Hiwatt S50LC

All tube combo, 50 watts, effect send/return, line out, external speaker jack, 2 inputs, one clean, one dirty. 2 EL 34 tubes for driving poweramp.
Made in the USA (early 90s). Has all features you need. Build very well.
Use it live and in studio.

Over all: Awesome sound. But it needs a little time to get in there.
If you find out the sweet spot between the master and the the gain knob, here it is: PURE HIWAT SOUND!
Use a strat with the clean sound and you will cry,
take a gibson and enter a little more gain: is rocks!
It sounds very raw and brittish. Different from Fender and Marshall.
It??s bloody loud....
The best of all: you can get your very own sound.

It never has broken , or blown up. it??s a HIWATT.

It??s a hiwatt, remember?

I??ve been playing for 16 years and I had a Hiwatt DR 103 before. Sound as good and not very different.
You don??t see that Hiwatt very often , so everybody wonders about that amp.
I would buy it again, ??cause it??s worth every cent.

Mid to late 80's American made. It is a great little package overall, but as a longtime HIWATT 50watt head and 4-12" cabinet user, this amp has is few bricks short! Effects loop is nice (I don't use) but the master volume is a MAJOR problem. It works somehow, but offers a pathetic compromise in tone and volume. No matter how much I "tweak with the gain and master setting, it just doesn't deliver "the sound" I thiunk the best way to get this amp "there" is to crank it, get the earplugs, and use another amp in a split for a clean sound. If you want a cleansound, better get ready to spend the better part of your adult lifehood twistin' chickens to get there with this one! The Hiwatt may be in this amp somewhere, but it certainly is elusive. God, why did I sell my 70's setup to a friend (he said he would sell back when I gigged again; I should have known better!) At least. I still have my Ampeg VT-22 for alternative ear damage!

Strats work.... This Amp is the Holy Grail! Different guitar, differnt challenges My 1977 Guild Starfire V works really good with this amp It seems kinda bassy, which is a surprise for a 1-12" combo! weird

It seems to be rugged and reliable. I take care of my gear though.

Hello...... This is a bastard HIWATT

It works, but the sound is elusive! I would not recommend buying this amp if you want versatility! Still, there iS some SERIOUS voltage lurking in this beast; for a certain style (loud and aggressive without the weight) it could be OK.

Addenum: I have received e-mail from the people at the new HIWATT company (Fernandez) who say they will service and supply parts for old HIWATTs.

Like most typical HIWATTs, this amp has two main features: LOUD and LOUDER. Its a 50W combo single channel tube amp with 2 EL34 power tubes and a Celestion speaker. Its a late 80's American made model. It has an effects loop, but unlike earlier HIWATTs, the electronics are mounted on a PC board. I was one of the last made with the old style partridge transformer.

This amp sounds GREAT! The tone of the amp makes up for any shortcomings in this area. Its pretty noisy and doesn't have a wide range of different sounds. This amp gives a really nice, warm, brilliant distorted tone that would sound good in almost any genre of music.

Unfortunately, this particular amp of mine seems to be very prone to breaking down... Additionally, parts are incredibly hard to find (i.e. Partridge Transformers). Care must be taken to ensure that the electricity from the wall outlet doesn't drop or spike. Therefore, this amp is probably best suited for studio work only.

Customer support for old HIWATTs is virtually non-existant. Fortunately, I was able to do some minor repairs my self because its a relatively simple amp. I have had it in Dave Funk's shop in Nashville. He was the only person in the entire US that would even look at it at the time. He did some repairs and some modifications and it came out sounding better than ever!

This amp sounds so good that I'd probably get another if I could find one. This is the only one I've ever seen. I would love to hear from any one else who owns one.