With all this learning I’ve been doing lately I figured it was time to take it back to the basics. I’m not an overly skilled guitarist. In fact, I’m barely a skilled guitarist. I need an amplifier that can provide me with some good tone. That’s all. If I need to add anything else, I can do that using any one of my current guitar pedals. If I start with a good tone though, surely the rest is icing on the cake. The Hiwatt T10HD could give me that sponge cake base I’m looking for!
That’s a terrible intro. Hopefully the rest of this article isn’t as half-baked.
If you’re expecting the usual link to a video allowing you to see and hear this amplifier in all its glory, I apologise. I wasn’t able to find a video to my liking. I’m picky like that. The official Hiwatt T10HD page does have a pretty good audio track of a jam in progress though (not to be confused with jam in cake).
To be honest, there isn’t a lot to say about the T10HD. It’s a 10 watt head (although the official website refers to it as a 5 watt combo) with two tubes and very simple controls. Let me list those in my usual fashion.
- 10 watt head
- 1 x 12AX7 preamp tube
- 1 x EL84 tube in the poweramp
- Pentode (full power) and Triode (half power) modes
- Effect loop
- 8 OHM speaker output
The speaker output is only on the 10 watt version of this head. I believe there is also a 5 watt version (which would explain the wording confusion on the official website). But let’s be honest. If your amp comes with Triode and can turn your 10 watt amplifier into a 5 watt amplifier, why start at 5 watt?! I can’t answer that because I don’t understand that logic. Go hard and go home … With a full 10 watts! Marbleous*!
Disclaimer: I’ve not played through this head. I have not experienced the sound or tone of this head other than through video. That doesn’t matter. It looks awesome, it’s obviously played by winners and I want one.
* That’s my last poor effort at a cake related reference. Apologies for not being able to rise to the occasion.
