Peavey Bandit 112 II

As amps go, aside from modelling amps this unit has above average features in terms of offering a wide palette of tones and is quite portable. Where the Transtube comes into play, (Peavey's way of making SS tolerable and tube like, IMO, is either a built-in compression circuit, or, somehow allows the pre-gain to bleed ever so slightly over to the clean channel. I'll explain in the sound catagory.

This SS amp is to my aging but acute ears the most tolerable sounding amp available aside from a stereo amp such as the JC 120 or high end amp like Evans. I keep the clean channel on modern and notice that what I hear when digging into a chord or note is the presence of "hair" surrounding them. No tube sag to be sure, but more like a tube amp responds that has a SS rectifier. That hasn't been discussed in previous reviews that I read but the effect is well done by Peavey. This subtle nuance is obviously missed when engaging the other channels due to their pre-gain structures.

The reverb on this amp is as good as any non-tube driven circuit I've come across. It gets that thwacka boing from the spring tank that will make any surf tune sound great!

There is no amp on the planet that has a better record of reliability

For a company this large and with the foot print they enjoy it's excellent.

I've been playing music since the seventies. Owned tons of gear and spent countless hours playing for personal enjoyment and for a five year stint for money. I love to play thru a tube amp and do when alone but don't see a need to haul it out to rehearsals or gigs. You can garner all the rich tuby goodness you want but the first thing a house will do is run it thru a SS P.A. system if you play out. Unless you are Johnny A or someone like that it's needless expense and worry. Nobody but gearheads will care.

The only thing I'd like to have on the Bandit is more control over the gain stages, maybe a lower rated pot on the pre-gain control.

80 watts (rms) into 8 ohms
100 watts (rms) into 4 ohms
12 inch Sheffield? 1230 speaker
2 footswitchable channels
T.Dynamics(T) and presence
3-band EQ per channel
Reverb
Modern/vintage voicing switch on Clean channel
External speaker jack
Footswitchable effects loop
High gain/modern/vintage voicing switch on Lead channel
Resonance switch

Been playing for longer than I'd care to admit. But I just wanted to say, it's a good thing for me that the folks at Guitar Center seem to be so dammed elitist when it comes to gear. I just picked up a used, but in-near perfect condition, current model Peavey Bandit for the ridiculously low price of $180. And that INCLUDES taxes PLUS the purchase of the optional "extra 3-year, unconditional waranty" that covers the cost of any parts and labor IF this ever does need repairs. It's almost as if the folks at Guitar Center think that Peavey prodcuts simply aren't worth much. Oh well, better for me. Being a Peavey product, I don't expect this thing to ever break down.
The Bandit, when cranked up (and especially when used with an extra closed-back cab) will definitely give any other amp a run for the money. All you need are a few of your favorite front-end pedals, and you're good to go. So for the money, power and features, this little workhorse of an amp really deserves an overall 10 in my opinion. ESPECIALLY if you're an average part-time, 2-3 weekend-a-month musician on a workingman's budget.

I liked it most cause it has seperate EQ on both channels.Clean channel is very clean,distorted is very distorted.It made sence.GREAT PRICE!

The clean channel is very clean and wont break up early.Sure its a little "cold" and "direct" sounding.I found a Keeley compressor rounds this off nice though.The distortion channel isnt that warm either,but it have tonns of gain!Both channels aint "WOW" great-BUT considering the price-they are.Both channels are better than average and should please most people of all styles(price considered)

Mines been knocked over off its 112 extension speaker,fell to the ground-no problem-that counts as reliable right?When I first got it, the foot switch didnt change its channels for some reason.Happened a couple times but not since-so Im gonna pretend it never happened.

