RED HIWATT DR103 FOR SALE > USED BY A FORMER PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC MEMBER

[BigmouthTK]

Hi Everybody.

 

This is my first time posting on Harmony Central but my friend who is a Gretsch guitarist referred me here saying you all would be the best genuine home for a piece of gear like this. I hope I am doing this right....

 

My father, Mack Willis, passed away two years ago from complications due to an infection / heart issues... after having lived an EXCESSIVE life in the music industry. He was a keyboard savant, most prominently performing in his later career as a session / touring musician with Parliament Funkadelic. In his early years he played with and opened for acts as big as Jeff Beck, The Lovin' Spoonful, Levon Helm, Blues Traveler, The Moody Blues, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, and included an extensive stint with Johnny Winter (R.I.P) and his brother Edgar Winter, and some short touring with Steven Stills.

 

As you can imagine it was huge loss. Immense. Words cannot describe...He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame for his work with the Hey-Baby beach music band "The Tropics" as well as winning a few posthumous awards for a band he formed called Bacchus in the 70's (see attached photos for verification).

 

My father passed on his talent and love for music to me from a young age. I am a keyboard player as well and also produce music, unfortunately I find little use for this HiWatt as I am not a guitar player and don't use it for Bright, British amp sounds. I want this to have a good home, with someone who is going to use it for its potential. This piece of gear is newer but my Dad treasured it as the centerpiece of his custom rig. It allowed him to make a key-tar hum and shine just like a regular guitar, if not better, and I love the way it sounds, but I can't justify keeping it cooped up any longer.

 

My initial estimate that I received from the guys at HIWATT was $3,500 and I am looking for around that price for the amp, but would be willing to negotiate to an extent.

 

Let me know if you are interested, and please include any information about what kind of music you make. Feel free to peruse the images of the amp, as well as of my dad. I just want to make sure this ends up with somebody who appreciates it. Below is some reviewer information about the efficacy/history of this amp:

 

_________

 

HIWATT DR-103 (RED):

 

Hiwatt, along with Marshall and Vox, are largely responsible for shaping the sound of British rock during the 1960s. Bands such as Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones, and The Who have all used Hiwatt amps to help create their legendary sounds.

British audio engineer Dave Reeves founded Hiwatt in the mid-1960s (the exact date varies from source to source). To raise enough money to get his company up and running, he contracted with Ivor Arbiter’s Sound City music store to build a line of amps bearing the store’s name. By the late 1960s, however, Reeves had fulfilled his contract with Sound City and began focusing on building his Hiwatt-branded amps.

Hiwatt amps bear a strikingly similar appearance to Marshall amps, but they certainly have their own sound. With their military-spec chassis, point-to-point wiring, and marine-grade cabinets, Hiwatt amps are also known for being built like tanks. Pete Townshend was likely drawn to Hiwatts for more than just their tone: They were about the only thing that could withstand his punishment.

 

The 100-watt model DR103 was probably the most popular amp head Hiwatt produced at the time. Other amps in the line included their 50-watt DR504, 200-watt DR201, and the massive 400-watt DR405. Each of these models featured two channels and standard control knobs for treble, middle, bass, individual channel volume, presence, and master volume. All the tubes in the aforementioned amps were of British origin, and the DR103s in particular were loaded with EL34 power tubes and ECC83 preamp tubes.

 

As Hiwatt became more popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Reeves found he could no longer keep up with production. So he commissioned famed amp-designer Harry Joyce to wire chassis for him and this partnership lasted successfully up until Reeves’ untimely death in 1981. Unfortunately, Reeves was divorced at the time of his death and the company ended up in the hands of lawyers, instead of his children as he had intended.

 

At this point, a few remaining Hiwatt employees incorporated under the name Biacrown Ltd. and continued to produce Hiwatt amps with some minor changes to the circuitry. For reasons largely unknown, Biacrown became financially strapped and closed its doors in 1984. The Hiwatt name was then sold to Richard Harrison and his U.K. company Music Ground.

In the U.S., the Hiwatt name reemerged with Fernandes Guitars. In order to keep up with the times, this collaboration began offering a line of Asian-made amps under the Hiwatt name that included solid-state models in their Bulldog series of amplifiers. Fernandes and Hiwatt were distributed together for a number of years until just recently.

Your half-stack rig consists of the DR103 head and a SE4123 4x12 speaker cabinet. For this complete set, the value is currently somewhere between $3,000 and $3,500 in excellent condition. However, it also very much depends on the year of the amplifier, since the earlier models are worth more. Any association with Pete Townshend and The Who seems to increase the value as well. Maybe it’s because Townshend smashed so many of them that they’ve become so rare and more desirable!

 

__________

 

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

Hope someone needs one!

 

- Harrison Willis

[BigmouthTK]

My dad is the one in the Pharaoh costume. I wear a huge mask now when I perform. Runs in the family :-)

 

-H

[dlp]

Looks like a copy-paste from your Reverb ad except you replaced "Reverb" with "Harmony Central"

 

Your amp is probably worth $1500-$1700 if you can find someone that likes red. The ID tag looks like a 2006-2009 build. But hey! If your dad is a pharaoh and you wear a mask maybe someone will pay you $3500 ($500 more than they cost brand new from US dealers like chicagomusicexchange.com).