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iamqman « Hiwatt to Sound City »
Published on 09/14/11 at 16:20Sounds city amplification builds some decent amplifiers but nothing that really takes a good hold of the market. This amplifier is similar to a Hiwatt amplifier and it's voicing and tone. Basically overall is a very British sounding amplifier but more in the vein of the hiwatt amplifiers. This is a 120 watt all tube amplifier the features three 12Ax7 preamp tubes a 12at7fees phaser inverter preamp tubes as well as the EL34 power amp tubes.
UTILIZATION
The front panel of this amplifier is extremely interesting as I haven't seen another one like it. First off it has six inputs and they look kind of strange to me. You have two that are listed as slave and another two that are normal and brilliant that are a attenuated inputs and then you have two regular inputs as well as another input that has a goofy looking emblem on it. Also the EQ control knobs are very unique as I have never seen another like this before. They have a look similar to the Fender control knob. But each one has a different color. In my opinion it's kind of stupid looking and not consistent.
SOUNDS
The tone of this amplifier is extremely British sounding and at very close sounding to a hiwatt amplifier. It's going to take a lot of volume to get this thing saturating into tube distortion because the high wattage that this amplifier has. These amplifiers probably sounds best with a comparable British sounding speaker. So a FAne speaker will work good with these amps as well as a greenback speaker. I would probably stay in those ranges of speakers with this type of amplifier.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find one of these amplifiers then you're pretty lucky. They're kind of hard to find because of the rarity of them and how old they are. Not a lot of them have lasted over the years so it will be very hard track one down. If you do you get a chance track one down play it first to see if you can like the feel and the voicing of it. But if you like a Hiwatt amplifier then you're probably going like this amp as well.
UTILIZATION
The front panel of this amplifier is extremely interesting as I haven't seen another one like it. First off it has six inputs and they look kind of strange to me. You have two that are listed as slave and another two that are normal and brilliant that are a attenuated inputs and then you have two regular inputs as well as another input that has a goofy looking emblem on it. Also the EQ control knobs are very unique as I have never seen another like this before. They have a look similar to the Fender control knob. But each one has a different color. In my opinion it's kind of stupid looking and not consistent.
SOUNDS
The tone of this amplifier is extremely British sounding and at very close sounding to a hiwatt amplifier. It's going to take a lot of volume to get this thing saturating into tube distortion because the high wattage that this amplifier has. These amplifiers probably sounds best with a comparable British sounding speaker. So a FAne speaker will work good with these amps as well as a greenback speaker. I would probably stay in those ranges of speakers with this type of amplifier.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find one of these amplifiers then you're pretty lucky. They're kind of hard to find because of the rarity of them and how old they are. Not a lot of them have lasted over the years so it will be very hard track one down. If you do you get a chance track one down play it first to see if you can like the feel and the voicing of it. But if you like a Hiwatt amplifier then you're probably going like this amp as well.