NAD

ThePrettyDamned

I now have it, and my word.

This thing is, quite simply, one of the finest sounding amps I've ever played for less than around 750 quid. Responsive, a nice spring reverb, footawitchable fx loop, 2 channels and amazing tone.

It's a Peavey bandit - a black box, first of the transtube models, with a Sheffield speaker nestling inside.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking... It's solid state, won't sound as good as valve... Nope. Don't buy it. This has lovely cleans, especially with the reverb which has a perfect taper - it gets OTT but only at 9 on the dial (fender, take note...).

The bright switch is really nice for neck single coil tones, and it's so musical. I've been playing this all morning, and I've never been happier with my clean sound. Ever. I can't get over the reverb, I'm happy with a nice digital one (laney amps have a nice one) but this sounds very pretty - and the taper gets you where you want to be. The laney always was a bit too tame, but was a practical amount. Fender amps mostly have none, a bit, then fucking loads.

Now, drive. Oh my. Started with the gain at 7, post volume at house practice, and I got a wonderful, American rock/metal tone. Well, that was easy. I stayed there for about an hour, just riffing out. Only after that did I try fingerpicking an arpeggio and it was a lovely, slightly broken clean - just like a valve amp. The heavy drive was a very Peavey voice, which I love, but the eq is immensely powerful. I lucked out - I memorised the settings, tried several others and came back to where I started. You can get very solid state, dimebag style tones if you max the mids and hit the thrash button, but otherwise this just scoops mids. Not a bad sound (very Metallica) but it's less responsive to pick attack.

T dynamics. What is this? No idea. I had it on 3-4 throughout and it was amazing. Turned it to zero, and everything sounded a bit different. So, I maxed out. Ah ha! It changes the voice of the amp. When maxed, it's more valvey - the drive channel has that "class a" vox style drive, which is very nice for rock covers. Will it replace a vox? No, doesn't sound anything like one, but the character shifts that way. The other way is a more direct sound, more solid state or class a/b style. I left it at 3-4 in the end, so more modern.

Then I noticed a gain button. This changes the voice again - so it's a more Marshall sound. Will it replace a Marshall? No. It doesn't sound like one, quite, but it leans that way. With it off, it's pure Peavey - quite easy to achieve 5150 style tones.

This is probably my perfect amp. It, hands down, is better than most gainy valve amps I've tried, including the tubemeister, Marshall tsl and even my old laney, which I loved so much. This has such a powerful eq, it's possible to shape excellent sounds. I got a tweedy drive sound with the gain at around 3, but I'll not use that - more just to see if I could.

It's an old amp, and both bass knobs have disappeared. They both function perfectly and have as much range as the rest of the eq though, but I can't give numbers! A few pots need a clean, so if anyone has any advice on removing the amp and what sort of cleaner to use/how to apply, it would be much appreciated. But it's only the clean volume, gain and a mid eq that suffer and.. Well, it's a 90s amp I think.

I was considering swapping in a new speaker, but the Sheffield has blown me away. What's the point?

Anyway, am I suggesting you sell your CAA, 5150 6505, hot rod deluxe, twin reverb or plexi? Hell no. But these are so affordable and can genuinely offer you sounds that none of those amps can, as well as a brilliant back up. It'll be my recording, rehearsal and gigging amp - ICBM reckons they're bullet proof, and I've no reason to disagree. It's certainly solid.

Also, is that thing in the bottom under some plastic a reverb tank? It's massive!

As an edit addition, I have also tried the brand new bandits. They also sound great and have more voicing options, but I don't think they sound as good as this one, possibly the speaker. Also, the new ones are noisier/buzzier for gain. This one is really quite quiet, comparable to a 6505. The newer one is much buzzier and noisier than the 6505+ (had a side by side in PMT). It'd be interesting to try the new one with a Sheffield...

Massive thanks to @jookychap .  A true gent, and someone who genuinely reminds me that humankind isn't all bad this was his amp.  He's not getting it back :P

Drew_TNBD

Clips?

stickyfiddle

My first big amp was a used one of those. Brilliant thing. Between that and the first Marshall Valvestates that was a good era for solid state stuff.

ThePrettyDamned

Drew_fx;87101" said:

Clips?

If I can find a cheap mic (there has been a recommendation on here for for 20 quid, but I'm absolutely broke at the moment) I'll definitely have a go at chucking it through the ux2. I think these sound better than some people think.

The key is to not try and replace a valve amp, but to embrace what this is good at. It has a lot of character, and is capable of a lot of great sounds - and it can emulate valve amps, but not in the modelling sense. It certainly won't replace a great valve amp, but I'll happily say that it sound better than most affordable valve amps I've tried. The orange dual terror, for example, sounds nowhere near as good as this. Imo...

