richard_leigh_turner's Reviews
Buy once Cry once
I've mixed a few bands that use Hiwatt heads and if you like a British Sound This will do it for you. Price and Used values are what you should expect for a hand built to order piece. The 100 will also handle bass guitar duty for small to medium size stages but the 200 will definitely out run it on the low frequency due to more headroom when pushed hard. Side by side with a Marshall I'd choose this one over anything aside form an actual 50's Plexi. which even in unrestored and especially in unmolested state would be far out of most touring budgets to own or lease. If you are given a half hour to really go through this amp it would be time well spent.
Great but its gotta be run hot
Creat amp But its got to be run hot, so your choices are to run well over 100db way over or install an air brake on it to be usable in small venues or practice spaces. As with all the Fender amps of Late the older US version is a bit better build quality then the new ones. Great tube sound overdrive is nice and the clean channel is typical of a fender clean. Stock spring tank on the new ones can do with an upgrade but its an easy swap. If you dont need this amount of loud check out the Hot Rod Deluxe, its much more tamable.
Still Essiential
If you are building a mic locker this is still an essential piece of gear. Very versatile. Sometimes a condenser mic is not the way to go and this has much more range but less feedback rejection than other Shure dynamic microphones. Play around with the switch settings and wind screen choice for close talking and voice over work. Thats where it really shines. If you do video looping or narration this is a must have. Street price is under $400