Peavey Bandit 112 II

Check the rest of the reviews, don't need to repeat other's desc.

Used with L.P., ES335 clone, Tele, Kramer Strat clone {ZX30}. I play mostly "Classic" R & R, voicing & tonality works well for my needs. I really appreciate the TDynamic control, lets me clip out @ a reasonable SPL at home unlike the POS Marshall VS102R that it replaced. I am happy enough with built-in OD circuits that I have stored my Rat distortion stompbox. The reverb rates about an "8", not like my long gone Super Reverb or Gemini II, but definitely acceptable. I think this amp can probably accomodate most styles of playing without problems. The amp is quiet in operation unless you really torque the pre-gain, effect loop helps cure random noise caused by stereo chorus pedals normally tied in thru input jack. The "clean" channel is more than adequate, although not to the level of the aformentioned Super Reverb or Ampeg Gemini II {Oops!! living in the past again!!}.

I cannot comment on this unit, since I have only had it about a month, but I have owned in the past the following Peavey stuff, none of which ever let me down:

Classic 50 Hybrid, Bandit 60, Special 130, Renown 400, TNT, TKO 112

The Peavey line may not sound quite as nice as the botique brands, but after that lousy, unreliable & overpriced "valvestate" piece of junk, I will never even casually consider a Marshall again.

Can't comment, their stuff works, have not needed service !!

For the gory details, refer to "Older than the Hills" review of the miscreant Marshall VS102R "amplifier".

Alot for the money.

cleans are ok and distortion sounds great esp high gain sounds a lot of harmonics can be pulled off. For hard rock or metal this amp is pretty cool. I have had no problems with effect loop. For playing the blues I wouldn't use this amp but for high gain stuff this is pretty cool. It does have a little buzziness trash sound to it thats is different but sounds cool.

No problems of yet the speaker can fart out a bit on very high volumes.

Very quick one of best in business for a big company.

dislikes
Wish it would do blues better. (Tech 21 solidstates really shine here)
Cleans can still be improved.
I don't think the shelfield is as great as peavey makes you want to believe.
Distortions could still be tweaked some more making a couple of good sounding choices
Likes
very dependable.
Big Cabinet this has a lot to do with sound.
Takes effects well.
Not that noisey at all.
Well if it did the blues well I would use this amp for everything.
Been playing for a while
Worth a check out if you are looking for a good hard rock amp that is fair priced.

I HAVE SOME TIPS TO HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE HAVING SMALL PROBLEMS WITH THIS AMP. I already made a review. Some things that alot of people including me over looked on this amp is the high/low gain input. when I got it and was using high gain input, it sounded like shit, but know that I switched, the distortion on the moder channel actual sound good and heavy and a lot more audible and defined. Big improvement. But by the way, Emg's help to. Another tip with the effects loop, if you are having problems with the loop, try moving peedals around, including infront of the amp. It fixed my problems and made my amp sound more clear and a lot better.

2002 model.
Very versatile. Clean jazz to Van Halen and Metallica.
Since I can't sound like EVH without his setup has everything I need.
Lots of power.

I use a Yamaha custome guitar with 2 HB's.
Sometimes it's noisy, but I just change a setting or two and it's good.
Clean sounds great. Lead sounds great with all different settings.

Too new to tell.

So far so good.

Much better than any Marshall I've had.
Get warm with ever note played.
Sounds so good.

got it new 2001 tom lee music vacouver b.c.this amp is plenty versatile for the music i play.country band,cash,waylon,willie, etc.i use this amp small gigs around town.plenty of power for me.

i use a martin d-28 .fishman a.g.124 thinline.also plug it into fishman pro e.q.and a 60 silvertone redone with demarzio 412 tele bridge pickup i put in to add to the great lipstick neck pickup.i use the clean channel and both guitars sound great with a little adjusting from one to the other.no unwanted noise or sounds yet.dont know if distorts at high volumes aint been there.

ive had a peavey pacer for years peaveys dont break.

never used them.

been playing 45 years. beside my martin and silvertone i have a yamaki acoustic and a fender strat. mex.yorkville p.a.,peavey pacer and a fender bullet.i would buy it again.it suits my needs to a tee.

this is my second review. I think it has very versitile for what it is, 80 watt amp with no built in effects. If you wanted more options they you buy one of the transtube amps with the built in effects.

