The HIWATT SA210, 2×10″, 20 watt combo – Serial Number AB0520, purchased at 30th Street Guitars on December 30th, 2010.
I had my eye on this combo in the shop since I bought my Les Paul Custom in June. I kept to the idea that if it was still in the shop in the new year, it was meant to be. Ok, so I fell a couple days short, but had to have it for the weekend.
It is difficult to date this combo. It was manufactured by Audio Brothers, as noted by the “AB” in the serial number, during the mid-nineties. It is the only model amplifier that Audio Brothers added to HIWATT line.
From a post, a fellow SA210 owner says: It differs from the current reissues in retaining the GZ34 valve rectifier stage, and only putting out 13.5W rather than 20W. Very, very solidly put together, ultra-neat wiring, sounds fantastic. No idea how rare these specific models are these days. The Audio Bros stuff doesn’t seem to surface on the secondhand market much these days…but then again, owning one myself, I can fully understand why!
From the Gear Pages :
The Audio Brothers amps are generally regarded as the best of the HIWATT reissues.
Apparently the amp was made in 94′ by a company called Audio Brothers in England. Fernandes owned Hiwatt at the time (after the 80′s when Hiwatt went through some weird changes in owners and build quality) and Fernandes wasn’t tooled to build these so during the mid 90′s they contracted Audio Brothers to make them to the EXACT spec of the original Hylight era Hiwatts; same manufacturers of the materials, and the same military build quality that it was lacking in the 80′s. The people at the Hiwatt forum at the Plexi Palace say that these are perfect clones as far as quality and sound as the 70′s hylight’s but in some ways are a better deal because the caps aren’t 30 years old and won’t need changing for a good while.
From hiwatt.org:
HIWATT – THE AUDIO BROTHERS YEARS
The U.K. Firm THE AUDIO BROTHERS which was headed up by Steve Gibbs and Richard Senior, was contracted by Fernandes Guitars and Biacrown to make reissue versions of several classic models of 70s era HIWATTS from 1992 to 1998.
Using schematics from early 70s models,Gibbs and Senior faithfully reproduced the hand-wired chassis and robust cabinetry that had marked HIWATTS glory years under Hylight Electronics. Sourcing the original suppliers of parts helped produce what was to be the closest likeness to the original HIWATTS that had been achieved since the demise of Hylight Electronics in 1982.
Original reproductions included the DR103 and DR504 AP amplifiers,the SE4123 speaker enclosure and SA112 combination amplifier.The Audio Brothers also brought their own entries into the HIWATT legacy by re-designing the configuration of the original SA212 combo,giving it a vertical cabinet construction, and by introducing two new pieces; the brilliant SA210 combo,and a 4 X 10 speaker enclosure. When they were still in business, Audio Brothers provided paper schematics for their customers, and they looked very much like the ones on hiwatt.com.
More and better pictures will follow, especially if I open up to view the much lauded point to point wiring etc. Sound clips will also invariably follow at some point.
