant. All you need is crank it up or crank it up more. I prefer maxing out the master volume and adjusting the Rhythm Channel volume to taste. This is perhaps the heart of the design of this amp: The Rhythm Channel which is the ultimate 60s/70s Hiwatt spanking hard rock tone. At low levels, it sounds very chimey with a tad tighter low end which sounds like a cross between Marshall Plexi clean and Vox AC30 clean.

The LEAD CHANNEL is not something to write home about though. I don't use it much, not even for lead work. It is very much like a DS-1 placed in front of the amp. The diode-clipping circuit somewhat makes the amp so nasal and non-dynamic. Usable in low volumes (say you can't crank your amp) but not tone to die for.

The glorious distortion of this amp is dependent on the power section. You get it by cranking and twiddling with the Master Volume. Not the modern preamp-saturation type. Not Brutal... more like Raunchy 70s rock. Use a high gain pedal to get metal sounds out of it and you might get some Mastodon-type distortion.

I use the Lead 50R through a Hughes and Kettner 4x12 with Celestion G12M-25 Greenbacks and sometimes through a Randall 4x12 with Celestion Seventy 80 speakers. With the Greenbacks, you get earlier breakup tone and raunchier high mids.

The Noise floor (hum) is quite audible even in clean tone situations.

Now, the REVERB. It sounds so lush, and I would admit it does better than some Fenders! It doesn't sound boingy. It's very rich and lush. A Fender and Rivera rival!

So far, I haven't encountered any problem.

I have been playing for more than 16 years and I play a lot of blues-influenced rock, fusion, and in my early days I played a lot of metal. I do recording for a living and I own several amps namely a Randall RM100 MTS head with 6 different modules, a Fender Bassman 135, a 1974 Marshall Super Bass Plexi, and have gone through a Mesa DC2, a Fender Stage 185 and Laney LC50.

If this amp got lost, I'd most definitely buy another one. Or if funding allows, I'd go for a DR504.

This amp is like a DR504 + extras. Cool Hiwatt facade too. Nothing to regret about buying this amp.

I just wish the Lead Channel was voiced more organically...

I orignally submitted a review on this amp back in 2001. I still have this amp and feel the same way about it (love it and still get comments from others how great it sounds), but I'm placing this second review so others that have this amp or those about to buy it get some better input on the Lead channel. I originally was not happy with the Lead channel, and read that others were not happy with it either. But after years of playing around with it, I think I found a way to make it sound good. To think I was ready to try to have it modded to get a second "normal" channel!

I have always used the Normal channel to get the clean Hiwatt high and low punch with the Master all the way up and slowly increasing the Normal volume to get to the desired loudness level, then use a Rat distortion to get the heavier sound when needed. But what I have found is on the Lead channel that if I turn the Lead volume, Master volume, Treble, and Bass all the way up, the Middle at about 9:00 (~1/4 of full), and the start with the Overdrive level all the way down, you get a similar sound as the Normal channel but just a little more grit without it sounds transistorized! And as you keep upping the Overdrive it gets you that Hiwatt crunch normally associated with high volumes at lower club volumes. Now adjust the Treble, Middle, and Bass to taste. and I still use the Rat when I need it overdriven more. I hope this helps some of you out there.

Still trouble free after all these years! Only the one accidented previously mentioned and a retube and bias.

N/A

I'll still say, this amp is awesome. Some people frown on it because it's PC board, but their missing the boat on a really good amp if that's what is holding them back. And that's fine, because if I ever lose this one, or ever want another one, I can get it at a reasonable price!

early-mid 80s L50R 1x12 Fane combo - I give this a 7 only because I find the reverb just ok, and the overdrive channel not really useable - it just sounds kind of thin compared to the clean channel once it starts breaking up. Another annoyance: the amp seems to default on the overdrive channel, so if you don't have the footswitch to plug in and change channel, you're stuck with the overdrive.

