Hiwatt Maxwatt G100 112R Combo

Two channels, but with sort of a third one, due to the way you can switch them, good verb, lots of options at the back for plugging in your footswtch. Very good eq. Loud for a combo, works well in pub gigs. The contour control is quite neat, as you can color the tone if the amp quite subtly, but you have to watch how you use it. Nasty feedback can occur. It's a sort of filter control for the gain on one channel. Nice, but be careful.

I'm using this for quite a few styles. It has a great, big clean sound, and a lot of options for crunchy sounds and good heavy distortion. I play in a punk band and a country band and this amp does both pretty well. OK, it's not going to give you the Dave Gilmour or Pete Townsend sound of a Hiwatt stack, but it's a great little combo with a tranny sound that is crisp and warm with a load of options and plenty volume. I really like the way it doesn't try to sound like a tube amp. It's a crisper, dryer sound which I happen to love.

I really don't know. I bought S/H and have used it for 6 months. Sems fine.

No idea.

I really like this amp. I suppose it's a bit unfashionable, being an out and out transistor amp that doesn't try to sound like anything else. But it has a great, loud, warm sound. The contour control is really good idea which works well (most of the time)
I've use it live a load of times with none of the feedback problems described by the other reviewers, but the contour control, like any filter, can cause it to howl like a hog if you're not careful. But hey, you are careful, aren't you?
Sound 8/10, VFM 9/10 if you can find one for a couple of hundred quid.

Two channels, but hidden in the overdrive/distortion channel are two distortions (one with a contour control, one without). Three band EQ for clean channel and apart from the contour on the overdrive/distortion channel, same there too. The contour control seems more suited to metal style riffing, but thats not my thing, so it wasn't used.
Apart from this, it's just a bog standard amp.

When I tried this in the shop, I was really taken by the pure clean sound to it. I went for a Hiwatt mainly as i'm quite a big Pink Floyd fan, but I was also after it as it was a bit removed from the whole "Get a Marshall" trail of thought. However, when I got it home, and to gig level, the amp makes a horrible Hissing sound, which you can't get rid of via any means. I've got Kinmans in my Tele, so it certainly wasnt any single-coil issues and tried it all over the house, thinking it could be some electrical problem, but still to no avail. This hissing was greatly noticable on the CLEAN channel when the channel volume was barely on 1, and the master volume on 2. This is totally un-acceptable for anyone wanting to record or even just have a pure sound. I'm not even going to mention what it was like on the overdrive channel. I was really let down. I'm hopefully returning it this monday for a replacement amp.

Have only had it about 9 months, and apart from the wretched hissing, it seems pretty ok. I noticed that the build quality was a bit slap-dash though. I have a fender champion 30, and compared to the HiWatt, the fender is built like a MESA!

The HiWatt sites are really not friendly to anyone, at least thats what i felt. I had to contact someone from Tanglewood, and it took them like 3 weeks to reply to my question, which was regarding the hissing sound i mentioned, they said that they couldn't get hold of their tech, so just take it back to the shop i got it from. I wasn't satisfied with that at all

I've been playing nearly 4 years now, and although im no steve vai or anything, i think i certainly know my gear. I've used numerous effects over the years and i've used a few amps, whilst owning a Fender champion 30 and this HiWatt G100. If it were stolen, i would just happily claim on insurance and buy a Marshall ATV 50W/ 100W.
I was really let down by this amp. I know that it was technically a budget amp, but there are plenty of amps available for a fraction of this price that are much better sounding and just overall more pleasing than this.
If i had the money, i'd easily buy a Dave Gilmour sig HiWatt, and im 100% sure i would be chuffed with that. Unluck though HiWatt, i really think you should recall this amp!

UPDATE FROM PREVIOUS REVIEW
SEE BELOW

Ok, i feel the need to update my previous review.
This amp is rubbish in a live gig situation.
Im afraid, that after having a great time using this as a practice and studio amp, i finally had the opportunity to take it to a big-ish gig, and it just fell apart.
The sound (which is nice and earthy when low) is just thin and watery when it gets loud. It shreiks in a horrible way.... But worst of all is the awful loud feedback hum you get as soon as the volume goes above about above 3. It becomes unusable.
Everyone complained about it (what's that horrible noise... oh, it's your amp, thats terrible.... turn it off).
Im really sad about this, it was doing so well at first, and sounded great in my room and in the studio, but im afraid this amp cannot be used live. I cannot stress enough how bad this amp is in a gig situation........

