I stopped by my favorite pawnshop earlier today and they had this Bandit 65. It was thrown in basically free along with a guitar that the pawnbroker bought because it's dirty and the pots were scratchy, etc., etc.(it does look like it was stored inside a cement mixer for years). Anyhow, he said he didn't know when he'd get around to working on it so he said I could have it for $5 for a project. So now I've got a project.
I cranked it up and, although the pots are a bit scratchy, it seems fine. I'm going to clean it up and try to clean the pots. Was wondering if any of you guru's have any tips, tricks or cautions I should be aware of before starting? This should be fun assuming I don't screw it up.
Thanks,
Brad
Hi Brad,
I aquired one if these recently.They are very well built and and put together.All the Jack sockets front and back are chassis mounted and not PCB so are easy to take out and replace if faulty.
They are great sounding amps with loads of clean headroom.I bought mine to run in parralel with my all valve 20 watt Laney combo at bigger venues in order to lift clean headroom levels.Good luck with your project and let us all know how you go on.
Regards Dave
I use Peavey funkout to clean my pots...works wonders!!!
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these are great amps, ( early version ) small venue, don't pass them by if you see one in the $100 price range ! Just keep in mind that thru the years the Bandit changed , the later amps are NOT the same as the early issues. Even with the Bandit badge.
I sold mine to a friend, I should buy it back !
I pulled the 4 ohm speaker and replaced it with an 8 ohm 12, then added an ext speaker jack so I could add another 8 ohm cab, making it 4 ohms again. This version has both a 4 and 8 ohm spec , newer versions have only a 4 ohm spec. The next model up, Special 130 , is this same amp with 2x the rated power. v
These are great amps and they have that N400 tone to them.
Hi again,
Here is a little something I did to my Bandit.Dont know if you know but if the footswitch is not plugged in to the back then the lead/ drive channel is on by default. I allways use the clean channel.To save on hassle / weight of lugging a footswitch I did this little trick.Get a standard mono jack and snip off the connector tags .Now fashion a piece of Milliputt to go over the end of the jack .When dry I put the the Jack in a drill chuck and just lightly turned the cured Milliputt into a nice little shape as shown,painted it black and reinserted into Jack socket. The clean channel is now allways on as is the reverb.You can allways dial reverb to zero if you don't want it on.The jack is open circuit by the way ,so you don't have to connect hot to ground when you prepare the tags.
Regards Dave
I've got a couple of Bandits, a Solo series from around 1981(pre-Bandit 65), and a Bandit 65. I paid 50 bux for the older one, 100 bux for the newer one.
IMO these are real sleepers, people don't know how good they sound. I first owned one in 1981 when I was working at a Peavey dealer, and have had several more come and go through the years. Lately, I've noticed a slight bump in the used prices, maybe the word is out??
I prefer the Bandit for guitar, but I can make them work with steel also.. They're generally pretty versatile. Like Tony, I also 'endorse' the Peavey Bandit.<sup>1</sup>
Thanks for all the feedback. I'll probably deox the pots as suggested just to do it. I'm actually feeling almost a bit guilty about only paying $5.00 for it as I can't find anything wrong. Maybe a bit a scratchiness in a couple of pots, but.... Oh well, he made the offer. I haven't done much with my lap steel yet, but that amp's an animal with my strat!! I think I'll buy a Peavey footswitch for it as I'd like to access both channels. I've got a couple of Boss footswitches, but they just turn the reverb on and off.
Now, on to the steel. As I'm a pretty new steel player, I'm not sure I know what good tone is. Should be fun finding out!
Furtur to my first post...Here is the jack plug Modification I made.It keeps the clean channel permanently on without having to lug a footswitch around.The black moulding is just there to hold the plug if you want to remove it.