it sounds great - I play an '04 SG with whatever stock pick ups are in there, and it's great to be able to get the crunchy power chords and then hit a couple high notes and hear them ring out just as powerful. I get a bit of a hum out of it, but my guess is that's due more to my questionable electrical set up. The clean channel breaks up around 5 (rhythm input) but you can get loud clean tones by cranking up the master vol. and it definitley holds its own cutting through a loud band situation. The clean channel breaks up it initially sounds kind of tinny, but once the tubes get warmed up it becomes a nice, very clean, warm crunch, but sharper than I initially expected (after regularly playing through a twin reverb). I don't think I'd go back to the twin - I feel like the Hiwatt distortion is more mid-rangey and seems more defined, where the twin's break up is more muddy.

I tested out a 50w DR504 w/a 4x12 (the same amp in head-cab form) side by side an orange AD30 and the hiwatt sounded much, much better. (there were some high frequency hums in the orange that immediately counted it out for playing and definitley recording which made it seem pretty much useless).

If anything the L50R has kept me on the lookout for a 100w/4x12 set up...

Well, I got it used, and it had a rough time in the mail - the inside of the speaker needed to be re-attached, and just recently the back of the speaker with the label fell off, but I think that's mostly due to age and loud playing. It hasn't yet dropped out - while playing the twin the twin would sometimes not be clear enough (or loud enough) for me to hear - no problems with the Hiwatt.

heh. I don't think they're around anymore. If I have a problem, the guys on the Hiwatt forum are the first place I'd go for help.

I've played mostly 70's-80's Fender guitar amps, and I was looking for a change of tone. If it was stolen or lost I'd be bummed because it's a great amp in a small package, but would start looking for a Hiwatt 100w/4x12 set up and give up on the combo idea, it's nice, but now that I've seen what the Hiwatts can do, I want more. I love that it's incredibly loud and crunchy for a 1x12 but I really don't think there was any reason for them to include an overdrive channel -

Very rare amp. Hard to find info on it. Auditioned it and knew it was the one after much searching.

I play this amp with my 1958 reissue les paul-- no effects. It just rocks. I auditioned Marshall JCM 2000s stack and combos which I didn't feel had near the depth of growl that this amp has. I like more of a Jimmy Page guitar sound-- this amp achieves that without having to put it up to 10.

No issues thus far.

Not really applicable.

My Hiwatt Lead 50R was made in the UK around 1988. Hiwatt amps and cabs are mainly AP, all purpose, and this guitar cab performs well as a bass amp, which is what I use it for. I play in a band doing mainly Blues Brothers and rock covers, but play 70's UK punk band 'The Stranglers' in my own time as I love the power and aggression of JJ Burnel, the bands bassist, so the amp is very versatile. It has a 'lead' channel, with separate volume, distortion, bass, mid and treble knobs, but I find this channel very weak and thin, and never use it. The 'rythm' channel, however, is very grunty and ballsy, as all Hiwatt amps should be. It has master 'presence' and 'reverb' knobs, but again I never use them for bass. The channels can be contolled by a footswitch. There are effects loop and line out jacks at the rear. The amp is switchable from 8 to 16 phms.

Guitarists can get great reverb and overdrive from this amp, and being only 50 watts the volume doesn't have to right up to get them. It gives me the ballsy aggressive bass sound I'm after, which is some achievement for an amp basically designed for guitar. It is the quietest amp I've owned...if my Steinberger bass didn't have a suspected bad earth it might be completely silent. I use 2 late 1960's Hiwatt 4x12 16 ohm bass cabinets, which complement this valve amp beautifully...rich warm tones...it actually made me a better player when I heard these tones for the first time after using Trace Elliott and Marshall bass amps and cabinets. The clean channel stays clean even at high volumes.

Hiwatt gear is as dependable as valve amps can get, and i use it without backup. It has never given me any trouble.

The Hiwatt company has changed hands so many times...but I've never had to use the support for this older model. When I was restoring one of my 1960's Hiwatt cabinet I needed new grill-cloth, and at first Hiwatt UK refused to sell me any, then quoted a ridiculous price for it, more than I paid for the cabinet.

