New member greets, and needs advice on a '71 dr103

[Battered Nitro]

Hello, im a new kid on the block and i just purchased my very first HIWATT !!
What a happy day it was

Its a 1971 DR103 custom 100, and one with an emotional story behind it.

The person i bought it from has had this head in his possesion for 37 years and still had great affection and love for it. He was ofcourse in his 60's i think.
The reason he sold it was rather sad and i immediatly felt guilty of buying it from him, he has become very sick because of prostatecancer and he felt it was time to sell his beloved Hiwatt.
When i came to his house to buy the dr103, he was very nervous, yet very friendly and offered me a coffee and a cigarette and asked me to sit down so he could begin to tell his story of his beloved Hiwatt.......

He told me 37 years ago (when he was still working as an engineer in Holland) around January of 1971, he went to England, to the garage of Dave Reeves to pick up this head.
He actually recalled he saw Dave Reeves stamping the serial number on the plate.
He also said it was made with some components dating back to 1969, making it special to him.
Also october 1970 was mentioned, but i forgot what about. He was very proud of this amp saying it was custom made for him.
The amp has seen several parts of the world, because he and his band gigged here and there.
Being an engineer, he told me great care was taking care of inner workings, only made a small modification on an output jact ?, and a few caps were replaced through the years (the tubes also ofcourse)
For the rest he said, it was all original and in great shape.
Only the exterior has its scars.

After his story he put it on, asked me to play it, so i did and ofcourse it was an emotional moment for me to actually play an original Hiwatt. The sound was just....so beautifful.
When i was done playing, he asked me if he could play it...one last time....

He took the guitar, and played several beautifull licks and songs, and while doing this i saw he was very emotional and had a difficult moment there....

After this, i suggested i payed and leave, cause the man lives in Holland, i live in Belgium (that's a 2 hour drive, and is was already late in the evening !)

OK he said, and he became nervous again (i think it was because he was about to give away his hiwatt and never see or play it again)
After paying, he carried it to my car, shaked my hand, wished me luck, and made me promise to take great care of it, and as i drove away i could see him start to cry....

I never in my life thought buying an amp could be this emotional......

Anyways... i for one am on cloud nr 9 right now, can't stop starring at it. (and playing it ofcourse )

But......is this HIWATT in great shape or not (except for the exterior) ??????
Is the historical information he mentioned true or false ????
Im not a technician, and i could say anything about it really, so im calling the HIWATT experts on this to tell me the technical story of this amp...

To do that i need to take pictures of it inside and out,so i need to dismantle it, but i don't wanna break anything or electrofry myself doing it.

So how do i safely take the chassis out of the head safely ??
If the pictures are ready ill be posting them asap.

Greetings, Benny

[Dr.HI-TONE]

That is a Great Story Benny!

Congratulations on aquiring such a fine piece of gear and history!

Simply remove the back panel the unscrew the four machine screws that hold the chassis in the cab. reach in with both hands, firmly grabbing the transformers and slid the chassis from the cab. Make sure that the amp is not plugged into an electrical outlet. As long as the amp is not plugged in, you are not at any risk.

you can carefully set the amp upside down, resting on the transformers to take pictures of the wiring.

Please take pics!!!! post them here for all of us HIWATT fanatics to enjoy! Wait till you see the care and detail that Dave and Daphne Reeves put into your amp! You will surely love it even more after viewing the circuitry.

Welcome to the Vintage Hylight HIWATT forum!!

Take good care of that wonderful amp!

If you have trouble posting pics, send them to me and I will post them for you!

Congratulations again!

-Clayton

[OldSchoolDave]

Hi Benny - Welcome to the VintageHiwattConvention forum!

That is quite an emotional story. Being perhaps only a few years younger than the seller of your Hiwatt, it's not difficult to imagine the situation. For his sake and yours - take care of that Hiwatt! Was he in a band of International renown?

When dismanteling a Hiwatt, just be careful not to touch any contacts on the underside of the chassis (and, on some models, the exposed wiring on the transformer). There are four bolts holding the chassis to the bottom of the case. Tip the case backward & remove the front two. Then, after removing the back panel, tip the case forward and remove the second two. Being careful (I typically wear gloves), you should be able to slide the chassis out the back. It is HEAVY, so use caution. There is also a metal shielding panel underneath that can catch on the chassis. I think they were originally glued into place, but the glue didn't last long.

There is a method for discharging the capacitors when work needs to be performed. I won't give you advice on that and it may be best left to an amplifier technician. Just safer to say; don't touch any contacts!

If you have a couple of blocks of wood, space them out to match the transformer locations. You can then rest the chassis upside-down on the transformers. If your amp's heat shield is missing, the blocks may not be necessary.

If you can post pictures of the entire chassis - top, bottom and sides - members of this forum may help to provide information on your particular Hiwatt. I'm very curious to see that amp!

Again, welcome!

Dave

[Battered Nitro]

Thanks for the friendly welcoming !!

