Vintage Hiwatt Hang!
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- As a companion piece to this past week's episode of The Malcontents, we opened up a couple vintage Hiwatt heads and noted all the similarities and differences between these two DR-504 and DR-103 models. Both examples date back to the same year- 1974!
A portion of this was shown during the afore mentioned Mals episode but we're releasing the hang here in it's entirety for those who can't ever get enough gear geekery in their lives. Enjoy! - Zábava
This is soooo KILLER to watch!!
I've always admired the perfect & uncluttered look of these amplifier circuits..
Making the wireing harness before it's installed into the amp was something I never knew H.J.did.
Always thought, How on earth do they make it so "NEAT".
I Love these amplifiers..
Love the cable management with the waxed lacing cord. I learned to do that too when I was young 40 years ago
Loved this. I listen to each Malcontents episode just for the technical talk that may or may not happen.
Thanks Steve and Joe
Attention to wiring... Makes it easier to work on and quicker to figure out any problem.. usually rare on an untouched vintage HIWATT 🤘
So.... vintage Hiwatts were sloppy with wiring?
@@jst601 not even 😝
Yah man, those right angled green wires sound so good ! Lol
Nice T-shirt Steven!
Lacing As Per The Mains Transformer Input Wiring Was Done In Situ In That Chassis From Back Panel WhereThe Power Inlet Wiring Is To the Left Back Corner And Forward To The Toggle Switches, I used To Do this on A Different Type of Equipment In A Factory producing PH And Conductivity Meters That I Calibrated As An Engineer And Was Service Manager At 21 Years Old In 1984 At.
Some Lacing Is Done On Plywood Forms With Nails Known A Panel Pins Nailed In To it, But That From A Power Inlet Would Start In the Chassis As Described Above, It Becomes Quicker And Easier to Efficiantly Do, The More A Person Does It, There is Also A Specific Type of Knot/Hitch that You Start With And Continue While Lacing the Loom And Finish The Loom And A Tie Off Knot, There Is Also The Lazy Way, where The Correct Knot Is Not Used And Amounts To Looping Every Half Turn Of The Either Waxed Cord, Of Linen String/ Thick Thread In Green/ Grey,Gray / Light Brown, Buff Colours/Colors Sometimes Red or Blue But These Colours/ Colors, Are Much Rarer, Or A Black Plastic Coated Silk Texture String Core, The Correct Knots/Hitches Are Actually Much Quicker To Execute While Lacing The Correct Way And The Lazy Way Is Slower, AsThe Saying Goes Practice Makes Perfect.
I was a bench Tech for 30 years or so and your knowledge is extensive and impressive. That pic of how the looms were made up -I didn't even know that. On the subject of guitarists 'gloming' onto turret board point to point wiring do you think it's baloney or are the modern PCB equivalents as good or better? I'm mindful of a lesson I once had about lead dressing and wondered whether closer PCB tracks would have greater stray capacitance and hence poorer overall amp performance as a consequence? Kind thanks For your wonderful channel. I'm almost tempted to return to the bench. What a fine Engineer you are.
Thank you for your kind comments. We researched the field of looming because from the production experience perspective, it just seemed highly unlikely for there to be such consistency from unit to unit doing them one at a time from scratch. It's our strongly held belief that a PCB layout is every bit the art and science that PTP wiring is, except you only do it once. And that goes right back to production experience. How do you get clean consistent visual and sonic results that rivals and often beats PTP amps costing thousands more? You simply have to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. With that, any methodology is valid within specific constraints such as time, cost and consistency.
Hiwatt builders were all ex military electronics vets! Ready for battle perfect wiring!
British tastiness 🤘🏼
Your Hiwatt videos are so inspirational that I've decided to leave my day job and buy an established amp repair shop from a gent that is looking to retire and get into the business....of course I'll have to repair many inferior designs, but I am fastnated with all tube amps that it's worth it.
All the best on your new venture. We need more of you!
Cool! Can I come work for you? Lol
Sweet 👍
Does or can Fryette make a hiwatt style amplifier?
so do you think a dr103 is too bright g12m pulmonic greenbacks?
