Peavey Bandit 65

I have the old Bandit 65 from the 80's. Features have been described pretty well below. Bought mine used about 3 years ago and it's all original except for the reverb tank - all but one spring was broken when I bought it, so I replaced the tank. It's in good shape cosmetically as well - the logo is still on the front, grill cloth intact, etc. The thing smells like cigarettes and beer so I know it's seem some use in bars!

I have a number of guitars but I mostly play an older PRS CE24 and a Squier Strat (both ends of the quality spectrum). I play mostly blues, classic rock and country music. Some jazzier stuff as well.

When I first bought this amp I used it set very clean and plugged into various multi-effect pedals for distortion and even for reverb. About a year ago I finally tried playing without any pedals, and I found that this amp sounds GREAT totally on it's own! What I do is set the PRE gain at 3:00 (3/4 up) or higher, the POST gain around 9:00 (1/4 up) and then keep the SATURATION somewhere between 0 and about 4, depending on the guitar and how much grit I need. Tone controls are: bass - 4, mid - 0, treble - 5 and presence between 0 - 5. With these settings my PRS just sings! Huge sustain and even controlled feedback, with warm tube-like overdrive tones. And I can get my Strat to sound more SRV'ish with just this amp, than with any overdrive pedal I've tried.

I should mention that I also have a 40 year old Fender Deluxe Reverb as well, that I used to gig with regularly - but the Peavey has replaced it. The DR sounds great but it needs a good overdrive pedal to really get it going and it's tonal variety is rather limited. The Bandit's tone is so much more versatile (eq pots very expressive) and with the pre, post, and saturation controls, it gets an amazing range of sounds. Even though this amp sounds great on it's own, I confess that I have been using a compression pedal for a little extra punch.

As for volume - I use the lead channel all the time, and with the PRE gain set 3/4 or full up, I've never had to turn the POST gain past 3 or 4. I play smaller clubs and outdoor gigs (county fairs, Music in the Park, etc) and this thing has all the volume I need, and then some.

I've been using this amp for rehearsals and gigs (a bunch of them outside events) for the last year without any problems. This Bandit is about 25 years old and still doing just fine. I did take another amp along to my last gig, just 'cause the venue was an hour away and I thought it prudent to have a back-up (hey, I was a Scout, so I've learned to 'be prepared').

I called Peavey for info when I bought this amp. They told me where to find an owners manual and what kind of reverb tank to buy. For a product this old, I was surprised how helpful they were.

Love this amp! I never thought I'd like a SS amp so much. I've been contemplating getting a second Bandit 65, for larger venues or just to get a stereo effect on stage. Love it, love it, love it!

I have the old Bandit 65 from the 80's. Features have been described pretty well below. Bought mine used about 3 years ago and it's all original except for the reverb tank - all but one spring was broken when I bought it, so I replaced the tank. It's in good shape cosmetically as well - the logo is still on the front, grill cloth intact, etc. The thing smells like cigarettes and beer so I know it's seem some use in bars!

I have a number of guitars but I mostly play an older PRS CE24 and a Squier Strat (both ends of the quality spectrum). I play mostly blues, classic rock and country music. Some jazzier stuff as well.

When I first bought this amp I used it set very clean and plugged into various multi-effect pedals for distortion and even for reverb. About a year ago I finally tried playing without any pedals, and I found that this amp sounds GREAT totally on it's own! What I do is set the PRE gain at 3:00 (3/4 up) or higher, the POST gain around 9:00 (1/4 up) and then keep the SATURATION somewhere between 0 and about 4, depending on the guitar and how much grit I need. Tone controls are: bass - 4, mid - 0, treble - 5 and presence between 0 - 5. With these settings my PRS just sings! Huge sustain and even controlled feedback, with warm tube-like overdrive tones. And I can get my Strat to sound more SRV'ish with just this amp, than with any overdrive pedal I've tried.

I should mention that I also have a 40 year old Fender Deluxe Reverb as well, that I used to gig with regularly - but the Peavey has replaced it. The DR sounds great but it needs a good overdrive pedal to really get it going and it's tonal variety is rather limited. The Bandit's tone is so much more versatile (eq pots very expressive) and with the pre, post, and saturation controls, it gets an amazing range of sounds. Even though this amp sounds great on it's own, I confess that I have been using a compression pedal for a little extra punch.

As for volume - I use the lead channel all the time, and with the PRE gain set 3/4 or full up, I've never had to turn the POST gain past 3 or 4. I play smaller clubs and outdoor gigs (county fairs, Music in the Park, etc) and this thing has all the volume I need, and then some.

I've been using this amp for rehearsals and gigs (a bunch of them outside events) for the last year without any problems. This Bandit is about 25 years old and still doing just fine. I did take another amp along to my last gig, just 'cause the venue was an hour away and I thought it prudent to have a back-up (hey, I was a Scout, so I've learned to 'be prepared').

I called Peavey for info when I bought this amp. They told me where to find an owners manual and what kind of reverb tank to buy. For a product this old, I was surprised how helpful they were.

Love this amp! I never thought I'd like a SS amp so much. I've been contemplating getting a second Bandit 65, for larger venues or just to get a stereo effect on stage. Love it, love it, love it!

It's a pretty basic solid state setup: 2 footswitch-able channels, 3-band EQ, presence, an effects loop, and a spring reverb. Really, it's got everything I need and more, although sometimes I wish it had a headphone jack. The one sort of neat -- but in my opinion somewhat limited -- feature is the pull-knob. This amp has three: one for "bright" on each channel, and one for "thick" on the EQ. I don't typically use these knobs, but I suppose I would if I was looking around for different sorts of sounds.

I play rock'n'roll, more or less, and I play semi-regular gigs with this amp. The thing has tons of power and could easily do a club without being mic'd. Typically, however, I used it with a SM-57, and I tend to keep the volume somewhere between 3 and 4. My one complaint is its weight: the thing is rather heavy for a 1-speaker combo. Makes it feel solid, I guess.

I've played a pretty decent variety of guitars through this amplifier and have yet to find anything that doesn't work. My main guitar is a Les Paul with stock humbuckers, and I think it sounds great. However, this amp can be somewhat difficult to get a good sound from at first. That being said, once you find some settings that work well, it can be great. Other people have said that it's a relatively "flat" sounding amp, and I would agree. The key, in my opinion, to getting a great sound from this amp is to have a couple of choice pedals from which you can draw some character tone. My live setup is really simple: guitar --> Boss TU-2 --> Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive --> Bandit 65. I generally just set my two pedals on top of the thing, turn it up, and play.

I think this amp tends to handle overdrive better than distortion. I do occasionally use a DS-1, but it's really more suited to making crunchy, classic-type sounds -- something it does very well. The clean channel is nice for running an acoustic guitar through in a pinch, but really nice, almost tube-y cleans can be achieved through proper manipulation of the lead channel and the EQ.

As I said previously, the features are nice, but I don't use all of them. The pull knobs stay pushed 99% of the time, and the effects loop has been used once (not that it's useless or anything; I just like to keep it simple). The reverb, on the other hand, is most useful. It sounds pretty good and is very versatile.

Also, if you decide that you need volume in a smaller combo, this amp is for you! I've never had it past about 3/4 for any length of time, and 1/4 is more than enough for jamming with a drummer. It's a loud amp that continues to sound good at volume.

If you're a real tone-freak, however, keep in mind that this is most certainly not a Fender '57 Twin. But for what it is, it's wonderful. That's why it gets an 8.

This amp is by far the most dependable piece of hardware I've used. I'd put its reliability on par with that of the indestructible Boss pedals. I have no concerns about gigging without a backup; my Bandit has never failed me, and I doubt that it ever will.

I've never dealt with Peavey, and the thing doesn't look like it's going to die anytime soon.

