Lead 50R
Picked this up yesterday. Have never owned a Hiwatt before, but have always been interested. But a loop is a must for me. It was not in great physical shape. Guitar center purchase. The baffle was separated from the shell. The screws were stripped from the holes too. I fully dismantled it and was able to fix the baffle with some new and a bit larger wood screws. Gave it a nice scrub with some VRP, and a brush. Solid again.
The reverb isn’t working, but I think it’s a cable issue.
It needs new filter cans, but the buzz isn’t the worst I’ve heard, and is only truly apparent on idle.
The amp sounds incredible. It is a 1986 build but has a super low serial number. I think it was a custom order as it came with its stock Hiwatt legend series 125 watt speaker. The wiring is done very nicely and there’s no ribbon cables. I’m tempted to think that it was an ordered amp rather than a production amp, just based on the fact that it was built by Arthur Barrett and it’s so tidy inside. From what I can tell there was a serial number reset to a 4 digit number in the Turntone era, that started at 1000. This is 1373. But the inner date says it from November 1986.
It sounds incredible and that’s what matters. The clean on this amp is just so punchy with sustained note separation- unrivaled.
The fx loop though- I have no idea what it’s doing. It sucks the life out of the amp in an awful way. A muffled low power mess of mud.
As stated, a loop is a must for me. I went ahead and ordered a granger ultimate zero loss. I’ve never put one in before, and am now wondering if anyone else has ever done that to their Hiwatt? Any luck? Any experiences?