When I get a mic (couple of weeks?) I'll have a go, though I might need a bit of help in learning to record properly

Drew_TNBD

Could be interesting to get one just for clean tones. My Digitech GSP experience isn't really delivering.

ThePrettyDamned

Well, this certainly would deliver, though whether you would prefer it to anything else is taste... But this is up there with some Fender valve jobbies I've tried.  I can't comment on it's high volume, but I got it up to 4, and that was... Er... Well, very loud - rehearsal and small gig.  It's a loud 80 watts and it wasn't breaking up, either, despite it being in drop C, heavy string gauge and a Duncan Jazz bucker.  With the jazzmaster and oil city pups, it was incredibly sweet.  I'd defy anyone to tell you I was playing a bandit, tone hound or not.

It doesn't have that 'hard' quality solid state amps can have, either.  Very responsive to pick volume - I don't like that on a clean amp, actually, so I always cheat and use a compressor but I do like it when gainy, and with the gain on 7 or 8, pick attack can get you from saturated to rock rhythm to near-clean, and with the volume knob, you don't need to worry about pick attack (I prefer just picking very soft, or even super gentle hammer-ons).

I'll definitely try and get you a clip up, but it'll be a while.  I'll message you when I do, and show you bright switch on and off.  I prefer off I think, for a nice big, super clean warm bath of noise.

Drew_TNBD

Cool man, I'm definitely interested in hearing this!

ThePrettyDamned

 

Literally couldn't be happier.  I have had a few solid state amps, and actually, I like them.  My fave was a marshall MG, but that broke and smoke came out (no, really...).  It was great for a massive wall of solid state (not valvey in any way, shape or form) noise and heaviness.  It had more gain than any other amp I've tried... And it was great for it.  

But this is on another level.  It's just a great sounding amp.  One thing I don't like is the logo, but if these had a posh script logo, I'd be willing to bet Peavey might be a more desirable brand! 

I think the rival, tone wise, for the bandit is the ID60 or ID120.  Again, very loud, giggable and apparently reliable.  Every setting sounds like a Blackstar (which is a good thing IMO) but each setting shifts the character of the sound.  It won't sound like an AC30, but it'll have that kind of drive where you can hear every note and it chimes.  The EQ on the ID series isn't very powerful, but it means they are pretty much set in a sweet spot anyway and you just tweak.  So possibly another option for you? They certainly won't weigh as much as a bandit... 

I prefer the cleans on the bandit to my mate's old Valvestate, and that's another solid state amp I have serious love for.  His has had one thing go wrong (blown speaker) since he got it third hand a few years back, and he's never wanted to replace it.  

Drew_TNBD

My Egnater cab can be a stereo cab; am wondering whether adding another amp to my setup is doable... it would have to be lightweight, and then add an ABY at the end of my pedalboard chain. Tbh I could do the same with a little Pod 2.0 and go into the FX return of my EVH.. but that robs me of the chance to put a noise gate in the FX loop of the EVH.

Anyway.. sorry for crufting up your thread

ThePrettyDamned

Drew_fx said:

My Egnater cab can be a stereo cab; am wondering whether adding another amp to my setup is doable... it would have to be lightweight, and then add an ABY at the end of my pedalboard chain. Tbh I could do the same with a little Pod 2.0 and go into the FX return of my EVH.. but that robs me of the chance to put a noise gate in the FX loop of the EVH.

Anyway.. sorry for crufting up your thread

I think you have one of the best 'gear minds' on this forum...

Well, I imagine the bandit could be rehoused into a relatively small, light head... But the ID is super light, being digital as opposed to having a socking great big transformer and spring reverb.  

Just to fuel your raging GAS, I tried a new bandit and a 6505+ with a stereo chorus pedal (Visual Sound liquid) and it was really quite something, I just plugged the guitar in and used the two outs into each amp.  When the depth and speed went up, I felt positively sick

Drew_TNBD

You're not helping me with my financies!
)

I'll have to think it out. The main issue I am worried about with a two amp stereo cab thing is ground loops. I have my JVM and a Carlsbro valve amp I can try out to see if it will be an issue. I don't want to use both of them at once, so I suppose there is that!

