hi folks,
i've got a line on a hiwatt 200. i would like to use it as a bass amp. comments?
fj
big bad bass (well for me anyway) amp
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floridajack
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tarzanalog
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floridajack
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hiwatt
well folks,
i took my schecter 6-string bass (passive emg's) and plugged in to the amp. i run my bass amp through a pair of peavy spyder 1x12 ported bass cabs. the closest thing the store had was a 2x12 gk 400w cabinet - close enough, dont you think??
impressions: 200 watts of tube power is much louder than my peavey sessionbass 250 ss amp. it is also warmer and more responsive to pick (or in this case - finger) attack. loved the sound. i could go from squeaky clean to jack bruce growl without changing any amp settings. niiice!!
now the bad news - this amp has seen a rough life. the original front valence is gone - replaced by a piece of black painted 3/8" plywood. the original hiwatt nameplate has been replaced by a (nicely made) phenolic replica plate - probably made at a trophy shop. the innards are a mess. it works, but it has been repaired and abused many times. not worth the $2500.00 price tag. i'm thinking about making an offer of about $1000.00 and doing a complete restoration. i know mark huss has a lot of info on hiwattts. what do you think? worth it?
fj
i took my schecter 6-string bass (passive emg's) and plugged in to the amp. i run my bass amp through a pair of peavy spyder 1x12 ported bass cabs. the closest thing the store had was a 2x12 gk 400w cabinet - close enough, dont you think??
impressions: 200 watts of tube power is much louder than my peavey sessionbass 250 ss amp. it is also warmer and more responsive to pick (or in this case - finger) attack. loved the sound. i could go from squeaky clean to jack bruce growl without changing any amp settings. niiice!!
now the bad news - this amp has seen a rough life. the original front valence is gone - replaced by a piece of black painted 3/8" plywood. the original hiwatt nameplate has been replaced by a (nicely made) phenolic replica plate - probably made at a trophy shop. the innards are a mess. it works, but it has been repaired and abused many times. not worth the $2500.00 price tag. i'm thinking about making an offer of about $1000.00 and doing a complete restoration. i know mark huss has a lot of info on hiwattts. what do you think? worth it?
fj
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GTRWUN
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Man thats a tough one for me. you say the inards are a mess? Ill never understand why someone would mess with a piece of craftmanship like that.....whatever. The transformers if original, are worth some money for sure. Sounds like its pretty bad condition though. I suppose if you have the bones to throw down on a restoration after the initial purchase? Maybe you dont care about the cosmetics and you just want the tone.....thats what its all about anyway and this sounds like a substantial upgrade from your other amp.........anyone else??????
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floridajack
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hiwatt
yeah, i went back and took another look - original xformers and chassis - that's about it. everything else looks like it has been replaced - all kinds of different resistors, caps and even different brands of pots in there 
i tool a look at the schematic - it would be a major repair job to bring it back - too much for a mere mortal mechanical engineer. it does sound good, though.
fj
i tool a look at the schematic - it would be a major repair job to bring it back - too much for a mere mortal mechanical engineer. it does sound good, though.
fj
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