From UCPL07–(at)–NLVM.UNL.EDU Sat Mar 25 11:08:06 CST 1995
Article: 45088 of rec.music.makers.guitar
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From: UCPL07–(at)–NLVM.UNL.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Peavay Bandit 112s TransTube Review
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 95 22:16:22 CST
Organization: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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Peavey Bandit 112s TransTube Review

Let me start by saying I’ve always hated transistor
amps. I’ve owned several Fender,and Marshall amps in the past, most
recently a Yamaha T-100c wich was designed by Mike Soldano. It was
basically a Soldano 2 channel 112 combo (a/b’d it with a Soldano
head for comparison). I was never happy with the clean channel on the
Marshall/Soldano amps, never happy with the distortion on the Fenders

The front pannel for the Bandit TransTube is
layed out like this,
(1/4″) (1/4″) (In/Out)(In/Out)
High Gain/Low Gain/Volume/Bright/LowMidHigh/ Pre /Thrash/LowMidHigh
Input Input (Clean) —— Gain ——
Channel Gain

(This should all be on one line)

(1/4″)(1/4″) (In/Out)
Post /Reverb/Send/Return/Efx.Level/Presence/Tube Dynamics/ Power
Gain ——— Power % Switch
Resonance

This is actually a really cool amp! The clean
channel is warm, crisp, and very touch responsive. The distorted
channel is extremely versital because of the Thrash, Gain, Resonance,
Presence, and Tube Dynamics controls. The Thrash button when pushed
has a -6db cut on the mid range to give you that SLX Marshall sound
when used in combination with the Gain button, and the pre cranked.
The Gain button when pushed in gives you +6db boost to the gain for
sort of a JCM 800 Marshall sound. With neither of these buttons on
it reminds me of a JMP master volume. The Resonance button gives
you more low end thump. The Presence works like the one on my Yamaha
in that it actually makes a difference from 1 to 10 not just 8 to 10
like a lot of older Marshalls, it can make that really sizzley sound
like a Soldano when you crank it. The Tube Dynamics control works
like an attenuator(sp). It goes from 10% to 100%, 10% being more
compresed, better sustaining, 100% being less compresed, more touch
responsive. This control actually lowers the output (according to
the owners manual) of the amp.

There is two efx. loops, one on the front
pannel (foot switchable/pre reverb), one on the back pannel (not
foot switchable/post reverb). Unfortunatly they both go over the
entire preamp.

The power output seems louder than most solid state amps, at practice
I was running at about the same level as with my 100watt all tube
combo, and the volume was the same. It’s rated at 100watts *IF* you
add a 8ohm enclosure to the remote speaker jack. The speaker that
is in the combo itself is a 8ohm Sheffield(sp) 1230. What that means
IMHO is that the R.S. jack and the combo speaker are wired parallel
to get that magical 100watt–(at)–ohm that seems to go hand in hand with
solid state amps.

The price: I think it listed for $420.00 U.S. I’m
not positive on that. Cash price was $350.00 U.S.

Dissapointments: Not really many. I really
grilled this thing, I mean I was convinced before I even took it
to practice that I was going to hate it, but it did everything my
Yamaha did and more. The distortion channel is noisey when you
crank everything, but actually quieter than any tube amp I’ve owned.
It would be nice to have a impedence selector. It would be nice to
have a seprate efx. loop for each channel. All in all nothing major.

Oh yea the weight. It is a 112 combo just like
my Yamaha and well It’s damm heavey for a SS amp. It’s still lighter
than my Yamaha by about 5-10lbs I’m guessing.

Well I should say that we don’t practice
extremely loud. Usually when I open my amp up I get called names,
things thrown at me, etc but I did anyway and was equally impresed

All in all I’d say it was an excellent amp
especially when you consider the price.

These are my OPINIONS not facts! I quoted
most of the specs from memory so Read for your self
Look for your self
Listen for your self!!!!!!!

I’m not associated with Peavey in any way
(other than I own one now, Yes I bought one of the transtubes)
so you wanted a review you got one.

SeeYa tIm

 

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