Hey Steve, I’ve got a few Sound City 50 heads one with a master vol. Also, the 1978 Hiwatt DR-103 Canadian 2 input version I’d love to have you setup! Same with my Marshall Astoria Classic as somebody ran EL-34’s in there and it’s designed for KT-66. I’m just in Riverside. Can we hang one day and I’ll get your opinions on the Amps? I’d love to try out your Sound City Amps!! I prefer to get my gain from my Amps. But maybe we can set these Amps up the way they should be? I’ve also got a 1970 Traynor which I love. All of them are Handwired. Astoria Classic is a Turret board. When could we get together? I hope you have a Fane loaded cab because I can’t lift mine! 😅 Rock On Guys. Thomas Adams 11:11®️🎸🎶🎶 Eleven:Eleven is my project and I need S. CA Prog. Concept Rock Players. 🎉 11:11®️ is a Registered TM. It’s Rush/Floyd/Zeppelin/etc. conglomerates in my weird ass brain. Haven’t recorded since I was 19. I’m ready willing and able and so Roy Thomas Baker will get what he’s been messing with me about not having an album. I go dude. You produced Queen. Bring me in. He is awaiting the demos. Not with baited breath, so I’ve got something to prove to myself Steve. It don’t get much higher upper echelon than having that old crazy Genius produce your debut Album. Ya Dig Amigo? 🎉😂 I’ll get Joanna, my Fidutiary to pay you for the biasing and any parts of course. ❤🎉😊 Thomas Adams (Riverside CA). I sent you a message on Facebook messenger. Tom
Hey Steven at 37:20 I see 37.4V on the meter when you are at full volume.. which means 171W.. 🤔Let me know if I miss something.
As you see in the video, this is the voltage reading at just below full square wave power. The meter is reading RMS, which applies to a sine wave and becomes irrelevant when pushing the power amp into square wave territory. In other words, this is the meter doing it's best to measure the RMS component of a non-sinusoidal signal. It's also why this state is often interpreted as something resembling double the RMS sine wave power. The power tubes are not producing more power, the power supply current draw is not increasing and the peak-to-peak amplitude on the scope is at roughly the same as full sine wave amplitude. So how can it be that with all other factors at roughly the same value, can the power output be calculated as 170-180W? The answer is the calculation for sine wave power (E^2/Z) is invalid for a square wave.
@@FryetteAmps thx for the explanation! That make sens. 👌🏻😊
Interesting that both amps still have their Bulgin connectors.
I've always been paranoid that some idiot will break one at a gig (I carry a spare) but they don't grow on trees and the plastic is 50 years old.
We replaced the missing Bulgin connector on the 50W. It had previously been changed to a sloppily installed IEC connector.
It Looks Like The Power Inlet Socket was Once An IEC Inlet And That Has Been Replaced With A Bulgin Or Bulgin Copy Round Socket, I Say This Because The Chassis Hole looks Like It Was Punched With Square Corners Of A Rectangular Hole To The Footprint of An IEC Originally and Not An Entirely Round Hole For A Bulgin/Bulgin Copy Socket, That Would Mean The Chassis Was Nearer To 1976, As The Electrical Laws Changed In The UK, That Year Outlawing Certain Unsafe It Was Deemed Connectors For Use At Mains Voltages Above 50 Volts AC, This Meant The Screw On Top Bulgin Cable Sockets/Recepticles Could No Longer Be Used In The UK Or Technically Other countries As Unsafe,The Smaller Solder Tag Version Of The Cable Mount Sockets/Recepticles Had A Smaller Diameter Cap That Was Prone To Breaking Around It's Screw On Thread Portion Even though It Was A Bakelite moulding, Beause It Was thinner And Weaker, If you Grabbed A Handful Of Hot Mains Before RCD Safety Breakers It May Well Have Proved Fatal, Not Everyone Removes The Mains Plug From Their Wall Or Trailing Socket/Four Gangs/3 Gangs/2 Gangs In The UK Or Power Strips In The USA/Canada, Which Are Still Plugged In To a Live Energised AC Outlet On The Wall.
