Peavey Bandit 112

mine is the very 1st of the transtube series
loaded withe the shefield speaker
2 channels
effects loop
footswitch
reverb
t dynamics knobs

im using this amp with a 1987 rg550 loaded with wsc pickups and an esp eclipse loaded with emg 60-81.i mainly play metal but u can get just about any sound out of this thing even with the active pickups.my only gripe is the cleans can be too compressed but yeh so are mesas.i also have a hughes and kettner switchblade stack sitting next to my peavey and honestly i wish i never bought it.i even sold my marshall dsl because the bandit just sounds better.

built like a tank i got this in the early 90's and and shes still going strong and ive never heard of a bandit breaking down.

havent had to deal with peavey

ive been playing on and off since 94 and have owned expensive valve amps but i keep going back to this thng.
if it was stolen i would look into the new bandit apparently the chinese ones are better.

Low Gain / High Gain inputs, 2 channnel clean and lead. Clean has seperate low, mid, high EQ with volume and vintage/modern switch, lead channel has low, mid, high EQ, pre-gain, post-gain, vintage/modern/high gain switch, master Reverb, Presence, T-Dynamics control, loose/tight speaker selection. effects loop, power amp in and out footswitch and 8 ohm ext. speaker jack. Loaded with Sheffield model 1230 8 ohm speaker. Rated at 80 watts RMS (100 watts with ext. speaker).

Has a very clear clean sound on either selection but esp. on vintage and the volume and EQ on this channel have a wide adjustment spectrum. Lead channel will acheive the old Marshall sounds along with some good more modern metal distortion. Very clear and really doesn't mudd except on a higher volume/gain speaker does not handle high volume as well as it should so I may install an Eminence V-12 or Man-O-War. T-Dynamics seems to have better control on the clean channel or high gain selection on lead. Other settings have little volume variance. Seems to be like 2-2-3-5-7-10 with no in-between. Use many guitars Firebird VII, V, SG, LP, many Strats Stock and modded. Sounds good with all, of course 60 cycle with singles but no worse than others. Blues, Classic Rock, 80's Metal, Jazz are a good. Death Metal would be attainable with the right pedal but I don't think the speaker would perform optimum.

Seems to be built like a tank and that is Peavey's rep.

Unused but I like their site

Transtube is nice but will still look for an older all tube peavey. Wish the T-Dynamics was more responsive. Like tthe fact it more portable than an old tube amp and with a speaker change I may even love it. If it were stolen I'd prob. replace ith with a transtube 2x12 or most likely an old Classic VT series and install and attenuator.

It has great sounds and lots of them. With the Thrash, Gain Boost, Bright and Resonance buttons along with a Presence control you can get any sound you want from the most bright clean sound all the way to an agressive heav metal sound. It also has 2 channels, effects loop, high and low inputs and a reverb control. And it also has a control called T.Dynamics which changes the power from 10% (Weak, soft tone) and everything all the way to 100% (Strong, Heavy tone). You can either use the Pre gain as the main gain control and the Post gain as the volume for a more metal sound or the other way round for a softer more bluesy sound.

The quality is very good the problem i have is buzz when on the distorted channel when just plugged in and not playing. This suits my style very well i play heavy metal of the highest degree and it can do it amazingly. I can also get all sorts of other sounds punk, blues, jazz etc. The distortion has no one sound it cn be insanely brutal then with some slight tweeking can be a soft distortion for blues or jazz. The only problem is the buzz.

This amp is second hand so i would not play it without a backup live. but it seems to be reliable enough. i have not had it break down so far.

Never Dealt With The Company

I have been playing for just over a year and i play Schecters and BC Richs and some others through the Bandit 112 as my main setup for now. I would buy it again or look at some higher range Peaveys. I love pretty much everything about it. I just hate the buzz that is driving me insane but it is not there while playing. I just got this as a spur of the moment style thing but i can compare it to some good ??500 amps and i cant tell the difference. I would say if you can get one of the older Bandits DO IT! i do not like the newer ones because of the softer and brighter tones compared to the older ones (like mine). I dont know what year mine is but i would guess late 90's.

