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
Comments
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
Anyway.. sorry for crufting up your thread
)
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!
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!
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.