Well, a lot of pictures have been made, i had to make a selection (couldn't stop taking pictures )

When opening up the HIWATT, the first thing i noticed is one of the transformers looked very strange in comparison with the other one, wonder why ? When looking at other examples of HIWATT's, they are different than this one.
From what i can understand, the only other thing that was strange to me, was the rear of the knob for selecting voltages : well...nothing was soldered to it ???

But i will let the experts judge !

There was also an inscription date inside the chassis (date)

Well...i'll talk no more and let the pictures speak for themselves....

[Battered Nitro]

I just noticed some pictures are cut off by photobucket

Shall i repost them or are they ok for everyone ?

[Dr.HI-TONE]

you might try reposting some of the pictures. The transformers look original one is a little odd, missing the phenolic "Spool" ends. (for a lack of better words).

I couldn't see the voltage selector clearly in a pic.

Those capacitors are all original and are bulging. If you are going to play through it much, I would replace them. They are spent.

It has had a bias adjustment put in, and most of the resistors in the power section have been replaced . It looks like at one point it had a grid resistor fail, thus it was repaired and the resistors replaced.

I like it!

Congratulations!

[Battered Nitro]

Hey Dr. Hiwatt, so did i misbuy on this one?

Cause broken capacitors, missing spool ends, grid resistor fail doesns't sound that good to me
Do i have to worry ?

[Dr.HI-TONE]

Not at all.

A lot of amp techs will tell you that electrolytic caps should be replaced every 10-12 years. They do wear out like a car battery.

The missing spool ends probably came that way from the factory. It gives it character. Alot of old amps have had resistors fail at one point. It is still a great amp!

You did not buy a "mint condition, musuem piece" You bought a piece of Rock and Roll History!

Enjoy and Appreciate that beauty! I do!

[Battered Nitro]

Well, the person i bought it from was keen on keeping it original, maybe that's why he didn't replace the caps ?
And as long the missing spool end doesn't affect the sound, well than its ok with me

However, if i should replace the caps, ill have to let a tech do it, but how do i make sure he uses quality caps....
And how do i know if the tech is going to do the job proper?
Will changing the caps change the original sound of the HIWATT ?

Sorry for all the questions, but i really don't have any qlue about the tech side of tube amps !

Are there maybe other things that need replacement?

Thanks !

[Dr.HI-TONE]

Use F&T caps. They are the best out there.

If anything they will bring the amp back to its original glory. They won't hurt it in any way. It is too bad that you live so far away, If you bought the caps, I would recap it for you free of charge!

[JR]

Good Score, very low s/n it's a keeper

[jasperok]

wow thats some story,
Sound like that guy was really really atached to that amp.

My neighbour has 4 of these amps and none of them look as good as yours on the outside.

Yet they all sound absolutely amazing.

Do not think your purchase was an error! not at all as said you are lucky enough to have picked up a piece of rock and roll history, and one with a good story too.

I am in Ireland and have been looking for an old hiwatt like that for longer than i can remember, I am going to have to build one now as i can;t wait any more but I will still keep looking for an old one.

Definately chane those caps too, its not a massive job and if you supply the replacements to your tech will not be too expensive at all.

Good luck with the amp.

[Battered Nitro]

Thanks Jasperok

Well, ill be ordering some new caps soon, but im really not a amp tech guy (i have some basic knowledge, but certainly not enough)

First i thought dr. hiwatt was talking about the capacitors on the inside (those mustard colored ones), but after he said electrolytic caps, i looked it up, and it are those big capacitors on top of chassis, right? next to the tubes?

If so, i guess (if i order the right set of caps), it will be as changing tubes, just swap out the old caps and put in the new, am i correct?

Also, if the outside caps were spent, how's everyone feeling on the inside caps etc... does anything else look spent here?

I really want to take great care of this amp, so in order to do that, ill be looking into the tech side of amps.

Im appreciate everyone's interest and information,

greetings benny

[Dr.HI-TONE]

The electrolytic caps are the large cylinders that resemble "D" cell batteries. They are the only components that you can visually identify as due to be replaced. They are a simple drop in replacement. Fortunately HIWATTs discharge their caps over time unlike most other amps, so If you leave the amp OFF for a couple hours before begining the replacement. While you are changing the large ones, there is a smaller one on the power amp turret board that is blue and approx 1.25" or 3cm. It can simply be removed and a replacement soldered in its place.

Somewhere on this forum I have a thread regarding the caps and if they are "Bulging" they need to be replaced.


I apologize for creating any anxiety. I think it is a great Vintage HIWATT!

The smaller mustard caps are probably perfectly fine.

[Battered Nitro]

A question about my preamp tubes :

In the V1 position there's an ADZAM 12ax7
In the V2 position there's a TECNEX 12ax7
In the V3 position there's a BRIMAR 12ax7
And as phase inverter an original MULLARD ecc81

Now i was able to find some info on the ADZAM and the BRIMAR, but nothing about the TECNEX

Anyone who knows about this tube ?

And from what i gathered about the ADZAM, BRIMAR and the MULLARD : they are pretty good tubes i think ? are they original ?

greetings