Peavey Bandit 65

It has what everyone elce says it has.

I'm useing a Kramer, and a gibson SG. I play grindcore and it works for that, i find if you slightly muffel the speaker you loose that fait 'Farting' sound that becomes frustrating -- after a while of owning it i figured out how that the amp i purchased had a damaged speaker so thats why i cover the face of the amp. The versitility of this amp goes two ways Punk & country, but country isn't such a bad thing in this case if you pull the bright 'out' drain the base and floor the reverb and switch to your singel-coil this sound will make woman fall all over you.... Ahh Nevermind.... anyway even though my speaker is damaged the sound is GREAT. Oh! and the distortion suckes unless your into the old discontinued BOSS heavy metal 1 pedals.

All i can say is this thing has been around, and it is fine.

Never had to deal with em'

I'm useing a Dan electro 'Fab tone' for distortion and it can make this amp sound like a old marshall gcm-100, in my case the pedal makes the amp.
I would buy somthing elce if it were stolen or lost. i would only recommend this amp to people playing punk, Grindcore, or Sludgy death metal -- or country artist (The clean channel)

It's a classic now days! the original USA model (which means it's heavey as a sack of bricks! but to me that says "Quality"!), rare too, the 65W version wasn't around for too long, because there was a 50 (I think, or 40...?) and an 80... I think people liked either extreem, and the 65 got left out! Has two footswitchable channels, 3 band EQ with a pull knob on the Mid for "Thick" (adds extra low mids to the mix), has presence, and the reverb is great, although it's starting to hum a little, after 8 years of hevy use! It's fully solid state, and has lasted through years of use and abuse of metal and general thrashing!

It has a great sound, clean channels are clear as a bell way up as high as you can stant in front of it, and probably beyond.. but I've never been able to crank it more than 3/4 of the way up before my ears started bleeding! Great EQ, as I said before, 3 band, with Pull thickness on the mids, and the pre volumes on both channels have a pull for "Bright", which adds an extra sparkle (great to get a ripping feedback from!). Distortion is sick!! back in the days of Peaveys "Super Sat" Saturation distortion, I used to get HEAVY sounds with it set like so - Pre-7(brightness pulled on), Sat-4(yes, only four!!!), Post-3, Low-9, Mid-3(thick pulled on), high-7, Presence-6, Rev-5... and it would KICK!!!

Fantastic! I've heard not too good reports of the newer models (Taiwanese I think...? could be wrong, probably am!), but this thing has been kicked around, and thrashed out, squeeled out, Generally thumped for the last 8 years I've owned it... and still sound good enough that my mate (and band member) wants to buy it off of me! AWESOME construction in these old American models!

Fantastic, but rare... if you ever find one, take TWO!!! Even if it's not working, they're easy to fix, and will be your slave for life!!! Goes GREAT as a miked up stage amp!

Mine is an '87A model, with everything that has been mentioned already. Except that I believe it has an out for a cab in addition to the effects loop, etc. It's great for what I play (blues, Dire Straits-ish stuff). I don't use some of the features, like the pull-pots. I use mine for small parties/clubs and for practice/recording.

I use a Samick Tele with a maple top, stock electronics, stop-tail, grover tuners. Pickups are a neck humbucker and a coil-tapped bridge humbucker. Like most everybody else (except the punk players), I don't care for the distortion, but I've got a Rockman so it's of little consequence to me. I love the stock clean sound, and the clean sound with the Rockman sounds great, too. Some people have discussed a hum on certain settings. Now, I used to get a hum, and would sometimes get a scratching sound when I switched pickups. Then I switched to an Adam Atomic heavy duty guitar cable, and all my problems disappeared. Those cables give me the purest and cleanest tone I've ever had, absolutely no noise, and makes my amp sound perfect. So for all you guys, and girls, getting a hum, buy a really good cable, it might be your signal and not the amp. As far as variety, like everyone else, I have pedals and stuff for that, so I don't really care.