Bulgin Did Make A Right Angle Cable Socket/Recepticle, Which Had A Much Tougher Bakelite Cover Held On Via Two Off 6BA/British Association, Threaded Countersunk Screws, it had Little Enough Room For it's 5/16 Inch wide, Fibre Cable Clamp To Hold The Cable Jacket/Main Cable Covering Securely Via Two Similar Thread Diameter, (Self Tapping/Binder Screws I Think In The USA) To the 6 BA Machine Screws, Also Counter Sunk Heads, These Two Types Of Screws Were Slot Headed.
One End Of The Triangle Of The Three Conductor Cable/Cord Is Better Made Off In To this R/A CableSocket/Recepticle Than The Other End, The Neutral Is On the Bottom Left Terminal In A Bulgin Cable Socket The Line is On Bottom Right Terminal And The Earth Terminal/Ground Is Top Middle, So the Cable End That Presents Thus* is The End To Fit To This Right Angle Cable Socket/Recepticle, *Holding The Cable's/Cord's Jacket/Main Covering Stripped Off Two Inches Away from You Looking Down On To The Cable From Above It's Jacket/Main Covering Held With The Greater length Of the Cable passing Behind You, Neutral White USA Canada/Blue UK Europe Neutral Top Left ON The Cable Triangle Of The Three Internal Individually insulated Conductors Black USA Canada/ Brown UK Europe On Top Right And Finally Green USA Canada/Green And Yellow UK Europe Middle Bottom Of The Inverted, Triangle Of Three Insulated Conductors.
Strip The Neutral And Line Conductors So That No More Than Three Eighths Of An Inch Of Isulation Protrudes From The Cable Jacket/Main Covering On Those Conductors, The Earth/Ground Is The Longest Insulated And Should Always If Tugged From The Cable Socket Be The Last To By Tugging Detach From It's Terminal, it's Insulation Is Stripped To Around One And Three Eighths Of An Inch Extending From The Cable Jacket/Main Covering, Cut All Conductors Now Stripped To No Longer Than Half An Inch Twst Each Conductor's Strands In Their Direction Of Lay, Double Their Thickness By Folding Them Over Double To Your Right Holding The Cable Stripped End Away From You As Per Earlier with The Earth/Ground At The Bottom Of The Triangle Of The Three Conductors, You Shoiuld Now Have All Three Folded Over Conductors About A Quarter Inch Long, Unscrew The 6 BA Cheese Head Screws Fully In Each Terminal To Open A Clear Round Side Entry Hole In Each Socket Terminal, Their Terminal Sockets Are Loose enough to lift Them From The Bakelite Moulding, Note The Side/Cross Holes Position For the Neutral And Line Terminal In Relation To The Terminal's pentagon Cross Section And How That Relates to The Cross Holes Orientation in The Bakelite Moulding, These Cross Hole Should Be In Neutral Terminal 7 O'Clock and Line Terminal 5 O' Clock Positions If You Reference A Clock Circle Dial Positions To The Bulgin Socket's/Recepticle's Moulding, This Is Why 3/8ths Of Insulation Only On Each Neutral And Line Conductors. The Earth,/ Ground Is Longer and Led Around Under The Neutral Circleing To The Top Middle Earth/Ground Terminal, The Folding Over To The Right Conductors, are Always Presented To The Holes On The Terminals On The Right Hand Side Of The Terminal And The Screws Screwed Down With Sufficient Torque To Lock Themselves In The Terminals And Lock The Copper Conductors Tightly Enough That It Will Not Slacken In Normal Use, These Are Brass, (As Are The Terminals), 6 BA Screws And Will Snap Past A Certain Torque, But An Engineers Ability To Tighten Such Screws By Feel, As Brass Is Self Lubricating Against Brass, Should Prevent Them Going Past Their Metallic Elasticity And Snapping, It Is Not Neccessary To Use A Torque Screwdriver, As The Screws Are Also Rounded Bullet Pointed And The Doubleing Over Of The Conductors, Fills The Hole In The Terminal And That Bullet Rounded Pointed Screw Will Not Guillotine And Cut Those Conductors Strands. Now You Will Be Able To Manipulate The Cable Jacket As Close To The Round Turret Of The Bakelite Moulding And Maximise The