36 year old Brand New Hiwatt Half Stack ?? What to do ??

[louis]

Actually, that amp looks like it has the "Canada importer" mod. The curled up yellow wire is usually the obvious telltale. So, it should not spit, but it should overdrive pretty easily!

--mark

Thank's Mark !!

Yes you are right ,... this amp overdrives a lot more than my 4 holer ,
with a nice sweet crunch to it and I realised that the little
drop in tightness passed 8.5 is gone when the Master volume
Is dialed up ,..........so much fun to play !


Louis

[louis]

How doe's this two input works ?
When I had my 1981 DR 103 , I used to use
A "Y" cable and blend the two inputs ,
But with this one , if I use a "Y' , and turn
the bright channel up , the volume goe's down
and also the brightness so it doesn't work.

When i plug only in the bright channel and turn it up or dime it
while the normal channel is backed off , there is no sound coming out,
i have to turn the normal channel up to get the bright
channel to work and it overdrives beautifuly and more than
on the normal channel alone but
I was wondering why I can't blend both ?

Thank's again for all your support ..... Doc,Dave and Mark!

Well appreciated !


Louis

[OldSchoolDave]

I was wondering why I can't blend both ?

Might have something to do with the Canadian mod?

The 2-holers I've owned have behaved the way your '81 DR103 did.

Dave

EDIT: Make sure both sides of your V1 are working....

[mhuss]

The mod just cascades the two input channels, so the second channel will sound kind of weak and weedy since your guitar is trying to drive the output of the first channel. The importer did this while the JCM800 was popular and clean was out of fashion. The mod was clever in that in only required adding and removing a few wires, but I was never a fan. I much prefer the OL method of adding a gain stage later in the preamp and leaving both inputs functional.

--mark

[louis]

I was wondering why I can't blend both ?

Might have something to do with the Canadian mod?
The 2-holers I've owned have behaved the way your '81

Dave

I think that I liked the fact that I could blend
the two inputs on the 81 , and this amp i have
Is a real crunch machine ! .... and on the bright
when dimed , there's a lot of overdrive but some
bottom end is missing and the more I turn the normal
channel up , the more gain I have but it doesn't bring
more bass unless maybe I turn the Master all the way up
but didn't try that yet !........

The mod just cascades the two input channels, so the second channel will sound kind of weak and weedy since your guitar is trying to drive the output of the first channel. The importer did this while the JCM800 was popular and clean was out of fashion. The mod was clever in that in only required adding and removing a few wires, but I was never a fan. I much prefer the OL method of adding a gain stage later in the preamp and leaving both inputs functional.

--mark

Thank's Mark and Dave !

What would be your suggestions if it were you ?

Leave it as is or make some changes ?


Louis

[mhuss]

I would restore it to factory condition. See http://hiwatt.org/ca_mod.html

On the the other hand, it might be fizzy, but I would try it stock first.

--mark

[louis]

I would restore it to factory condition. See http://hiwatt.org/ca_mod.html

On the the other hand, it might be fizzy, but I would try it stock first.

--mark

I think I prefer the Hiwatt Growl and Kerrang over a
Hiwatt Marshally crunchy !

Here are a few more of the inside pictures

[thefatcyclist]

Would be really nice to hear some Pete T and David G style clips. of the amp. Please and thanks.

[louis]

Would be really nice to hear some Pete T and David G style clips. of the amp. Please and thanks.

I'll try as soon as I find a little time !!


Louis

[louis]

Why did blue dye was used on the soldering ?
Who started to do this , I know other color was
used but was it done because it wad a kind of a
seal so it would be known if a component was swapped ?

Thank's!

[OldSchoolDave]

used but was it done because it wad a kind of a
seal so it would be known if a component was swapped ?

As the story was told to me, the markings were part of the quality control process and the color depended on whichever markers were on hand at the time.

Dave

[mhuss]

Actually, the markers were used as a confirmation that each solder joint had been visually inspected and passed. I do this myself on my own builds. (All HI-TONE amps are similarly inspected.)

--mark

[supershifter2]

WOW ! FAR OUT ! I would set in the living room and treat it as Fine Furniture.