Hiwatt DR103 | Restoration & Demo 

That is what I love to hear! I can’t wait to see one someday.

Calvin: Nice to hear! Do the current production amps have an adjustable fixed bias circuit?

@@MichaelSmith-rn1qw we have dual bias controls now on our DR201 and DR103 now, yes! And we increased the voltage on the bias tap off the transformer, so we have a 20v range on the bias pot (-35 to -65v on the 103)

How much is one nowadays.

Are most of these over in that there Olde World?! Pretty cool selector knob for the mains voltages! THANKS FOR SHARING!!

Thanks for what you do and how you do it. Rock on!

Hiwatt was Pete Ham from Badfinger go to Amp. An excellent amp to say the least.

People know one's a class act when they admit their errors, and "rectify" (pun intended, I build Marshall Clones) said mistakes. Cool vid, those old Reeves Hi-Watts are classics. Resplendent with Mustard tone caps, and impeccable wiring. Would love to get one or simply build a clone, which is the financially only option!

i'd love for you to do a video about speaker wiring harness making, parallel vs series, ohms etc that would be great

DON'T consider this Video as Educational. This Tech failed at identifying the Correct Safety Fuse, with the Factory Schematic in her mits. If Vacuum Tubes are at a premium, how can one say "Close enough" for Resistors and Capacitors? What useful Compromise is that? The excuse is, "I don't want to wait to get the Correct Replacement Parts, so I will just use what I find in my spare parts bins?" The ONLY reason to do that is if the Customer insists on Gigging that night with this gear. It fits with cracked nail pollish. Either remove it or paint those digits again. Edited to Correct Autocorrect.

@@truthsRsung If you have your own channel I'd like to watch it. Plus, everyone makes mistakes. For me knowing nothing about electronics, and knowing her training background, Fazio is an expert to me. She has other videos where she is reading schematics very well. Plus she has repaired amps that were a mess inside. And she has her own custom line of amps. Maybe she doesn't have an electronics engineering degree, but she runs a successful, busy amp repair business. Thanks for the input! Must be nice to be perfect and never make a mistake! I like to have the recipe for that one?

@@reddragon3733 ...I use what I know to fix people's heating and air conditioning equipment. I have to make sure, before I leave their house or business, that I haven't "Made a Mistake" that could leave the air in the house UNBREATHABLE. I have the belief that there are more steps to a repair or maintenance call because... Checking my Work keeps people from death or brain damage. Once you admit that Humans Fail, you have to admit that Not Checking Your Work is FOOLISH. I get support up the wazzu from the manufacturers and the distributers and the tool designers in the industry. Parts guys who don't let me forget a gasket, find a spec or withdraw from Caffeine. I am sure I could find many rebuild kits and "upgrades" for this amplifier if I searched a few electronic supply houses. I haven't bought a single resistor, pot, or transformer for anything that didn't meet the specs from Who Designed and Built It. I will give you two pieces of advice. The simpler an electronic circuit is, the less chance "noise" can enter a system. The electric guitar is half the instrument. Someone recording can use a midi direct to a PC as the other half then add any effect (electronic equation modifier) they want, without worrying about how cables, pedals, speakers and microphones are connected and placed. Or that there is a quiet place to do it. These amps are made to SCREAM above the voices of the Drunk Masses. It is also the leather jacket draped over the Indian Motorcycle of the Music World. Jewelry for the stage. If you really want to learn about electronic musical instruments, start at the beginning or close to it. Hertz and Marconi for the electrical theory. The foundation is essential. The Organs. Yeah, the musical instrument that is the building and vise versa. (this requires knowledge of what the historians of the time referred to as classical and radical. Xtra credit is earned when you plunge directly into the reality that Beethoven, Liszt, and Bach, alongside the inventers of the improvements made to Musical Instruments, were Literally Risking their Lives and Reputations in their struggle against the people that Owned Them.

