70's Hiwatt DR201 from Slades Back Line !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[godofthunder]

 Holy smokes I can't believe it is here ! I can't wait to get it gone over and switched to 110v . Cum On Feel The Noize !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chris P.]

Great! Congrats!!

[Basvarken]

Beautiful! I'm officialy jealous now

[godofthunder]

 I waited well over a year for this amp ! I can't thank my friends Stu and Nomis in the UK enough for helping to put this together.

[Chris P.]

Nice!!! I'm happy with my reissue, but this is the real deal!

[Chris P.]

I mailed Hiwatt UK today:

Hi Mark,
 
Bad news. The Hiwatt DR201 died today.
 
I'll try to mail you the facts as good as possible and maybe you or a technical employee knows what happened?
 
- I used the Hiwatt one time three hours for rehearsal without problems.
- I used the Hiwatt one time three hours for recording without problems.
- I used the Hiwatt for the video, but it wasn't switched on... Not even a mains cable.
 
Today I rehearsed again with it, so it was the third time I really used it. After like two hours playing on a normal volume the following happened:
- The sound suddenly stopped and I saw a small cloud of smoke above the second power tube from left, as seen from the front.
- The pilot lights of Mains and Standby were off. No lights anymore. The amp totally was like out of power.
- The amp wasn't hotter than normal. Not that hot at all.
- I smelled nothing strange, which is strange in itself because of this little cloud of smoke.
- The amp was at 8 Ohms and 230V, and it was connected to the Hiwatt cab with a good quality cable. I'm always very sure to check those things.
 
What I did:
 
- I checked the fuses visually. I have no devices to do that and I'm not very technical. The 5A was a glass one and that one was okay (visual check) and the other (3A) was a white plastic fuse which I couldn't visually check.
- I turned ALL the controls completely down. So Volume, gain, bass, treble, mid, presence everything. Just to check the fuses I switched the fuses. I plugged the mains cable in again and now both pilot lights came on again, but there was a very loud buzz. I switched the amp off again immediately and I went home to type this message.
 
Bad news, but maybe you know what happened? It could be a fuse, but the smoke is very worrying.
 
One more thing: Compared to the Orange AD200B the stand by switch of this amp has made a quite loud popping sound when turned on or off from the beginning. That worried me a bit too, cos the Orange was almost completly silent when switching to or from stand by.
 
Kind regards,
 
Chris
 

[godofthunder]

 Well after taking the winter months off the band is back to giging again and i finaly got a chance to us this thing on stage. What a great sounding amp ! Full thick meaty tone with just the right amount of grind and impact, really hits you in the chest. Plus Slade had modded the amp with a line out so now all that glorious Hiwatt to goes right to the board ! I forgot my camera  but we have a gig next week so I'll get some then.

[Chris P.]

Cool, and yes: We need pics!!

[Highlander]

Gonna be waiting... 

[godofthunder]

 Ken you can appriciate this this amp was in the back line at Reading in 1980 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[godofthunder]

Chris any news on getting your Hiwatt fixed ?

[Chris P.]

Not yet. I did talk to Mark of Hiwatt at the Messe, but we just talked about the Messe and not about the amp. I guess it'll be ready soon. It's at Hiwatt UK for two weeks now.

Did I tell Hiwatt had a fliptop prototype at the Messe?

[Highlander]

Missed Reading, that was the "second coming"... I hate open air gigs - had my nose broken by a direct hit from a beer can at the 2nd Knebworth Zep gig - only ever been to three others - the first 2 Knebworth's, and a free stage pass for  Reading '83 - never been to another one and unlikely that I ever will - I'm a big Neil Young fan but I turned down Finsbury Park (with Pearl Jam and Booker T) and I'm not going to see him at Hyde Park this summer for the same reasons...

Did see Slade twice that year (I think it was the same year) - the Xmas show at Hammersmith, and supporting (was it Rainbow or AC/DC...?) at Donnington Monsters...

I had a horrible thought - you were jealous that I got to see them - You're (and Mark, for that matter) an Alice Cooper fan - (wincing already) did you see the original band, the BDB tour, or earlier... (really wincing) - I first saw him on the WTMN tour in 75, but really regret never having being able to see the original line up - they played London in '71 and '72, but the BDB tour only hit 1 date in the UK, in Scotland... the way you are about Slade is the way I am about the original ACG...

I guess we'll get the pics of the new rig post Easter - are you getting an extra 4x12...? I found my Marshall suits the sound of mine, perfectly, but I used to own a pair of Sound City 4x12 columns were better until I killed them... 

[godofthunder]

Never saw the ACG  But boy sere they a big influence ! Dunaway was just, dare I say KILLER.

[Highlander]

Gotta agree with you... DD and Neal Smith were a major influence - Love It To Death, in fact... I bought Muscle on the day of release and track 2 was the first thing I definitively remember hearing stereo sound separtion that worked, BDB was my first tape and I wore that sucker out in no time at all - I know you play a F*nd*r and latterly DD played a Jazz, but the EB3L was always an early love - just never managed to find one when cash was around... one day... one day...