Griffinator
New member
I don't think highly of Marshall at all - but the man wanted a sub-$600 amp that sounds like Godsmack. The obvious answer is the Valvestate, not a Peavey Bandit.
good combo amp under $600
- Thread starter indiefolk
- Start date
I don't think highly of Marshall at all - but the man wanted a sub-$600 amp that sounds like Godsmack. The obvious answer is the Valvestate, not a Peavey Bandit.
jimistone
long standing member
The new line of pevey transtube amps sound better than anything they have ever had. I will say this....if you can't get a good sound out of a bandit, then you don't know how in the hell to tweak an amp. Most players that i've seen complain about chessy sounding distortion pour on WAY too much distortion from the pre-gain on a solid state amp. then they'll crank a tube amp up and say "wow...no comparison". I do agree that in the past peavey had some solid state amps that had chessy sounding distortion (along with EVERY other amp manufacturer at the time). I had a marshall valvestate head for a while and i thought it sucked...its a 1 trick pony, good for heavy distortion only, i started getting noise out of every single one of the pots, and the reverb quit working. I have an old 100 watt marshall tube head and the valvestate ain't in the same league. I can't believe marshall put their name on that piece of shit.
im giging with a bandit, (built like a tank) and I use no effects what so ever. All the time guys come up to me and ask "wow man...how are you getting that great tone out of a solid state peavey amp?"
my secret: I actually use my ears to set the tone, reverb, and pre-gain...and basically knowing what sounds good and what doesn't.
(instead of turning the tone knobs all half way up and the pre-gain wide open)
im giging with a bandit, (built like a tank) and I use no effects what so ever. All the time guys come up to me and ask "wow man...how are you getting that great tone out of a solid state peavey amp?"
my secret: I actually use my ears to set the tone, reverb, and pre-gain...and basically knowing what sounds good and what doesn't.
(instead of turning the tone knobs all half way up and the pre-gain wide open)
Griffinator
New member
jimistone said:
Actually, most of the guitarists I know just by-default dial up the typical "Marshall EQ" - Wide open treble and bass, mid at zero. Stupid.
Maybe I need to check out the newer Peaveys - because the last time I messed with one was about 1994 - and I hated it - and never bothered with them again.
Aaron Cheney
Favorite Chord: C 6/9
Here's what I can offer...
Without intending to offend, indiefolk, I think you should reevaluate what a good guitar tone is. As pointed out earlier, a guitar is not a bass-range instrument, and by making it one you'll be walking all over the bass and kick drum. It is a mid-range instrument.
If your midrange sounds like crap to you, you probably just haven't played through a great amp. Also, as mentioned before, the scooped metal sound isn't really bassy, it just sounds that way becasue all the mids are sucked out. Then again, what the heck was EVH thinking when he put a humbucking pickup in a Strat?!
$600 is a tough price point because most good tube amps are more than that, and most transistor amps come in around $350 or $400. I would say used is the way to go. Look for a great deal on a Boogie/ rectifier type amp. If you want something new, I would look into the Marshall Valvestates. Although I don't particularly care for them, they are probably the closest to what you're after in your price range.
I have never heard a Peavey transistor amp that I though was worth a plug nickel, Bandits included.
My best advice, wait and save. Buy the right thing the first time. Anything else is wasting money.
And lastly, the notions that all amps sound the same once they're recorded, and that all amps are good becuase really smart guys spent a lot of time developing them, are absolutely crazy!
Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
Without intending to offend, indiefolk, I think you should reevaluate what a good guitar tone is. As pointed out earlier, a guitar is not a bass-range instrument, and by making it one you'll be walking all over the bass and kick drum. It is a mid-range instrument.
If your midrange sounds like crap to you, you probably just haven't played through a great amp. Also, as mentioned before, the scooped metal sound isn't really bassy, it just sounds that way becasue all the mids are sucked out. Then again, what the heck was EVH thinking when he put a humbucking pickup in a Strat?!