ThePrettyDamned

Post results of said experiment stereo rigs can sound great, but I wouldn't ever be able to justify the cost... Ground loops, too! Lots of people talk about using a dedicated stereo...Er... Pedal thing (tonebone or something) but all I've ever done was that one test and chucking a stereo delay pedal.  I suppose I got lucky and there was no ground loop so it just sent the signal to two seperate amps.  No phase issues, either!

guitarfishbay

These bandits are pretty decent.  My bandmate owns one and I've had a play around on it.  He used to use it for gigs in his previous band before getting a half stack.

@Drew_fx surely it is worth waiting for January NAMM (23rd - 26th) before buying anything new.  That is what I'm doing anyway.  Well, I'm saving because I don't have the money yet, but lets call it waiting.  )

Drew_TNBD

Yeah definitely waiting, but just bearing it in mind
Actually I'm going to NAMM in January, so it'll be a good chance to quizz some peeps and drop some hints as to what the hell is wrong with their products )

Anyway, my cab can handle stereo already, it isn't an extra cost to just try it out!

guitarfishbay

Before you buy anything, set your cab to stereo and just use 2 of the 4 speakers and see if you like the sound and feel.  That is what your normal tone will feel like all the time if you split the cab to stereo.

ThePrettyDamned

guitarfishbay said:

Before you buy anything, set your cab to stereo and just use 2 of the 4 speakers and see if you like the sound and feel.  That is what your normal tone will feel like all the time if you split the cab to stereo.

Unless every single tone is in stereo... MASSIVESOUNDSEVERYWHERE.  

But that's great advice, I never considered that.  I've only ever wanted clean sounds in stereo...

Drew_TNBD

I'm talking about using one amp at a time - ie... two V30's for my clean tones... two for my crunch+high gain EVH tones. So yes, GFB is totally right, I should check it out first. Though I'm pretty used to using a 2x12 - I reckon a 4x12 but only using two speakers sounds closer to a 4x12 than it does a 2x12 though, coz of the cab dimensions.

spacecadet

Gotta love a bit of Bandit. I'm always on the look out for an old USA Bandit 65. Ugly as sin but utter monsters. I would love to find a Nashville in stock somewhere to have a blast on that. I remember reading they are as close to the Dumble clean as you can get.

ThePrettyDamned

So, another update.

I've been playing with the drive channel. The clean is very easy to set, just dial in and bright or not (to taste). It's lovely, warm, bright and very very tasteful.

The drive has so many options, I wish they were footswitchable but you can't have it all... The thrash button has a really good use! ( @ICBM, you won't believe it...). If you set the drive channel gain at 3, you get a light solid state od sound (in a good way). If you then hit the thrash button, it scoops the mid and the gain goes DOWN. It cleans up, even with my high output buckers until you dig in, and gives a great fendery overdrive/clean sound. It needs a higher master volume to compensate, but it really is a rich sound. There is a gain boost button, too - hit that, and the sound goes into a great rock drive (better with the thrash button out - if only these 2 buttons were on the footswitch...).

However, my settings are clean and rawk. So that's gain at 7.5, bass... Somewhere to taste, probably 7, mids at 4 and treble at about 6 ish. Presence is at about 3-4, t dynamics at 35 percent. This gives a great, early avenged sevenfold kind of tone that will still clean up down to rock and roll, or a dirty clean for arpeggios. Leave the thrash and gain buttons out. The gain button seems to do less when the gain is already high, to be honest - just a shift in voicing.

Tried the effects loop, which has a level button (probably just a pad - 10db or something). Sounded great with a phaser in it, though.

And the reverb. Still love it, I set it to 4 which is fine for cleans to sound nicer and for the gainy stuff to not be mushy. At gig volume, it would likely go down. It sounds good up at about 9, when it's a bit extreme for my tastes.

The presence is a very powerful control, probably a lot more useful in a band context for sitting in with the bass and drums. This amp has a lot of bass - great for practice, but easily removed for rehearsals using the eq and can be totally bassless if desired...!

As one last experiment, I put the gain at 3.5-4, settings as above but thrash button in. Amazing, valvey crunch with a fendery voice. Worked great with buckers and split buckers, but not so great with already warm single coils.

Everyone should try one. The drive sounds, at its best, are the more obviously solid state ones. They just sound amazing! It's not solid state in a bad way, just very even distortion across the chord, but maintaining clarity. I've had trouble sounding this good with valve amps before.

Edit: in two minds as to whether I should sell my route 66. The od sounds amazing through the clean channel with the bass boost on... But it doesn't do that solo gain boost thing it would on a valve amp. Hmm.

bigfuzz

@theprettydamned do you have a pic of the actual spec'd amp? i'm considering something smaller solid state for lugging to jams. sounds pretty sweet

Drew_TNBD

You could blatantly mod it to make those switches footswitchable.