Everyone who owns an old Peavey knows it's an absolute BEAST. This is the last piece of equipment I worry about. I've had mine for 12 years only had to clean the pots and re-solder the footswitch. I'd like to drop it on a Crate from about 3 stories up and run down and plug in and blow that Crate owner out of the city.

Never needed it. It's a BEAST.

I've been playing for 14 years, and have never owned another amp, though I've played through plenty. My band doesn't play extremely loud, and we never play Texas Stadium, so I haven't needed 4 Marshall 100-watt heads and 8 4x12 cabs like some of these people seem to think they need (though they do look pretty cool). If it was ever lost or stolen, I would probably replace it, since they're not expensive, though my next amp will be a Twin Reverb. As far as noise goes, try cheaper options like better cables or check your guitar's wiring. Like I said above, the Adam Atomic heavy duty guitar cable solved all of my noise issues, and now I use them exclusively. I have to have them special ordered, because only MusicCorp distributes them, so you may have to ask. This amp can get great clean sound if you know what you're doing. I've noticed that some people haven't been playing that long, like 3 years or less. Back then, I didn't know what sound I wanted, so how was I supposed to get it? Same goes for you guys. This amp does some things very well, but you may not utilize them, so this wouldn't be a good amp for you. But, it's a great amp if you know what you want, especially for the price.

This is the third Bandit I've owned. (Kept having to sell 'em to pay bills.) My current one was made in '82. I wish this amp had a line out for extension speaker and a headphone jack. I mostly use the "clean" setting for the type of playing I do. It's an excellent practice and small club amp.

I play a Fessenden pedal steel guitar through it and I love the tone with the Fesses' humbucker. Don't need to turn it up past "5". If I really need power, I play through a Peavey Session 500poundboatanchor.
I actually get some good "David Lindley" sounds playing an old Gibson lap steel through the distortion mode.

Peaveys are dead-solid reliable amps. I just get the pots cleaned once in a while.

I have dealt with Peavey before and thier people are great!

I have used Peavey amps almost exclusively for years and probably will for many more. (God willing.) I've got three Peaveys right now and other than the fact that they are heavy, I have no complaints

Made in 1981. For those of you that do not know how to tell the year made, the last two digits of the serial number is the year made. I have been playing for 38 years. I do instrument and amplifier repairs. I play country, 50's & 60's rock, some Folk. This amp is a 65 RMS output wattage. For those of you that have no knowledge of input wattage versus output wattage. This amp has a 200 watt draw at the transformer at 60 Hrz and this is input wattage. This amp's output wattage is 65 watts RMS and the output wattage is refered to as the wattage rating for all amps. That is right for those of you that beleive this is a 200 watt amp--this amp is rated at 65 watts at 8 ohms load. If you check by the effects loop jacks, on the back of the amp, you will see that Peavey has been kind enough to indicate in writing the output wattage and the ohms load as 65 watts at 8 ohms. I use this amp on gigs and also at home. If the EQ is set properly this amp is great. If not set properly then it definitely can be flat sounding. The amp that I have has had the speaker replaced with a Mesa Boggie Black Shadow that is rated for 150 watts at 8 ohms and has an additional output jack added. With the amp being rated for 65 watts and having the 150 watt rated Black Shadow I have all the headroom I need and this amp just screams if I want to push it. The stock scorpian speaker is very directional and limited because of its narrow sound throw.

The amp sounds great with the speaker that is now in it. I am running a 52 Fender tele through it or else a Gibson ES 175. Both guitars sound great through it. I like clean as can be and this amp with this speaker does just that. I hate distortion and so do not use any of the saturation. When I play country I play Chet Atkins style and distortion just does not cut it.