For what I do, this is an excellent amp. Tons of power, all the features I need, and the versatility to do more than just rock'n'roll. You could conceivably set it up to play anything from jazz to all but the heaviest metal. It takes pedals well, it's damn near indestructible, and it's a great little amp whether you're a beginner, a gigger, or just want to play a good sounding amp. I've played better sounding amps, but they typically cost at least a few hundred bucks more and, frankly, are less reliable ('57 Twin, JCM-800, Bassman, Blues Junior). Sounds better than any Marshall combo I've ever owned. If it was stolen or lost, I would absolutely scour the globe to find another one.

Purchased in 1986 and at the time was in the top 3 in Guitar for Practicing Musician's top amp seller list for what must have been 3-4 years. For the novice and intermediate guitar player who's not picky with tone this is a more than solid amp. Built in distortion is way to saturated to do hard rock or metal but for a light overdrive like sound it does well. It has channel switching and you can plug an effects loop. The amp cranks (65 watts solid state) and is loud enough for gigging and jamming the versatile songs that we did (but with the aid of a handful of pedals)

The clean channel is crisp, perhaps a bit stiff. It's no contest when it's side by side next to a marshall but when I hooked up my Boss GT-6 (all in one programmable pedal) and used some of the amp modeling it sounded pretty good. The built in distortion is only good for a light crunch. If you turn it way up it sounds pretty crappy and you loose the crispness. Clean is nice and useful. When using the clean channel with a procat stomp box and a boss eq it sounds pretty damn good (a good classic rock sound).

damn reliable. It went almost 20 years before the treble pots (resistor) started to go. I kick the crap out of this. it fell down a couple of times. Solid.

n/a

I've been playing for over 20 years and I've recommended and seen other people be happy with this amp. if you expect versatility and that tube sound this is not the amp for you. I think it just barely makes it as a professional amp.

65W solid state combo, 2 channels that are footswitchable. spring reverb, 3 band eq, thick option, bright option, sounds good to me

The clean is decent, and the reverb sounds excellent, but here's the trick -- use the lead channel and put saturation low and you can get tube-like sounds on a serious budget. I recommend this amp to any gigging guitarist, I'll never sell mine! This amp shines with pedals in front of it.

Never fails

Never had to deal with them, peavey is legit

I have thought about buying another one to do stereo stuff or just be really big sounding. I've owned many peavey amps, musicman, fender, ampeg, crate, ect, and this is the best value of any of them!

In 1982, the features were certainly average. Today, when compared to something like a Spider III, the features are lacking.

An excllent sound for the money.

I've used this amp for 26 years!! In all that time, there hasn't been a single problem. Seriously, what else can you say about that?

I've not had a reason to call them in 26 years.

Love it or hate it, the Peavey Bandit 65 is a solid performer. I decided to try a Spider III 150 recently, but I took it back after it suffered from the Black Block problem (see the Line 6 forum). As always, I'm back to the Peavey which has never let me down....not even for a moment. I may try a new Peavey Vypyr amp, but I'll be keeping the bandit until one of us dies....and it probably won't be the bandit first.

mine is a 83 and i've had it for about a year and a half and it handles
my bass exceptionally well even considering the manual said the amp is for bass and electric it's got all of the controls that i've ever really needed no effects though but it did have a reverb that was removed before i got it

the distortion sounds like s**t when you crank turn but it has a very rich gritty clean that goes well a distortion turned up a bit and a very versatile sound that i can rigg to go well to go my bass

when i got the amp it had a busted speaker but after i replaced that i've never had a problem

i had no problem finding a aurthorized peavey music store place but i had to call 3 time to get a hold of the repair guy and they couldn't even hook me up with manual or tell what was wrong leaving me to look for a manual on the net and find the problem (speaker was busted) myself

i've been playing nearly two years and i'm pluging the amp to a ibanez soundgear series gto and sounds great i've only turned up past 5 once and it shook my house great amp i'd recommend to to anyone who places a variety of stuff

Mine is an '82 with two channels and reverb. It has an effects loop, which I only used once just to verify that it worked. Apparently the two channels and reverb are footswitch-able, but the FS is long gone. I mostly use this amp at home and for rehearsals. Even in extreme cases, I've never had to turn it up passed 5 - the volume goes up FAST!

This is very much an amp in the classic sense - It's meant to give a clean to slightly gritty sound that you can then add effects to the front end of. It reminds me of an old Fender amp in that sense. Yes, the distortion on it sounds terrible - very buzzy and overly compressed - but you're not supposed to run a classic amp like that. It provides a good basic clean tone and allows you to use distortion pedals to custom-tailor the sound. I use an old Fender Duo-Sonic and Mustang with a BOSS phaser and an EH Big Muff. I tend to go for a distorted grind that blooms into a low feedback - the kind of tone that favors melody but allows for noise. I play and have played most every style, but right now I'm focusing on free jazz and avant-garde. It suits those styles well because it is very responsive to different guitars and effects and can provide a wide variety of good tones that sound slightly different then the normal Fender/Marshall stuff.

It's probably one of the most reliable things ever. I haven't put mine through much abuse, but I have a friend who has put his through hell and only have it break down once. He has used his since '81 without any problems, save for one time when the ground wire for the chassis came loose and started picking up the radio. It has even been completely underwater! After letting it dry out, it turned on and worked just fine.

Haven't needed them, although I was able to find the user guide on their website.

I have been playing since Kurt Cobain died at least. I am fortunate enough to own the best sounding amp I have ever heard - an old Fender Bassman. The Peavey doesn't sound as good, but it gets close enough. I bought it because I'm slightly built and can't haul the Bassman all around town and maintain my enthusiasm for playing music. Plus, tubes are expensive and fragile. The PV gives me a good variety of tones and a nice foundation for my sound in a small, durable package. It's the quintessential back-up amp and an ideal rehearsal tool. And, hey!, it's like $100! I have pedals that cost more sitting in a box.

Made in mid 70s,
2 channels, Normal and Lead, Lead has pre and post gain plus saturation, Normal has just gain plus shared bass, mid, treble and presence controls and master reverb.
Pull Bright on pre gain and Normal gain pots plus Pull thick on tone controls. This only works on Lead channel and cuts mids and tops, a nice effect. Would be nice if it had an external speaker output but it can be slaved using the pre amp out on the rear panel.
Plenty of power, at home use on 1-2, gigs 3-4/5. Never had it up to 10!

Guitars, Squier Strat with single coil sized humbuckers at Neck and bridge, S/C in the middle, plus switching to allow 7 pick up selects, neck, neck and middle, middle, middle and bridge,neck and bridge, all three on.
Squier Tele, standard P/us and wiring. Les Paul Copy, standard.
Ovation Celebrity Electro/ Acoustic.
Suits all styles played, Blues, British R&B, Classic Rock.
Use a Marshall Bluesbreaker II for extra drive and Zoom 505 Mk1 for modulation effects, Phase, Flange and echo. Get all the sounds I need, from Clapton to G.Moore etc

Just got the beast back from the repairers. Whwn I took it in he said "Great, a proper Peavey, built like tanks in those days, don't ever sell it!". Simple repair, pre-amp chip blown, only problem in 10 years.Replaced and serviced for #48.
Reverb can pick up hum if placed too close or on top of another combo with transformer at the top.
Never let me down on a gig.
My tech tells me that all the components in this model were to military spec and the output transistors are capable of 300watts! even though the amp is rated at 65 watts

Great on line forum, but have never used Peavey Support.
Really good amp repairers located in Coventry, can recommend, e-mail for details if you need a repair.

I would definitely try to replace this with another Bandit 65 Solo Series, though I'm not sure whether I'd go for a more modern Bandit.
I love this amp for everything it has, can be used for country to heavy stuff if you take the time to set it up for your favourite sounds. At rehearsal studios I use a Marshall 50 watt FET top and 4x12 as they come in the cost of room hire but I don't seem to get the same sound as the Bandit and it can be off putting. This amp has been played against a Fender 80w tranny combo, and a Laney 50watt valve combo in various bands and blows them both away, but fits perfectly with Bass players TE BLX80.
I wouldn't trade this for the world, prices on E-bay are still fetching what I paid 10 years ago.

