Building a "Hiwatt" tube Bass Amp

[sortebill]

I am interesting in building a "reverse engineered" (and perhaps improved) Hiwatt tube bass amp. I tried searching but i am new here so i don't really know what to search for, sorry if i make a mess.

I am interesting in building a replica hiwatt amp, about 2-300w'ish and perhaps with some modifications..

Has anyone here done something like this? I might be able to pay some money for drawings etc. but im not rich so, free would be preferable.

best regards, Per

[agent.5]

See this thread

Hammond 1650W

[diamondsouled]

There's quite a few Hiwatt schematics at this site:

http://www.drtube.com/guitamp.htm#HiWatt

Lar

[sortebill]

That was very helpful, I like this forum already, I think i will try building the DR405 amp, I have never built anything like this before but I have built other electronic equipment and started a electronic related course some 10 years ago, most of the knowledge has probably left my mind but I think it will come back once i start building this monster. I do however need all the help i can get so dont be shy if you know something about this particular machine.

Best regards, Per

[basstard]

also, take a look here: http://mhuss.com/Hiwatt/tech2.html

the schemes are better,,,

btw, I'm a bass player and I would like a big power rig in the future when I'll stop building guitar stuff,,, I'm after a mean sound so I ain't that much oriented on tubes for my bass,,, I conceive bass as a percussion instrument if you know what I mean
so, maybe for my likes solid state is better, what you think? and how do you think this hiwat will sound? [better yet, what sound are you after with building this hiwatt?]

[sortebill]

I like tubes, I don't know why really, just wan't to build something thats "vintage" and powerful. I'm not a bass player and I'm primarily building this to get into the electronic stuff again, later i will build a analog synthesizer and want something powerfull to connect it to, I just like to make sounds and I don't believe in rules, if it works then it works, even if it is a synth connected to a bass amp

[Trout]

Might be easier to do a known 300W bass amp like a 70's Ampeg SVT.

Parts are still floating around and take it from someone that owned one, hearing protection should be mandatory

I have never heard anything that had the kick I remember from that amp. I had it hooked up to a pair of 8 X 10" cabs. We were crazy back in the 70's. That was my Gig & Practice rig.

Edit, lots of Hiwatt schematics here schematic heaven

Many Ampegs are also on that site, Ampeg Schematics

Trout

[showdown]

I've been thinking about building a bass amp myself, maybe something like an Ampeg SVT with about 200w output. I've got an old monstrous Simms-Watts PA amp with 4xKT88s in UL that can be the donor for transformers (Partridge!), sockets etc. The power section can probably be kept as it is, I just need to build a new preamp when I have the time - and can afford the parts...

[basstard]

I'm thinking of a class d PA for my next project,,, I want HUGE power,,,

[DaveMcLain]

From my experience in my own personal bass rig:


For bass guitar rigs exactly the opposite approach is used from getting a good "real" guitar sound.


Use a preamp of some sort to get the sound you're after. This could be a tube head(even low powered, it doesn't matter) into a dummy load I use a Sansamp RBI. Then use this signal to drive a very large solid state power amp(1000 watts is a good place to start) into a very clean and uncolored cabinet(I use an Euphonic Audio NL-210 driven by a Crown MacroTech 1200 bridged into 8 ohms). I use this setup for mostly "classic" bass sounds with great results. What I found in the past was that a tube amp would sound great at a certain level, lower it didn't sound like an amp and higher it would break up a little too much. With this setup it sounds great quiet or loud. Is this what you're after?