Never needed

Everyones generally agrees-tube amps sound great.But,they all require occational tune ups,new tubes,and can cause worry.This solid state is quite good minus those "hassels".Id recommend a Keeley compressor,or Katana(which I use both)to make it warmer.Consider the price.It cant be beat.Good clean,raunchy distortion-kinda sterile but GOOD.If you say it "sucks",youre forgetting the price.It maybe embarresing to let everyone see a lil' Peavey bandit behind you on your stage,but they all will be surprized how good it sound if YOU play guitar good!

Bought this baby in 2002 for #250. 2 channels, 2 voicings on the clean, 3 on the dirty. Plenty of choice, but no digital FX. Not a problem for me as I never use on-board FX. Footswitch included. The T Dynamics control at first seemed a bit ineffective, but after some tweaking you hear a difference when it's set low. It imitates a power attenuator on a tube amp and gives some Fendery warmth to the clean sounds. Plenty of headroom on the clean channel, easily loud enough for most gigs, which is what I use it for. You can probably get any tone you want from this.

I use Strats only, and find the clean channel superb. It's surprisingly warm on the modern voicing. Don't like the vintage setting, as its got a mid cut and is much like a 60s Twin. Makes a Strat sound like a buzzsaw, but suspect a Gibson will be great on this. Huge amount of clean volume. It doesn't begin to break up until about 8. At that stage, it is ear splitting.

I no longer use the overdrive channel as I prefer a POD XT Live. I need the clean channel "neutral". and it works fine. I still get dynamics and can drown out any drummer!

The dirty channel has a hi gain voicing, which is good for wailing solos and Hendrix-type feedback. Nu metallers will like the modern setting. Vintage is quite, well vintage. Great for crunchy rhythm. The overdrive on this amp perhaps lacks a little character. The sheffield speaker is good, and takes the voicing towards the British area rather than Boogie.

There is a choice between tight and loose resonance. The loose setting is better for bottom end and I have it set to that permanently, whereas the tight setting makes it sound a little more like a small tweed with a restricted bass response and more brittle top end.

Like any 112 combo, it's quite directional and combined with single coils, will howl like a banshee if you stand in front of it when it's at any volume, even with all the distortion coming from a stomp box. Watch the treble and presence settings, and roll some of the tone off the guitar if necessary.

Not a worry. Not even a crackly pot. I've had a few Peaveys over the years and they're tough as you can get. This one gets regular outings.

with a tube amp, maintenance is always on the agenda. Whilst I prefer a real tube sound, I get as close as I can with this, without needing to change parts or worry about a dodgy valve.

Never needed it.

Been playing over 20 years, and do some session work, so versatility is the key. The Bandit covers blues, rock, country, gospel and pop where required.

It is more than powerful enough for pubs or even medium sized gigs. I've used it unmiked many times in some fairly large spaces.

I would replace it like for like if it got stolen, unless there was a Roland JC120 or Fender Twin going for a song!

I tried the Fender Dyna Touch amps and the tranny Marshall MGs before picking this beast. Blew the Marshall away, but was on a par with the Fenders (but without the FX). As I didn't need the FX and there was a BIG PRICE DIFFERENCE in favour of the Peavey, the choice was simple.

I was very impressed with the number of nobs and suff on the front of this amp when i bought it. It is probably the most versatile combo i have ever seen. You can get it to sound like a bass amp almost but then completely trebly the next. I suppose its more of a metal amp really, the distortion channel sound very good for heavy hard riffs, but the clean channel can be used for anything at all, check the other reviews, theres a guy who uses it for country, which shows just how versatile it is.
Its plenty loud enough for smallish gigs or just practices or studio use. It was on "4" volume level at my last band practice and i could hear it over a 150 watt marshall half stack on like three quarters volume. Seriously.

I use this amp with a Peavey Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang and also a shitty squier indonesian telecaster, but the amp even makes the tele sound good! You can make the amp do anything really.
The lead channel has 3 voicings - high gain which i dont really use a lot, MODERN which is for all the heavy riffs and stuff like that, and vintage i think its called that which is for like all the first punk stuff, but also hendrix and alike.
The clean channel is wicked it will do anything you want it too, way betetr than any marshall combo and i really do mean that.
The one bad thing i could find about this amp is that wen i was at my last practice it was squealing terribly if i tunred my guitar volume up to high (on my tele, mite be the single coils, havent tried it with my wolfgang yet), but that is the only bad thing really. thats the only reason the rating is so low.