$600 is a tough price point because most good tube amps are more than that, and most transistor amps come in around $350 or $400. I would say used is the way to go. Look for a great deal on a Boogie/ rectifier type amp. If you want something new, I would look into the Marshall Valvestates. Although I don't particularly care for them, they are probably the closest to what you're after in your price range.
I have never heard a Peavey transistor amp that I though was worth a plug nickel, Bandits included.
My best advice, wait and save. Buy the right thing the first time. Anything else is wasting money.
And lastly, the notions that all amps sound the same once they're recorded, and that all amps are good becuase really smart guys spent a lot of time developing them, are absolutely crazy!
Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
gbondo9
p3n
I spent alot of time shopping for that elusive inexpensive combo to supplement the full cab setup. I wanted big tube distortion on a very small budget. I ended up buying an Ampeg Reverbrocket used for $450, its a 1x12 50 watt (very loud 50 watts) all tube (EL34's) with 2 channels. The distortion is nice but a little too weak most of the time. The clean channel however is amazing! So nice, that it was the deciding factor. To fix my distortion needs though I bought (again used) a Mesa V-Twin pedal (with the 12ax7's in the box...built like a tank), and between the clean channel on the ampeg and the mesa distortion coming out of the vtwin, Im all set. I highly recommend those pedals. Its got a clean setting, a distorted setting and a solo button and its loud, crunchy and thick...and mesa. I geuss you gotta like mesa to like the pedal, but I do, so Im happy.
I was also looking at a similar setup with the old fender bassmans and the vtwin. You can find those bassmans for pretty cheap sometimes and theyve got great tone (if you like the clean fender tone).
Good luck.
I was also looking at a similar setup with the old fender bassmans and the vtwin. You can find those bassmans for pretty cheap sometimes and theyve got great tone (if you like the clean fender tone).
Good luck.
Speeddemon
New member
YEAH BABY
Right ON! WHAT JIMI SAID. "OOH Move over Rover and let Jimi take over!"
My friggin' opinion exactamundo!!!!!
Oh, some folks should try SS too, instead of copying the big boys' opinion of 'tubes are the only way to go'. Like Jimi said, first learn to know what a amp can do or can't do. When you can get great tone out of a SS-amp, you'll probably can get a great tone from a tube-amp too. Vice versa it doesn't always work.
Giggin with this amp (Bandit 112) is probably safer. and easier than with a Triple Rectifier:
cheerz. Thanks Jimi, finally some one who understands.
jimistone said:
Right ON! WHAT JIMI SAID. "OOH Move over Rover and let Jimi take over!"
My friggin' opinion exactamundo!!!!!
Oh, some folks should try SS too, instead of copying the big boys' opinion of 'tubes are the only way to go'. Like Jimi said, first learn to know what a amp can do or can't do. When you can get great tone out of a SS-amp, you'll probably can get a great tone from a tube-amp too. Vice versa it doesn't always work.
Giggin with this amp (Bandit 112) is probably safer. and easier than with a Triple Rectifier:
- Bandit is more ruggid. Any tube/valve amp won't like to be carried around much
- Tube amps are friggin' heavy. Got a nice roadie, boy?
- Any +40W tube amp delivers too much power/sound for the average Joe's gig. Unless you're Mr. Malmsteen yourself, you won't need 150W of tube power.
cheerz. Thanks Jimi, finally some one who understands.
Tone ignorance, a sad, sad disease. If ANYONE thinks they can get as good a tone out of a Peavey Bandit as a Mesa, they just can't afford the Mesa and are kidding themselves. All those extra pounds and dollars are more then worthit. You think that people might catch onto this if it were true and stop buying Mesa's and getting more Bandits!
Jake
Jake
jimistone
long standing member
who says all the guitar players are buying messas instead of bandits?
I played a messa for a while....it wasn't mine i was using someone elses.
its a damn good amp, no argument here.
I haven't found a new one for less than 500 bucks though....i got my bandit for $389. I thought the thread was for an amp in the 600 or less price range.
