Hiwatt Studio/Stage MKII Head

This is a switchable 20w / 40w amplifier head made by Hiwatt. Hiwatt were made famous by the likes of Pete Townsend and David Gilmour to name but two legendary guitarists with legendary tones.

I believe this amp head was made in England in 2006. It is a very simple amp, not many features, which is EXACTLY what I wanted. IMHO an amp should have loads of widgets on it ??? anyway, on the front of the amp you have bass, treble, middle, gain, master volume ??? the gain dial can be pulled out to add extra boost if desired ??? this feature is not foot switchable though. A low input (less sparkle) and high input (very sparkly) jack sockets.

The rear of the amp as an ohm selector, two speaker out jacks, the 20w/40w switch and that???s pretty much it. No effects loop. A dead simple amp to use.

4 EL84???s and 4 ECC83???s and 1 ECC81 I believe are being used for tubes. Could be mistaken on the preamp tubes though but pretty sure that???s what they are.

A great amp to use effects with ??? you wont get grinding metal from this amp, but with a good quality overdrive/distortion pedal in the chain, the amp lays a beautiful solid foundation to which you can build your tonal desires.

Using this through a vintage 4x12 Hiwatt cab using Hiwatt branded speakers ??? pretty sure they are Fanes although they could easily be Celestions ??? not sure. Anyway???.

I mainly run this amp in the 40W setting as I feel it has a bit more depth than the 20w setting ??? 20w uses two out of the 4 power tubes ??? so what I am going to write applies to the 20w setting as well, except the 20w setting dirties up that little bit sooner???

Using a 2004 Fender Stratocaster, this amp with all the dials at 12 o???clock has a brilliant tone straight away. Full, sparkly (in the hi input setting), classic Stratocaster tones oozing through the cab. Amazing ??? you can easily gig straight away without even fine tuning the amp!

I usually put the gain around 2 o???clock and the master volume as loud as I can get away with, and it is very loud, but this amp is so responsive to playing dynamics and guitars.

If you chill out your playing it???s as clean as a nun at Easter. If you dig in hard on the guitar, the amp comes to life with that on-the-edge overdrive ??? fantastic. Very ballsy, but always retaining the tonal characteristic of the guitar that???s being used, which is a god send ??? unlike other amps I used which disguised my guitar tones when driven.

As mentioned previously, the gain dial can be pulled out to add a boost ??? this is lush, but I feel it was a bit much for playing a whole gig with ??? without the boost I felt I had more variety of tones on tap but playing dynamics etc ??? but the boost is absolutely beautiful and very full.

The amp is a great foundation for adding effects too. I use an overdrive, wah and delay and it???s brilliant. You could add heaps of effects to this amp. The initial tone is so good that it???s a joy to work with.

The hi input is very responsive and sparkly ??? it may be a bit much on the ears after a while if you only use this amp in your bedroom ??? but come gig situation, the hi input excels and you will have loads of people commenting on how good your tone is ??? if you are a Stratocaster player ??? seriously consider this amp head.

It???s quite a quiet amp, fairly heavy too.

As far as I???m aware this hand wired amp is built to military specs and is rock solid. Never let me down.

Emailed Hiwatt a couple of times about separate products and they have always emailed back within a couple of days. Seem pretty good to me.

Overall, if you are after a high gain amp ??? this isn???t it. If you are after an amplifier that has bags of tone, and a foundation to build on tone wise, this would be a brilliant starting point.

I thoroughly recommend this amp, especially if you play a Stratocaster. It sparkles, shines and gets dirty when needed. Very responsive, and I bet you wont stop smiling when your gigging with it.

This all tube amp was made in 2003 by Steve fiddler for Hiwatt UK. I had the opportunity to talk with him and he told me "I didn't build a Marshall!" and that's for sure. It's one of the most unique sounding amps I have ever played. It has two inputs, High and Low. Reverb, Master volume, Bass, Middle, Treble, and Gain with a pull boost. It has a switchable power output stage using EL84's and you can cut the power in half to 20 watts using only 2 of the EL84's. It has no effects loop and it is a pure linear Class A design.

I've played and 68 SG Special with P-90's, a 69 Strat, and a Gretsch 6120 through this amp, and it brings out tones that I had never heard in these guitars before. I've been a hired hand for the last five years, getting work when it comes along, so I play a variety of styles. Roots rock, loud rock'n roll, country rock. This amp can be used in many settings, but it is not a Marshall or a Mesa or a Fender. It has a lot of clean headroom-- Hiwatt clean, but pushed at higher volumes, and with the Gain Boost on, this amp blows a mean crunch through a 4X12 cabinet. The tone controls are extremely responsive. You dial in Treble you get Treble. You pull it back a bit and you hear a differnt sound. so it's versitility really comes from the excellent tone responce, the switchable output feature, and the Gain Boost. This is an extremely quiet amp, even with a number of pedals and a single coil guitar.

I had one unfortunate accident, but it was my fault. I talked dirrectly to the amp's designer, and so did my amp tech. Since then, this amp has been my workhorse and it amazes me how solidly biult and resiliant it is. The folks at Music Ground (who own Hiwatt) have been extremely helpful and pleasant to work with. They reply to emails, promptly, and will take time to talk on the phone.

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One thing anybody interested in this amp or any of the new hiwatt reissues from Hiwatt UK. Because Fernandez guitars owns the naming rights to Hiwatt in the US, Hiwatt UK cannot ship directly to the US. However, they have set up a US company called Reeves Amplifiers (after the original Hiwatt designer, Dave Reeves) and the amplifiers that Reeves sell are the same ones made by Hiwatt UK.