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Pete’s Gear: Sound City L100 amplifiers
plus Sound City L100 posing as a Hiwatt

Pete Townshend’s use of Sound City amplifiers

Prior to using the famed Hiwatt amplifiers, Pete Townshend used customized Sound City L100 100-watt amplifiers, starting in May 1967 and continuing to late 1968 (John Entwistle began with Sound City amps in early 1967).

These amps were customized for Pete and John by Dave Reeves of Hylight Electronics, the maker of Hiwatt amplifiers (and who originally worked at Sound City, a division of Dallas Arbiter), presumably to the CP103 specification.

UK/Europe only

The Sound City amps were used only in the UK/Europe until around August 1968. In 1967 to mid-1968, Pete used Vox Super Beatles or Sunn amps in the U.S. and Canada. The reason for the difference in gear was that the group could not afford the cost of importing their full gear and, instead, hired or borrowed gear once arriving in the U.S. Because of their financial straits, Chris Stamp, the Who’s manager, signed the group to an exclusive agreement with Vox to use their gear in the States. Pete and John would continue to use the Sunn gear in the U.S. and Canada until 15 July 1968, when they abandoned their gear at Canadian customs in Toronto after Pete and Roger had their passports stolen in Cleveland the night before, and were unable (or unwilling) to satisfy a $20,000 customs bond.

The first known date of use of Sound City gear in the U.S. is at The Dome, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 20 July 1968.

Customized Sound City L100 specs

The controls on the customized L100s were identical to the CP103 control layout. From left to right, the controls:

• Four inputs
• Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4,
• Treble
• Bass
• Master Volume
• Standby
• Mains

Early versions had various block script Sound City nameplate badges, but beginning in late 1968, the badges were removed so that some were unlabeled and some featured Hiwatt nameplate badges. Plus, control panel labels were taped over to further hide the Sound City origin.

In the photos on this page, the amplifiers with chrome control panels and wide silver-faced knobs are Sound City L100 amplifiers with Hiwatt nameplates affixed.

The amplifiers with black control panels in the photos below are actual Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103 100w amplifiers, customized the CP103 specification four-volume control layout, though no “The Who” faceplate. Pete began using these in August 1969.

The amplifiers with black control panels in the photos here are actual Hiwatt CP103 amplifiers, with “The Who” faceplate, which Pete began using in early 1970.

Pete continued to use the customized Sound City/Hiwatt amps through 1970.

The herringbone-pattern grille cloth on the bottom two 4x12 cabinets in the photo above (from the August 1970 Isle of Wight show) are early Hiwatt SE4122s, identical to Sound City’s 200w 4x12 cabinets.

Setup signal path diagrams

Setup signal path (May 1967 – UK/Europe only) (presumed)

Setup signal path (late 1967–early 1968 – UK/Europe only) (presumed)

Setup signal path (1968 – UK/Europe only) (presumed)

Setup signal path (August 1968 – UK/US) (presumed)

Setup signal path (December 1968–1970) (presumed)

Selected quotes from Pete Townshend

All quotes and references are copyright their original owners and are included for reference only.

From August 1994 Guitarist magazine interview

“We took the whole equipment thing to America, lock stock and barrel. Coincidentally, Cream arrived with exactly the same amp rigs, as did Jimi Hendrix. Jimi and his manager Chas Chandler had previously come to see me to ask about buying amps. I said that I’d just stopped using Marshall amps at that time and was using a new rig called Sound City, which became HiWatt, and I said I thought Sound City were better. Chas, being a canny Geordie, turns to Jimi and says, One of each, I think.

We did a show with Jimi later at the Saville Theatre where he had Marshall and Sound City stacks together. So we all arrived in the States within a couple of months of each other with this formidable weaponry, used in different ways. The Who was very much a pop band, Hendrix was the psychedelic guitar artist, and Cream were Cream. I think we all helped one another, and it was like a tidal wave. The Americans couldn’t believe it. They’d had The Beatles, the Stones and The Animals, what could possibly follow that? Then we three showed up…”

Following major acts with more major acts…

“Even louder acts.”

From April 1980 issue of Sound International article, courtesy Joe G’s site.

And then I met this guy who was making amplifiers at the time for a company called Sound City. This is much later, but all I know is once I found the Hiwatt amplifier I stuck with it. I tend to choose a guitar that fits the amp rather than the other way around.

From Guitar Player, October 1967

Excerpts from an interview with John Entwistle and Pete Townshend conducted June 18, 1967, in San Francisco, just prior to the Who’s appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival.

GP: What is your amp volume setting on a ratio of ten?

Entwhistle [sic]: Five or six, full treble. I use two amps: full treble and full base. The cabinets are split, so the treble comes out on top of the amp. I set my guitar about two-thirds on, and then at the end I turn it full up.

Townsend [sic]: Mine’s on about five. I always have the guitar flat out; otherwise you lose top.

GP: Do you use any special equipment?

Townsend: I use a Granpiene [sic] reverb unit for distortion; it gives a kind of clear fuzz dirge. I like a slightly broken guitar sound.

GP: So we noticed. What about amps?

Entwhistle: Sound City, they’re an English amp. We both use sixteen twelve-inch speakers and two two-hundred watt amps. That way we get a nice even sound.

Townsend: We use Vox in the States . . . Super Beatles, four altogether.

GP: Picks and strings?

Entwhistle: We both use Herco heavy-gauge nylon picks. And I use Roto-Sound heavy-gauge wirewound strings; they’re only available in England.

Townsend: I use regular Fender Strings.

GP: Do you both play the same kind of guitars?

Entwhistle: I’ve a Fender Telecaster [Fender Precision Slab], one of twenty-five in existence; it’s a Precision Bass without the shavings.

Townsend: I have a Fender Stratocaster, a Telecaster, and I did have a Jazzmaster, one which I quite liked, but it got nicked . . . stolen. I’ve had a wide variety of guitars; one of the best was a Gibson Stereo; I shoved it into the amp, once, and it broke.

Guitar Player, October 1989

I never, ever used a stack with one amplifier until I got into Hiwatts, and I didn’t use Marshalls very long. In fact, I never used Marshall in the beginning at all. I used to use Fenders; I had a Fender Pro and a Fender Vibrasonic and a Fender Bassman top, and I used to drive Marshall 4x12’s with those amplifiers. I thought Marshalls were awful, and I’m afraid I still do, although that’s just a personal opinion. I don’t mean it’s bad stuff: I just mean I didn’t like the sound. And when I heard Hiwatt I was over the moon, because they sounded to me much more like a really good, top-line mid-’60s Fender amp. I still think it’s hard to beat Fender amps; they’re astonishing.

Resources and Information

For more information:

• The Hiwatt Story Online: dcsbulldog.tripod.com
• PlexiPalace Vintage Amps Forum: vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewforum.php?f=9.
• Sound City history & info: home.earthlink.net/~iktoblikto/sc_home.htm.