SRV had great tone and he wasn't using a messa...and he could have had any amp he wanted.
as far as tone goes....I can get fantastic tone out of a bandit...i have a good friend that plays thru a messa and his sound is less than desirable. I can get fantastic tone out of his messa...so there ya go.
"if anyone ANYONE thinks they can get as good a tone out of a peavey bandit as a messa"
the guitar players in the lynyrd skynyrd band played through peavey amps on their classic album "one more from the road"
and the live cut of "freebird" is off that album. I think they were getting pretty damn good guitar tone, and so do alot of other folks (considering its the 2nd most played song of all time on fm radio)
they weren't bandits but they were peavey....and the skynyrd could have afforded messas, marshalls, fenders, or whatever they wanted.
There is nobody selling a brand new amp for less that 400 bucks thats even in the same league with a bandit (fender and marshall included...thats my opinion)
peavey amps are built like a tank...(NO-ONE can argue about that)...peavey amps are probably the best bang for the buck, cause they are cheap, they sound great, they have the best service of any company i have ever delt with, and the BEST thing is that they are built in the USA.
I played a messa for a while....it wasn't mine i was using someone elses.
its a damn good amp, no argument here.
I haven't found a new one for less than 500 bucks though....i got my bandit for $389. I thought the thread was for an amp in the 600 or less price range.
SRV had great tone and he wasn't using a messa...and he could have had any amp he wanted.
as far as tone goes....I can get fantastic tone out of a bandit...i have a good friend that plays thru a messa and his sound is less than desirable. I can get fantastic tone out of his messa...so there ya go.
"if anyone ANYONE thinks they can get as good a tone out of a peavey bandit as a messa"
the guitar players in the lynyrd skynyrd band played through peavey amps on their classic album "one more from the road"
and the live cut of "freebird" is off that album. I think they were getting pretty damn good guitar tone, and so do alot of other folks (considering its the 2nd most played song of all time on fm radio)
they weren't bandits but they were peavey....and the skynyrd could have afforded messas, marshalls, fenders, or whatever they wanted.
There is nobody selling a brand new amp for less that 400 bucks thats even in the same league with a bandit (fender and marshall included...thats my opinion)
peavey amps are built like a tank...(NO-ONE can argue about that)...peavey amps are probably the best bang for the buck, cause they are cheap, they sound great, they have the best service of any company i have ever delt with, and the BEST thing is that they are built in the USA.
I paid $500 for my MarkIII Simulclass head. It was in good condition. True the Bandits are capable of decent tone, but they FEEL completely lifeless to me. I've been spoiled though. I grew up playing through tubes and can't deal with the lack of feel in solid state. The MarkIII gets scary-close to the same death-metal tone I can get from my JCM800 50 watter w/6550's. It also does the clean thing almost as well as my '76 Super Reverb. An amazingly versatile amp that has withstood 7 years of hard gig duty with ZERO problems.
Fangar
New member
After all thie post is not in search of good guitar "Tone"... the question was an amp that could help to attain that low end rumble like god smack. While I like the sound of their Mid-Range Cut guitar, it is far from tone. I like Matchless amps too. Believe it or not even then Crate Vintage Club series that came out about 6 years ago sounded pretty sweet for an inexpensive Tube amp.
Fangar
Fangar
jimistone said:
SRV didn't play out of a Peavey, he had good tone cause he playe dout of a nice Fender TUBE amp. Skynard may have played Peaveys. I am not knocking Peaveys. I AM knocking Peavey Bandits and the the other LOW END solid state amps. The whole first Pearl Jam album was doe with Peavey Classic 50's, and that is GREAT guitar tone. Those amps have TUBES, they are bound to sound better then most solid state amps, definately better then the LOW END Bandit. I already reccommended an amp under $600, the Valvestate, and I stick by that. I am going STRONGLY against the purchase of a cheap Peavey solid state amp though, and I want him to know that the majority of people understand that they DON'T sound good.
Jake
Speeddemon
New member
hmmm...
