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I heard my DR103 for the first time in months! Man, I missed this amp. I went down the cork-sniffing route :mrgreen: and got F&T caps from Hitone, NOS (Blackburn) Mullard preamp [ECC83's for V1 and V2 and ECC81 for V4], a Chinese one for V3, and Mullard NOS Xf2 EL34 power tubes. Plugged in yeste...

I see; that makes sense, Mark. I'll discuss further with the tech and bring up your comment.

It also surprised me that a Variac seems unnecessary despite the fact that it is a vintage amp.

The way you put it, it sounds like it has everything to do with the transformers and it was a production issue. I heard about the voltage doubler when he first glanced at the amp's guts and pointed to a very specific resistor, mentioning a previous DR103 he had worked on previously; it wasn't based ...

I don't know, Doc. It sounds good to have a voltage doubler from a technical standpoint, but it's a "mod". When I hear or think of that word, I think of Big Bob... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGy0pPllHVQ skip to 6:03 :lol: The only mod on my amp is the power cable for US outlet use, bu...

So... I've finally heard from my tech on what happened with my DR103. The HV fuse went and I just need new tubes and electrolytic caps. He made a couple of suggestions : - One problem is that the mains in the US have changed from ~110 to ~ 124V over the years. Hiwatts deliver extremely high voltages...

Thanks Dave. That was useful.

Hi Folks, The high voltage fuse of my DR103 went and my tech says it's about time to change the tubes. I need re-tubing advice. Here is what I have in mind, after reading: NOS power tubes: NOS Svetlana SED EL34 Winged C (4X) with "burn in" for matching. They seem like a good option. NOS pr...

Have you checked the speaker fuse with a meter? Dave Hi Dave, Great suggestion; that could be it! I hope it is! There seems to be 2 fuses: 5A (main) and 1A --- I'm guessing the 1A is the speaker fuse. Can I safely pull the fuse out (without removing the tolex) and check for DC current with a meter,...

Hi folks, it's been a while. How are you? I haven't played through my 1973 DR 103 in a while because of a problem in the output of high frequencies (I couldn't hear 22nd fret high E bends, for example). I got a kit from HI-TONE to do a recap of the electrolytics, and I tested the amp yesterday. Amp ...

Thank you so much for your responses. So, here is the bottom http://imageshack.us/a/img513/5286/xx60.jpg Is there any obvious mod besides the power supply cable? Anyhow, Based on your responses for maintenance, I should get these: - Electrolytic caps. So I can show it to my tech and see if there is ...

Thanks for the advice. Based on what you recommended, seems like it would be a good idea to order (4) ECC83 preamp tubes. They look like this http://s21.postimg.org/643j37mlz/Mullard_ECC83.jpg But the amp front looks like this: http://s9.postimg.org/fs11slcdb/front_DR103.jpg So I'm assuming those gr...

Hello good people, it's been a while; how are you doing? :) I still have that '69 Hiwatt DR103 but I got a new Marshall 1959HW Super Lead 100W head this summer. And by comparison, I figured out a tone issue: I was playing a song with bends on the 22nd fret high E string, and I could barely hear any ...

I see.

It was tricky for me to know by just looking at the DR103's outputs. Since there are two, it's tempting to assume stereo.

Thank you for the info Dave.

Question: Can I have a Hiwatt DR103 operate in stereo if - I have two 4x12 cabinets - I have one of those Strymon pedals with stereo in/out's :?: Here is what I was told: "If you can route two inputs from your Hiwatt to separate speaker cabinets then all you would really need to do is come left...

I forgot to add a picture.

Funny thing is: this cab seems front-loaded and they are 125161's. Please correct me if I'm wrong.