Don't know what year, looks like a mid 80s amp though. They amp seem versatile, but very hard to tweek, and useless on the fly. Dual channel but this one is missing a foot switch so I can't change the channels. This amp is a friends and he blew my tube amp so i borrowed it while mine was getting fixed. It is a very loud amp, but I wouldn't turn it up.

Right now I have an SG standard and an aluminum neck Kramer. Both humbuckers and the kramer has Super Distortion on it. I play a harder (dare I say) indy /post punk. The amp is very noisy and feeds back at any playable volume. It will not clean up for anything, or at least I can't seem to figure it out. The pull pods add a nasally nastiness to the amp and I never pulled them. I noticed that app did sound better on my strat than a humbucker. The only thing that sounds decent is the reverb. (which surprised me)

This amp has been serviced once and needs more work again in 2 years. I wouldn't trust this amp for a gig or even think about it. it had some loose wires and was pretty cheap to fix up i've had older amps that lasted forever, now the bass pod doesn't work. Probably needs soldered. The amp never left the house expect about twice a year and should hold up better than that.

I'll give it a 5 because these amps are cheap and meant to be that way. It's a great amp for starters and I think I read somewhere it's the most sold amp of all time. Now that I've been playing for 15+ years this amp is not an option.

I picked this amp up about a year ago, as I needed something a little more powerful than my old amp. Obviously, I got the Peavey 2nd hand... The amp was made in '85. Versatility wise, I think there's an infinite number of settings and different tones for this thing. My general style is Metal, so I use 'fair' amounts of distortion... not too much, but a comfy amount, never going past 8 on Saturation or Pull Bright, and sticking to a nice 5 on Presence.

I've only really used this amp in practice sessions, to be honest, I would never EVER gig with this thing (see below)

Features... It'll rate highly here. 9

I use a Fender American Deluxe guitar (chrome silver, if you want to know!, so I'm using a S-S-S set-up. It's got the SCN Noiseless pickups, so it should generally sound wonderfull!

However....

This amp is TERRIBLE in sound quality. Although I said in the previous box that it's pretty damn versatile, no matter what you set it as, it is either WAY too distorted, WAY too weak, or it sounds like it's being sick with the Pull Thick on...

On a plus side, I love it when you pull the Saturation right up, and put the presence onto 0... Using the neck pickup of ANY guitar, you can get a lovely thick sound, which is great for those slow 'Iron Maiden-esque' melodies, or any Ballad solo.

Clean, this thing is great! I love the warmth in the tone, and often I find myself lost in the sound. Great for ballads/blusey songs!

To call the distortion on this thing 'brutal' would automatically qualify you for "Understatement of the Year" award. It's so bad, I can't actually hear what I'm playing. Death metal fans, or crap players will love this thing! 2, only because of the thickness and the clean tones (one for each, see!).

I have to say, as much as this amp weighs, I've hurled it about a fair bit. I've kicked it, hit it, thrown numerous things at it (including a bandmate!) and it STILL hasn't died (not that I'm trying to kill it, of course - just my general frustration at the bad sound). This thing is built like a tank! If i was small enough, I could use this as a bomb shelter.

I could easily use this one amp alone on a world tour (of pubs, most likely) and not have to worry about it breaking down on me!

Gets a 10 in this field!

Not had to worry about this.

Been playing about 5 years, I've a couple of other guitars, other than my Deluxe Strat: a Mexican Strat and a Ibanez RG1570, but I use the Deluxe most. I'm a lefty player, so it's hard for me to get hold of good gear!

I'd obviously be pissed if some tosser stole it, they'd have broken into my damn house!

I'm going to sell this thing on anyway, and save some #600 or so to buy an Engl amp!

Love the reliability, hate just about everything else. I only wish it had a little less distortion, and nicer sound quality...

That's all for me, I guess... I'm feelin' generous, so I'll give it a 4 or so... Enjoy!

Bought this amp in 1983.Extremely versatile for any style including jazz,blues , c & w , you name it this little pal will do it and is good at all levels of volume.It can produce Fender and Marshall sounds on the clean channel and with a little tweaking on the dirty channel you can produce a beautiful bluesy tone or a heavily saturated tone.It is very reliable and has all the volume there if you need it. I will never sell it because it has never let me down.
Easy to carry. Well made.

Use 69 Strat & Tele 72 reissue.Play a lot of styles.
Crank up the clean and you have classic small amp sounds/ break up eg .Fenderdelux reverb/tweed.

completely dependable .

never needed it.

Been playing 35 years.Own a Mesa Lonestar & 73 FenderTwin Reverb
Will not lose it .Steal it at your peril.
The unsung hero of small combo solid state amps.

I bought my Bandit 65 at a yard sell. I count myself extremely luck to have found it much less for the price I got it for. Prior to this one, the only amp I had was a small Crate Amp. I play Rock (mainly Ballets) and country but I also play hard rock too. I find this amp to be very versatile. I play both acoustic and electric and this amp work well with both. I have never used all the power it is capable of because it would have the cops visiting me constantly. It is solid states and other than having to clean the knobs and plugs when they get dirty, I have had no trouble with it. I have FX 7 Processor that I use with it in a loop and it works great.

My electric guiotar is a Gibson Epiphone Special and performs well with this amp. The main guitar I play with this amp is my 1997 Takamine Limited Edition Electric/Acoustic. Although this amp wasnt made to play with acoustic guitars, it performs exceptionally well with it. In conjuntion with my processor, theres not much I can't play and get the effects I desire.

This amp is very dependable. Other than the routine cleaning of the knobs and plugs, I have dont nothing to it for the five years I have owned it and it has worked flawlessly. I have played with friends who have much more expensive amps than me and they often have trouble with thiers but mine just keeps on keepin on.

I have been playing for around 15 years mostly acoustic without an amp. I purchased this amp to broaden my playing and experiment. I don't think I will ever need another amp for what I do. I have never been able to turn it all the way up because of the power. I would definately buy this amp again. I have a friend who has a Marshall Stack and my Peavey has much better range. It can be played lower or high unlike the Marshall that only sounds good turned up high.

i bought a bandit 65 for my first ever amp about 2 years ago it was cheep and sounded like it was good value for money, and it was . i like how it has a very low sounding tone to it and when playing with the controls over time i hav realised the saturation can get some like buzzy wen turned right up, so its best to keep it low. the most important controls on this amp to me are the pull brights on the high eq and pre gains and the reverb as it brings it to life tho i dont like it anywer past 3 or 4 . this amp i used mostly in my bedroom and has a s**t load of power ive never dared turn the post past five just incase i blew the speaker its like it was made for about 2 speakers at least

i just use a peavey preditor with the bandit as it is the only guitar i have and i cudnt play with out it. if you turn the saturation right up it can get noisy at higher volumes and same with the pre gain if your trying to find a more distorted sound. the clean channel is great on this amp it is actually clean some say too clean but can sound gr8 with some effects.

this amp dusnt break the only thing that could give the slightest worry was if the speaker got damaged like punchered but not even thats happened after faling out my car been nocked all over the place and it still looks like new.

never needed it

i have played with a few different amps and this amp could only give the deep powerful sound that no other make could give i have played on friends marshals and a trace elliot trident c100 if i lost the amp or it wer stolen i would be purchasing a peavey 5150 or a the tripple x series as i crave high gain and more variablility anf am saving up for 1 of them anyway but i wud still miss it :)

made in 1987

has a pre gain, saturation & post gain for the lead channel. normal gain is the clean channel volume. both channels share the eq section. both have a pull bright switch.

