1968-69 Hiwatt 100 DR103...'Unicorn' Alert!!!...

At MEZZO FURIOSO there is a vintage constant that permeates throughout our inventory, and that is simply the discovery of something historically poignant that remains desirable to both collectors and players...this is one of those examples!

MEZZO FURIOSO presents the incredibly rare and sought after 1968-69 Hiwatt 100 DR103...

The 1968-69 Hiwatt Custom 100 represents the absolute genesis of the legendary Hiwatt brand, transitioning directly out of founder Dave Reeves’ work for Sound City. At this point in 1968, Hiwatt was a one-man boutique operation being hand-built by Reeves in his garage at 171 Malden Way, New Malden, Surrey. Because commercial production runs had not yet been established, surviving 1968 units are incredibly rare, historically significant, and function as custom prototypes or transitional pieces.

In early 1968, Dave Reeves used £800 earned from building Sound City L100 amplifiers under contract to put a deposit on his New Malden house. He began building his own "Hiwatt" branded amplifiers out of the garage that same year.

Reeves did not use mass distributors initially; he sold directly to musicians to reinvest profits. Because he took custom requests, 1968 models vary significantly in design. Some feature early experimental tone stacks resembling Marshall or Fender circuits, rather than the standard DR103 circuit finalised later.

True 1968 models pre-date the ubiquitous black-and-white block logo. They often used a gold script or split-script logo on a black background. The front or rear control plates typically say "Hiwatt 100" with a small "Custom Built" or "Hylight Electronics" engraving on the right side.

Dave Reeves was a Mullard and Marconi-trained engineer obsessed with quality. The interior wiring of these units looks like military art: perfectly neat, parallel wiring runs with sharp, right-angle turns. The 1968 Hiwatt 100 pre-dates Harry Joyce so all wiring would have been hand-soldered by Reeves himself.

This fine piece of musical history is available to purchase at MEZZO FURIOSO.

Until next time...

MEZZO FURIOSO