This amp is going strong and the only mods is the speaker and the speaker additional speaker output for running through and additional cabinet. What can I say--it's 21 years old and sounds great. Never has broken down and is built like a tank. The speaker was sound to get better headroom and improve the quality of the sound. It's hard to beat the Black Shadow speaker be it for distortion or clean sound. I know you Mesa fans love the distortion but this speaker is awsome when it comes to clean also.

Peavey has always been very helpful and they have one of the best web sights on the internet. They answer Emails and anybody can download schematics going back to the first amps that Hartley Peavey made by hand. I know of no other manufacturer that does that. Nver used their service for this amp but have used it for my repairs and I can not praise them enough. They have been fabulous!!!!

I have been playing for 38 years and my other gear is not relevant to this amp so I will not list it. If the amp was lost or stole I would replace it again and change the speaker again. I like the fact that it is small and carries enough power to do anything I need. Great amplifier that just seems to keep going no matter what is thrown at it(literally)!!!!

Not Exactly Sure what year it was made, but it looks quite new, No headphone Jack, but thats aight, All The features were mentioned above so no point in repeating it.

Well, I just got mine yesterday and use a Fender Squier Custom Series Wayne's World edition on it. The Sound quality that I get is great, The Distortion is a little weak, but nothing that i nice Rp-300 pedal can't fux, or any pedal for that matter. Nice warm sound, Very Loud, Shakes my house at notch 3 volume, although, It had a brand new Peavey Speaker put in there and some wire configuring.

Just Got it yesterday, but from the look of it, it has been reliable from the last owner.

No problems, never dealt with them.

I've been playing for two years, um, I own a Fender Squier Wayne's World Custom Series Edition, Just like the one in the movie, this Peavey Amp and a Yamaha Acoustic, Soon I'll be getting an Rps300 Distorion Pedal. I trade evenly for the Bandit-65 A 15 Watt Harmony Amp, and a 10 watt Yamaha amp, in part, i think i got the advantage.

I got this amp in late '83. I don't think it was brand new, because the footswitch was missing and a Fender/Eminence speaker was installed. I made my own footswitch. I don't need to go over the features because the other reviews have covered that quite adequately.

For better or for worse, this is THE SOUND of early '80s hardcore punk. I know this because I was going to/playing at hardcore shows during that time period, and it seemed that everyone was using Peaveys! (They were, after all, the "cheap" amp that most teenagers could afford). If you're looking for that sound, one of these amps and a guitar with humbuckers will probably do it for you. It seems most of the reviews here mention the distortion tone as being awful, but it worked OK for me. (Then again, I was playing punk). The clean tone was OK, albeit a bit flat, like most solid-state amps. I found the "pull thick" feature awful-sounding and unusable in any situation.

My Bandit went through hell and back and never failed me. Later on, I worked as a full-time amp repairman, and having been inside many of these things, I can vouch for the good build quality and overall reliability.

I used to do warranty repairs for Peavey. Their reimbursement schedule was awful (meaning, they don't pay their service centers much), but other than that, they seemed to support their product pretty well. The folks, typical Southerners, are very friendly on the phone, although sometimes hard to understand with those Mississippi accents :)

I ended up on this site 'cause I was feeling a little nostalgic about my garage band days and the gear I was using back then. I decided to chime in with a couple of words about my good ol' Peavey. I haven't used the amp for gigging in years, (I have a bunch of nice vintage tube amps now), but I still have the Bandit and it still works fine. I understand they are readily available for cheap on the used market. They're well built, reliable, use readily-available parts and would make a good general-purpose amp for small to medium gigs for just about any player. If you're a beginner, better to buy one of these used than to buy a new, shoddy, underpowered "practice" amp for the same money. You won't outgrow the Bandit as quickly, and you can actually gig with it.

early '80's model, fitted with Scorpion 12". what i like about peavey amps is all the knobs and pull pots they have. what i dont like is the buzzy distortion you get no matter how many knobs you turn and push.