I would definately use this amp on a gig, i doubt it would break as it has a 5 year peavey warranty as standard, which is good.....

5 year warranty, but i cant say anything else as i have had no trouble with it at all.

Overall, i chose this amp because in my opinion it sounded better than a marshall mg 100dfx (which was slightly more expensive) and a behringer 120 watt somethin... but it didnt sound too good so i bought this 80 watt but it does have output for a 100 watt cab so thats good, and fx loop and remote swith and effects level which i dont no what it does but h well.
BEST AMP FOR THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2004 Peavey Bandit II
Main gigging amp, works extremely well for country music.
The features are pretty self explanatory.

Honestly when I first got this amp it seemed to sound a little brittle with my Tele but after a month of playing this (this was originally purchased as my rehersal amp only being played two hours a week) the speaker must have "broke in" allowing for more warmer lows to come through. Now this combo has replaced my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe as my main gigging amp. For single coil guitars you really have to back the treble off on the clean channel but humbuckers really seem to work best with clean channel. I have a Fender MIM strat with a Seymour Duncan Lil'59 pup (single coil size humbucker)in the bridge and this thing really comes to life through this amp.
I only use the vintage setting on the lead channel as I play mostly classic country and classic rock and it sounds terrific, absolutely no complaints. It actually sounds much better than the lead channel on my HRDX which really is lame.
The thing I notice when setting the amp up for a gig you need to get out in front of the amp about 20 or more feet and try setting your tone controls for distance listening. It seems to sound even better and louder out in front of it than when up close. This thing can project some serious volume.
Alot of reviewers complain about this amp being noisy and maybe it can be in the high gain mode, but I have never noticed any noise in the amp unless plugged in too close to a TV or computer or any other running appliance or an ungrounded wall socket. This amp is dead quiet compared to my Fender.
The T-Dynamics control is a very cool feature for us country pickers wanting a little edge to your clean tones. With the clean volume bumped up a bit and the T-Dynamics turned all the way down you can get some very tubelike grit and compression.
If you are interested in buying a Bandit and you are normally a tube guy, spend a little time messing with the amp and it's features, with a little patience and tweaking you will find this a very pleasing amp cause truthfully if you don't set the tone controls up right your initial reaction might not be all that great but with a little time and a slightly high volume (if possible) you will reconsider your thinking.

I have owned Peavey amps for 18 years with no troubles at all and I am sure there is no exception for my Bandit. I have owned it for a year almost with absolutely no problems.

I have never really had to deal with Peavey but here in the midwest there authorized Peavey repairmen around every corner.

People really like to say "best bang for the buck" and so on, but really this amp sounds better than a lot of tube amps costing up to $1000 with a lot more features and more versatility while being virtually maintenance free. I don't think you will ever get a diehard tube guy to admit that these are great amps and that's more because tube guys won't budge on anything but tubes. I have used both solidstate and tubes over the years and this amp is one of the best I have ever owned.
Not to dog on my tube Fender, but like I said this was my rehersal and back up amp to my Fender so after hauling both these amps around to a gig because I was constantly worrying about the Fender going down I ditched the Fender and now I only haul one amp to gigs. I don't lose an ounce of sleep over my Peavey and that is refreshing.

I don't remember the year of production, it's the newer generation of Transtube series, made in china. used this amp to practice at home to get a nice clean tone and take it to gigs here and there,
but nothing major.

it's a 2 channel amp, clean channel has 2 voicing options, the distortion channel has 3 voicing modes, while the vintage mode is using the Transtube circut to emulate a Tube amp in action.

