New to Hiwatt

[jrsdws]

I'm doing it...just sent the dude an email saying I want it.

Louis - I think he has another one too!!!

[thefatcyclist]

Hi,
Congratulations on the amp, I am ashamed to say that due to the stubbourrness of youth or just plain snobbery I passed on it. Even tho' I know that pcbs have always been used on mesa's.
Buy the cab' you will lose nothing if you do not like it and trade it.
J

[jrsdws]

The cab should be here Tuesday or Wednesday!!! I'll post pics when she get's home...can't wait to hear it all together.

[marantz1300]

Beautiful amp.Nice buy and I agree,the Big Muff Pi is instant Classic Rock with a Hiwatt.

[jrsdws]

Got the matching Hiwatt cabinet today and all I can say is WOW!! The amp was pretty awesome before through our existing cabs...but it's simply awesome through the Hiwatt. It actually gets a nice teethy growl when pushed....a growl with bite!! Love it!! It's not made to play indoors...at least not my house. Here are a couple of pics...thanks for all of the input over the course of this thread...very much appreciated.

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DSC_0010a.jpg (132.74 KiB) Viewed 1846 times

[louis]

Congrats !!.............very nice and clean half stack!!



Louis

[OldSchoolDave]

Got the matching Hiwatt cabinet today and all I can say is WOW!! ...but it's simply awesome through the Hiwatt.

Figured you'd like it . Good job. That rig should serve you well for a LONG time!

Dave

[jrsdws]

The SE4123 is a 100 watt cab regardless of the speaker in it 50 watts or 75 watts.

Ok this is my stumper quote of the entire thread. I don't think we ever really came to terms with how many watts these speakers are in my new old cab...yet it's still a 100 watt cabinet?

Simply for my own crazy curiosity...can anyone tell what wattage the speakers are?

[OldSchoolDave]

Simply for my own crazy curiosity...can anyone tell what wattage the speakers are?

I'd say they're 50 watters.

Again, Dave Reeves rated the cabs conservatively, presumably so people would use a minimum of 1 cab per 50 or 100 watt head and 2 cabs per 200 watt head. That's also why the output jacks on the DR201's were wired to require two cabs (though there are work-arounds).

Whatever the case, your half stack is well-matched.

Dave

[jrsdws]

Oh yeah I can't imagine it being any better. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the logic...or lack there of....of the entire 100 watt cab regardless of which speakers.

[OldSchoolDave]

I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the logic...or lack there of....of the entire 100 watt cab regardless of which speakers.

There was logic at the time. After the ill-fated 22 watt Fane experience, D.R. didn't want any more returned cabs / speakers. So, they were rated conservatively.

Using today's "logic" (read: marketing), they'd probably be stamped 200-300 watts ... as would DR103 heads .

Dave

[Dr.HI-TONE]

I wanted to come back to this because I failed to explain the logic behind the Speaker Enclosure ratings.

On paper if you were to wire a 4x12 with 50 watt drivers series-parallel, you would expect a 200 watt rating. However because HIWATT Amplifiers were rated "at clipping" they are capable of producing substantially more than the 50, 100 , 200 etc. To ensure the ultimate in reliability Dave Reeves rated the Speaker Enclosures to mate with his amps.

An SE4123 with four 50w. drivers was the minimum to be used with a DR103.

Does that help make sense.

In Marshall terms four 25 watt speakers = 100w. cab.
In HIWATT land four 25 watt speakers = toast. That is why the SE4121 was discontinued very quickly and is only suitable for use with a DR504.

I hope that helps make it a little more rational.