Quick first impressions: I fucking love this thing. I originally bought a Diezel Paul and this Hiwatt to compare and likely return one of them. Well, the Paul was damaged in shipping, but was still functional. But for my purposes, which is low tuned baritone sludgy metal, the Hiwatt made quick work of the Paul. I've owned a number of Diezels now, with the exception of the Herbert, and I think they all tend to get stuffy in the preamp pretty quick if you have a low tuned high output guitar. The obvious solution to this is boosting, but I'm looking for something that could handle this kind of style without *needing* a boost.
That's where the Super-Hi comes in, which was specifically co-designed by Fortin for extended range guitars. So I can actually have a great tone without needing to sculpt it before the amp. It's not super dry or tight, not oversaturated, but right in the sweet spot. In the regular 3 gain stage mode it can pull off some really convincing early Marshall tones to my ear. With the four gain stage mode engaged the sound is beefy, clear, with great percussiveness and string separation. I'm very curious to know how the custom shop handwired version compares. But overall I'm very happy with this one, definitely a keeper. I took some gut shots for you guys and will likely post some clips soon. Btw, the first thing I did was get rid of the stock Psvane preamp tubes for a Tung Sol in V1, and a NOS Brimar in V2. Increased gain and feel pretty dramatically. Let me know what you guys think and if anyone else has given one of these a shot. This is the Chinese made PCB version, but as long as it proves to be reliable I'll be very happy with my purchase.
, although still a good amount of money.
