Hiwatt Cabinets?

[glpg80]

the randall lynch cabinets were supposedly based off of an old hiwatt cabinet, not much talk about the old hiwatts though?

any reason why?

what ply are they made out of? are the new ones not anything close to the old ones?

im looking for a few cabinets to load V30's in and these came to mind.

appreciate it ahead of time

 

[gtrwun]

I dont know about the new Hiwatt cabs, but ive owned a few older ones. They are awesome, awesome cabs. The ones I had were ported and sounded unlike any cab ive ever played thru. Of course, the Fanes had a lot to do with that. Very solid built. Even the ones made in the mid-eighties are a score if you can find them. Other guitarist in my band worked for Hiwatt here in Modesto during that time so we had a line on all the cabs we needed pretty cheap. He still has 3 of them and I sold mine off. The originals were all solid Birch I believe.

 

[glpg80]

yeah i have heard a few times the old ones sound great but they are really really hard to find. i wonder why no one likes the new ones? did they change something?

 

[gtrwun]

Hiwatt is just weird now to me. I mean...how many times have they sold and been bought up by some new distribution company? I think that turns people off. Then you got them coming out with PCB amps that are made overseas...and then there was an attempt at the high gain market. I dont know. Just seems strange. Hard to tell what your really gettin for your money. But your right.....Hiwatt isnt cheap, even on the used market. If your persistant, you can occasionally see a good deal on craigslist. If you ever find a decent deal, and you arent sure what your lookin at, just send me the link, and ill send it to my buddy, and he'll know what it is.....he has a lot of knowledge on anything Hiwatt.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Solid birch has me curious...

 

[chumbucket]

I dont know about the new Hiwatt cabs, but ive owned a few older ones. They are awesome, awesome cabs. The ones I had were ported and sounded unlike any cab ive ever played thru. Of course, the Fanes had a lot to do with that. Very solid built. Even the ones made in the mid-eighties are a score if you can find them.The originals were all solid Birch I believe.

I concur. They are great sounding cabs. It's the port. I don't think they were ever solid birch though. They were made of plywood.

 

[gtrwun]

Very possible they werent birch.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Quad front ported, cool.

 

[glpg80]

Quad front ported, cool.

yeah the older models sound killer too and are rear loaded.

well kept secret IMHO. if the original hiwatts sound as good as im hearing im willing to do the research

its just too bad the new ones are not as sought after/built as well. i do know the original cabinets in the late 70's have alot of MDF material, the earlier models only have MDF rear panels and plywood construction elsewhere.

dont really know. im at a toss to be honest - seems like alot of headache. would almost want to build the cabinets myself

 

[Shark Diver]

There is an '81 on craigslist.


I just bought a HIWATT/SLO rack amp - so now I'm all into Hiwatts

 

[Aidanspaghetti]

I've got a 71 4x12 with the original Fanes and it is unbelievable ;0
I unfortunately dont have high gain head at the minute (looking for an SLO later this year fingers X'd) but do have 2 vintage Hiwatt Dr103's. They really are unique sounding...
I'll throw up some pictures later on.
Very very rare these days and they go for silly money. . . Even over here on this side of the pond

Grab one if you get the chance.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Last time I checked Hiwatt is currently owned by Music Ground UK.......A company whose building I wouldn't piss on if it was on fire. You want nothing to do with them, a simple google search of them would tell you plenty, I think the owners are in some legal troubles at the moment, karma's a bitch. The old Fane equipped cabs are killer. Lots of good vintage Hiwatt info to be found here http://hiwatt.org/ Also Tonic Amps are distributing the new line of Fane speakers in the US, I've heard that they sound killer, just be aware that Fane's are effing efficient, like make a heavy magnet Celestion blush efficient.

 

[chumbucket]

Quad front ported, cool.

Front port? The port is on the rear along the bottom of the back cover. It ran full length and about 3" width from what I remember.

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

Quad front ported, cool.

Front port? The port is on the rear along the bottom of the back cover. It ran full length and about 3" width from what I remember.

Hiwatt has 2 different port design's with their cabinets front ported like Molten mentioned and then they have the original 1/2" slit ported design on the back that is 1/2" x 17" on the 4 x12's and half that length on a 2 x12"

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

When did or does the MDF come in to play??
The reason I am asking is I had some one on craigs list send me pictures of their 10 yr old Hiwatt 4x12 cabinet for sale and that one was all Birch..
Only reason I didnt buy it was because it had Marshall speakers in it, Other than that the construction looked like good quality to me definitely better than the usual brand production cabinets out there..

 

[chumbucket]

Quad front ported, cool.

Front port? The port is on the rear along the bottom of the back cover. It ran full length and about 3" width from what I remember.

Hiwatt has 2 different port design's with their cabinets front ported like Molten mentioned and then they have the original 1/2" slit ported design on the back that is 1/2" x 17" on the 4 x12's and half that length on a 2 x12"

OK. I had a 200w cab with Fanes that dated to the early 70's. It had that rear port you mentioned above. Killer sound. Blew away every Marshall cab I had ever had. Sold it as a set with a 200w Hiwatt head that had a sweet master volume mod. Live At Leeds tone to a tee.

 

[OldSkoolNJ]

OK. I had a 200w cab with Fanes that dated to the early 70's. It had that rear port you mentioned above. Killer sound. Blew away every Marshall cab I had ever had. Sold it as a set with a 200w Hiwatt head that had a sweet master volume mod. Live At Leeds tone to a tee.

I got a chance to try some Vintage and New a few months ago and that is exactly how I describe the vintage
The vintage had the original Fanes and the new ones had a new Fane copy?? and they had a cheaper priced Celestion loaded cabinet..

Even the cheaper priced ones still sounded good to my ears which I just assume is partly because of the design of the cabinet with different flavors added by the speakers..

That is how I got the rear port slit measurements

I will probably end up getting a Hiwatt or copy 2 x 12 in the next month or 2

I have talked with this guy on Ebay that makes Hiwatt cabinet copies on ebay, They look pretty good to me...
https://cgi.ebay.com/Byron-Amps-Custom-2 ... 3f07987431

https://cgi.ebay.com/Byron-Amps-BYWATT-2 ... 3f07ed6b12

https://cgi.ebay.com/Byron-Amps-BYWATT-4 ... 3f07ed99fc

 

[Shark Diver]

I have talked with this guy on Ebay that makes Hiwatt cabinet copies on ebay, They look pretty good to me...

He charges $15 to leave his logo off...