Well jrlemonz. Guess you totally misinterpreted my post. I'm NOT dissing tube amps, I've played some nice tube amps (JCM2000, Fender Twin) but I'm (just like JIMISTONE) am comparing the Bandit to other lower cost SS-amps.
Don't tell me that a Valvestate sounds more versatile than a Bandit, and certainly don't tell me it's better built.
And about the Godsmack tone, put a Boss MT-2 Metalzone in front of your bandit, and there you HAVE your low-end over-the-top gain/distortion.
I get upset of folks dissing Peavey, and comparing it to $$ amps.
Hell yeah, a rectifier sounds probably better than a Bandit. Can you
-afford it
-carry it?
BTW, a lot has to do with your playing style. My sounds suck through a MEsa DC-10, but I sound killer through a JC-120 + Boss GT-3! Talkin' about Pantera/Iced Earth distortion!
Now, still no one, aside from the 2nd handed Mesa, convinced me of a better <$600 amp than a Bandit. Remember, they have changed, maybe jrlemonz has listened to an older model (before '97)?
cheerz
Well jrlemonz. Guess you totally misinterpreted my post. I'm NOT dissing tube amps, I've played some nice tube amps (JCM2000, Fender Twin) but I'm (just like JIMISTONE) am comparing the Bandit to other lower cost SS-amps.
Don't tell me that a Valvestate sounds more versatile than a Bandit, and certainly don't tell me it's better built.
And about the Godsmack tone, put a Boss MT-2 Metalzone in front of your bandit, and there you HAVE your low-end over-the-top gain/distortion.
I get upset of folks dissing Peavey, and comparing it to $$ amps.
Hell yeah, a rectifier sounds probably better than a Bandit. Can you
-afford it
-carry it?
BTW, a lot has to do with your playing style. My sounds suck through a MEsa DC-10, but I sound killer through a JC-120 + Boss GT-3! Talkin' about Pantera/Iced Earth distortion!
Now, still no one, aside from the 2nd handed Mesa, convinced me of a better <$600 amp than a Bandit. Remember, they have changed, maybe jrlemonz has listened to an older model (before '97)?
cheerz
jimistone
long standing member
i have a 100 watt marshall tube amp. it sounds great when its cranked. The volume I need to get a killer tone out of the marshall would damage peoples ears in the small clubs that we sometimes play. I could use a distortion petal, but if your gonna do that you might as well get a solid state amp and use its fake distortion.
All i've ever played in my 20+ years have been tube amps. Super reverbs (the best sounding clean tone amp in my opinion) had a fender twin, my 100 watt marshall, i have an old gibson tube amp that sounds great, had a pevey roadmaster tube amp for a few years, and i've played most of the others (messas, laneys, johnsons, ect...) in live situations...IM NOT KNOCKING TUBE AMPS AND I AGREE THEY SOUND REAL GOOD. I have tried various solid state amps too, but never found one that I really liked. The new bandit transtube amp is the 1st solid state amp i have been happy with.
IMO the marshall valvestate is a dog (and im sticking to that). The only thing that resembles marshall in the valvestate is the signiture marshall hum (which is something i could live without)...they got the hum right...the sound just ain't there. I got rid of mine and took a bad beating on the trade because I was told " we have 3 of those that we can't move now...sometimes a novice will get one cause it has the marshall name, but experiance players don't like them" all I could say was "i know what you mean"
I bought the amp on a whim when i was half stoned and it cost me 200 bucks to get rid of it.
I had a classic 50 for about 6 months (i traded it in on some recording equipment) It sounded ok...a little on the bassy side..but ok. I can get just as good guitar tone out of the bandit.
like I said all i've ever used is tube amps.....but im not brain washed into believing that tubes are the end all..be all..when it comes to guitar amps. I will use my ears to tell me if something sounds good or not.
The peavey bandit sounds good.
