"...the place is really jumping to the Hiwatt amps, 'til a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps....."

"Long Live Rock" / The Who

The Who and Hiwatt! These things go together. After Pete Townshend played through Marshall amps, he changed to Hiwatt, because Dave Reeves could build an amplifier with more volume ("higher wattage") than Jim Marshall. That became necessary, because Townshend and Who bassist John Entwistle were having their own competition: Who's got the biggest and loudest equipment. Marshall, Sound City, Orange and Hiwatt are well known names for tube amplifiers from this era. Hiwatt amps, especially the Hiwatt Custom 100 (DR 103) and Hiwatt 200 (DR 201) were loved by bass players as well, because they sound cleaner with more loudness than Marshall amps. After Dave Reeves' sudden death in 1981, the era of Hiwatt/ UK ended. But just recently, Hiwatt/ UK is coming back. They're produced the same way in South England using the original parts.

HIWATT SE-4122 (from 1977) weight: 50 kg
SE-4122 back	4 x 12 " Fane Speaker
It seems the Hiwatt guys had a lot of fun	Fane Speaker from the 1977 production