this is a rock sounding amp. i used to think the buzzier the distortion the better. cranking the saturation up to 10 and pegging the reverb knob would really make me sound like a rock star...wrong!
now, i really hate the sound of this distortion. the Scorpion speaker is strange in that you must be directly in front of it (ie at a gig) or you will not hear it.
the reverb sounds like crap-it adds alot of buzziness to the distortion sound, not like an electrical buzz. its kind of like adding high freq treble, definitely not anything like fender spring reverb.
the clean sound has some versatility, but at best still sounds like a clean tiny solid state box, perhaps a change of speaker would help.

this thing died at a gig and the repair shop wanted $250 just to open it up and look at it. i said forget it and kept it in the closet for 5 years until one day i opened it up and saw a loose power capacitor. i soldered it down to the board and was back in business. i think this is a tough little amp. its been dropped and knocked around, rained on, etc...

65 watts ,no headphone jack,reverb,2 channels,solid state,foot switch,but i didnt get it when i bought it.i have no idea when it was made.i pay in a band and it can blow away just about anything you put up against it.i play hardrock/deathmetal

i have a jackson kv standard.i think it sounds alright. if you screw with the eq a little bit,but if you dont know what you are doing you are going to get the most aggrivating sound in the world.i use a dod death metal distortion pedal and it sounds good at low volumes but when you crank it up you get a crappy muffled sound.the only reason i bought it is so i would have something to keep up with my drummer,but i still cant get the eq right when it is cranked up,so if any one can help me with the settings e-mail me PLEASE!

i only hadit for a few weeks now so i cant really say

never had to deal with them yet.

i have geen playing for about 3 years.if it were stolen i would be pissed because i wont be able to keep up and id be back to mikeing the old crate gx-15 are what ever it is.id probably get a randall.i love how loud it gets it.i hate it cranked up.it really sounds like shit,but that can be fixed it i can get the eq right.my friend has a marshall vs65.it sounds way better bit i can blow it away volume wise easaly.i just wish it sounded better

Features are covered pretty well in the other reviews. It has good reverb. The saturation control is convenient. No external speaker jack. No accessory AC outlet. No tilt legs. My amp does not have the original speaker, or original cabinet, for that matter. The amp's original cabinet had been cut down (crudely) to make it into a piggyback head. I found the amp at the dump. I made a new cabinet for it. I believe it is somewhat lighter than the original (plywood vs. particle board). I put in an Eminence 12 that I had lying around. It's a nice speaker for this amp. (Price paid is approximate cost of speaker and cabinet parts.)

I am surprised at how much I like the sound. I use this amp with a telecaster and a pedal steel. I usually use a little compression (MXR DynaComp). I play country, western swing, rockabilly, blues, folk, etc. I don't use it for heavy distorted stuff. But having the saturation turned up a just a little gives me a fairly decent simulation of an amp that's being pushed a little. The reverb is fine.

When I found it, it was in pieces, and had apparently sat in a damp location for years... but it worked. I did some minor maintenance (new line cord and speaker cable, fixed damaged reverb cables, replaced missing knobs) and made a cabinet. I've used it for a about a year and a half, with no problems.

Obviously I can't comment on warranty service. I did order a schematic from Peavey via phone at reasonable cost. I also was able to speak directly to a technician who was very knowledgable. The user's manual was on the Peavey web site. Apparently they don't orphan their older products.

When I found this thing I had been looking for a small amp and was even considering building one. I didn't expect to like this amp much, but it's been fine. I'll still get another amp, but I'll keep this as an alternate. If it were stolen I'd consider replacing it (although with stock speaker and cabinet it would probably sound a little different and weigh more), or getting something similar. After over 35 years of playing, I no longer care to lug anything bigger than this amp around. It could use an accessory outlet (I installed one) and tilt legs (I'm working on these). Based on my experience, I'd recommend a stock Bandit 65 as a very good beginner's amp or backup amp, and a pretty good main amp. It's fairly versatile, very reliable, and you can find them cheap.