Which is the BEST sounding Peavey Bandit since the beginning?

[Slobrain]

Hey Everyone,

I thought I would ask THE question, which is the best sounding Peavey bandit ever produced? Tubelike tone, full and not thin, good clean and distortion channel, and overall inspiring to play?

Also which one had the output trannsformer that Peavey used to simulate the tube type sound but using SS circuitry?

I guess I'm going down nostalgia lane today since I just picked up a 1987 bandit 75 at a pawnshop and it was rough.... but it sounds pretty good.

SLO

[Jazz P Bass]

I don't know about the best one, but I do know the worst one.
The one my son has.
There were many variations of the Bandit.
The one I have just says Bandit.
It's from the '80's, solid state.
Black knobs with the blue sticker.
Can't get a good sound out of it for love or money.
Tried different speakers, went over the amp, resoldered, cleaned the pots.....
Blech comes to mind.

[Enzo]

If you can tell us who the BEST guitar player was, then maybe we can tackle which amp was the "bets." But no wishy washy stuff, I want THE best player, period.

[Slobrain]

If you can tell us who the BEST guitar player was, then maybe we can tackle which amp was the "best." But no wishy washy stuff, I want THE best player, period.

JIMI HENDRIX without a doubt

[Enzo]

God nominee, now when you get everyone to agree, we'll more on.

[Rick Erickson]

Trick question - they ALL sucked.

[Steve Conner]

No Bandit ever had an output transformer. Some earlier ones had the "Saturation" knob that was supposed to emulate how the bandwidth of a tube amp's output transformer constricts when driven heavily. (For tech weenies, this happens because of asymmetrical clipping in the power amp causing a net DC current flow in the transformer.)

Later, the patented "Transtube" circuit was brought in, using Darlington pairs of transistors to simulate the non-linearity of tubes.

All of these tube emulation circuits have the flaw that they only emulate the parts of a tube amp that one particular designer cared about. If your idea of what constitutes tube tone differs from that designer's idea, you'll hate them.

Of course the same argument can be used within tube amp design. A 7-string metal player would hate a Fender 5E3, and BB King wouldn't have much time for a Peavey 5150. The Bandits were biased toward hard rock and metal.

[Slobrain]

Steve said, No Bandit ever had an output transformer.

I did see a picture of a early bandit that had the output trannsformer, it had the black grey faceplate. I think it was called an autotranny. My Peavey renown had one and it made the amp a bit better sounding but still not as good as a tube amp. maybe Enzo could tell us about that one?


Rick said, trick question, They all sucked... Yep Rick, every Bandit that I had owned in the 80's were horrible. When I got the Peavey Renown back in 85 I ran that thru a Marshall 4x12 with celestion 70's and it was better, still not a tube amp though... worked for the hard rock stuff I was playing then, Ozzy, Crue, Scorpions, JP... ect...

cheers

[Enzo]

I don't remember any Bandit with an output transformer, and a quick tour through my binders of schematics plus my hard drive, I find none.

But PV did use an output autotransformer on some solid state power amps, the 400G comes to mind. I don't recall that in a Bandit, but it would have been in some of those 1980s heads as a back panel. I think the idea was that the 4 ohm output was the full output of the amp - output bus straight to speaker. The 8 ohm output jack used the autoformer to step up the voltage to try to get similar power on 8 ohms rather than half as much.

I think...

[Slobrain]

I don't remember any Bandit with an output transformer, and a quick tour through my binders of schematics plus my hard drive, I find none.

But PV did use an output autotransformer on some solid state power amps, the 400G comes to mind. I don't recall that in a Bandit, but it would have been in some of those 1980s heads as a back panel. I think the idea was that the 4 ohm output was the full output of the amp - output bus straight to speaker. The 8 ohm output jack used the autoformer to step up the voltage to try to get similar power on 8 ohms rather than half as much.

I think...

Hey Enzo,

I see the PV special from around 81 with the auto transformer. It shows its an 8 ohm. does the autotransformer really make these amps any better sounding than most other Peavey amps? The Renown I had was pretty good for what it was, it had the autotrann , just a really heavy amp.

[Enzo]

As I said, I don't think the output autotransformer was there to make it sound special, it was there to match full power to various loads. Otherwise full power would only happen at the lowest impedance loads.



I thought you were looking for Bandits with output transformers.

[Slobrain]

As I said, I don't think the output autotransformer was there to make it sound special, it was there to match full power to various loads. Otherwise full power would only happen at the lowest impedance loads.



I thought you were looking for Bandits with output transformers.

Hey Enzo,

I guess I'm looking for a half sized Peavey Renown that had the autotranny. I have seen an old bandit with an outotranny and I also have seen a old PV special with an autotranny. I liked the sound the old Renown had for a SS amp, seems the autotranny helped give that amp a sort of tube like sound when I ran it thru a Marshall 4x12 cab. Although these are not a good tube amp I do like some SS amps and there sounds. Seems these days there are no well built amps like the old Peavey amps anymore. Hartley really made amp tanks back in the day....

All new SS amps seem to be built overseas and not made very well. But that's just my opinion...

cheers