Effectiveness Of The Black/Grey Fibre Board Cable Clamp On The Cable Jacket/Main Covering By Screwing It Down Equally Like A Balanced SEE SAW On The Cable Jacket/Main Covering Which It Pivots And Ultimately Crushes The Cable, Just Tight EnoughTo Not Move In The Clamp and Not Tug Easily out Of The Clamp, But Also NOT BREAK THE VERY THIN ENDS OF THE CLAMP AROUND THE CLAMPING SCREWS OF THE CLAMP'S FIBRE. Fit The Cover With The 6 BA Machine Screws And You Are Done, These Screws Are Tin Plated Brass Too, As Are The Cable Clamp Screws. A Six Amp 0.75 mm square Cross Section Conductor Or Ten Amp 1mm square Cross section Conductor Cable For UK/EuropeMains Voltages will Fit These Terminal holes As I Described The conductor's Preparation And In USA/Canada A Ten Or Fifteen Amp Cable As Rated For 110/120 AC Volts Should Also Fit The Terminal Hole When The Cable Prepared As Described Above, The Cable Overall Jacket/Main Covering Outside Overall Diameter Being Not Greater Than 9.5mmUK/Europe/ USA Canada 3/8th Inches. Of A Three Core/Three Conductor Cable.
This Would Allow The Safe Use Of An Original Fitted Bulgin Chassis Fitted Plug/Pin Inlet With The Still Safe In The UK/ Europe R/A Screwdriver Only Accessible Terminals, Cable Socket/Recepticle That Complies With Those Electrical Equipment Safety Domestic Equipment Regulations Of 1976, Which Guitar Amplifiers Are Covered By Under Our Manufacturing Electrical and Electronic Laws/Standards As Defined That Year Stated Above, So Therfore Should Comply With IN THE USA UL Laboratries And Canadian Standards Board For Electrical And Elecronic Equipment.
Some Last Words On The Two Types Of Bulgin Chassis Pin Plugs, The One shown CloseUp On The 100 Watt Hiwatt is A Split PIn Pins Plug Chassis Unit And Thes Pins Screw On To 6BA Threaded Studs Turned As An Extension Of The Screw Terminal Barrel You See In The Video At Time Reference 18.39/18.46 of The Internal View Of The Bulgin Chassis Power Inlet Plug, These Pins Can Work Loose And End Up Missing, Lost Forever, For Electrical Safety They Should Always Be Checked That They Are Torqued To Tight As Possible On Those Stud Extentions, All Three Pins Earth/Ground, Neutral And Line, Also Clean Any Nickel Oxide Coating From Them To Lower contact Resistance, I Once had A Carlsboro 7 Channel KT88 Output Stage 200 Watts 700 Volt HT Rail, PA Valve/Tube Head with An Intermittent Earth/Ground, Not Loose Earth/Ground Pin Though, Nickel Oxide Causing on The Chassis Pin Intermittent Contact In The Turned Socket Cable Recepticle Earth Socket Orifice With It's Screw Terminal Cable Terminations, The Turned Pin Socket Should Only Be Used With Split Pin Chassis Plugs, And if You Try Open The Split in The Pin With A Flat Bladed Electrical Screw Driver, DO NOT As Nine Times Out Of Ten One Half OfThe Pin Will Snap If You Have No Feel For It, They May Not Be Pure Brass, But A Phosphor Bronze to get The Spring In Their Split Pin, also Not A Flat Blade Screwdriver In The Pins Split to Tighten Them, They Will ALWAYS BREAK ONE Half Away, A Smooth Jaw Flat Bladed Pliers Not Quite as Wide As Duck Billed Pliers With A Lightly Cross Checked Pattern To The Jaws Will Tighten The Pins But Do Not Grip The Pins Across Their Halfs Either Side Of The Split, Align The Pliers So That Their Inner Flat Face Lie Each Side Of the Split, The More the pliers Are Parallel To the Pins Surface On The Split's Slot, So The Pliers Straddle That Slot Within The Centre Of Each Of their Jaws The Better, Clock Wise These Pins Tighten In Convention Fashion, However A Better And To Be Mainly Preferred Way Is To Get A tool That Fits Closely Like A Slight Resistace Socket To The Pin And A Feeler Gauge Wafer Of Metal To go In The Middle Of The Close
This Is A Continuation Of My First Comment Lower Down This Page Earlier, It Overlaps A Few Words So Read Below And follow On From This Asterisk * As In The Sentence, Just A Line Below From The Marked Asterisk Point.