This amp comes with a lot of great features for a decent price: effects loop, head phone jack, line out for a separate cabinet and voicing features for the clean and lead channels (these offer tonal versatility not usually found on amps for this price). I was looking for a pretty cheap amp that could address a wide variety of sounds, and it is successful to an extent. I use this amp for practice and jamming with a rhythym section. Its loud enough to be heard with drums, but if you turn the volume past noon the bottom end begins to sound flubby and if you have it at a level where you can get some decent sounding sustain/harmonic feedback it begins to smell like burning rubber.

I use a single coil strat with this amp and at low volume it sounds pretty decent: sounds like crap above noon. Don't let the transtube feature convince you to buy this amp. It does emulate a tube sound somewhat, but volume suffers, and it doesn't match the rich tones you can get from tubes. If you want variety in your sound (from sparkly clean to metal) I'd suggest getting a decent tube amp and putting a tube screamer or the Dist. pedal of your choice in front. However, if you play at low volume and are looking for cheap, flexible amp to practice on you might want to consider getting it.

I've had the amp for 2 years and it hasn't broken down. I would only use this for a gig for backup (just because I can't get a decent sound past noon) and I'm worried about something burning something up because of the smell eminating from the cabinet when I turn it up to live levels.

n/a

I've been playing 17 years. I own a Crate 50 vintage club with 1 15. Love its sound but the effects loop sucks. (that's why i got this amp for recording/practice with something other than a straight guitar to amp sound). If the bandit were lost or stolen I'd get something else due to the disappointing sound at volume. I love its features, tonal flexibility, ease of use, and price.
I don't have to restate what I hate about it.

i got this amp 2nd hand so not sure of its age, probably the 2000 model not made in U.S.A. this has everything you need, effects loop, footswitch (channel and effects) external speaker out and some different amp modelling switches. this amp is great for band practice and gigging. solid state transtube

bad points first; its reverb isnt the best (i use my digitech gnx1 for that) and the distortion often is a little bit undefined so its kind of hard for soloing. other than that its awesome. its transtube (transistor) but moddeled to sound like a tube amp. NOTE it dosent sound like a tube amp but does sound good. wicked clean channel if your into that kind of stuff.

taken it to band practice heaps and knocked a wire but only effected it the once and its good now. it is one hard *** amp! dont knock it while your playing it goes mental for a second, sounds like you knock the reverb springs and goes amplified trampoline on you. then again i dont know if its spring reverb or not.

dont know never needed it.

great

Let me be brief! Nothing Fancy, but is you are looking for an amp that is an extension of your guitar this is it!

Simply put.... Sound quality is a much about the axe you plug into it (any amp for that matter) as it is about your ability to truly understand sound reproduction thresholds. You can tweak the Bandit 112 to sound like a sweet smooth blues/jazz sound to an all out raunch!

I use a Les Paul Studio, EPI Zack Wilde Les Paul Standard, Taylor T-5 C1, Gibson ES-335 and frankly even my high end acoustics sound great. Remember it's all about taking the time to finding your tone.

I play a lot of CCR, Eagles, Blue Rodeo, and some Queen, AC/DC and the likes as well.

Can you say "TANK" like! Mine was built in the USA in 2000. I understand that the new models are built in China hence I unable to speak to the modern version's overall qualities or lack thereof.

I also DJ with PEAVEY equipment and speakers and I have yet to have to call on them for service or otherwise. Call it a 9 given that they build such great products.

15 years and counting of playing. Owned Fender Deville 410, owned a Peavey Classic 30 and in comparison the Bandit 112 simply delivers on all aspects of what an amp should be. Reliable, tweakable and great sound.

I have no idea when this amp was made, I bought it used and it appears to be much different than today's Bandits. It has pretty much standard everything, no fancy, flashy features to list, except maybe reverb (which isn't that good, by the way).

When I first got it, I was expecting some kind of monstrous hi gain amp, which was my first mistake. What I ended up with was a more bluesy sounding amp that doesn't sound good unless you either overdrive it with a marshall guv'nor on the gain channel, or just put it on clean and use a Line 6 ??ber metal distortion pedal. But even with the need for a pedal, the amp is still pretty versatile for what I play (death metal inspired instrumental-stuff), as I still use it today. One thing I have found, however, is that using an EMG 81 pickup in the bridge of my First Act strat copy, then putting both the gain channel and the gain switch on, I can actually get some pretty nice sounding tremolo riffs out of it, especially downtuned. One thing to keep in mind is that playing it like this is going to be noisy as hell when you're just idle with your guitar (i.e. loads of feedback). The upshot to playing with the emg is that you don't need a pedal, except maybe a noise suppressor.

