Hiwatt Tone Stack

[statorvane]

Never thought about these amplifiers that much. However, I've been listening to a lot of Tull lately and it just hit me that Martin Barre seems to be playing through Hiwatts at least through Thick as a Brick - maybe more (I haven't gotten past that one yet). Don't know why I never associated his tone with a Hiwatt until now. It was pretty obvious with Rush when Lifeson started recording with Hiwatts.

I am thinking of building another SE amplifier and am considering a Hiwatt style tone stack. Just wondering how much the Hiwatt's tone stack has to do with their unique sound as opposed to the phase inverter.

[Stevem]

The even order harmonics that a SE output stage passes when clipping will change that Highwatt Pentode sound your looking for a good bit!
Not in a bad way as it will be a bit sweeter, but that may not be what you are looking for.
My top notch requirement/ test for good distortion is to play a in tune root and 5th with the max level of distortion that the amp has on board, if at some gain/distortion point the two notes start sounding out of tune, than you`ve got too much odd oder distortion taking place, but every bodys ear is a bit differnet, still when a hear a guitar sound and more so a solo with the notes blurring out of tune I can`t listen any more, no matter how great the part being played may be!

[Colossal]

Love Tull. Lifeson's live sound on the Exit Stage Left tour and live album was 100W HiWatts and a pair of Marshall 4010 100W combos. He was using an MXR Micro Amp pedal at the time but I've always wondered if he was using the Hiwatts for clean and grit and the Marshalls for leads or both amps at once and boosting the front end when he needed lead tone. The guitars on Moving Pictures were multitracked but I'm wondering how much of that album's sound is Hiwatt. Guitars were a mix of Strats with Bill Lawrence humbuckers in the bridge position (Red Barchetta, Limelight), the white 355, a Tele for Vital Signs, and a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion was used for the solo on Tom Sawyer. The tone for the solo on Tom Sawyer is outrageous. Always wanted to know the exact amp used for that.

[xtian]

Lifeson on 2112, FTW! Oh, wait, we've already had this discussion.

[RCGPNY1]

Yes...Martin's tone with his Hiwatt on the early Tull albums is wonderful.
I actually had his original amp for a while(It's a long story) and it sounded quite different than a DR103 that I purchased c.1973. I had Martin's amp right around 1970. It was not nearly as loud as the later one but seemed to have alot more gain. In fact, to me, it sounded like the albums "Stand UP" and "Benefit" when you plugged it in. It did , however have that wonderful but odd tone stack. I played that amp through a Sunn emminence equipped 4x12...quite different than a Fane-loaded Hiwatt cab...but it still sounded like Martin.

[talbany]

Classic Hiwatt tones were coming from Pete Towensend on the Live at Leeds recordings..His tone on those recordings were so THICK it sounded like you could walk on it.. Of coarse David Gilmore's iconic clean Strat tone from Hiwatt' were wonderful as well..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea0759BeJ2U

BTW..I think the Hiwatts ued a version of the (James) Baxandall stack as this contributed to the thick midrange tone..IMO.. The Hiwatt tone was no doubt the sum of all sections..The biggest being the over driven 100w output section and the BIG Partridge iron!! that gave it that throat..Many of these iconic players liked the slightly cleaner sound of the Hiwatts,vs the more saturated (overdriven tones) from the Marshalls..

If you wanted something loud and clean you would use an Orange/Major..If you wanted something dirty you would go Marshall, if you wanted in between you would go Hiwatt..

Tony

[statorvane]

Yes, Live at Leeds - a classic. I saw a video of the Who at Isle of Wight about the same era on Paladia a few years ago. Almost comical - Pete Townsend went into the Sparks set earlier than on Live at Leeds. Keith Moon had busted his drum and a drum tech was replacing the skin. You can see Keith with those puppy dog eyes looking at Pete and holding up his index finger, or maybe it was a drumstick, like "One more moment please!' while Pete kept covering the lack of drums with the Sparks instrumental. Pete kept looking back like "Aren't you done yet? I can't keep this up much longer!" Classic Who.

Besides the tone stack (I also think it is Baxandall based), I am wondering how much of the tone could also be attributed to the massive Partridge OT?

Anyway a great amplifier.

[AcornHouse]

On the Whotabs site, they have a quote by Alan Smith about Pete's typical amp settings on the Hiwatts:

“Pete’s amps are custom-made, with no mid-range controls. The treble is usually turned up considerably; the bass just a bit. The volume settings at the beginning of the show are 2/3rds up on the master control and full up on the channel module. By the end of the set, the amps are full on.”

[talbany]

Besides the tone stack (I also think it is Baxandall based), I am wondering how much of the tone could also be attributed to the massive Partridge OT?

https://www.ig-transformatoren.com/part ... g5479.html

My info shows..Frequency Response (-3db) 3.6 hz - 112 khz ..How's that for HiFi!!

I could see some soundman telling Pete Towensend to turn down in those old days.. ...You would have an SG put upside your head real fast!!

Tony