It's got Footswitch that switches channels and turns on and off the Spring Reverb, it has FX LOOP and Preamp in and out, and speaker out that allows you to connect an extension cab to it turn it to 100 Watts at 4 ohms, it's 80 Watts as it, unlike Studio PRO, connecting an external cab won't mute the internal speaker.
As far as power it had enough power for all situations, but I'm a Tube snob so I don't use Solid state amps anymore.

All I wish it had is tubes I guess but it's a solid state so I'll score it according to what it is.

My guitars are 2 humbucker configured, don't like single coils.
One is a Renegade Pro made by Framus, which is equipped with two Seymour Duncan humbuckers, the other one is Peavey V-type limited edition with Floyd Rose, two ceramic pickups.

It suited me fine at the time for what it is.
As a solid state amp it sounds very decent, a lot better than many other amps at this price range and features, definitely better than Marshalls at this size and price.

It won't make noise more than other amps out there, and the variety of sounds you can get from it is pretty nice, thought I wouldn't use the Distortion channel, it's okay, little muddy and dirty but usable,
note seperation isn't its stronger side however.

I strongy suggest using a Tube stomp box overdrive to warm it up because it tends to sound little sterile and too clean as it is,
But it will sound okay with regular pedals like Boss, Marshall, and a lot more of these.

The distorion channel can get pretty brutal, Nu Metal guys will probably appreciate it, but I dislike Nu metal so it ain't my thing.
The clean sound always stayed clean even when I crancked it, and I mean really crancked it, I actually opened the Clean volume up to the maxium and it didn't fry or got distorted, at a certain level it just won't raise the bar anymore.

Peavey is known for making reliable stuff, even though it's made in China, I definitely didn't feel it when I close examined it.
I could definitely gig without a backup, it doesn't require maintenace like Tube amps, but it doesn't sound like the botique amps.

I didn't need to deal with the company and the local dealer is very helpful and very aware of things going on with the customers.
no need for repairs, it's solid as a rock.

I'm a musicians for 14 years now, aside the guitars, I own a synthesizer, drums, and I record and arrange music on the computer.
I don't own this amp anymore but when I owned it, things were rather nice I would say, a pleasure to use and play but my head takes me elsewhere, to the Tube zone.

If it got stolen I'd probably hunt down to hell the person who would dare to put his hands on it, I couldn't afford another one.
I loved most things about it, the sound was always the same, it was solid and stable and that's how an amp should be.

1) Solidstate (tube emulator - transtube, whatever)
2) 2 channels (there should really be three)
the clean channel has two variants (modern or vintage)
and the lead channel has three (vintage, modern and high gain)
3) three band eq per channel
4) the master contains reverb, presence, resonance and t-dynamics
5) this amp also has the following:
effects loop
preamp out (for recording or mixing or whatever)
it also has space for an external cab
6) the footswitch can switch between channels and turn on/off
the effects in the loop (not onboard reverb)
7) it has 2 inputs (hi and low gain) this is also a nice feature

With the amp I am using two Ibanez Rg's (470 and 570 - customs) and a zoom505II (what junk). I live in South Africa and am studying music at UCT (university of cape town). Music equipment is damn expensive here, all the shops - all four of them :), have a 200% + markup on the US$ retail price. Can you spell RIP OFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought this amp just under 2 years ago and when i bought it I intended it to be used as an effects machine.
OK here goes - this amp sounds like dung. The clean channel is very thin but i suppose is sort of useable. The lead channel sounds/smells so much like shite that I should use it for fartilizer ;). the lead channel is just too thin and shitty sounding it is:
a) THIN (and thats not good like a chick being thin)
b) Fuzzy (as far as solos go it is not useable)
c) unless the vintage section is selected it is just too fuckin
noisy - you have to stand 6 meters away for it to be not squeeling
like a bitch.
d) I have only once recorded with the lead channel engaged
(it was joe satriani - surfing with the alien) and it sounded ok
for that type of edgy rock rythm sound.