this thing rocks man! i play mostly southern rock, country and blues and this amp handles it all very well. the amp distortion tends to get real ugly with the saturation past 5 but i never use it past 3 anyway. so basically, if you are a guitar player who relies on heavy distortion to cover up your bad playing, then the amp distortion on the bandit won`t be what your looking for. go get a boss metal zone for that.

this thing has plenty of power. if you cut back on the saturation, say to 3, and crank the pre gain all the way up you get a real tube like sound. i know because i own 2 early 80s marshall jcm 800 half stacks. i also own 4 other peavey combos and i did a back to back comparison to all of them and the bandit can hang right in there. with the 65 loud watts it has it was easy. the volume never goes past 5. i compared it to my renown 160 watt solo series, my heritage tube 130 watt vtx ,my classic chorus 75 watt x 2, and my old 120 watt tube vtx duece. with the smaller size and lighter weight of the bandit along with its big sound it is perfect for small to medium clubs and cramped stages. it would probably be just fine in bigger gigs because everthing has a mic on it anyway. so really, too loud is too loud any way you look at it. 65 watts is plenty.


to sum it up i am very satisfied with the sound of the bandit 65. i am 40 years old and a professional musician and have been gigging since 1980. i have lugged the same 2 marshall half stacks around for over 15 years. yes, i said TWO half stacks. i have blown power tubes out in the middle of a gig and you have to have a backup ready to go. not so with solid state amps. tubes sound great but so do a lot of solid state amps. the trick is to be not so concerned with the name on the amp and whats inside, but the performance and sound. once you`ve played as long as i have you learn that. it`s time to lighten the load.

what can i say. BUILT LIKE A FRIGGIN TANK MAN!

never needed it.

got to rate it a 10 ya`ll. i probably have well over $3000 total invested in my 2 marshalls and the tube\repair costs combined over the years. wheew, thats a lot of cash for a poor boy.... my peaveys, lets see. i`ve got 5 combos and probably have less than $700 total invested in all of them together with $0 in repairs. DO THE MATH! i found all of them in pawn shops too. like i said earlier, once a guitar player gets past the ooo`s and ahhh`s of his fellow musicians over the marshall,mesa,fender gear he lugs to the gig, he should try out an old peavey. they are in-expensive, reliable and sound just fine. for the price of one marshall you can buy 5 or 6 old peaveys.

I really want to thank the reviewers at Harmony Central for directing me to this amp. I needed a medium sized solid state amp for gigging and rehersals. According to reviews(and more importantly my ears) , I was either looking for an early to mid 80?s USA Peavey Bandit 65 or a late 80's Fender m-80 chorus.

The last two digits of the serial number are the year of the amp. Mine is a 1985.


I have been playing for 20 plus years and use a 91 Fender American Standard Stratocaster with Van Zandt Blues and a Heritage H-535 with Seth Lovers. At this stage in my life I have become known to play directly from guitar to amp but occasionally I will use a Ibanez Tubescreamer or a modded VOX Wah. My other amps include a family heirloom 64 Gubson GA 19RTV(Great tones but delicate and not enough wattage without being miked) and an ACOUSTIC 124, (100 watt monster with 4 tens-too heavy to haul around for rehersal and small jobs). As you can see I needed a medium sized amp to place me in a position where I will never need another amp again(yeah right). I didn?t have much to spend. If money was no object I probably would have bought a vintage blackface twin, a Zinky Blue Velvet or a BonePicker. I love tube tone but the price-tone ratio for this ss amp is hard to beat. I have heard some ss amps that really suck but this one is not one of them.

I waited for 6 months to post this review because I wanted to let the excitement of the purchace wear off. My style includes a variety of Blues, Rockabilly, Classic Rock, Vintage Metal, Classic country, New Mexico Traditional Latino Music and Oldies. This amp fits the bill quite nicely for all styles.

My only complaint about this amp is that the knobs and controls can be somewhat confusing. It takes a while to truly understand the subtleties of the knobs. I think people that do not like the sound of this amp have not truly taken the time to understand the controls.

My amp did not come with the footswitch.

This amp has a wicked variety of sounds. From beautiful clean tone with tons of headroom to slight blues overdrive to vintage classic metal distortion. Here are some helpful hints for tonal variety.

Blues Tone-Pre2 bright in, sat-1, post-4, lo-8 mid-8 hi-2, pull thick,pres-0, rv-4

Versatile-pre-5, bright-pull, sat-3, post-4, bass-7, mid-6 treble-10, pres-10

Leadtone-lo-10, mid-3, hi-10, sat-3 pre and post to taste

Heavy- pre-7, bright ?pull, sat-4, post-3, lo-9 mid-3, thick pull, hi-7, pres-10, rv-5

I am amazed that some people who posted say this amp is not loud enough for gigging. Where are you gigging? MILE HIGH STADIUM? This amp is loud enough for just about anything except for some outdoor gigs. Music should be pleasure to the ears, not torture. In a room, people 20 feet away should be able to have a conversation.(end of rant)

For the value to price ratio, this amp deserves a 12 in this caterory. Just learn the knobs and you will be fine.

I A;B'd this amp with my friends Peavey Transtube studio Pro 112. The bandid kicked its ass. Tone, Volume, Clarity

This amp is a workhorse and a Nashville Standard.

This amp is all original and works wonderfully. I bought it used so I do not know the story. PEAVEY USA IS BUILT TO LAST.

They have a good website but the amp is way past warranty.

I really wanted to share my amazement at this amp with the music community. I am a seasoned musician and have been around the block. Again, I want to thank the posters below me for directing me to this beautiful amp. I will recommend this amp to beginners and old pros alike.

If you find one in good condition, You will not regret buying one.

Peavey USA Bandit 65.

This is one of the only amps that really deserves a 10 in this category. Some amps I have reviewed got a 4 here.

My Bandit was made in 1981. Back in those days, you could tell the ago from the serial number, which began '1-A...etc.' Everyone knows the feature-set. Two inputs, pre-saturation-post controls for lead gain set-up. The amp's personality changes radically with different ratios of these. Clean vol. control (both pre-gains have a pull bright). Bass, mid, treble, and presence tone controls, followed by nice spring reverb. Back panel has preamp out/power amp in loop and footswitch port.

I bought this amp originally to use with a J-Station for a multi-instrument rig (electric, acoustic, mandolin, and steel guitar. It was years before I actually used the amp as a stand-alone. I remembered them as being OK, but not comparable to a 'professional' amp. I had to use this for a wedding reception gig a few weeks ago, having broken and failed to fix my other amps. IT ROCKED! Just the Bandit and a Line 6 Delay Modeler in the loop. Since then I've had great results with this combination with a Roadhouse Strat and with a Peavey Firenza with DiMarzio Virtual P-90s. Here's the trick: don't overuse the saturation control. Try this: Pre gain at 5, bright switch on, saturation at 3, post at 4; bass at 7, mid at 6, treble at 10, presence at 10, reverb at 3. With the aforementioned guitars, you don't even NEED the clean channel. Just turn up or down for cleaner or more distorted tones, just like a tube amp. I probably wouldn't record with this rig, but it's GREAT live. At $200 used, it's the cheapest amp I've ever played out with, and will probably last ANOTHER 23 years!

It's 23 years old! If anything were going to let go, it sure would have by now.

Peavey customer support remains exemplary! I've never needed them for this product, but I've had great luck with the factory people.

Been playing over 40 years, road-dog and semi-pro. I play the occasional gig now, plus the odd recording session. I've had the usual litany of Marshalls, Randalls, Fenders, Tech 21s, Tube Works 2112. Lotsa different guitars, too. I don't play enough to ever wear this amp out, but I've thought about having another one anyway. They're always on eBay.

Just your average 2 channel solid state. the clean is good. the overdrive is really rocky (all low mids), which can be cool if your going for that kinda sound. the reverb is ok too, but nothing special. I've removed mine.