All i've ever played in my 20+ years have been tube amps. Super reverbs (the best sounding clean tone amp in my opinion) had a fender twin, my 100 watt marshall, i have an old gibson tube amp that sounds great, had a pevey roadmaster tube amp for a few years, and i've played most of the others (messas, laneys, johnsons, ect...) in live situations...IM NOT KNOCKING TUBE AMPS AND I AGREE THEY SOUND REAL GOOD. I have tried various solid state amps too, but never found one that I really liked. The new bandit transtube amp is the 1st solid state amp i have been happy with.
IMO the marshall valvestate is a dog (and im sticking to that). The only thing that resembles marshall in the valvestate is the signiture marshall hum (which is something i could live without)...they got the hum right...the sound just ain't there. I got rid of mine and took a bad beating on the trade because I was told " we have 3 of those that we can't move now...sometimes a novice will get one cause it has the marshall name, but experiance players don't like them" all I could say was "i know what you mean"
I bought the amp on a whim when i was half stoned and it cost me 200 bucks to get rid of it.
I had a classic 50 for about 6 months (i traded it in on some recording equipment) It sounded ok...a little on the bassy side..but ok. I can get just as good guitar tone out of the bandit.
like I said all i've ever used is tube amps.....but im not brain washed into believing that tubes are the end all..be all..when it comes to guitar amps. I will use my ears to tell me if something sounds good or not.
The peavey bandit sounds good.
Griffinator
New member
jimistone said:
And this is where distraction becomes misinformation.
Skynyrd didn't play "Bandits" - they played one of the two Peavey's I mentioned as being stout amps. I own one - it's called a Peavey Deuce VT. And it does have a great tone. Skynyrd played Deuces on the road all the time.
Oh - and guess what - the Deuce VT is a tube amp as well - it's a 100W all-tube combo amp with the creamiest onboard flange I've ever heard from a non-DSP amp. Big difference between a Deuce and a Bandit.
However, I'll definitely have to check out the new Bandits if they're as great as you're saying they are.
I like Fender myself
The Twin Reverb would be good, but pretty heavy, and very very loud.
The Hot Rod Deville, 2x12 or 4x10 is great. I think its either 40 or 60 watts. Its loud enough to play a stadium. I never got past 4 on the volume. Great highs, great clean channel. Its less than 60 lbs, can easily fit in a trunk or back seat.
The Twin Reverb would be good, but pretty heavy, and very very loud.
The Hot Rod Deville, 2x12 or 4x10 is great. I think its either 40 or 60 watts. Its loud enough to play a stadium. I never got past 4 on the volume. Great highs, great clean channel. Its less than 60 lbs, can easily fit in a trunk or back seat.
Yeah, mesa's have changed, but they still rock. Sorry, but a Valvestate kills a Bandit anyday in my opinion, Bandit's just sound like ass. I don't even know why I'm arguing with you, you just recommeded the use of a Metal Zone pedal, you obviously have NO IDEA about tone. Sorry for being a dick, this isn't even worth the time. The tone is in the player anyways, the equipment just helps (in your case it probably hurts more then it helps, but whatever). A Bandit isn't going to cut it in the long run, where a Valvestate might, they don't sound that bad.
Jake
Jake
Griffinator
New member
jrlemonz said:
Figure also he's one of the minions of Dinbag Darrell clones - and I guarantee he's never tried to record the tone he gets from a Peavey Bandit with a MetalZone pedal - if he did, and took a good hard listen to it (and even compared it to a Dinbag record) he would suddenly realise how bad the tone really was.
But bear also in mind that we went through those low-budget, young ear stages - My first rig was a Dean Markley 40W combo amp with a RockTron compressor and a Rat distortion pedal - I thought it was the shit.
Very true Griffin. I had the Audition 110 with a Supra for a while and thought I was rockin (although I never would have argued it sounded as good or even better then a good tube amp, that knowledge was instilled into me at a very early age)! How the days come and go. I must say though, Dimebag's tone escapes me. Hes a 10 times better player then anyone event hinks to be able to get a good tone out of that NASTY sounding SS amp he plays. Just one more testament to the tone being in the player.
Jake
Jake