Hiwatt vs Plexi
- Thread starter some_dude
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Lake Placid Blues
New member
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
The plexi will typically start to distort much sooner. A Hiwatt typically stays clean almost up to full volume.
A Hiwatt also feels tighter.
The plexi will typically start to distort much sooner. A Hiwatt typically stays clean almost up to full volume.
A Hiwatt also feels tighter.
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
And is like a Marshall just with more of everything!
Will not say that one is better than the other, both are huge sounding amps with plenty of gorgeous clean tones!
And is like a Marshall just with more of everything!
Will not say that one is better than the other, both are huge sounding amps with plenty of gorgeous clean tones!
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
A loud Hiwatt has a grunt that is hard to forget... a friend in his studio fired up a early 70's Hiwatt stack and it had this huge presence about it.... Listen to the Who's Live At Leeds and that is close to what a stock Hiwatt sounds like extremely loud... by close i mean Petes were heavily modded but still there is that type of sound in the stock Hiwatt....
Maybe just me but the Hiwatt seems to have a lot more bottom end then a Plexi. The Marshall has more highs, more fuzziness
A loud Hiwatt has a grunt that is hard to forget... a friend in his studio fired up a early 70's Hiwatt stack and it had this huge presence about it.... Listen to the Who's Live At Leeds and that is close to what a stock Hiwatt sounds like extremely loud... by close i mean Petes were heavily modded but still there is that type of sound in the stock Hiwatt....
Maybe just me but the Hiwatt seems to have a lot more bottom end then a Plexi. The Marshall has more highs, more fuzziness
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
The "myth" that a HiWatt will not crunch is simply that...a myth. Any tube amp will crunch if you crank it BUT a HiWatt is cleaner than a Marshall...and like Rid said they seem to have more of everything!
Both are great amps and to be honest trying to describe the differences is tough...a lot of each amps tones also comes from the speakers that they were most often paired with...
The "myth" that a HiWatt will not crunch is simply that...a myth. Any tube amp will crunch if you crank it BUT a HiWatt is cleaner than a Marshall...and like Rid said they seem to have more of everything!
Both are great amps and to be honest trying to describe the differences is tough...a lot of each amps tones also comes from the speakers that they were most often paired with...
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Yep!
Hiwatt through old Fanes...loud and very clear, very defined and the crunch is balancing on sweet and very open...sometimes they can sound less loud, until you start to talk and cannot hear yourself
Superlead 100...alittle more raw, but that is the difference on the Partridge and the Dragnall and Drake trafo's, the latter are more focused on that upper middy thing, the Partridges are more even sounding...well to me!
Both are loud clean amps!
Yep!
Hiwatt through old Fanes...loud and very clear, very defined and the crunch is balancing on sweet and very open...sometimes they can sound less loud, until you start to talk and cannot hear yourself
Superlead 100...alittle more raw, but that is the difference on the Partridge and the Dragnall and Drake trafo's, the latter are more focused on that upper middy thing, the Partridges are more even sounding...well to me!
Both are loud clean amps!
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Fanes are for sure a very signature part to the HiWatt sound...both clean and dirty.
I run my MK4 Sound City 50+ through a 4x12 cab loaded with Fanes...I know lots of guys are down on the SC stuff but it's a killer sounding rig!
Fanes are for sure a very signature part to the HiWatt sound...both clean and dirty.
I run my MK4 Sound City 50+ through a 4x12 cab loaded with Fanes...I know lots of guys are down on the SC stuff but it's a killer sounding rig!
PUCKBOY99
Irish Flagologist
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
My Emplexador on Vintage mode nails that old Plexi tone to a TEE !!!
Master up & the gain at about 10:00....thru a '78 Marshall 4x12 w/Greenbacks is pretty friggin SWEET :32:
TGWIF is sick of hearing me say is, but it sounds like a chocolate malt.....smooth & sweet !!!!
My Emplexador on Vintage mode nails that old Plexi tone to a TEE !!!
Master up & the gain at about 10:00....thru a '78 Marshall 4x12 w/Greenbacks is pretty friggin SWEET :32:
TGWIF is sick of hearing me say is, but it sounds like a chocolate malt.....smooth & sweet !!!!
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
^+1
And a straight cab also sounds huger than a slanted one!
^+1
And a straight cab also sounds huger than a slanted one!
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Im not sick of hearing it...I actually love a good Plexi or plexi type amp through greenbacks...however I hate malts:smack: :chairfall
Everytime you meantion this rig it really adds fuel to the fire for my Plexi GAS!
Im not sick of hearing it...I actually love a good Plexi or plexi type amp through greenbacks...however I hate malts:smack: :chairfall
Everytime you meantion this rig it really adds fuel to the fire for my Plexi GAS!
Jeff_H
Dean Hardtail Fanologist
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Werd. Malt ruins a perfectly good shake. It's like letting Osama Bin Laden brush of his testicals in your brand new Dairy Queen chocolate shake.
Werd. Malt ruins a perfectly good shake. It's like letting Osama Bin Laden brush of his testicals in your brand new Dairy Queen chocolate shake.