This is the coolest sounding solid state i've ever played. The trick is, get rid of the stock speaker and put in 65w celestion. And the most important thing is USE A TUBESCREAMER. This amp sounds great when you run it clean and use the TS-9 (or 808) as the overdrive. I have recordings of me with just a les paul thru in the TS-9 into the bandit and people have commented on how great my tone is. They usually ask what kind of tube amp I'm using. I mean, put it next to an old Marshall JMP and it will probably sound like shit at high volumes. But for a solid state, it doesn't get better.

I've dropped this thing so many times and it has never given me any problems at all. It has even fallen out of a moving van twice! Head first! Just pull out the chassis and you'll see. Its so built so simply, nothing could possibly good wrong. :0)

never had to call

this amp is a good back up if your use to using tube amps. You never know what can happen with this pesky tubes, so its a good idea to have this work horse with you. As stated earlier, the key to getting good tone is use a tubescreamer for the overdrive.

Bought it back in mid 80s. I was in high school at the time and it took a long time to save up. Has clean and distorted channel, reverb. solid state. Distortion/Saturation is pretty useless. You'll need an effects units to get good rock sounds. I bypass everything on the amp now and run a Rockton Voodu Valve in and just use the poweramp. Used at home for playing/recording - no gigging. Plenty loud for that. Basically, it has features, but I only use the power switch and run effects into poweramp.

Again, saturation/distortion on board is bad. Get an effects unit. The clean is usable. You'll be best off getting an effects unit and bypassing the amps preamp controls. The 12" speaker gives a good full sound though if you do that.

I've had it for nearly 20 years with no problem.. Haven't worked it hard though.

No experience here.

This a solid utility amp. nothing outstanding, but usable clean channel, and/or bypass the preamp and run an effects unit straight into the poweramp. Again, the 12" speaker sounds pretty good with a decent preamp in front.

For the time the features were quite good (i.e. channel switching, good sounding distortion for the time, deep reverb, comprehensive EQ, etc...) for the price (~$200 in 1984) I got mine in 1984 back in HS and still have it albeit in not-so-mint condition. It's heavier than most amps.

Not to beat a dead horse but the 'distortion' channel was actually the best sounding of it's kind for that type of amp. Remember at the time most music stores just had either Peavey or Crate amps for combos; Marshalls, Fenders, etc... did not have their lineups of affordable solid state amps at the time.

The distortion DID sound like a heavily overdriven tube stack if you maxed the 'saturation' and DIDN'T pull out the 'thick' knob; what the thick knob would do would be to boost the low mids but it would also disable the low and mid tone controls so you ended up have somewhat of a low cut as well leading to kind of a nasal sound. It even fed back like a heavy tube stack; I remember being able to mimic Hendrix-y live feedback on this amp.

As far as these days, people may find the distortion unuseable since the gain-saturation just isn't there for most of the nu-metal/heavy metal sounds of this era, and it's just too darn dirty for things best left to a TS overdrive/Fender Tube Amp combo.

As far as the rest of the amp, I'd say it works quite well. The reverb is nice and deep for a spring reverb. The EQ seems to have a lot of sweep making for a lot of sounds and the clean channel doesn't break up a lot.

Footswitch was my only gripe since it basically broke a year after I got it from constant abuse. The amp itself was built like a tank and it's still going strong after 20 years.

N/A

Good amp for recording or small club venues if you can find it in good condition. The distortion circuit has a particular sort of sound so if it's not for you, you may wish to look at another amp or use your favorite pedal with this. Overall for the price used (I've seen it around $100 - 150) it's a good buy, around a 9. New way back when it was a 10.

Features as previously described...

It's been on a truckload of gigs and never given a problem. The clean sound is just beautiful through a hollow body or my Ibanez 550. Most agree on this. About the distortion...it's not as horrible as everyone says, you just can't crank the saturation. I don't use any pedals, just a cord and my bandit. To get a nice edge for a lead I have the low EQ all the way, the mid on about 3 or 4 and the Hi all the way up. Saturation on about 3 or 4 with pre and post to taste. You won't be disappointed with this little workhorse. For the money, it'll hang with anything.

This amp is a tank. A whopping, beefy TANK!

Have never even thought about it. Never needed it.

I've been playing for about 16 years and own a Gibson Lucille, Ibanez 550 that I use primarily through this little monster. Recently I bought a Behringer V-Amp 2 but haven't had it long enough to really talk much about it with the Peavey. It does look promising though!

Features huh? Not many but it does do a nice crunchy tone. Built in reverb that has a better tone than most I've heard. Not as much as an older Fender but noteworthy. Bright pull knobs that are nice but I used a Boss bass eq to give it even more high end. I've used this amp for close to a decade to fake my Fender tone and I'm either the cheapest sunnuva bitch on the planet or it's not bad. The distortion (if maxed out or in SATURATION mode) is unusable for any style or by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not being cruel. The PRE gain gives a nice overdriven tone. Not as much clarity as I've heard elsewhere; I play a strat and I don't get a strat tone as you hear on boutique amps. It's a very postpunk, souless identity of it's own. If you listen to Einsturzende Neubauten and tune to B, you become Durstiges Tier.

Being drunk, I've combined Features and Sounds. Oh well. I use it with single coils but I have played humbuckers through it. With the bass eq the humbuckers have enough to cut through.

Solid state circuitry ensures reliability. The pots are scratchy but I assume they can be cleaned with any of the available cleaners.

Not a bad amp but I always wished it had more treble. I tend to use too much. Loud enough for a drummer blah, blah, blah.

what ever the bandit can do whatever you want it to do. i agree with the guy earlier stating that its no marshall or fender twin reverb,but its true marshalls are a pain in the ass to lug around and are also pawn shop amps as well for any other amp my bandit rocks for the last 20 yrs without fai; so matt your outta line is a great amp
so maybe some people dont have the money you do to afford highend amps bet you got thoes at a pawn shop! the bandit rocks

i get sounds of all sorts

excelent

all you guys with high end stuff you can have it no disrespect, but i bet you dont take you special amps out much. as for the matchless guy bite me! bandit 65 was a great amp

Simple, no-nonsense Peavey design. Two channels, push-pull pots and an effects loop. Great beginner, intermediate or advanced guitar player amp. Amp versatility comes from the player and the tools they use, not solely from the amp. Reverb is an Accutronics (I believe) which is the same company that builds Fender's reverb tanks.

This amp gives the classic 'flat' Peavey sound. These early to mid '80's amps did little to color the sound of the instrument on the clean channel, which is what made them so great for adding effects in line. Solid state Peavey amps have no real voice of thier own, contrary to your Fender, Marshall, and other amps. This can work for you or against you, depending on how you approach it. If you are playing a guitar that doesn't sound good through pedals that aren't set right, the Peavey isn't going to add anything in the tone that is missing. The end result is that it will sound bad. On the plus side, if you have a really great tone dialed in, the Bandit acts simply as an amplifier, not another tone shaping tool. Once again, it depends greatly on what kind of tools you are using to shape your sound. The gain channel, when set properly, gives a nice, smooth clipping overdrive. The key to this channel is to not get too crazy with the Saturation knob. Overall, it's a 112 budget amp. No Mister "Ive got a 1973 Marshall" it's not going to sound like your amp. But a Matchless isn't going to either, so does that make the Matchless second rate? You're not comparing apples to apples, so don't make the inference that one is better than the other. Also, nobody cares about your 1973 Marshall. My backup amps are worth more, and are more desireable than your equipment. Don't brag unless you own one of everything ever built. Nobody cares.

It's a Peavey. It's solid state. 'Nuff said.

Once again, it's Peavey. They've been around forever, and most any info you will ever need is available 24-7 online at www.peavey.com.