Seeing as how my amp was bought used, and how old it appears, I'm suprised it actually functions as well as it does. I'd give Peavey an 8 for making this amp reliable enough for what I do.

Never had to deal with them.

Only been playing about 3 years but I'm still getting better everyday. I play mainly death/black/thrashy-metal inspired instrumentals. I have about 6 guitars (which includes 1 bass and 2 acoustics). My main two are my BC Rich warlock (set neck) w/ Dimarzio X2n and Seymour Duncan Invader pickups, and an Ibanez RG370DX with a seymour duncan jazz and stock pickups. The First Act guitar I mentioned above is my first guitar, so i've pretty much mutilated it with all the experimentation. Kind of funny after three years I finally get a handle on soldering electronics.

Anyway, if this amp were stolen I'd have to get another amp, regardless of the praise I've given it here. I wouldn't want to take all the effort of finding this exact year/model only to end up disappointed, so I'd go with a brand new tube amp or something.

The only thing I'd add to this amp is some decent reverb. The built in version sounds like absolute crap. otherwise it's a great bargain amp.

If you have any desire to hear some sound samples of this amp, just email me.

I bought my amp in '96. Back then I was playing Catherine Wheel-esque rock, and relied heavily on effects pedals to give me the sound I wanted. I didn't know much about amps, but it had volume, and the clean tone was good. Now, I play rockabilly, country, and a little bit of those Catherine Wheel type songs, I've learned more about amps, and now I wouldn't trade it for anything. I play a gretsch Tennessee Rose, and a strat, and the clean tone from this guitar is perfect, even at high volumes. I wouldn't even bother with other switch, as it only sounds muddy. At 80 watts, its plenty of power for most of the venues I've played; I haven't been invited to play Shae stadium yet. ;)

I think I covered a lot of this above, but the clean channel sounds great at high volumes. I have no complaints whatsoever with how my guitars sound in the amp. I have tried a number of other amps in the stores, and have never felt as satisfied as I have with this amp. The transtube feature is nice, especially if you are heavy strummer like me. You can dial the power output down quite a ways and get just the barest hint of some overdrive, which is perfect for country tunes.

Like I said, I bought it in '96, used it a lot for 4 straight years, then put it in a closet for 6 years. Got it out a couple of years ago and have been beating on it solid for awhile, lugging it around places, and haven't had anything break. There's a loose wire somewhere which makes a really fun noise if I move it when it's turned on, but as long as it's sitting in place, there is no issue.

Haven't ever talked to them. The manual is ok.

I've been playing for 15 years. I use a lot of effects, SD-1, fabtone, chorus, reverb, phaser, etc, but on a fair amount of songs, I just run clean with a little bit of chorus dialed in. I have used the amp with acoustic guitars, and even vocals and find that it handles everything ok. If it were stolen, I would buy it again, or a comparable Peavey. My only complaint about it is that the built in reverb doesn't sound as nice as I would like, but that's ok. No complaints.

After having to sell my Marshall Artist half stack for financial reasons 10 years ago, I needed to replace it with something cheaper, but with a similiar sound. After trying out several tube combos at the music store, I wasn't happy with any of them soundwise or pricewise. Although I was set on a tube amp, the store manager said, "How 'bout this Peavet Bandit?" I said no way, because the other guitarplayer in my former band had an older one from the 80's, and I thought it sucked. Then he told me it had this "new" transtube circuitry(remember, this was 10 years aqgo) that really emulated that tube sound, so I tried it. I was amazed! I could'nt believe a solid state amp could sound this good. The last solid state amp I had owned before my Marshall was a Crate G40CXL and the distortion on it didn't even come close to real tube overdrive. The Bandit, however sounded(to me) just like a tube amp. It had 2 channels; the clean: crystal clear with plenty of eq and a bright switch, and the distortion sound on the lead channel is awesome. It has separate 3 band parametric eq on both channels, and just one reverb shared by both of them. It also has an effects loop, an effects level switch, an out jack and a preamp out as well as a ground switch. The included footswitch allowed you to switch channels as well as turn off the effects loop. some people complain about not being able to turn off the reverb, but I don't use alot of reverb anyway in a live setting. The lead channel also features a resonance switch, a "thrash" setting, and a gain switch, plus the "tube dynamics" knob. Oh and it also has pwr. amp in and out jacks in the back, but I've never used them. For the money, I really don't think it was missing any general features. I have used this amp for live performance extensively, home practice, and for home recording. At 80 watts its plenty loud for just about any situation. Currently my son is using it in the basement and its powering a Hughes and Kettner 4x12 cab w/Celestions, and it does it with juice to spare.