That Fits Closely Like A Slight Resistace Socket To The Pin And A Feeler Gauge Wafer Of Metal To go In The Middle Of The Close * Fitting Tool You are Going to Make That Will Slide As A Close Sliding Fit In That Pins Slot, With Minimal Friction, to Be Centred And Fixed In The Round Orifice Sleave Prevent Breaking Either Pin Side And Also Apply Rotational Drive To Torque The Pin To Prevent it Coming Loose And Either Causing Arcing On Line Or Neutral Pins Or poor Earthing/Grounding On that Pin Or Loss Of Any Of Those Pins Is Best Practice. This Tool can Be Made Out Of round Brass Tube and Plate Obtained from model Shops For Scratch Builders Of Model Railways, Boats, Planes Etc, soldering With Minimal solder The Plate Centrally Within The Round Tubes Internal Diameter, so The It Sits cetral In Tha Tubes Diameter And Parallel for 14mm depth within The Tube And Level To The End Of The Tube Finished Square Re The Tubes Verticle Length., this Should prevent The Pin Spliting Or Breaking Either Side Of The Pins Tines Off of The Base Threaded Internally Portion About An Eigth of An Inch Long Brlow the Pin's Slot.
The Other Chassis Plug Recepticle Is Solid Turned Pin And Is Riveted TO Tin Plated Solder Tags, It's Not The Best MateFor The Turned Socket Cable Mounted Recepticle, Although They Interference Fit It is Not Always Guaranteed A Low Resistance Non Intermittent Connection, And This Is Particularly, Important With regard To the Earthing/Grounding PIn Socket Contact, Let Alone Nickel Oxide causing A Problem, Whgilst On The Oxide Coating Isopropyl Alchohol Or Methylated Spirit/Meths Will Remove That Oxide Or A Non Oily Contact Cleaner Such As Electrolube Aero Klene 50, Yellow Label Can NOT THEIR RED LABEL SWITCH CLEANER WHICH CONTAINS OIl Or Caig's Deoxit Either, You Do Not Want Oily Dust Caked On Those Pins Either.
The Solder On Cable Receplticle Mentioned Up Top Of This Page Is Not Brilliant Ether With The Turned Pin Plug Chassis Inlet, But Is Better As Turned up To a Round Spring Diameter Cross Section As A Socket And Is Silver Plated, But The Earth/Ground Must Always Be Checked For Intermittent Connection With An Analogue Multimeter With Clip Firmly Grabbing The Mains Plug Earth/Ground Pin And The Other Clip Grabbing A Good Low Resistance Chassis Contact Thje Cable Recepticle Being Connected To The Amplifier's/Other So Connected Equipment Using These Bulgin Connectors Being Also Tested This Way For Intermittentcy of Earth/Ground On A Lowest Resistance Rage deflecting At Full Scale Deflection, While Grasping The Cable Recepticle Engaged In The Chassis Plug And Deflecting Itagainst it's Cylindrical Axis, If The Connection Is of Significan Oxide Or Resistance Or Atall Intermittent You Will See A Very Visible Drop Of The Meter's Needle From FSD, An LCD Or Led Digital Meter It Is Difficult To Actually Show This Intemiitency Of Earthing/Grounding With, Suitable Test Instruments Are Avo Model Eight/Or Seven On Lowest resistance range Or Triplet Analogue Test Meters Of Resistance Ohm Amps Multimeter Type Set On Lowest Ohms Scale To observe FSD On A Good Continuity Of Mais Plug Cable Chassis connection or Simolar Test Meters/Instruments As The Simpson 600 Series Or Other makes Such As Radio Shack/Archer, Beckman Robin And Similar Analogue Test Meters/Instruments.