Overall, as a pawn shop amp under $150, this might be the best bang for the buck available. The newer TransTube series don't sound as good to my ears as the older ones, but that's just my taste. Go with what your ears tell you. It's loud enough to be great in most gigging applications, and if you're playing someplace where more watts are necessary, you'll be micing stuff anyway. (and this amp sounds great miced)

i totaly disagree the bandit 65 is a great amp no matter what your playing . i have had mine for years and has never failed me once. the 12inch scorpin is a good speaker. the only draw back is it has no effects loop or ext cab in put otherwise its a good amp, nuthing personal to the guy that has a wharehouse full of guitars going back to the 60s but WHO CARES!! peavy made an affordable amp in the day and it had lasted me a quite a while . infact i have seen some in pawn shops i should have bought an extra one. . besides i know that its no marshall or a fender twin but gddamn guys you realy only need one speaker to get you sound across but to each thir own i guess. i think marshals are to costly and a pain in the ass to haul around like if you playing in a club thats tiney why do you need a half stack or full stack. this bandit is loud enough cranked to play a large hall i know i have done that before.

I forget. I bought mine in 1981 or so brand new. i forget what happened to it. I must of sold it. What a long time ago!

Evidently, i must have liked it enough to buy the damn thing but after a few years of hearing marshalls and Fenders I broke down and bought a 1973 50 watt Marshall stack (only 10 years old then) and the little Peavy Bandit 65 got lost in my closet or something.

I remember the tone to sound like the guitar player who's on the Jay Leno show every night. Evidently, some people like the sound. To me, it's frickin horrible. I have to hit the mute on my remote when the Jay Leno show starts as that dude's tone just rubs me the wrong way. Come to think of it....I was stoned too when I liked that sound!

I would use words like, flat, sterile, dull, over compressed, thin, solid state, 80's and maybe just plain "Horribe" to describe the sound.

Luckily, today Peavey makes some great sounding amps. Even their solid state amps can sound very cool.

I've never seen more reliable stuff than from Peavey. I always joked that it's because Peavey stuff just sits in closets and never gets used. But actually, Peavey stuff has always been very well constructed stuff.

I've been playing since 1969.

I own a music stores worth of guitars and amps going back to the 60's.

I like blues, rock, metal, grunge and some Brian Setzer like stuff.

I would never ever buy want to play thru a Bandit for more than 5 minutes again.

The newer Fender solidstate amps are my preference now. My friend just bought a Fender Deluxe 90 with the DSP effects and now that i believe is a far better sounding amp. I doubt it's any more reliable than a Peavey however.

Also, I liked the Fender Champion 30 (no DSP) and the Marshall Valvestate VS100R combo amp.

It's really wrong to badmouth this amp, because it really was affordable, reliable and sturdy and that's something we can be objective about but just because we find the tone to be not to our liking doesn't mean everyone else won't like it. If you like the tone then it'll be a great amp for you!

But since the amp is totally worthless to me because I don't like the tone I'm gonna give it a 5.

I had three of these amps, originally I was looking for something loud and convenient for playing out on the road. I played pro rock/Psych, Punk/Metal, later experimental.
Used clean to amplify everything from chairs to computers. I liked that it has what I want in a smaller combo. Many don't have pre amp lines, channel selection, etc.
It can go from Soggy Bottom boys to Butthole surfers.
The footswitch is a plus. I know many of them are "out there" without the ft. swt.
No headphone jack, It does have pre-amp out/in. I eventually would loop small home stereos though it and utilize any equalization to help the amp's own Low/Mid/High/Presence, & "thick" features. Deep reverb. The "thick" gain will give you an early punk sound, the sat gain with lowered mid is early 80's metal. Pre amp it with an expander it makes big rock!
It helps to add wheels! It's heavy.
Small and powerful, sturdy also. I have dropped them, smashed them, spilled beer on them, no problem.

I played an Electra Vulcan, with the effects boxes inside. (Flanger, phaser) 11 gauge strings, double humbuckers,hotrod/w magnets.
I eventually would play everything through it. Tapes, Cans, Keyboards, Banjos ... EMFs during sun spots.
It can get some ugly distortion.
I give it a 6 for a Peavey amp.

This is the workhorse for the proletariat musician. Well built and convenient.

I have been playing for 20+years. I've enjoyed this amp.
If your "touring" low budget/DIY punk style, and want small, strong, loud all in one piece of equipment. This is a good amp.
If this was stolen, I wouldn't commit suicide.
They are not that expensive.
Attach wheels to it, you'll be happy you did.

I have two 1982 Bandits (bought new), and one 1983 (bought used). Let me start by saying that I own 8 amps. 6 solid state Peaveys, 1 Peavey Classis 50 (4-10") with the 115 E extension cab, and a Mesa Boogie from HEAVEN. The Bandits started out as my main gig amps. I've used, over-used, and abused the amps like you would'nt believe. I'm a mule. That's a picker in New Orleans who plays 8 to 12 gigs every week. So I kept one Bandit 65, bouncing on it's back, in the back of my vehicle constantly, the other on a late-night house gig. Both are beat to shit by now & still sound good. I do have other amps that I prefer and use on my main gigs. But I advise anyone who is a working picker to pick up one of these as a spare or a main amp.
Now I use a clean setting and let my Digitech RP 10 do the dirty work. The distortion sounds aren't awesome...they're OK to Good... but they will fool the nice looking chick in the forth row. I used to use the channel switching with just a delay & compresser & got 85% of all the tones I needed. So I find the amp somewhat versitile. I do wish it had an external speaker jack and tilt legs. I've also installed the Peavey DBI (direct box interface) on all my amps. (this eliminates a mic & stand) It does NOT affect the sound & provides an XLR output (after the speaker) for easy micing. The Bandit has NEVER not been loud enough or clean enough.

I use sparkle clean sounds mostly. This amp has it. Pulling out the "bright" knob gives it to me. The verb is good. The pots get noisy after a few years in this Louisiana humidity of %100, but a little spit of contact cleaner fixes that right up. The distortion is acceptable for classic rock & R & B. This is NOT a Marshall or a Boogie so if you have nine tattoos and a bone thru your nose, DONT BUY THIS AMP. This is a good sounding and somewhat versitile amp.

No amp in the world has been neglected like my Bandits. Other pickers in this area are amazed at the age, and abuse of my Bandits....and the tones that they give me decade after decade. Yes, the bandits have temporarily failed me. Usually a broked solder joint or a lost ground, but thats from me throwing it in the back of my truck and speeding off to the next gig. I have always been able to open it up, spot the obvious problem, & in 30 minutes.....back on line. And I am not a tech. The Bandit is to simple and it's easy to fix.
Dependable? It IS my backup amp. I would never treat my Classic 50 or my Boogie MK III like this!

Peavey is second only to Mesa Boogie as far as customer support goes.

Been picking for my living for 23 years. I also play pedal steel and use three different Peavey amps for steel. I use an Austin 400 for when I double on guitar & steel.(it has two seperate preamps)
I'll NEVER be without at least one Bandit 65. It's like jumper cables. The Bandit 65 has gotton me out of much more trouble than it's gotton me into. I even loan my Bandits out to other players who's gear failed them. I never have to worry about them coming home damaged.
Compare? Well the Bandit is not a Marshall Stack, Soldano, or a Boogie. I payed $2250 for my Boogie & $225 for each Bandit. Honestly the Boogie only sounds 10 or 15% better! Now that's dollar value. Befoer I bought a Twin, solid state Fender, valvestate Marshall, or a Roland JC 120...all in the 500 to $900 area.. I'd spend $150 on a used Bandit...everytime. You may get %10 less tone at %80 savings......VALUE.

