Hiwatt G100 R MaxWatt schematic needed

[km6xz]

Hello All, I never see solid state HiWatt schematics on-line so hope some one has this one, or the preamp would be enough. Thanks

[J M Fahey]

Not that one but have the 15 and 30W ones, if I don't remember wrong.
Will search and post what I find.

Anyway and as a general guidance, they use the cheesiest out of the cheesiest designs.
I'd expect something fancy, at least on par of what Peavey/Crate or even Marshall and Fender SS use ... none of that.
Just plain Op Amp gain stages, simple antiparallel diode clipping ..... aaaaajum it makes me sleepy.

What's your actual problem?

EDIT: here's the 50Watt version.
I bet the 100W is the same with more power and maybe some small feature added or not.
As shown, it's not even a real "Hiwatt design" or even "Hiwatt based" but a as generic as dirt Chang Yu Electronics Ltd. OEM design and product, which I bet is sold under 20 different brands.

Looks and finissh, though are true to classic Hiwatt standards ... all that a generic customer cares about

They are selling tons of these in Argentina, to those who lust to decorate their rehearsal rooms.

The looks are killer:

[km6xz]

Hi Juan,
Thank you for the print. It is not the same unit, the 50s is a simpler signal path, missing a number of stages and FETS. The cabinet looks good but you are right about the Chinese style pc board and just two power transistors in the output, and a transformer that does not look like it has the mass for 100watts. The company in UK has their email bouncing as "mailbox full" which means they do not even have their own mail server. For awhile several stores had dozens on them on the sales floor, and called themselves distributors here. Maybe they used the store display area as their warehouse but they disappeared a couple years ago.
I found the problem in the channel switching, a 2SK304 that was leaky. I used a K212 which was readily available in the parts houses here.
It appears to be more profitable to buy defunct brand names than hiring engineers nowadays. I got the impression a few years ago that there were two HiWatt companies, one based in the US which was a past distributor or something so was claiming the rights to the name.

[teemuk]

I got the impression a few years ago that there were two HiWatt companies, one based in the US which was a past distributor or something so was claiming the rights to the name.

That's correct. The "Hiwatt" trademark has been open prey.

A Japanese Four Life Co. acquired the Hiwatt trademark from Biacrown Ltd. in the late 1980's (few years before Hiwatt went totally bankrupt) and eventually the trademark ended up to Fernandes Co. Ltd. Its American-based division, Fernandes Guitars USA, started to utilise the trademark. The manufacturing was pretty much outsourced even then, but in early 1990's the contracted company was not from Asia but an UK-based Audio Brothers Ltd. The amps were reissues of original Hiwatt designs.

In the early 1990's Fernandes owned the Hiwatt trademark in Japan, USA, Germany, France and Italy. Their application in UK was denied because "Hiwatt" was "descriptive of and non-distinctive for goods powered by high wattage". And that "the mark could not be registered a trademark unless it became distinctive through use". So practically in UK anyone could at the time sell Hiwatt amps.

Audio Brothers took advantage of the court's rule and started to sell the Hiwatt-branded amplifiers they manufactured also to other contractors. Fernandes immediately terminated their own contract. Leech Manufacturing Ltd. (also from UK) was their next contract manufacturer.

I don't know what the situation is currently but in near past Fernandes manufactured in UK, Korea and Japan, and naturally took as much of an advantage of the growing OEM markets in Asia (e.g. Woosung Chorus Ltd.) as most other manufactuers did. (They probably still don't build the amps "inhouse").

UK -based Music Ground also started to produce Hiwatt -branded amplifiers in the mid 1990's. The company executives have claimed that they have purchased the "Hiwatt" trademark from Biacrown Ltd. but the claim has never been proven. Nevertheless their subsidiary, Hiwatt Amplification U.K., handles the operations. They also take advantage of contract manufacturing and OEM markets.

[km6xz]

Thank you for all the background info, very interesting. The amp I had sported no identifications of origin, company name or any identifying markings on the chassis other than the front panel "HiWatt MaxWatt G100 R". No serial number and no indication there ever was one on the cabinet or amp. There was a fuse rating chart and a mains voltage list with 230 check marked. Since it had no markings for GOST(the Russian version of CE or UL) it must have been personally imported and not through any distributor here. Every rehearsal hall here has some amps that much has been available; every one has tube amps by Randall, Ampeg SVT, Peavey 5150 or variations, various 90s and 2000s Marshalls and some have Crate and Carvin. Not that many Fenders. Most of the rehearsal spaces have 10-22 rooms full of gear and are booked solid because almost everyone lives in apartments and can't crank it at home. There must be 50-75 such businesses in old factories and warehouses in a narrow ring around the old historic city center that was the industrial center for all of Russia during the late 1800s and up until the 1960s and 70s. So they have been tuned into cheap arts rentals, startup businesses and mostly rehearsal halls. They all want tube amp and cranked and the 3 ft thick walls hardly prevent the sound from a dozen bands working at once. Most of the bands are hard rock by kids who will never play out in venues, sort of the garage bands of the US suburbs. But some are serious touring bands with hit records.