vintageHIWATTconvention.com

Why are so many of these missing? Almost every vintage hiwatt I see has been hard wired, whats the deal? I personally have 3 male and female bulgin plugs brand new just sitting in a bag, what give about them being bypassed? I understand that the new style Iec? is the most common but so many hack jobs out there.

There is a nice ( I say nice) 74 on ebay that is in desperate need of tlc one of which being the hardwired ac (amongst several other things) with an ugly plate screwed or riveted in and asking to much money. The same deal with the 73 that is currently on there, at least whoever did that only taped over the hole, can always put a knock out plug back in where they drilled for the ac.

Power cords are easy to lose. Replacement Bulgin-type plugs have not always been easy to find, and real Bulgin cords are still very difficult to find.

There are some clean Hiwatt amps out there and occasionally they pop up for sale, so keep looking.

Bulgins generally suck. The wires come out too easily (even on the newer ones), and they are not really safe from a shock prevention point of view. And if it does come apart, you do have a spare, right? Didn't think so.

That said, I still have the original on my old DR103, and wouldn't change it, just to preserve the original-ness of it.

It is a shame to see some of the hack jobs done to get around using one.

--mark

Thats my point though, most of them have been butchered. I do realize that the new style that we all use on most appliances now is great and you can always come up with one, but damn some of the sins I have seen committed

mhuss wrote:Bulgins generally suck. The wires come out too easily (even on the newer ones), and they are not really safe from a shock prevention point of view. And if it does come apart, you do have a spare, right? Didn't think so.

Add to that the fact that the bakelite or plastic used for the female connector can crack fairly easily when dropped on a hard surface from a height of a half stack. I'm sure more cords became unusable before the jacks did, providing the incentive to rewire.

Back from Mexico and catching up,
Dave