My first proper amp

YellowLedBetterMan

Hi guys,

so I retook up guitar at the start of the year and have been playing a blackstsr ID Beam as I needed something small to run bass and guitar into.

But I have been thinking recently about getting something bigger and a bit better. As good as the Blackstar is it is limited and doesnt take pedals too great (get weird clipping with some gain sounds). Also the bass settings on it were awful so Ive bought a headphone bass amp instead.

Anyway - was looking at nabbing a new amp. Needs to be cheap and loud enough to play over a drummer at jam sessions without breaking up (want a clean bluesy type job to run pedals into). Was looking at no more than £250 so I know that will almost exclusively limit me to second hand.

Was looking at Peavey Bandit 112 (get a good write up and some folk on youtube love them, can be had for £120 or so on Fleabay) but don't know the difference between red stripe, silver stripe, etc.

Any other suggestions would be very welcome.

dazzajl

The Peavy is a good call, lots of love out there for them. I’d definitely want to spend my budget there on the best of something, rather than the cheapest end of valve amps. Although the Hot Rod Deluxe can be had from time to time for your budget and a wee stretch. 

I’ve always been seriously unimpressed with modelling amps. I did get a Mustang IV v2 a while back to satisfy my curiosity after a lot of  interesting reviews. It’s actually very impressive. £120 got me a 150 watt, 2 x 12, stereo rig with a lot of pedals built in. 

It holds about a billion different sounds but it’s very easy to isolate the four or so you might like and stick to them without worrying about all the chaff. 

p90fool

One of these;

http://www.jetcityamplificationstore.co.uk/product/jca20hv/

plus some kind of begged or borrowed 1x12 or if you can stretch to it;

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_g112vintage.htm

It's the real thing, well made and a pro sounding rig. 

LuttiS

Well you've come to the right place for amp suggestions! Get ready for a bazillion of them!

The JetCity with harley benton's a good call as above.
As is the Bandit..

My 2 cents would be an older Valvestate Marshall. I have an old 2x12 V265 which is great. Think when i got it it was £110. It's light enough to move, loud enough to drown a drummer and can also work nicely at home.


Orrr... go on ebay/classifieds, look whats available in your budget then post them here and let everyone have a good argue discussion. Winner takes all. 

Good luck!

YellowLedBetterMan

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/232746438937

15 minutes from where I live. Very tempted...

p90fool

I'd grab that with both hands, the description is reassuring too. 

57Deluxe

I bought a Woolies Audition amp in 73 and it is still with me, but I thought around 85 I wanted more(!) and got what Clapton had just been in the same shop and bought - Session Rockette 30. Then in 2007 I decided Tubes were required and got a 59 Bassman.

But, the Session knocks spots off the Bassman for tone. so Bassman gone...

YellowLedBetterMan

57Deluxe said:

I bought a Woolies Audition amp in 73 and it is still with me, but I thought around 85 I wanted more(!) and got what Clapton had just been in the same shop and bought - Session Rockette 30. Then in 2007 I decided Tubes were required and got a 59 Bassman.

But, the Session knocks spots off the Bassman for tone. so Bassman gone...

http://i66.tinypic.com/29dermo.jpg

Theres one of those on ebay too for £135 delivered.

Interesting...

EricTheWeary

Bandit and pedals ( you can probably ignore it's own distortion). Loud, reliable,adaptable. They can sound a bit boxy but then many 1x12 combos will. They are good 'make louder' devices so pedals like tubescreamers that work best pushing an amp probably aren't ideal but if you have anything of the Marshall/Fender/ Vox etc in a box type pedals you should be fine. 
Or go to a rehearsal studio and try all the cheap but reliable amps they will have in - probably mostly Valvestates and Bandits anyway. The old Valvestates seem to keep going, I'd say they have more of a sonic imprint than a Bandit. For me the OD channel but with gain relatively low then push it with pedals as required.

YellowLedBetterMan

Sent the guy a low offer for the Bandit and it was accepted! Going to collect it on saturday

Excited!!!

jonnyburgo

Good score and if you want to play to bigger crowds then somebody is selling a Peavey 4x12 in classifieds for silly money.

TheMarlin

Good choice.  I used to have a Carsbro Cobra (in the early 80’s). Friend turned up at practice with the Peavey Bandit, that little amp blew my socks off. 
Ditched the Catsbro pretty rapidly afterward. Bloody awful thing.  

EricTheWeary

jonnyburgo said:

Good score and if you want to play to bigger crowds then somebody is selling a Peavey 4x12 in classifieds for silly money.

Some of the Bandits have a matching 1x12 extension cab, although which model and how you find one of those cabs I've no idea. 

YellowLedBetterMan

Picked up the Bandit today and have a few takeaways.

1. It's bigger than expected. Weighter too. Solid build amp with not a slither of wear on it. Lovely.

2. Feck me jaysus it's loud - definitely won't need an extension cab any time soon.

3. Sounds lovely. Definitely needs a drive pedal though - my ToneCity Golden Plexi on the clean channel sounds 1000x better than the inbuilt drive channel. Will see what it is like with a TC Spark (should be on it's way) and go from there.

4. I can't find a user manual for this version online - but can for the version before and the one after.

joetele

I appreciate the thread has kind of been resolved but if anyone else is having a similar issue, the Bandit is a fantastic choice, especially the older ones. Also worth considering is the Boss Katana. I'd heard good things and finally tried one in a shop last week when trying a guitar and was seriously impressed. Great amp models, cleans and drives. Bandit is better for simplicity and bang for buck if you can find a cheap one though. 

flying_pie

I plan to keep an eye out for a cheap blue stripe Bandit and then make it into a head. Would be a great backup as is and could even be used as a power amp 

EricTheWeary

YellowLedBetterMan said:

Picked up the Bandit today and have a few takeaways.

1. It's bigger than expected. Weighter too. Solid build amp with not a slither of wear on it. Lovely.

2. Feck me jaysus it's loud - definitely won't need an extension cab any time soon.

3. Sounds lovely. Definitely needs a drive pedal though - my ToneCity Golden Plexi on the clean channel sounds 1000x better than the inbuilt drive channel. Will see what it is like with a TC Spark (should be on it's way) and go from there.

4. I can't find a user manual for this version online - but can for the version before and the one after.

The Tone City is a Marshall in a box type pedal by the look of it which, in my limited experience, is the kind of thing that works best with the Peavey. 
Enjoy  

YellowLedBetterMan

It does sound great actually. I think if I get the chance I will try a Wampler Plexi Drive and see if that's even better.

For now though I might get a few cheaper XYZ-in-a-box type drives - thinking an AC30 type thing if anyone knows of one?

p90fool

Joyo AC-Tone or whatever it's called. I have one, it's pretty good, probably a clone of the Sansamp Character series, except dirt cheap.