Hiwatt

The HIWATT amplifier brand was the creation of British audio engineer David Reeves. In 1963, whilst looking at a friend's blown amplifier, Reeves realised he could build better amps than those currently available. So he did. He began to make amplifiers in his spare time, quickly gaining a reputation amongst musicians for their power and dependability. A big part of the Hiwatt brand's success was meeting the stringent requirements of The Who's Pete Townshend and John Entwistle. Townshend had been using Sound City amplifiers since mid-1967, and Entwistle since earlier that year. In late 1968, they approached the company asking if their equipment could be modified slightly. This request was denied, but Reeves, a former employee of Sound City, agreed to create customised Sound City L100 amplifiers under the name Hylight Electronics. This model was then named the Hiwatt DR103, which would later be modified in 1970 into the CP103 "Super Who 100" model that Townshend used almost exclusively for over a decade. In 1973 the updated DR103W model was created, which Townshend used exclusively through 1982 and sporadically since.