I've been playing bass for around 10 years, and have never wanted to be a guitarist...I love those low tones. The only gear I have currently is my Steinberger XP-2, Korg DTR-1 rack tuner, my Hiwatt Lead 50R amp, and 2 4x12 Hiwatt cabinets...what else would I want? Maybe if it was all stolen I would try to find this amps big brother, the 200 watt monster, voiced particularly for bass. Only more Hiwatt bass 4x12 cabinets would do, and I might look for the Steinberger XL-2, the all plastic stick bass. I also love Fender Precisions...I've had 6 1970 USA's.

The L50R I have is the head only, not the 1 - 12 combo. I bought it new in '88, but I think it was probably on the store's floor for at least a year or two. It's all tube at about 50 to 65 watts and uses a PC board (not point to point). It has two channels, Rhythm and Lead. The Rhythm channel has volume, treble, bass, presence, reverb and master volume. The Lead channel has gain, volume, treble, middle, bass, and shares the presence, reverb and master volume with the Rhythm channel. It also has the power and stand-by rocker switches on front. On the back it has a switch for selecting 8 or 16 ohms and two speaker jacks, the footswitch jack, fuses, and effects loop, and a line out jack with a level pot. It defitinely has the vintage vibe with some extras over the vintage Hiwatt to give it some updates. It is a very versitile amp IF you have a distortion box. However, the effects loop doesn't seem to cut it well. It seems to rob you of some of the stand alone tone and mkes the amp a bit noisy, so I don't use it. The line out is a nice feature, but it too seems to make the amp hum much more if you run it to another amp, and of course, the sound is not quite the same as the cabinet when running to a PA.

The Rhythm channel is by far the best. I use the head through a early '70's Hiwatt 4 - 12 cabinet with the original Fane speakers. It gets that classic Townshend sound very well. I use it with the master volume all the way up and slowly increment up the channel volume. This puppy is loud and meaty, and stays pretty clean. I use a Rat distortion to get the heavier sounds so it gets you the best of both worlds. I play Rickenbackers, a Strat, and a Les Paul Deluxe (mini humbuckers) through it. The Rciks become very aggressive and not the old chime stuff (though the hints of it are there). The Strat becomes more stinging, and the Les Paul breaks up easier at lower volumes, again, most late '70's Townshend-like. The Lead channel is worthless. The overdrive is only good at low volumes, say for practicing, or totally cranked - no middle ground here. The Leac channel's tone has no Hiwatt vibe to me. I think it sounds pretty bad. And the switching of channels is so obvious it's really not usable. I've contemplated taking it to a tech and seeing if they can mod it to make another Rhythm channel out of it. However, no matter how poor the Lead channel is the Rhythm channel is strong enough to carry this amp.

I've only had the amp in the shop twice. Once for a loose connection on the effects loop that was causing it to cut out and the other due to a clumsy roadie. He set a can of cola on top of the amp while on, knocked it over and a mushroom cloud came out of the amp. The tech cleaned it up and only had to replace the power amp tubes and she's been fine since. Only concerns I have is that most people state about PC boards warping or whatever over time. But it's built strong.

I never had to us customer support or anything like that thanks to the amp's durability and an excellent local electronics repair shop.

I've been playing for over 20 years and this is the best sounding amp I have ever played and owned. I always get compliments on it's sound, especially with the Rickenbackers. If it were lost or stolen, I'd do my best to hunt one down. Because it is not truly vintage and uses a PC board, people have seemed to ignore them and you can get them still fairly inexpensive. My suggestion would be to buy it up if you see one. It gets you that vintage Hiwatt sound at a fraction of the price (thanks to the purists of point-to-point!)

See my earlier review.

flexible--I'll put a review of that together in the near future. Then we plugged in the old Hiwatt. Almost instantly, we were getting those old Pete Townshend type rhythm tones. The Lead channel, which I've never really cared for through the open-back 1-12 Fane sounded MUCH better through the closed 4-12, in fact, the both channels on the Hiwatt really shined through that cab--which is something to consider if you're checking out one of these amps. I should also point out that the Hiwatt was the noisiest amp in the room. Lotsa hum when your plugged in but not playing. The Plexi was noisy too, but as much so. You live with that on old amps.