I use a dean mach 5 with emg's and an ibanez ax 7 string stock. I'll start with the bad things that I have found with my amp. First off, the reverb add a shit load of extra noise at times, plus the reverb is weak and cane only really be noticable with lots of gain, but then it creates more fucking noise. This is not a big deal. The second is the fact that, I had to have a repair done on my amp after I bought it because something involving the effects loop had been wired wrong, and after I got it back, I now have an annoying buzzing sound, like something is loose inside the amp. Both of those are minor problems, my main problem is that on the modern distortion, if you turn it to 6-7 on the pre gain, it gets muddy, not extremly, but so that it is a bit annoying. It can depending on you settings, and pick-ups but it is still annoying. The emg's help clean it up alot but it is still there if you play very fast open drop tuned chords. But on the good side, you can hear picked notes cristal clear. The problem is that I like the more gain the better, i find on 7-8 i keep it from getting too muddy. My last problem is that both channels break up at around 7 or 8 on the volume/post gain, but with effects, it can be worse at times. But luckly you can solve this by adding an extention cab, I have not tried it with one yet but hope to soon. The positives: clean is amasing, and distortion or lead actually sounds modern, heavy and has a nice bass reponse.

footswitch for changing channels,2 channels (clean and distortion) it's a solid state amp and it has a very good sound

I use an epiphone sg-400 with my amp and a digitech xp-200 and it works pretty good.I play a little bit of Led zeppelin,acdc mettalica,etc.It is not noisy at all and this amp suits my style pretty well.

I would definitely use it on a gig without backup.I bought this amp new so it does not have any flaws,etc.

never dealt with them.

I have been playing for 2 years and it is the best amp i have ever played with it sounds better than mg-series in marshall and the fenders.if the amp would brake i would go and get another one.

Two foot-switchable channels, 5 voices (2 clean, 3 overdrive). A vry versatile amplifier that can cover many bases & styles of music from jaz to metal (IMHO).

I pla a lot of blues, surf, rockabilly, and blues-rock (Allman Bros. and the like). This amp gets it all!I used to use tube amps and really liked them (still do) but the maintenance factor became a problem.

Here's the ironic part (and I KNOW this will raise some eyebrows!): I recently went thru several overdrive boxes and had finally settled on one that gave me a good sound with my tube amps. Then I tried the Bandit in the store and realized that I could get blues overdrive, heavy crunch, Jeff Beck fuzz, and a Santana-like wail ALL WITHOUT USING ANY EXTERNAL BOXES!!!!! I just don't like plugging into anything but the amp if I can help it.

The two clean and three lead voices reall do it all!

I play a G&L Legacy with Bill Lawrence pickups (L280S, L280M, and L290L) and I have no trouble doing any of the above mentioned music.

There is very little noise in this newest incarnation of the Bandit. The clean channel stays clean and the overdrive cleans up very nicely upon rolling the guitar vlume down. The distortion can go from mild to insane,

EQ is wide range. Thi is no 1 trick pony!

Are you kidding? It's a Peavey! These are built to last forever.
No problems EVER with ANY Peavey I've ever owned!
'Nuff said.

The CEO Hartley Peavey hisself will write back to you if you have questions or concerns. Anybody gotten a letter from the CEO of Gibson or Fender lately?

The forum is very informative. Best customer support ever - right up there with G&L and Lawrence. I only deal with quality companies with class and these three companies have it all!!!!

Ive been playing almost 40 years so I've become a tone junkie and a bit opinionated. I know that a review this glowing seems "too good to be true" but let me tell you - I mean every single word of it and can back it up with my experience to boot! This is the best amp I've EVER owned and I've ben thru a pile of them in the never-ending tone quest. I think I'm there amp wise!