Well, after i found out how bad it sounded up loud, i tried to see if it was because of something loose or broken. I started to look in the back, and little bits of wood (rough cut flat square shapes) fell out. Then i spotted that the power socket wasn't even attached properly. Not good.........

Im really sorry Hiwatt. I wanted this to be a great amp. When it's down low and your jamming in your room or studio it works well, it has a nice clean tone with an earthy bite to it, but can also be mellow and sweet, just like the real Hiwatt's. owever, turn it up and....ouch ouch ouch.
I am not exagerating, this amp is totally useless for live work. It sounds really thin and shrill, notes just cut off, no sustain or even tone to the sound, just a hideous high shreik. If the feedback problem could be fixed it may be just about possible to turn it up, but as it is every time you hit a note - one second later a loud overpowering BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM appears behind it. I tried it with 3 different guitars, and both with and without effects. Sorry Hiwatt

Made in 2005. This is one of the new Hiwatt range. There are apparently several "Hiwatt" companies floating around, though they all distribute ranges of the same amps, all made in the UK.
This is a 100Watt transistor amp with one 12" speaker.
There are two channels, clean and overdrive, both with volume, bass, mid and treble. The overdrive channel has two types of distorion and a contour control. Master volume and reverb complete the controls.

Ok, I am not the sort of person who claims everything is either Absolutely amazing, or complete rubbish. I will try and be honest and balanced in all the reviews i do.
I currently own a line6 Spider 2, a Peavey Renown and have owned loads of Marshall's and various other amps over the years. I decided that the Spider didnt have just the right guts to it when playing live. My old line6 Spider is a good amp, it sounds quite nice, a bit too processed though. I though long and hard about what i want from an amp and decided i just wanted a simple amp, which could produce a nice, well rounded clean tone at volume. I never use distortion or any effects from the amp, i have my Boss GT6 and my EMG pickups to colour my sound, so i just want an amp with a great clean tone for me to add my sounds too.
This is it..............
The difference when i did a straight comparison with the Spider and my Peavey was really obvious. This Hiwatt has a really rich sound to it, its loud and its quite responsive for a transistor amp. The distortion channel is average, but i wont use that anyway. The reverb is nice.
I use a combination of USA Strats and Strat Plus alongside my Starfield and yamaha guitars, and the Strats really sing through this amp.
This is a great amp, you can actually hear those old Hiwatt tones, I dont know how they did it, but it has that classic British sound.

As yet i dont know. I have only had the amp a short time. When i bought it there were a few loose screws and the power cable socket seems a bit dodgy, but nothing major to worry about. Build quality seems ok, and its really heavy and solid.
It looks as though it will last a long time. I will give it a score based on my limited experience so far.

The Hiwatt websites are very confusing. There seems to be about 3 different companies all selling various ranges of these amps. Obviously the main company is the one selling the classic Hiwatt custom 100 heads and the Pete Townsend and Dave Gilmour signature series models.
There are no shortage of contact numbers and email addresses, and my local guitar store will sort this if i have a problem. These amps belong to the range on the Hiwatt.info website.
RElatively happy so far.

I play in a Pink Floyd tribute band (The Surrogate Pink Floyd Show). David Gilmour is my guitar hero and i love his tone. Dave has used Hiwatts in his rig since the early 70's. Many of my favourite artists have been Hiwatt fans for years. I have been playing for 17 years and have recently become really interested in classic tones and improving my stage sound. I didnt expect this amp to sound like a Hiwatt Custom 100 valve amp (which cost over #1300 new) but hoped that it would give me a little bit of those great tones. And..... It does, it was even better than i hoped. This is a well made, great little amp; Loud, warm, responsive, uncluttered, simple and full of rich tones. I really like it so far. I am not sure if this would suit any metal heads out there, and it might not be loud enough to gig on its own without miking through a PA, but there is still plenty volume there. I still find the quality of the sound quite suprising, this is the best transistor amp i have ever played with, and it surpasses many of the valve amps too, it blows away my old Marshalls.
Try it out, i think it's great, certainly for the type of sound i like (70's classic rock sounds, Pink Floyd etc...) then this is a great value, great sounding amp.