I pretty much play harder rock, punk, power pop, alternative, emo and metal as well as classic rock and pop, plus a little bit of blues. this amp can handle it all, but the overdrive is where this thing really shines. To get that "tube" sound you have to turn the presence and tube dynamics knobs kind of in conjunction with each other in the opposite direction. I would have the presence turned about 4'o'clock, and the Tube dyn. to about 7'o'clock, which on the knob is marked as "20%". Alot of guys I knew who had tried this amp figured the more you turn the tube dynamics knob up towards 100% the more it would sound like tube distortion, right? Not so. It more or less acts like a dmpening effect. The less percent of tube dynamics the more tubey it sounds, but the more tube dynamics the louder the power amp is. As far as the distortion, it was MUCH more diverse than my Marshall ever was. It broke up the same, but you could control the bottem end and the mids and highs on the eq more. The Thrash button basically added more gain and scooped the mids, which I never used because I like alot of mids in my tone. The gain switch however was interesting. I found that for recording, the break up of the overdrive sang thru more when the gain switch was off. The gain switch adds more gain, tons of bottom end and more noise, which does make it sound tubey, but with out it, you get great tube breakup with out the hum and noise, and you get much more control over your eq. It does sound a little "thinner" and more compressed this way, but for recording I thought it sounded much better. I ran my dod and boss pedals, plus a Crybaby wah/volume pedal thru the effect loop, and got pretty good sounds live. The only problem was that when I would switch from dirty to clean, sometimes the clean level would seem to "drop off" a bit. Maybe it was because I was using a noise suppressor, but I'm not sure, but overall it sounded great live. My guitar player in that band used Marshall tube amps and a Quadroverb and everyone used to tell me how much better my rig sounded than his. I ran a PRS ce 24 Thru it as well as a Les Paul, both with humbuckers and it did well with anything from the Stones to Godsmack to Blink 182 to Korn. I like the Transtube series so much i even bought a Peavey Supreme half stack and a Peavey blazer 158, because they all used basically the same preamp. But I usually ended up using the Bandit because it was easier to transport and seemed to have just as much power as the half stack.For the last four years I switched to a Line6 Flextone cause I got a good deal on it and it was just easier for convenience sake to haul an amp that had all the effects built in. Well That took a crap on me recentely and wouldn't ya know it, I bought another Marshall Artist, so I gave the peavey to my son who loves it. We both agreed we are going to keep it forever. I still use it to record from time to time and to jam with, but it has seen some use and it does seem noisier than it used to.

Overall this amp has never really let me down and its built like a tank. One time I did have to get the effect loop jack fixed, but that was because I was runnin a Peavey Prowler 45 watt tube amp thru it, just to see what it sounded like and wasn't sure how to hook them togeher, and my guitar player hooked it up that way if I remember and I think it messed it up, but my bassplayer fixed it for me, so it didn't cost me anything. I used this amp for recording for about 3 years and almost exclusively for live shows weekly for about 3 years and I always trusted it to deliver. I never had a backup when I used it either

I never had to deal w/the company, and the one problem I had was my own fault and the warrenty was way over and I got it fixed for free so that's that