I was getting some squeals and crap with the amp really maxed out in this test. Though this doesn't occurr at low to medium volumes. May just need some cleaning or new tubes. Note: I'm just starting to use this amp again--it has sat dormant for several years and it may need a tune up. I think I'll need to have it looked at again soon. Gotta pay off the Bogner first, though.

This amp is a "Lead 50R" (Model LC 50R). It's a two channel 50w combo with reverb and one 12" Fane 75w. A two button foot switch toggles between the channels and turns the reverb on and off. I think it was made in the mid 80s. It has a black grill cloth. I didn't know too many details about it until recently, but a guy on the "Hiwatt forum" helped me out. It's class A/B w/2 EL34 power tubes and 5 12AX7 tubes for preamp/driver/reverb duty. This combination gives it a very British sound. The reverb is the classic Accutronics spring type which gives the amp a great, "big" sound without sounding like a "surf tone" reverb. The tone controls seem to work well and produce the expected/desired changes. As for versatility, it's gives me a lot, but not everything I could imagine. The two channels are pretty different. Depending on the the situation, I've found you basically have to pick one channel and stick with it. Switching between the Lead and Rhythm channels via footswitch is not "subtle" enough to be practical within the context of one song. I haven't found a good way to ballance the volume differences between the two channels. Frankly I just use the Lead channel when practicing at low volume--it's perfect for that, and I use the rhythm channel when I play "out" with other muscians. I'll explain why in the "sounds" section. When I play out, and turn it up this amp screams. It is extremely loud for a 1x12. It can eaisly compete with just about anything volume wise. Where I used to live, it was rattling the grout out of the tile walls in my bathroom.

I play and old Les Paul through this amp, and the style of music I play is 70's hard rock Zeppelin, Purple, Sabbath, to 80's metal. This amp is really great for this kind of music. The Lead channel is best used for low volume practicing. As you turn it up, there's something about the sound that doesn't cut it. The Rhythm channel however, abosolutely screams, and the more you turn up, the better it gets! This channel is the real heart of the amp. When I turn it up, it gets that big Hiwatt sound--a real sweet, brown distortion, but cleaner, and with a bit more ring than an old Marshall. I get a fantastic tone out of this amp with my Paul. When I want to play a solo, I step on an old Ibanez tube screamer to kick it in the pants and I get a great Gary Moore Corridors of Power/Victims of the Future sound. When I use a Boss stereo chorus, I have no trouble getting any Alex Lifeson tone from Farewell to Kings through Moving Pictures. When I want to play clean at voulme, I generally back off the voulme at the guitar, but how well this works for anyone else may depend on the voulume pot in your guitar. Mine works gradually throughout the whole range. The clean sound, especially with the chorus on is great--not Fenderish clean. This amp does 80's metal OK, but it definetly leans more to the vintage sounds than the Metal. Simple fix--add a distortion pedal. I just leave the Tube Screamer on and it's close enough for me. I give the Rhythm channel a 10 for sound, the Lead channel maybe a 6 at high voulme--I really just don't fool with that.

I'm not going to rate the reliability because I'm semi retired and don't really subject it to the rigors of gigging. I just play with firends once in a while. I've had the amp for I think about 10 years, and I just had it in the shop a few months ago because something had gone wrong with the footswitch circutry. Turns out a nut had vibrated loose, ratlled around and shorted out that circut. Once reapaired, the amp has been a dream again.

Amp was used when I got it. I service it through a local amp guru, not a service center.

well. I recently blew the doors of a guy with a Strat and a Matchless, but I don't think the guy was going for the kind of tone I go for. This little amp has sure suited my needs perfectly. I certainly don't have a serious NEED for another amp. I highly recommend it. If you see one and have a chance to play though it check it out, you may be shocked at how good it sounds. And they're probably still pretty cheap compared to a modern alternative.