This Test Can Also Check The Earthing Integrity Of IEC/Euro Cable Socket Recepticle Combinations On Amplifiers/PA Sound Equipment And Even Mains Powered Test Gear/Kettles Etc Process Control Equipment It Is More Reliable for Earthing/Grounding Safety Intermittency Checking Than Any PAT Test For Earthing/Grounding Integrity, Combined With Experienced Eyes For An Internal Visible Check On Any Equipment For Integrity Internally Of Soldered/Bolted Tags/Screwed Connection Of Wiring To Chassis or The Metal Frame Of mains Electrical/ Electronic Equipment Requiring A Good Low Resistance Mains Safety Earthing/ Grounding Conductor, Remember Tingles On The Lips When playing Guitar And Singing Through A Microphone Indicates Either The Guitar Amplifier or The PA Amplifier Or Connections In The Plugs, Cables, Power Strips/Extension Cables And In UK 1,2,3,4,6,8 Gang Trailing Sockets Extension,Cables Plugs Or Loose terminals Are causing Earthing/grounding Intermittentcy, Get It Rectified Before A Lack Of Earth/Ground Causes A Fatality, Even With An RCD/GFI Your Perspiring/Sweating Palms And Moist Lips On Stage Lower Your Overall Skin Resistance from Megohms To JUST Maybe as Low As 10 To 50 Kohms In Some Cases, A Good Number Of People Will Mostly Not Fall Below Around 80 To 100 KOhms, and May Only sustain A Nasty Shock, But it's Far Better To Prevent it Ever Happening, As Even With RCD/GFI, A Weak Heart, Or Other Evetuality Could Be Permanent loss Of Life.
By The Way On The Bulgins Power Inlet/cable socketThat Right angle Screwdriver Only Cable Recepticle Works Best For The Turned Pin And Split Pin Bulgin Chassis Mounted Plugs, As It Scrapes The Pins With Much More Springy Tuning Fork Poined Contact In The Penta Con Socket Terminal Construction, A Bit Like Old Philips And Grundig DIN Tape Recorder Plugs For The Microphone And Radio/Diode Inputs, Clean That Nickel Oxide Off As Decribed Above though Too. And Check N An L For Low Resistance And Non Intermittentcy Too To Prevent Arcing And Destroying By Arc Flast The Bakelite's Insulating Qualities, This Also Applies TO IEC/ Euro INlet Cable Socket Combinations Too, They Are Less Of An Interference Fit And Prone To Intermittent Earthing/Grounding Problems And Arcing On N Or L And Carbon Flash Over Destroying Their Insulation Properties And Tripping Out Trips Or In The UK's Case Mains Plug Fuses In Our13 Amp Plugs Blowing And No We Use A Range Of Values of Fuse In Those 13 Amp Plugs To Protect The Cable From Melt Down/ Fire .
A 6 Amp Cable 0.75mm Cross Sectional Area Squared Conductor N And L Conductors, Earth/ Ground Is Same Cross Section In A Flexible Cable/Cord Is Protected By A 5 Amp HRC High Rupture Capacity Fuse . A 3 Amp 0.5 mm Cross Sectional Area Squared Cable Is Protected By 3 Amp HRC Fuse, As Two Examples, They Blow At Ten Times Their Value In Nanoseconds ON A Dead Short Circuit Fault.We Also Can Use 1 Amp 2 Amp 7 Amp 10 Amp And 13 Amp, Though To The general public 3, 5, 13 Amp are Available Due To Our UK Formerly IEE Now IET, Institute Of Electrical Engineers, Now Technicians, Having Changed The Rules In The 1970s for general Public As The High Brow people There Deemed It Was Too Complicated For The General Public to Comprehend/Understand, If In School It was Taught As Wiring Our Mains Plugs Was, It Would Be Second Nature To All UK People, Who Had Minmal Technical Or Engineering Abilities Or Interest Just As They Would Learn Mathematics, English Literature/Language, History,Geography, Sciences, Biology, Physics, Chemistry Et All and Other Subjects, The Few Deciding For The Many, How High Handed !!.