I've been playing on and off for about 26 years, seriously for the past 17 years and I've owned several solid state amps and a couple of tube and hybrid amps. If this amp was lost or stolen I dunno if I'd get another one or not. I think this is probably the most versatile and reliable amp I've owned, but nowadays most of the tube emulating circuitry is really good on even the cheaper amps. But at the time I bought it(10 years ago) this was one of the best sounding solid state amps. I have no complaints about it and for harder rock or just about anything else, this amp delivers. When I bought it I couldn't even think about affording a Marshall, so I compared it to some Fender tube amps and an Ampeg tube am in the store and I thought they were more suited for blues or Jazz or country, not for harder rock. The one guitar player in my band is a tube conniuesour(?) and we compared it to a 5150 and some of his Marshalls and the sound was comprable to them. Overall I think Peavey got a bad rap in the 80's for some reason or another, but I think bang for the buck ya can't beat 'em. And they do have higher end stuff that is right up there with Mesas and Marshalls alike, both in quality and price, but their lower end stuff is suitable for anyone on just about any level. Eddie Van Halen...Joe Satriani, Hello! These aren't just your run of the mill endorsers here folks, so Peavey must have been doing something right. I've been looking at getting another tube head, and the tried out the Peavey windsor and the Valve King and was very impressed by both of them and these are much cheaper amps than the 6505(formally 5150) and the Joe Satrianni model. sometimes I think people just want to pay more for an amp or other product by an expensive name brand, just so can they say they did. I think that's why people didn't trust Peavey products, but to me they are excellant sounding amps and thats all that matters.

2006 model Transtube ( and yes the T Dynamics does work...subtly...but it DOES work) Same features as listed in other reviews...2 ch. seperate eq's reverb, presence, resonance, effects loop (footswitchable effects loop and channel select but not reverb...bummer) etc etc
I've recently picked up the guitar again seriously after almost 15 years of just "plinkin" around here and there and have spent the past year carefully searching for an amp that can cover all the types of music I like to play, that wont kill my already strained chequing account! I play classic rock, blues ( slow and sleazy, ) mellow jazz, country...all the way to 80's hair metal and Metallica-esque heavy metal. Needless to say trying to find a reasonably priced amp that can do all that even half assed has been a challenge! Then I stumbled accross this lil' gem.
Right now I'm just practicing at home and jamming with the guys for fun. but I wanted an amp powerfull enough to split an eardrum or two when called upon. Bandit more than fits the bill in the power department! Only one Gripe really...No footswitchable reverb! IMO this is a seriously basic need that is overlooked in way too many amps!

I've only had 'er for a week now so bear in mind this is an "initial impression" review. That being said...I have managed to get a surprising number of pleasing tones out of this lil' bugger! In particular...a fantastic sleazy, sultry tube heavy blues overdrive that put a silly ass grin on my face in a hurry :) I have also gotten a great clean, warm Jazz tone...very Les Paul-ish ( the man...not the axe ) And a really nice , creamy 80's metal saturation...at lower volumes anyway. The sound is kinda strained and thin at the higher volumes. Canned and harsh. HOWEVER...the stock speaker has a pretty "anorexic" magnet. I wonder if the speaker itself isn't rated at 16 ohms at a lower wattage than the Bandits 80-85 watts RMS output??? But...I will be replacing the stock speaker with a Celestion G12k 100 and have a feelling that may just open up a whole new can o' potental!
For the record, I'm not putting a high end guitar into this amp but it aint junk either. I recently purchased a Godin Freeway Classic (another real good "bang fer' yer buck" hunk of gear!)
She's a little noisy at higher vol's on the gain Ch. when pushed to insane levels of distortion...another reviewer noted quite correctly that pre and post volumes should not equal more than 10...keep it just below !@#$%^&*( blistering distortion and it aint too bad. lol

As one other person said so simply..."It's a Peavey" Legendary relliabillity. I've owned a few older ones...this one isn't the "Tank" that the older ones were but compared to other amps in it's price point ...it's built like a brick sh*t house!

Hve never had to deal with Peavey cos I've never had a problem.

Been playing on and off for 25 years..owned and sold tons of gear...won't do the drawn out list.... suffice it to say I know what sucks...and what doesn't...and this amp doesn't suck. For the money....I dare ya to find a better one. I paid 300.00 taxes included for this puppy...brand new...in the box! Great lil amp. It is what it is...it doesn't do anything incredibly well...but it does a good variety of things respectably well and for the money...it gets a solid 9