@@truthsRsung the ramblings against an amp tech from an appliance repair man? Please. This isn't about life or death. It's about sound from a box that a more than competent tech repairs. I fined your comparisons to be ridiculous! If you bother watching the majority of Fazio Electric videos you would see how talented she is at repair. You are making to much out of nothing and over exaggerating. At least she unplugs the amps and doesn't demonstrate problems like I've seen other RU-vidrs that repair amps do! She has a video on safety and proper use of equipment. Do you unplug your air conditioners before testing? Please! Make and amp out of an air conditioner then we'll talk. Otherwise I'll listen to Fazio. Must be nice to be perfect and never make a mistake! I'd like to have the recipe for that one?

@@reddragon3733 ...I studied Robotics at Northwestern. I have a Private Pilots License. I am MECP, ASE, and Red Cross Certified. I was in Scouts, a Lifeguard, and worked at a Custom Shop called, "Rockinn Motorsports" while going to school. I was one of the last technicians to service Chicago's Union Station Coal fed Boilers. I don't know what kind of "Appliances" you have at home, but I bet there aren't many that breathe FIRE. If you aren't in a climate that requires a Furnace, you can't respect one nor frostbite or what happens to a house full of water pipes when it's temp falls below Zero. Take your chapped backside off to where you can lick your wounds in private. Give yourself a chance to be wrong, then change.

Those weren't "bad tubes." This lil lady just pointed out.... No Bias adjustment, grid runs Hot, DESIGNED INTO THE CIRCUIT. Your uTuber Hero didn't repair Hiwatt Amps because the artists using them got tired of feeding them Vacuum Tubes. On top of that, I doubt Hiwatt had any considerable market share. Those Capacitors in any Amplifier die from AGE. If noone Loved their HiWatt long enough for those caps to die, they never had it Serviced. I could say that since I have never performed any service or repairs on a DeTomaso Pantera, that makes it a better road car than a 911 and a better race car than a GT40. The absence of evidence does not make a verdict. Go unravel your logic. It doesn't work for me. Edited to Correct Autocorrect

Would love to see a Hiwatt on your bench at some point too, Doug!

Wouldn't a clean solid-state amp (e.g. Roland Jazz Chorus) also be a great pedal platform?

Hi-Tones are great. I have one of their DR-504s (50 watts). It’s the Reeves family who’ve given the thumbs-up, though. Dave Reeves designed all the classic Hiwatt circuits. Harry Joyce was his main wiring guy and is responsible for the military-spec quality of the layouts.

Blessing of the REEVES family

Blessing of the REEVES family

That’s the sound I’m hearing from these amps. The Who.

@@panzerlieb was that from “ Long live Rock “ ?

BTW, I'll most likely *still* hire a tech to do the work. Or practice up on my soldering! ;-)

My two fave amps. Add Laney and Sound City and that’s the holy Quad of Tube Terror!

I agree. The HH was and still is a great amp, takes multi effects pedals really well

and do not forget to mention the large amount of iron and copper in those hiwatt (partridge) transformers which give it the punch and clean sound. I restored the same Hiwatt, the DR103, bought as a wreck from a local musican for few bucks. It was in a miserable condition. Generations of so called engineers try to found the right sound, no magic smoke inside.☺awful! But the shell and the rear panel were okay. There were a big hole in the chassis for a replacement transformer which do not belong into it. After welding a piece of metal, sheet and let the chassis galvanised in a friends workplace I build it complete new to the original schmatics in the same way Dave Reeves did it. Luckily for me a handful of specialized shops got lot of hiwatt parts on stock. The transformers are homewound with the same lamination and winding specs . The iron, the coil former and the endframes of proper size are ordered from a company in England. I used an Auman 300 winding machine. I spend a complet year for this exciting task. I worked several hours during the week and least one day at weekend. The total cost of components include the valves were 750 EUR. The amp is finished since several month and sit on a shelf in my living room waiting for being played. By the way, there is a IEC power receptacle availabe which fit in the hole of the Bulgin plug.