To me, the original 1980 Bandit and the later Solo Series Bandit and Bandit 65 are about as good as it gets for a solid-state guitar amp, especially with a Telecaster. I've had a few over the years. I recall around 10 or so years ago seeing Dennis Payne playing his '57 Tele through a Bandit 65 (Smiley Roberts playing steel) in Hendersonville. That sucker snapped, crackled, and popped. The Scorpion really has a distinct but nice sound with a good Tele. Not so much for pedal steel, to me, but when I put a somewhat more neutral speaker in my Bandit 65, I liked it for steel. Perhaps took away some of the pop with a Tele, but for me I thought it was a good tradeoff.
There's almost always one or two available most anywhere - here are a couple in Central PA
I sometimes see them real cheap, but even at $100-150, they're still a bargain, IMO. And conditon matters, I'm happy if I get a real nice clean one for a C-note or so.
Yeah, it's down as Dave noted.. the other link he posted with the .pdf is pretty similar to what was on the original site.
I agree with Dave, those early Bandits work great with a Tele, and aren't bad with an Emmons P/P either. I found the Scorpion 'acceptable', but I really like Celestion green-backs (G12M) for the Bandit and guitar. Unfortunately, those green-backs will cost you more than most of the used Bandits you'll find, especially if you opt for one of the pre-China, UK made Celestions.
These little amps are great value in these days of high-priced Boutique-ness. As Dave notes, they pop up for sale all the time. I'm down to two now, but for a while I bought every one that came along that was under a 100.00.. lol.. and that happened a LOT.
From the same era, especially for 6 string guitar players, don't overlook some of the other models such as the Studio Pro 40 or 50.
I bought two of them last summer.
Advertised as "need repair, don't work, volume fades in/out and jumps".
The pots were scratchy and just needed cleaning.
Price was $25 and $30.
I kept one and gave the other to a friend as a birthday present.
make sure to change the Styrofoam out in the speaker magnet. It will eventually fall into the speaker cone and work its way into the gap between the voice coil and magnet gap. Will ruin the speaker. I see Nashville 400's all the time for sale and usually cringe when i see the pic of the rear and the Styrofoam is not visible or appears gone from the hole in the middle of the speaker magnet.
One of those was my first amp. I hated it, but I also didn't know how to set an amp for anything. It was awful with pedals, but my first pedals were terrible.
I think my dad still has it and I should try it out again. If tone is in the fingers. . .
Just out of curiosity, what does the styrofoam do? Is it needed?
I'm not sure what the original intent was, but I've had several BWs that had that same grill/foam removed (or deteriorated to that gooey mess) and I've used them for years without it, and haven't had any problems.
The hazard Tommy mentions is common, but if you happen to get a speaker in that condition, they can usually be salvaged if you're up to cleaning up the mess. You have to disassemble the speaker basket/magnet, and using some sort of solvent like Naptha (lighter fluid) you can <b>carefully</b> clean the sludge off the voice coil and coil-form/dust cap.
Then using a bit more of the solvent and some sort of folded card stock or whatever works, clean out the residue in the magnet gap. It's a PIA, but I've got way more time than money, and I've resurrected a couple of BWs with this technique.
A little extra care should be taken around the coil windings of course. If you damage that, you'll need to replace the basket.
Just swapped out the scorpion speaker for a Chineese unlabelled Blue Marvel speaker I have from a previous red stripe bandit.It sounds clearer/ tighter and less fluffy with reduced midrange.Might suit steel better .Ill give it a a try...I can allways replace with the scorpion.Changing over using a cordless screwdriver took no more than 5 minutes ,so easy to do.
Regards Dave
Bill - Thanks very much for the info. I expect I'll take apart and clean the speaker. It sounds good right now, but I'm sure I won't be able to resist tinkering with it.
Been tinkering again !.......
Swapped the unlabelled blue marvel out for a Fender Special design from a Fender MA80 .....this really is the most musical out of the 3 speakers .It sounds sweet ,very sweet ,not spiky and well balanced tonaly ,at least with my Tele. this will probably stay in situ !
