Peavey Bandit Club

well my search is on to buy a Bandit 112 some very good advice and so much talk about this AMP as made me whant to become an owner.can't waith to get mine
Dan

 

I no longer own a "proper" Bandit, but I've got four Transtube Revolutions, the Blackbox/Silverstripe series. The Revolution 112 is essentially a Bandit with an extra gain channel. Does that count?!

I've owned two Bandit 75s that I sold to students, and I had a Blackbox Transtube that was stolen from me. One of these days I want to get a Teal Stripe with a Scorpion in it.

 

I've been trying to post this information at Wikipedia, but due to a "lack of veriafiable references", someone keeps deleting it. All I have is personal experience and what I've learned from Peavey employees and other Peavey users, so this could very well be a bunch of malarkey, but if it's not the exact truth, it's at least close to the truth. If anyone can correct or refine any information here, those contributions would be most welcome.

Models of Peavey Bandits

The Bandit

(1980) The very first Bandit was only made for one year. As subsequent versions became available, the original Bandit came to be known as the "Gunsmoke Bandit" because the font used to silkscreen the logo on the front of the amp resembled the font used in the opening credits of the popular 60's television show, Gunsmoke. The Gunsmoke Bandit was made in Meridian Mississippi USA and had a power rating of 50 watts RMS. It came equipped from the factory with a 12" guitar speaker made for Peavey by Eminence.


Solo Series Bandit

(1981-1983) The Solo Series Bandit soon followed the Gunsmoke Bandit and incorporated a variety of improvements, most notably a much improved sound. The Solo Series Bandit was made in Meridian MS USA and came equipped with Peavey's proprietary guitar speaker, the Scorpion.

Solo Series Bandit 65

(1983-1986) With the Solo Series Bandit 65, large improvements in tone compared to the previous version were again realized and the power rating was increased to 65 watts RMS. The Bandit 65 was made in Meridian MS USA and came equipped with Peavey's proprietary guitar speaker, the Scorpion.

Solo Series Bandit 75

(1987-1988) The Solo Series Bandit 75 saw the power increase by 10 watts to 75 watts RMS and a Bright Switch was added. The Bandit 75 was made in Meridian MS USA and came equipped with Peavey's proprietary guitar speaker, the Scorpion.

Solo Series Bandit 112

(1988-1995) The Solo Series Bandit 112 introduced many new features, the most notable being an increase in power to 80 watts RMS and a choice between Peavey's Scorpion speaker and Peavey's newly introduced Sheffield speaker. Many of the innovations that would later be branded as "Transtube" were included in the Solo Series Bandit 112, but the name "Transtube" had not been adopted yet. There have been several different versions of the Solo Series Bandit 112 but they all share the same manual and the same control layout. One of the more popular variations is known as the "Teal Stripe" or "Blue Stripe" Bandit due to a blue horizontal stripe below the control panel. The Solo Series Bandit 112 was made in Meridian MS USA.


Transtube Series Bandit 112

(1996-1999) The Transtube Series Bandit 112 formally introduced Peavey's proprietary "Transtube" technology that allows a solid state amplifier to perform more like a vacuum tube amplifier. Central to the Transtube concept is a patented "power brake" that allows the user to control the amount of power required for dynamic range compression from the power amp, from 100% all the way down to 10%, thus enabling the amplifier to acheive power amp compression without running at full volume. The Transtube Series Bandit 112 was made in Meridian MS USA and came stock with the Sheffield 1230 speaker. Notably, it was also the first Bandit to have an external speaker jack, allowing external speakers to be run instead of or in parallel with the internal speaker. Running into 8 ohms, power is still 80 watts RMS, but running into 4 ohms (the equivalent of using the internal 8 ohm speaker together with an 8 ohm extension speaker) the power is increased to 100 watts RMS. Due to the black color and square shape of the Transtube Series Bandit 112, it is sometimes referred to as the "Blackbox Bandit".

Transtube Series II Bandit 112 Made in USA

(2000-2004) With the Transtube Series II, the metal corners and input jacks that had been standard on all Peavey Bandits up until this time were replaced by plastic corners and plastic jacks. The knob that controlled the Transtube power brake feature continuously from 10% to 100% power was replaced by a 3-way switch, allowing operation at 25%, 50%, and 100% power. Similar changes were made to the tone modification section of the amplifier to reduce unit costs. Due to a color scheme incorporating a red stripe across the front of the amplifier, many people refer to the Transtube Series II Bandit as the "Redstripe Bandit". During this time Peavey attempted to adopt a new company logo, and moved away from their traditional "pointy" logo. The new logo came to be known as the "Block Logo". The Block Logo was only used for a limited period of time, and the Block Logo Redstripe Bandits represent the last Peavey Bandits to be made in the USA.

Transtube Series II Bandit 112 Made in China

(2004-2007) This amp is cosmetically nearly identical to the USA version, so it is also referred to as "Redstripe Bandit", but there are several differences between the US built Redstripes and the Chinese ones. First, the Chinese version says, "Designed in the USA" on the front, while the actual USA version says "Designed and Made in the USA". Second, the speaker in the Chinese version is either unlabelled, or is labelled "Blue Marvel", a Peavey code for speakers made outside of Peavey and then rebranded as Peavey. All of the USA Redstripe Bandits shipped from the factory with US made Sheffield 1230 speakers. Another obvious difference is that all Chinese Redstripe Bandits have the "pointy logo" as Peavey abandoned it's plan to adopt a new logo. Most - but not all - of the USA Redstripe Bandits shipped with Block Logos.