I am not sure what year the amp was made in, but I bought mine new in 87? from a locale Peavey dealer. It is the version that has the 12? celestion speaker, solo series. This amp buy itself works well for playing 70?s early 80?s rock, country, and blues, it needs a little outside help to play today?s sounds. It?s equipped with 2 channels clean and distortion; both the clean and distorted channels have an independent pull bright feature on the volume knobs. Both channels share the 3-band eq, presents and reverb. You are able to change the channels by and only by the foot switch. Pre amp out and Power amp in can be used as an effects loop. There are a couple things that I would have liked to be on this model. Channel change available on the front of the unit not just the foot switch and mixable effects send and return i/o. For its day it had more features then most.
This has been my practice amp. It?s the perfect size to take to band practice night, small enough to through in the back of the car and powerful enough to keep up in volume with the drummer. Though I haven?t tried I would say that it has enough power to play at a small venue.

I didn?t know what I was doing when I bought this amp 16 years ago. I didn?t do any compassion shopping and didn?t know what tone I was looking for. I was a teenage and needed something to pacify this new hobby I had entered. I have only owned a few different guitars and all of my electric guitars have been Ibanez. I have a Road Star II with the 3 single coil config, and GX20 with 2-humbuckler config and a 470 S series with H-S-H config. Each of these guitars gives me a different feel with this amp. The clean channel is awesome; it is reactive and bright. Our band plays covers and we do from 50?s swing to late 90?s punk country to thrash. I have run on the clean channel at ? volume for hours and it doesn?t distort. I couldn?t tell you what it does at full volume I can?t stand it that loud to find out. I must be getting old. Where as the distorted channel is ok, but that is about all I can say about it. The distortion is Flat, lacks body and shape. It doesn?t have the same reactive feel as the clean channel. Anyway that is what effect pedals are for.

Like I had noted above I have had this amp for 16 years, one week after I bought it the reverb stopped working, I call the dealer the dealer gives me an address I can take the amp. next day I have a fully working amp 16 years later that is the only problem I have every had......

I have never had a need to work with Peavey. The locale dealer did me a great service by selling me such a reliable unit when they could have sold me somthing more expencive. I have a local authorized service center that fix my issue under its 1 year warranty and I had the amp the next day.. wow..

I have been playing for 17 years now most of those as a hobby and only the last 2 years professionally. I have a CarvinMTS3200 half-stack and a Boss GT6. If my Peavey was stolen or lost I would be at a loss I love my pratice amp. The best thing about this 65 watt jewel is the power that it has in such a small package. I don't like the distortion and use my pedal unless im only playing the older stuff.

I bought this amp in may 2003. At this this time it was 20 years old and it had to replace stolen Hughes&ettner Tour reverb combo. Combo is rated 65 watt and has two channels.. I play lot of different styles: blues, hard rock, jazz bit of this and bit of that. It sounds really nice though I don't have footswitch. I like bright switch but it tends to brighten the channels to much. It is fine when you play only one pickup guitar.

I play custom build silhouette special, custom strat and superstrat HSH with Floyd Rose. First two guitars are fitted with emg passive single coils and DiMarzio Vintage '54. Superstrat is fitted with Mightymite paf humbuckers and hot single. I never felt that this combo is somehow too noisy or humms, except when you have too many electric devices plugged and running at the same time. It sounds like real tube amp to me, distortion level is fine and isn't fuzzy even when I push saturation knob at max - but it took me quite a lot time to made it sound like I wanted. To me it sounds like tube amp A/B class when I compare it with Laney LC-50 markII. Probably you won't be albe to play heavy metal with it's natural distortion. Plus it has beautiful reverb.

I really can't say how reliable it is because I hadn't chance to try it at concerts yet.. but I think this amp is the BEST small combo, for that price I ever played. Only thing I noticed when I played and I stood on it, it tended to lower the volume.

N/A

I'm playing for 6 years and I played Fender Ultimate chorus, marshall Valvestate head and H&K tour reverb combo. This one has the best sound of them all. If I find another one I will buy it.

i think my bandit was made in 1987, i am not sure because i found it in a pawn shop at a deal i couldnt refuse...a big, loud amp to replace my starter amp(another peavey)...for 200 canadian. I have had it for about a year or so now and play everything through it, but mostly PUNK, metal ska stuff.
i believe it does have a cabinet out plug in the back..but am not positive, got all the bells and whisles everyone else has said. has a low and a high input, great for a guitar and a mic. or two guitars (havnt tried a bass for too long...but it sounded awsome when i did.

as said before...this amp is not too bad for all my sound needs. it is kinda noisy...but only because it needs a good clean...i dont think it has been cleaned since created! i use all of my pickup settings on my ibanez rg560, all sound superb. the distortion is okay, but depending on your pickyness and your styles i would recommend a good pedal. clean sounds fine and even makes my old vantage sing (and thats hard to do!!!) i play it really loud with other guitarists and bassists, up to 4 guitars and 2 basses at a time, all with much more expencive amps and mine plays atop of most of them. I use a pedal for distortion and any other effects so i only use the built in effects when im too lazy to plug in the extra cords or i've borrowed a footswich....the amp sounds great on all levels and i love the pull options. the only real complaints are neibors from the volume and friends who paid more than double for a much worse amp.

like everyone has said, peavey didnt mess around on these heavy duty amps...they knew who would use it and for what purpose...you can beat the hell outta this amp, you can toss it around and you can drop it countless times, or just have a few clumbsy friends knock it over a few times...and it still is kicking!

havn't had to deal with them....this amp just wont die

i have been playing about 5-6 years, my frinds who have been playing longer love the amp too. if stolen i would definatly buy the same model/year if possible.i got it at a definate steal and would have expected to pay 300 american for the exact one (the guy just wanted his money out of it...talked him down from 300)i own the ibanez rg560, a vantage of some sort, two acoustics, a zoom pedal, a peavey 10watt decade amp, some vocals stuff.if i were to pick out the worst thing about it would be the weight...and its not so bad....you develop big muscles from it anyways...and to add anything would be a footswich cause mine didnt have one. if you can, snatch one of these up...you wont regret it.

Made in 83 very heavy 2 channels, clean (the one I use) or saturation it has an effects loop, its rated at 65 watts but it is a 200 watt draw so this amp is loud.

I have many guitars and each of them sound great with this amp. Single coils sound smooth and humbuckers are very creamy. The amp can go from molly hatchet to korn with no problem.

It has been with me since the it was new never had one problem. Guitar players always goof on me when they see it but they shut up when I start playing it.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing since I was 6 im 37 now so I know my way around a fret board and I know what sound im looking for and how to get it.If it was stolen I would look long and hard for it.

It was a gift, Christmas of 1986. My first loud amp:-) A big step up from my first amp, A Peavey Audition 20(which is a great starter/bedroom amp). Distortion, reverb, line out, power amp in, foot switch, & 1 12" Scorpion Speaker.

Great country/rock amp. The distortion channel is great for Alabama to 70's Molly Hatchet overdrive tones. The clean channel I like better than most 1/12 combos. Nice and clean with good head room. The reverb is superb. I use the amp with stock teles and strats.

This amp has never failed me. It?s been tossed in and out of busses and vans since I got the thing. I had the thing re-soldered a few years back just as a safety precaution. The thing has been all over Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, and has even flown to Nashville with me.

Peavey is great in this department bet never needed their services for this amp.

One of my all time favorite amps. Better than the average 1/12 combo. It packs a big punch for its size. I sometimes play up to 3 gigs in a day (rehearsals, park functions, prates, weddings, clubs at night, etc..). This is the amp I use when we are on the go or if we have limited have cargo space. Though I usually have my VTX Classic or Stereo Chorus 400 already set up at the clubs or big rooms.

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.

Made in 1983. Purchased for $200. The amp has 2 channels, one clean one "distortion". It comes with a foot pedal that is far less durable than the amp. Solid state. Has nice reverb.

I have used this amp for practice at home, clubs, party gigs, and auditoriums. I have never had any need to turn the volume up over 5.