gripes with the clean channel:
a) the difference between the modern and vintage selection is almost
purely difference in the eq structure (vintage is very shrill)
there is very little difference in the actual tone.
b) it is also very thin sounding (especially the higher strings)

Ok the rest:
1) the eq is very responsive, be carefull to not set the the highs too high or it will result in a very thin shitty sound (goes for the presence too) and same goes for the lows (they really mudd up the low end)
2) the reverb is such a waste - it sounds sooooooooo sterile (Fake!)
3) the resonance switch and t-dynamics nob offer a nice boost

No problem here

never contacted the guys/gals at PEAVEY

I've been playing for about 7 years now. I've been through different phases in musical taste but at the moment I'm playing a little bit of: blues, rock, pop, funk, jazz. But most of the time i'm playing stuf like: Satch (satriani), Marty friedman, Jason Becker, Megadeth, Dream Theater (80's shred/hair metal) or my own stuff. If this amp were stolen i would gladly take the insurance payout and invest in some good quality rack gear (oh yes, and thank the thief).
I think the fact that there are all these features in this amp should not convince you that it is a good amp (I beleive it is merely a way of easing Peavey's concience for making toneless nonesense).
Before some wanker nocks me for "not using both inputs": I TRIED THAT ! there was a difference in noise levels and tightness but nothing earthshaking.
One thing that I have noticed about peoples comments on other peavey products is that some say that there is a real inconsistancy in peavey's products (i.e. some say they bought two of the same product and one was thin, fuzzy and shit sounding while the other was full tight and big sounding - in regard to 5150 and rockmaster reviews)
Maybe I got a bad one ?
The only thing refreshing about my amp is that I can bypass the preamp section - I bought myself a solidstate poweramp !!!

One word of advice - it's all about the tone don't let yourself be sucked in by all the hype !

All that's needed is there. Clean channel vintage/modern. Lead Channel High Gain/Modern/Vintage. Reverb. Presence. Resonance. Effects loop (footswitchable). Hi & Lo inputs. Line out. Power amp in. Ext speaker out. It's built in China, but many things are... There's no sticker on the sheffield speaker.

I'm using a Japan made Squier strat with single coils. This amp sounds great!!! Very warm and full for a transistor amp. The tube-emulation is not just marketing hype. Love the resonace switch! Great reverb! This amp comes very close to different types of tube amps, and you don' need to cranck it all the way up like a tube amp. Blues clean & dirty, Jazz, Rock, Metal,...whatever your preferred styles; This amp has got it! Comes with footcontroller for channel switching and effects-loop defeat. It must be one of the best and most versatile amps out there. Excellent!

It seems like its well built. It has already survived several transportations. I own it for a month so its a bit early to rate this but since it looks solid and it works...I see no reason to give it less than 10.

Haven't needed them.

I've been playing for 2 years. I also own a Marshall valvestate 10 (crap) and a Stagg 20 Watts transistor amp (quite ok), Wah pedal, etffects. Since I have the Bandit I haven't touched my pedals/effects...don't need them with this amp. I've also been playing a friends Fender twin reverb (excellent ofcourse), but I'm 100% happy with the Peavy (more versatile, less expensive). This amp makes me want to play!

I love having the different voicings on each completely seperate channel wich gives me many different sounds and the 2 seperate EQ's are awesome. My teacher put it best "you dont need a distortion pedal with this thing." On the clean channel, the vintage voicing sounds like it has a bit more treble and it is brighter and the modern voicing has lots of bass and enough highs.

I use a standard American Strat through it and i still get great distortion (can get a nice fuzz voice out of it) and when i put it on clean it is crystal-clear. (Can get noisy when turned real loud on lead channel)

Banged it and even once dropped it from about 1 1/2 feet and still works fine. I have also had it in the rain and no problems.

never had to deal with them

I can do anything with this amp and I love it, whether im playing Hendrix, Pink Floyd, RHCP, anything!