Product: Hiwatt SA112OL
Price Paid: USD 1150 USED
Submitted
08/26/2008
at
01:56pm
by
Scott
Features
:
9
Early 1980s Hiwatt 50-watt combo made by Biacrown. Two inputs (Bright and Normal), volume for each input, bass, midrange, treble, and presence controls and a master volume. The 12-inch speaker is a re-issue made by Fane for The Audio Brothers; it looks to have about a 20-ounce magnet. Instead of EL34 power tubes, this amp has KT77s from Gold Lion. I believe the "OL" in the model designation stands for "overload" as it has a little more gain than the models that preceeded it.
I give this a "9" only because I think a full/half power switch would be useful. I'm planning on having one of these installed. I run the master volume pretty low; if I turn it up, the amp will get loud enough to knock the fillings from my teeth!
Sound Quality
:
10
Fantastic sounding amp! I like to use a Y-adapter to plug into both inputs. Keeping the volume controls at about 12:00 gives that great punchy, clanging bell sound sound from "What I Like About You". Turning the volume contols up to about 2:00 moves the amp into The Who territory with equal parts punch, chime, and bark. Cranking the volume controls goes beyond traditional Hiwatt gain and gives about as much overdrive as a mid-1970s master volume Marshall, but with the signature Hiwatt tone in-tact. Very nice!
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
I want to do a little myth-busting here.
Some years ago I owned a 1977 two-input Hiwatt "Bulldog" combo (the people at The Hiwatt Story website told me at the time that it might have been somewhat of a transitional model from the four-input versions). It had the traditional turret board wiring and Partridge transformers. But to get the magic tone, the master volume needed to be set fairly high.
My current Hiwatt, the "OL" model, has printed circuit boards and something other than Partridge transformers. Yet both amps sound and feel like Hiwatts. The main difference between the two is that the "OL" model sounds great even when I keep the master volume down. And the extra gain means I can get a great singing lead tone without using pedals. (Of course, if I dial down the dirt down to the more traditional Hiwatt levels, pedals sound great with this amp.)
While both combos sounded fantastic, I'd say I prefer the "OL" model to the "Bulldog". The extra gain makes it a little more versatile.