I've played both a Fender Strat and a 1975 Gibson Les Paul on this amp. I play jazz almost exclusively now, but have used this amp in oldies, classic rock, blues, and big band settings with good results. The tone of the clean station is a good as you can get for jazz without tubes. Getting piercing treble tones for blues is tougher. Like everyone else, I hate the distortion. But using a pedal fixes everything.

After 13 years, I have had my first problem with the amp. The reverb starts to distort if I turn the mid-range all the way up to 10 (for a beefy Jim Hall sound). This is despite the inevitable parade of drunks who have tripped over the amp and spilled copious amounts of alchol all over it during gigs, not to mention lots of travel.

I,like everyone else doing these reviews, have never had any contact with Peavy

I love the clear tone and reverb, but wish it would be more versatle. Nonetheless a great amp to get started on and a good reliable workhorse.

I bought this amp used for $100 about two years ago. It was made in 1983. It is a 65 watt amp with lead gain and normal channels, reverb, effects loop, four band equalizer, high and low input jacks, and a ground switch. The lead gain channel has pre gain, saturation, and post gain controls. The normal channel is only selectable by footswitch. Both channels have a "pull bright" function, which boosts high frequencies. The equalizer also has a "pull thick" function which boosts the midrange. It doesn't have a headphone jack. It is really loud, especially the normal channel. It has plenty of power to do most gigs. This amp is fairly versatile; it has lots of tonal possibilities.

I use a single coil strat and an Ibanez metal distortion pedal to get good sound out of it. The bandit's distortion isn't very good. It's noisy, sounds to bassy and has a lack of treble. The "pull thick" function sounds like crap; I never use it. However, a good distortion pedal will make it sound like a dream. I play hardcore rock, and this amp suits me nicely. The amp has a natural "scooped mids" sound to it. I usually turn the Saturation all the way up and leave the Pre Gain on 3, and add a distortion pedal for a good distortion. The normal channel is very clean and sounds nice. I've never cranked it all the way up; it gets really loud. Reverb sounds really good too. Solid State distortion, no tubes.

This amp was made in 1983, and still works like new now, 18 years later. It is definately reliable. The only thing I had a problem with is the pedal. The connections to the jack came loose, but I fixed it with a little sodering, no big deal. The input jacks on mine are going too. They probably need resodering too.

Bought it used; don't know.

They are cheap, they sound nice with external effects, and are super reliable. I've been playing for five years and this is my first and only amp right now, and I don't plan on getting another one. If it were taken from me I would probably save money and get a tube amp. I would recommend it to anyone of any skill level. It's a good, solid, very useable amp.

This is a reletively old amp. It's from around '89 I think, but it's still going strong. I play ska, punk, and general rock & roll, and this amp works pretty good. It's got a good clean channel and a half descent high gain channel. Except I think someone rewired mine along the way because they are both high gain... frustrating, but the one you would buy probably won't be like that. The reverb is very very nice. It's got a low/mid/high eq that works just fine.

I'm using this with a not so good guitar, although its descent. this amp sounds pretty good. The dirty channel is noisy, but not too too noisy. Quieter than most, I guess you could say, but too loud for my taste. The eq gives a nice variety of sounds. The clean stays clean pretty much all the time. The distortion is pretty heavy, although noisy, as I stated.

This is a very reliable amp. I mean, the velcro for the grill no longer works, and thanks to rolling it down sidewalks, a wheel fell of, but this thing is probably 12 years old! The sound has never changed. You could drop it from my roof and it would probably still work. 10 for reliability.

*shrug*

I've been playing for about 2 years. If it were stolen I would probably get something bigger like a 2x12 or even a 4x12 cabinet w/ head. But for starting out or for a low budget guitarist this is a pretty good trusty amp. Especially if you get it cheap like me.

I beleive the amp is about 6 years old. It doesnt have a headphone jack, that kinda sucks, but overall, it has some nice featues..

I play with a Jackson Rhoads model with double hums and it sounds great on it. The distortion is just fine with the 80s music that i play. I use an overdrive pedal and it makes up for it.

It has been a great amp so far. I would use thsamp at a gig without a backup, its really great and i can always count on it.

Overall, its a good amp, with a lot of features, some better than others and some that could have been left off. It does need a headphones jack and maybe a little better distortion, but other than that,its great for playing.

UHM IT'S A REALLY OLD AMP! IT HAS EQ, REVERB, DIST.
THE FEATURES ARE ENOUGH I GUESS I MEAN WHAT ELSE YOU WANT.
65 WATTS OF POWER WITH A 200 WATT SPEAKER. TRUST ME IT'S ENOUGH FOR A SMALL PARTY.

THE CLEAN SOUND IS VERY NICE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU PLAY AT A PRETTY LOUD VOLUME. I MEAN IT'S NOT THE BEST BUT IT PASSES. THE DISTORTION SUCKS LOT'S OF ASS! BUT WHO CARES I ALWAYS USE PEDALS ANYWAY. THE REVERB IS SWEET, GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME TO PLAY SOME SUBLIME, BOB MARLEY ETC. THAT REGGAE, SKA STUFF. THE SOUND IS A LITTLE TINNY BUT I JUST USE A BOSS EQ AND IT'S PRETTY MUCH FIXED UP.

MINE IS TOTALLY BEAT UP I HAD TO TAPE THE BOTTOM BECAUSE IT WAS TOTALLY LOSE. BUT I MEAN IT STILL WORKS SO I'M HAPPY.
I THOUGHT IT BROKE ONE DAY BUT IT WAS A STUPID CABLE THAT WAS GIVING ME THE SCREECHING NOISE

DON'T KNOW DON'T CARE

IT'S A NICE AMP. GOOD ENOUGH FOR PARTIES AND STUFF SO I'M HAPPY.
LAST PARTY I PLAYED AT THERE WAS THIS BAND WITH ALL THIS FANCY ASS EXPENSIVE STUFF BUT THEY SOUNDED LIKE SHIT, AND THEN THERE WAS MY BAND WITH ALL CHEAP SHIT AND WE SOUNDED MUCH BETTER THAN THOSE GUYS DID.(OUR BASS PLAYER ALSO PLAYS WITH THIS AMP AND THE VOCALS ARE ALSO BUT ON THE AMP) SO YEAH WE DON'T HAVE GOOD EQUIPMENT BUT WE RULE ANYWAY. SO JUST PRACTICE BEFORE YOU BUY EXPENSIVE FANCY STUFF.

I'm not sure what year it was manufactured,but I got it in 1986.
This amp CRANKS!I play rock/metal and it does fine.I run a boss distortion pedal through the clean channel and it sounds great!I don't use the built-in distortion channel at all.No headphone jack.

I use a Gibson Epiphone strat with 2 double-humbuckers.Suits me fine,I play alot of rock/metal in a garage band right now.

Peavey Manual at http://www.peavey.com/media/pdf/searchmanuals/bandit65.html

LOUD. No headphonejack, but i just take pre-amp out to my soundcard and play along with MP3's on my computer's headphones.
Weight is heavy but can handle with one hand.
I use clean chanel as power amp only. I have played in a rehearsal studio a few times with my 7 piece band and was able to keep on top. This sucker is loud.

Tone is so-so on its own.. No praises. But with a nice effects processor (I use DigitecRP3) it is fine.

Distorion on the amp I think was an inside joke by the folks at Peavey. Though I hear some guys who play punk rave about it when used at lower saturation.

In a party cover band. All styles from 70's rock and funk, Ska, Alternative rock and th heavy 90's stuff.

As a clean post amp for my effects, it is fine for all. Even has a little bit of bottom end.

TANK. You seriously can not kill this thing unless you rip out the electronics and take a hammer to them. This think was thrown around by high school band kids for 4 years before it sat in a swampy basement for 6 more.

Peavy has goos site with info. Never had to call them though. This thing in the undead. Always works.