How about using one of your 200S or 2000S cabs? Those would certainly seem appropriate!
Based on your earlier posts about testing Reeves projects, I'm pretty intrigued by the C225. I know we've talked about the 2000S and I already have a 200w all-tube Aguilar DB359, which sounds wonderful, but as my car buddies always say, "There's no such thing as too much horsepower."
I had a DB 359 for a while, very sophisticated tube amp. Probably a little too sophisticated for me, actually, but IMO a great, well built modern amp with lots of versatility. Kind of an awkward size, I used to call it the “pizza box”.
I'd love to hear that with a pair of 2000S cabs,and a Fender bass,man that would be cool !!
There is no doubt that “the beast” will get a run with a pair of 2000S cabs. Truthfully I’m a little concerned about my vintage drivers; I would be
really bummed if I popped a D or K series, but I have a pair that I can load with EV’s and probably be safe.
I
do have a pair of 215S’s that have EVN15L’s in them and will probably get worked out tomorrow afternoon if I can get the logistics worked out.
As far as the Fender bass… Here’s a pic I just took. I’ve been comparing the C400 tone stack against the C225 using a K140 loaded Sonic I40 cab at low levels, and you can see what basses I’m using.
Notice the 3 JJ’s and 3 GT’s I’m using for KT88’s, they were the best matched sextet I could scrounge up around the house. Luckily a matched sextet of JJ’s should arrive tomorrow, I just had some time to kill this evening and wanted to get at the new “toy”.
that looks massive|? waiting for some clip.
so Reeves is basically an actualized version of the vintage Hiwatt? I've read Hiwatt has build some amp for Sound City between 1966-1968, that explain why these are super hard to find.
I know it all come from Dave Reeves design but why having 2 brand selling the same thing, is there a difference?
it's a different beast than Sunn amps except some model can make a nice clean& loud amp...I must say those amps get my attention...
all I've found for now is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiwatt
thanks for posting...
The original Reeves Amplification (
http://www.reevesamps.com/) was initially established as a way to import new British Hiwatts to the US. Fernandes owned the rights to the Hiwatt name for the US, but weren't importing the UK models (built by Music Ground, the original "Hiwatt" was long gone by then), but I think they were just branding some small wattage, inexpensive Asian imports with the Hiwatt label.
So, Reeves was bringing in the UK Hiwatts, but labeled as "Reeves" because of the Fernandes situation. Of course, Reeves was a brand in and of itself, once the amps got here all warranty, repairs, etc. needed to be covered by Reeves, so they needed to have full repair and testing facilities in the US to service and back the products. It didn’t take long for them to realize that
building the amps domestically was far more cost efficient than paying to import the amps from the UK, so for a while they were building Hiwatt clones and selling them side by side with the UK imports. For the last several years Reeves has stopped importing amps from the UK completely, and has branched out into building their own designs, generally based on the original Dave Reeves circuits, some totally different, but all built to the stringent build standards established by Harry Joyce in the Hiwatt heydays. Look at the wiring on the prototype I posted, that will give you a good idea what I mean.
The current C225 and the prototype C400 aren’t Hiwatt clones, there are some differences; more bass response, higher power output and more headroom than the UK versions. Also, the Reeves are 24” wide to better fit on a variety of bass cabs than the 28” wide Hiwatts, have a 12dB input pad for active basses, and have a DI; after the output transformer to get all the “tubey goodness” to the mixing board, if PA support is required.
The foremost authority on Hiwatt history that I know of personally is Mark Huss, his website is
http://hiwatt.org/That is probably the best “primer” about Hiwatt if you are looking for info about the history, and info about models, years, etc. He’s a real nice guy, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with him in person on several occasions at Hiwatt conventions.