Peavey Bandit with Transtube Technology

(2008-current) The current version of the Bandit is made in China and has essentially the same features as the Chinese Redstripe Bandit. Changes include the spring reverb tank being replaced by a digital reverb circuit, and Peavey has reintroduced metal corners. The footswitch is no longer included with the amp and must be purchased seperately.

 

Proud owner of a Transtube Series II Bandit 112 Made in USA, I play it alone or through a XXX 4x12 cab

 

Bought the latest edition of the Bandit less than a month ago... great amp.

 

is there a way to determine the year of a peavey AMP serial #.im looking for a older model the solo bandit 112 any of you guy's have a photo of that model AMP
my search is on!!!
Daniel

 

Incredible job Jay, you should be on Peavey's payroll! I really enjoyed reading that, I've previously owned a Bandit 65 and a redstripe. Nowadays extremely pleased with my teal stripe Special 112, would like to find the Bandit version to save some weight.

 

hey thank's JAY
it's all the info I neede'd to buy a bandit
Dan

 

Bandit 65 here.Can I join?

It is circa 1986 model. Thought it was dead once years ago, just needed a speaker. I put a Jensen RI C12K in it and it worked wonders. Now it sits mostly though as that speaker is in a Music Master Bass amp.

It was sold to me by "Bizarre Guitar" in Reno in 1985 or 86. The sales dude said the amp would be good for acoustic guitar also, and it did pretty well for that for years.

At one time I email Peavey and they were happy to tell me the manufacture date, as I had forgotten. .

Cheers Peavey, thanks for a sturdy little friend ! The net is rife with stories of these amps bouncing around in trunks of cars for years and being there when needed. It has also been said that this amp was the all time biggest seller at some point.

I had not realized that the amp had such a richly evolving past. Thanks JayFreddy! The legend continues. :>)

 

I own a peavey special 112 with a scorpion speaker (160watts rms) that i bought new in 94, It has been a great amp, i play clean with a delay in effects loop and it has never had any problem's. I think this amp is like the bandits big brother.

 

Have one more story to relate. Back about 1989 I worked at a music store, we had a Peavey dealership. The second best sounding amp in the shop was the Bandit 75. It surprised a lot of people.

 

I've had a Bandit 65 since new in 1984. Lots of gigs with my Strat, SG, and Washburn acoustic, and never a moment's trouble. These days it works wonders when chained to my super champ XD [line out to amp in] - it really fills out the bottom end. It's like a good rhythm player - not temperamental, just indispensable....

 

Maybe that's appropriate. At least some of your info is incorrect.

I have one of these, as it happens, and the Transtube power brake has a continuous control ranging from 10% to 100%. So in at least this case, your information is at least partially incorrect.

 

I have a latest generation Bandit too, it´s a fine amp especially for the punchy, loud Bandit cleans. I also like the classic overdrive channel for blues and the likes.

 

That's interesting. I used to work in a music store when the Red Stripe Bandits were still the lastest model. I believe what you're saying that yours has the 10-100% potentiometer, but I distinctly remember that all the Red Stripes at the store had the 100-50-25% switch. I think all the ones at the store were Chinese Red Stripes, so it wouldn't surprise me if the 10 to 100% potentiometer is another difference between the USA Red Stripe and the Chinese Red Stripe, but I honestly don't remember.

With the Solo Series 112, there were also several variations of the same amp with slightly different features, so it wouldn't be a first for Peavey to have several versions of the the same amp released under the same nameplate. E.g., Not all Solo Series 112 Bandits were "Teal Stripes", although the Teal Stripe Bandits were definitely part of the Solo Series 112.

Can anyone confirm whether the Chinese Red Stripes and/or a USA Red Stripes have either the 100-50-25% switch OR the 10 to 100% potentiometer?

 

which switch are you refering to is it call T.DYNAMICS .mine is not a bandit but a revolution 112 made in the U.S.A. and the only knob that I have that as that kind of number is the T.DYNAMICS 10% 50% 100%
Daniel

 

Yup, T. Dynamics, that's the one. Is it a knob as in a potentiometer or a 3-way switch?

 

Update... Apparently all the Redstripe Bandits have the 10-100% knob too, same as the Blackbox ones.

Three other differences that I missed between the Blackbox and the Redstripe the first time around :

1) The Blackbox has the effects loop jacks on the front, the Redstripe has 'em in the back.

2) Blackbox has a bright on/off button for the clean channel, Redstripe has a two-way switch, "Modern" and "Vintage"

3) Blackbox has two buttons for the overdrive channel, "Thrash" and "Gain", for a total of 4 combinations (tg Tg tG TG). The Redstripe has a 3-way switch, "Modern", "High Gain", and "Vintage", for a total or 3 combinations.

 

Great, dependable, easy to use amps!