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New used amp. I never thought I'd own one of these/

Back when I was playing in bands in the 80's I had a band member who played through a Peavey. It was offal. Dark, muddy toneless offal. Clean or distorted. The only time this thing sounded good was when it was off. then it wasn't offal ( bad pun ). Been looking for a lower watt gigging amp and heard people talking up Peavey as good sounding and reliable. Said to check out their Transtube stuff. So I found a music store with a large selection of used amps. What I was looking to buy was a 40 watt or lower amp. What I walked out with is a 200 watt RMS 800 lb monster. But i got it cheap. OK, kind of like saying I was looking for a rocking chair and came home with a sofa. : ) Not something I need. But I would have to say I'm impressed. It has a really good sound to it. And not just one or two. A very usable range of sound. The distortion reminds me of a Tube Screamer. Totally usable in a live setting.

I think it can honestly be said of me I'm a tone snob. Someone who spends $100+ on a single guitar pickup. More than once. : ) I have a pile of pricy distortion s and fuzzes. And I own a Marshall and a Fender. Total cork sniffer. But with a head on my shoulders. I'm not impressed with labels and brands. If it sounds good it is good. A -B between this and my Marshall and I can honestly say I'm totally impressed with the way Peavey turned themselves around. No it doesn't sound like the Marshall or the Fender. It has a really good rich sound of it's own. And like a Marshall or Fender it has a very wide usable range of sound. Ya, easy to tell I'm totally impressed.

I got this amp Cheap. And i've seen lower watt Peavey Transtube amps even cheaper. I spent less for this 200 watt amp than I did for one Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret MIII guitar pedal. Both are totally worth it.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 26, 2018 at 5:10pm

Hi Ratty, nice buy. I thought the bandit was 100w rms though? then I could be wrong.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on August 26, 2018 at 7:14pm

Actually we are both wrong. I googled it. The Bandit silver stripe is only 80watts. So the folks at the store were also wrong. The Bandit your referring to is the Bandit 'Blue Marvel'. It's 100w. The Peavey Bandit "Solo Series"( AKA teal strip and is not transtube ) is also just 80w. Apparently Peavey names it's amps after the speakers used in them. Thanks for the correction on the wattage.

I weighed it. It only ways 40lbs. I toss 40lbs around at work like pancakes. So I've come up with a theory why this amp feels heavy. The speaker magnet is in line with the earth's magnetic core. So it's constantly being pulled down. So the G force needed to pick this up with feels like 800lbs. : ) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 26, 2018 at 7:32pm

Yeh, I knew it was not 200 watt rms, still a nice amp. You may be able get a refund on the missing watts, ha ha. Earths magnetic pull?.........so that's why a guitar with three humbuckers is so heavy.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on August 27, 2018 at 1:44pm

I had one of these until I tried to use it in a band setting. 80 watts solid state is a no win situation against a busy drummer.

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Permalink Reply by Korrigan on August 27, 2018 at 4:41pm

Never say never, eh Rat? : )

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on August 27, 2018 at 9:36pm

Never say never Korrigan. : )

BrianQ, I played out with a very low watt amp. Against a drummer, Marshall 8 12 stack and a huge bass amp. Put a mic in front of my amp and I was as loud as the rest of em. And the only one who could carry my amp in one hand. : )

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 28, 2018 at 2:32am

Proof that watts does not equal decibels. My 100w Markbass combo amp is loud enough by itself to make even the drummer tell me to turn it down, Bwahahah

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on August 28, 2018 at 1:09pm

What Blue rat says, yep I used my Laney 35watt class A valve amp in our blues band. Mic'd it into the P A with everyone else, great even sound out front. Even used my pignose for my harp mic'd up the same way.

Just a bit of useless information....the first gig by that band was 20 years ago for a guys 40th birthday. He's asked the band to play for his 60th, so we have a 20 year band reunion. That's gonna be fun as half the members of the original band now live interstate, and we are all in different towns. I've still got the same amp too.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on September 1, 2018 at 3:27am

A friend of mine has one of these. It as been his stalwart amp, used with many different guitars. He is this plus a fendor, traynor and a cube. He keeps coming back to his Peavey.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on September 2, 2018 at 8:12am

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 2, 2018 at 6:15pm

Congrats.

My first amp was a Peavey. Some of them are great and some are real dogs. They will definitely teach you how to get good tones out of your amp because you'll be trying everything to get a good tone out of your amp! As the old saying goes.

The Bandits were a favorite with 80's metal guys as were the Crate amps(I had a Crate 50watt). I really liked the Peavey Blues Classic Tube amp, great for Blues and Classic Rock stuff. A lot of the Peavey bad reputation came from crappy speakers. A lot of 80's amps had terrible speakers in them.

The biggest weight problem is going to be the power transformer. They're built like tanks and built to last. LOL