I guess I’m middle aged now… cause I need a “clean platform” amp.

[ewill52]

I bought a really clean '67 Bassman head last fall and I'm basically using it for a clean platform. Loud, sounds amazing, takes pedals like a champ! With an attenuator you can get lots of nice grit and grind at very reasonable volumes. They can still be had for $1k-$1200

 

[Spaceboy]

Since you mentioned Hiwatt I would highly recommend that if you live in the UK, or a Reeves or Hi-Tone if you live in the US.

I've had all three side by side, Hiwatt Custom 100, Reeves Custom 100, and Hi-Tone Custom 100. I kept the Hiwatt and Reeves, but the Hi-Tone was a great amp.

If you want built in spring Reverb then maybe a Reeves Space Cowboy.

All of them are built on the basic Hiwatt DR103 100 watt platform. The Custom 100's are 4 input, and I think the Space Cowboy is a 2 input front end.

Fwiw I'll take my Hiwatt and Reeves with the right pedal(s) over every high gain amp I ever played through for heavy music, and the pushed cleans and classic crunch tones are pure rock heaven.

Username checks out... haha. I've seen these Hi-Watt style brands around but never fully went down that path. I'm definitely going to look through some videos.

At the moment I'm actually running an Ampeg SVT as a clean platform into guitar cabs, which sounds great, but the fan is quite annoying. The cleans are bassy and bold, sound great, but are not "guitar cleans".