PUCKBOY99
Irish Flagologist
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Once again, Brokeback Jeffy stops by to gay up a perfectly good thread !!!
Once again, Brokeback Jeffy stops by to gay up a perfectly good thread !!!
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Brokeback Jeffy...hahaha man you guys are a mean bunch
Brokeback Jeffy...hahaha man you guys are a mean bunch
some_dude
Raging BB Gunologist
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
What part of the midrange does Hiwatt occupy? Upper mids like a Marshall, or a little lower?
You know that super thick wall of air sound you get when you push an amp into overdrive but not quite into crunch.....the tone where power chords kinda waver and you swear you're hearing the raw sine wave comming out the speakers because they're excurding so far without actually breaking up and chords are all shimmer without crunch?
That's the sound I'm looking for.
I was thinking about a Twin, but I'm looking for more thickness.
What part of the midrange does Hiwatt occupy? Upper mids like a Marshall, or a little lower?
You know that super thick wall of air sound you get when you push an amp into overdrive but not quite into crunch.....the tone where power chords kinda waver and you swear you're hearing the raw sine wave comming out the speakers because they're excurding so far without actually breaking up and chords are all shimmer without crunch?
That's the sound I'm looking for.
I was thinking about a Twin, but I'm looking for more thickness.
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
it is weird trying to write out in words to get you to understand the power of a Hiwatt stack cranked... It has huge balls to it and the midrange cuts thru... For years people have said Hiwatts are the loudest amps out there... mostly i think the volume they describe is the midrange freq's that slice thru the thick of just about anything....
over in England i was standing side stage and a friends band was doing a show and they are sponcered by Music Ground and Hiwatt UK... the amps have some great dirt to them..
Fanes are a must... Another friend of mine here in Canada has a 76 Hiwatt stack... he tried the head into a Marshall cab and it was not the same... Oddly this guy uses his Hiwatt stack for the cleans to amp his J Station...
A Hiwatt has more balls then a Twin would ever have... but you could get some Fender like tones out of a Hiwatt by cleaning it up... in the 70's David Gilmour used modded Hiwatts for his main tone and added pedals for fuzz... you can now buy the Gilmour Signature Hiwatt head in the UK....
Whofan
it is weird trying to write out in words to get you to understand the power of a Hiwatt stack cranked... It has huge balls to it and the midrange cuts thru... For years people have said Hiwatts are the loudest amps out there... mostly i think the volume they describe is the midrange freq's that slice thru the thick of just about anything....
over in England i was standing side stage and a friends band was doing a show and they are sponcered by Music Ground and Hiwatt UK... the amps have some great dirt to them..
Fanes are a must... Another friend of mine here in Canada has a 76 Hiwatt stack... he tried the head into a Marshall cab and it was not the same... Oddly this guy uses his Hiwatt stack for the cleans to amp his J Station...
A Hiwatt has more balls then a Twin would ever have... but you could get some Fender like tones out of a Hiwatt by cleaning it up... in the 70's David Gilmour used modded Hiwatts for his main tone and added pedals for fuzz... you can now buy the Gilmour Signature Hiwatt head in the UK....
Whofan
Last edited:
JeffB
Let it B
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
Some of my absolute fave guitar tones ever are out of Frank Hannon's modded Hi-watts. They sound like a beefier, meaner, nastier, more cutting 2203. He had them modded for more gain. Tesla's first 3 albums. Or better yet find some tracks off "re-plugged"...the live album from Y2K.
I've played some old 70s models before, and they never failed to dissapoint, but they, more-so than a classic Marshall NMV, have to be cranked to deliver the crunch...and they are ear bleeding loud.
Some of my absolute fave guitar tones ever are out of Frank Hannon's modded Hi-watts. They sound like a beefier, meaner, nastier, more cutting 2203. He had them modded for more gain. Tesla's first 3 albums. Or better yet find some tracks off "re-plugged"...the live album from Y2K.
I've played some old 70s models before, and they never failed to dissapoint, but they, more-so than a classic Marshall NMV, have to be cranked to deliver the crunch...and they are ear bleeding loud.
Re: Hiwatt vs Plexi
i remember seeing pictures of Tesla in guitar mags back in the 80's with a wall of Hiwatt behind that one guy..... I'd kill to have some Hiwatts... I'm crying now as over the years i came across various Hiwatt heads that were cheap, bought i never bought them... 15-20 years ago when no one wanted them, everyone wanted Marshalls!!!! there was a time when you could grab working early 70's heads for $300 Canadian.... slowly in the 90's the prices went insane.... I could of bought one of Paul Deans-(Loverboy) Hiwatt heads for $350 in 1990....
i remember seeing pictures of Tesla in guitar mags back in the 80's with a wall of Hiwatt behind that one guy..... I'd kill to have some Hiwatts... I'm crying now as over the years i came across various Hiwatt heads that were cheap, bought i never bought them... 15-20 years ago when no one wanted them, everyone wanted Marshalls!!!! there was a time when you could grab working early 70's heads for $300 Canadian.... slowly in the 90's the prices went insane.... I could of bought one of Paul Deans-(Loverboy) Hiwatt heads for $350 in 1990....
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