Dead Hiwatt (edit - now live again - YIPPEE...!)

Highlander · August 09, 2009, 02:36:14 PM

Gutted...

Rehearsing today and after a couple of numbers I changed instruments, just playing with sounds (ended up on the fretless RD for the remainder of the 5 hour session through a Peavey) and she just went quiet when I plugged the Peter Cook in; thought it was a dodgy lead at first as another minor fault on the PC had occurred (a screw has broken away on the body which holds one side of the XLR - part of the required bodywork repairs), but no, dead, not a sound, fuses ok, everything looking normal inside...

Gotta gig this coming Saturday and have 2 emergency jobs - fix the Hiwatt and fix the Marshall (which has a howling feedback issue) ... as per usual, no spare cash at the mo...

Just don't need this with everything else going on at present...

Basvarken · August 09, 2009, 03:26:13 PM

Ouch, that is bad.
Makes you loathe tube amps doesn't it?

Hope they get fixed in time.

Highlander · August 09, 2009, 03:43:39 PM

Never had a tranny amp and this is the first failure since purchase; maybe I need something newer as a "third string"...

Just emailed Mark Huss (the expert on the range) and hoping that he has the schematic for mine (which is non standard)...

The Marshall "works" but is like trying to reign in an untrained team of horses, which is no fun...

Keeping them all crossed for the "right" reasons...

lowend1 · August 09, 2009, 03:53:59 PM

What model Hiwatt is it?

clankenstein · August 10, 2009, 01:03:09 AM

when you get the schematic identify the power amp screen resistors-the 100 ohm(r) buggers(or if its a 50w they are 1k5 5 watt).replace them.

godofthunder · August 10, 2009, 02:25:33 PM

Bummer Ken, Hope you get her up and running again !

Highlander · August 10, 2009, 03:03:59 PM

What a bugger...!

Back up and running, and it was a "fluke fault" - I changed the fuses yesterday and she was still "no-go", but post strip-down today I did the usual checks and discovered that the "output" fuse was dead - an internal dry joint on a fuse...! admittedly, the fuses were surplus junk from my British Airways days, so all predate 1981...

Up and running...

One caveat... whilst running at full volume and deliberately overdriving her there was a tiny waft of smoke from the smaller tag board you can see in the lowest pic - a close inspection showed a tiny amount of flux which had never been cleared off the turret... I hope...

My wife and daughter being "helpful"...

Definitely had lost my sense of humour here...

Post "repairs" and much happier... "Hmm... not sure about that waft of smoke off the central tag-board - probably an old bit of flux getting a suprise...?

Billy... she's a DR103S (a-la-Dave-Gilmour type model) but not identified as such, being called a DR103 "SWITCH" - only one so called, according to Mark Huss, so potentially a "one-off" - an original 1970 Hiwatt made in Dave Reeve's (God rest him) garage in New Malden, which is about 4 miles from where I live... I'll try and lift the original posting (from the VA site) and put in this section...

Tony... I'd trawled Mark Huss's site, and some others, but there appears to be no direct drawing of mine - something I'll have to correct, sooner rather than later...

I have learnt a lesson here - I need to prioritise getting the Marshall up-and-running, and quick...

ps... the beard has had it's marching orders again...

Dave W · August 10, 2009, 10:06:11 PM

I'm not surprised it was a fuse after all.

Let's hope the excess flux caused that smoke. Better fix that Marshall...

Do you just shave off your beard and then refuse to shave again until you're ordered to?

Highlander · August 11, 2009, 12:08:06 AM

Yep...

Technically speaking, I haven't shaved since the day before I got married in May '89, as I trim down to "designer stubble"...

The fuse just suprised me... not expected to have a "new" fuse faulty; so rare, imo...

clankenstein · August 12, 2009, 12:06:14 AM

great news! much better that its a fuse because theres little possibility of component damage.most times when i have had an amp plain stop on me its been fuses or the screen resistors(marshalls are quite prone to this)strange to think that such inexpensive parts can cause such greif.

lowend1 · August 12, 2009, 02:19:09 PM

Ah, an "S" - my buddy had one of those and I begged him not to sell it because it was different than the others he had - he didn't listen. That has a "Balance" control on it or something, right? Three inputs (no jokes Mark!), with one being for the switch?

Highlander · August 12, 2009, 02:37:57 PM

That's the one, Al, the switch is an integral part of the system; without it she will only run at 50 watts; with the switch she runs at 50 or 100 watts... check the other thread if you want to see the front and guts...

Mark Huss' explanation of the nameplate is just Dave Reeve's foibles... ("What shall we call this one...?")

btw, the story I got with mine (I'm the 3rd owner and have been since around '78) was that she originally belonged to a guitarist in "Savoy Brown"; now, Kim Simmonds played/plays Marshall's, and a certain "Lonesome Dave" was an endorsee, at that time, but no proof (never found any live pics from that era when Peverett/Stephens/Earl supported Simmonds) and don't really feel that it would really make a difference to me anyway, but it is a nice story...