Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100w 2 x 12 Vertical Combo ex Noel Gallagher 2006 Black Tolex

Your chance to acquire a piece of Rock and Roll history... Here we have an incredibly rare Hiwatt Custom 100 DR103 amplifier housed in a 2 x 12 inch vertical speaker combo. These are ultra ultra rare - you will not find the Custom 100 in any other combo - it is normally only available as a separate amplifier head and cabinet configuration. These are not available to the general public and cannot be purchased from Hiwatt. So how did this one come about? If you are an Oasis or Noel Gallagher fan, you are probably thinking 'that amp looks familiar'. And you're absolutely right. Noel approached Hiwatt back in 2006 and asked them to build him a small number of these combos for what would become the last ever Oasis tour. This is one of those combos! Shortly after the band split up, Noel returned some of these combos to Hiwatt and this particular amp ended up in Music Ground on Denmark Street, London. I walked in one day with the intention of buying the 50 watt Custom combo but I took one look at this amp and thought 'wow, that looks awesome'. I plugged in my Strat and was blown away by the clarity and clean headroom on this amazing amplifier. I said to the sales guys that I'd not seen one like this before and they then shared it's origin story with me (apparently it was in Noel's backline at the very last Oasis show). Now personally I've not been an Oasis fan since I was a teenager but the appeal of owning something this rare combined with the 100 watt output in combo format got me super excited. I had to buy it there and then. Note: The serial number on the back simply reads 'OASIS' and accompanying the amp is a letter from Hiwatt confirming it's authenticity. I have been the proud owner of this amp for four years now. It has only had one previous owner (Mr Gallagher himself). This is the classic rock and roll amplifier as used by Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page and of course, Oasis. These amps are fabled for their point to point hand wiring, super solid construction and incredible clean sound. If you're after a distortion monster, this is not the amp for you! Rolling the volume up will bring about only the slightest of crunch / overdrive. But the great thing about Hiwatt amps is that they respond so well to playing dynamic and effects units. Shove a fuzz pedal through it and it sounds unbelievable. So why am I selling it? The honest truth - I just don't use it enough. Since the day I brought it, it has sat in the corner of a smoke / pet free studio. It has not seen any touring action and is simply used as a recording amp. And if push comes to shove, for whatever reason, I still prefer the sound of my old Fender Twin Reverb and as a result, this amp just doesn't get the attention it deserves. Noel on the other hand loves them so much that he went back to Hiwatt shortly before his first solo tour with the High Flying Birds and asked them to commission another couple of units for him (this can all be verified on the Hiwatt website). Cosmetically I would give this amp a 9 out of 10. Not bad for something that saw a fair bit of action on the road with Oasis. There are minimal signs of surface wear. One important thing to note - there are four inputs on this amp (as is standard for the Hiwatt DR103). One of these inputs does have a small hum to it. I've had a quote from an Amp Technician and he said £50 to fix it. Trivial but I just don't have the time to get these things done. As with all amps, it's probably worth putting it through a full service anyway (it's not had one since I purchased it, though of course, it's not actually needed one either). So that all important price point... The standard DR103 amplifier head / cabinet configuration will set you back approximately £2200 new today. I purchased this one for £3200 back in 2009 so this is your chance to grab an absolute steal for something that is only going to increase in value. I'm based near Ipswich in Suffolk, UK though do work in London so could travel to meet there if buyer is unable to collect from my home (I'm sure we could sort out some fuel costs between us). International buyers - get in touch to talk through how we might ship this. Very cool thing - the amp has a four way switch on the back which allows you to step up / down to the correct voltage for your country (much needed by Noel when travelling around the world with these). If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks, Simon