Hiwatt

Hiwatt is a British company that specialises in producing amplifiers for electric guitars and bass guitars. The company was started in the late 1960s in collaboration with Marshall Amplification and Vox. This company successfully created an image of the "British" guitar amplifier sound. The company’s sub branches also manufacturer various effect pedals and units. It was primarily created to meet the amplification requirements of Pete Townshend and John Entwistle who were using amplifiers made by Sound City. These musicians wanted their amplifiers to be customised as per their requirements. This request was eventually denied by Sound City. However, a former employee of Sound City, Dave Reeves, agreed to modify the amplifiers. This resulted in the creation of the Hiwatt DR103 amplifiers under the name Hylight Electronics.

The Hiwatt DR103 was subsequently modified in 1970 into the CP103 "Super Who 100" model. This was exclusively used by Townshend for more than a decade. In 1973, the updated DR103W model was officially launched, which is still used by Townshend.

The Hiwatt amplifiers and other equipments were used by the world’s biggest bands and artists. Some of the notable users of Hiwatt equipments include Guy Berryman (Coldplay), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), John Entwistle (The Who) and Hugh Harris (The Kooks). The popular Hiwatt amps and other equipment such as the 100w Hiwatt, Hiwatt DR 201 and Hiwatt 4x12 Cab can be bought from several online sites.