The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

Aceman

Aceman

I am your doctor of love!
You know - anyone who has played/gigged in the 70's knows these. They still showed up in the excessive 80's, and honestly - the question I ask is "Is there a bad model of Bandit?" I say no!

Original silver sides, Saturation, Blue Stripes, Silver Transtubes, Red stripe Transtubes

They all rock. :headbang:

I have never owned a Bandit - but I have played a couple dozen over the years and seen way more than that on a stage. If I were stuck using one for whatever reason, I'd have no problem with it.

Let's hear some Bandit love, stories, see some pics, and give us tone tricks! Bring the Bandit!

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Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

Aceman said:
You know - anyone who has played/gigged in the 70's knows these. They still showed up in the excessive 80's, and honestly - the question I ask is "Is there a bad model of Bandit?" I say no!

Original silver sides, Saturation, Blue Stripes, Silver Transtubes, Red stripe Transtubes

They all rock. :headbang:

I have never owned a Bandit - but I have played a couple dozen over the years and seen way more than that on a stage. If I were stuck using one for whatever reason, I'd have no problem with it.

Let's hear some Bandit love, stories, see some pics, and give us tone tricks! Bring the Bandit!

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Click to expand...

I had a smaller transtube amp and I was really surprised at how good it was. I liked it so much I was going to get a Bandit, but went with a vintage tube amp instead. I gave the Peavey I did have to a nephew. Great little amps.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

It's a great amp, but I wish two things: 1. They offered it as a head, 2. The combo had a closed back, or at least, it wasn't completely open.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

a bandit 112 (pre-teal) was my first amp and it served me well for a few years till i got a jcm800 half stack. kinda wish i still had it for a test amp under the bench
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

Rex_Rocker said:
It's a great amp, but I wish two things: 1. They offered it as a head, 2. The combo had a closed back, or at least, it wasn't completely open.
Click to expand...

I'd happily own and gig a Bandit head if such a thing existed.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I thought the Supreme was the head version

In any case
My buddy has bandit 75 from the early 80s

Needed a speaker, the scorpion I think, had a torn cone

In any case, he put a CRex in and it's a tone monster

I replaced the cord with a three wire

Surprisingly little under the hood

The newest Chinese versions have features I really like
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I used a TransTube model for years- it worked great as a pedal platform. But I could do any gig with it just by itself, too.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

How tube-like is Peavey's Transtube technology? I'm talking about feel, not sound, as plenty of solid state amps can sound like tube amps without feeling like them.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

stratguy23 said:
How tube-like is Peavey's Transtube technology? I'm talking about feel, not sound, as plenty of solid state amps can sound like tube amps without feeling like them.
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From what I've played, which is certainly limited, older SS amps were originally very punchy and then had a harsh clip. I suppose by punch I mean the instant you hit a note it was full on 100% output. The Transtube I had which was only an 8" speaker version had a warm rounded clipping and and "ramped up" on the note instead of all at once.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

The TransTube thing did work. No one would mistake it for a Deluxe, but there are certainly actual tube amps that don't respond as well. It did a great job adding that feel to the normal SS sound.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I've played a Bandit 65 and a US Redstripe 112 over the years, prefer the redstripe a little more over the 65 but both have absolutely great clean channels that take pedals well. While they are built like tanks, they also weigh as much!! My back told me 'enough' or there would be consequences and I (regretfully) sold both... Wish I'd kept the redstripe!
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I remember trying my first bandit back when I began playing the guitar, over a decade ago. I found it better than the Line 6 I had at the time, and I tried it with an Aria loaded with DD HB-105s. Great chunky tone.

The last bandit I tried, I played it like in this video and it was a lot of fun. Great amps and absolute bargains now.
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I bought my Peavey Bandit 75 brand new in 1987. It was my first amp and it still plays like it did when it was new, despite everything it's been through.IMG_20180618_234327.jpg
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I bought a used 1st gen. Trans-Tube bandit for my nephew when he was starting out. Really like that amp.

We opened for Johnny Paycheck's band back in the mid 90's. They were a Peavey band, with the three guitarists using Bandits, a KB-300 for the keyboard, Session 400 for the pedal steel and a DataBass. All first gen. wide-panel amps. They THREW them onstage, totally cranked them up, and when they finished their set, again THREW them into the bus' luggage hold and off to the next stop.

After the show, one of the guitarists remarked that he liked the tone of my 50-watt JCM 800 combo. When I asked him about the Peaveys, he basically said nothing else holds up on tour. They just didn't have time to deal with tube amp maintenance, etc. All of them were great players, and they sounded fantastic.

Bill
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

But, but, but....no tubes? I mean, you can't really. I mean, how? Sounded great? They must have been lying! No tubes? Impossible!!!! :crying:
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

I've been a Peavey Bandit fan since the 80's. You can thrash 'em,bash 'em,smash 'em and trash 'em and they'll never let you down! The silver sided models were extremely roadworthy. A lot of pubs we played in the 80's and 90's would have a Bandit or a Backstage + or something similar used as the P.A. for bingo or calling counter meal numbers and more than once I borrowed them when my Marshall crapped its pants!
A good alternative is the Fender Frontman 65 from around 10 years ago. Unbreakable!!!

I have a silver sided KB15 used as my workshop amp for almost 30 years. I've also done small gigs with it. Its probably had a couple thousand guitars plugged into it over the years,the only thing I've replaced is the input jack.

Cheers,PJ
 
Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

Aceman said:
You know - anyone who has played/gigged in the 70's knows these. They still showed up in the excessive 80's, and honestly - the question I ask is "Is there a bad model of Bandit?" I say no!

Original silver sides, Saturation, Blue Stripes, Silver Transtubes, Red stripe Transtubes

They all rock. :headbang:

I have never owned a Bandit - but I have played a couple dozen over the years and seen way more than that on a stage. If I were stuck using one for whatever reason, I'd have no problem with it.

Let's hear some Bandit love, stories, see some pics, and give us tone tricks! Bring the Bandit!

maxresdefault.jpg
Click to expand...

Just got a killer deal on a Special 130 from 84 this past week...Rebuilt it and cleaned all the pots etc...Great clean tones and pedal platform amp on the cheap...To stay at where we practice..Years ago I owned the Classic VTX with the 2 Scorpions and it was a great amp too...Sold it like a dumbass...This amp was a mess but it cleaned up nice! Changed the chips and did some cap value tweaks within...Killer amp...LOUD! HOLY ****!

Special 130 Love 1.jpg 130 completed pcb 1.jpg

130 long chassis view.jpg
 
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Re: The Peavey Bandit Appreciation thread

Great amps, and even better when ran through a quality-loaded 212/412.
 
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