Peavey Bandit 75...anyone tried it for pedal steel?

Don Christy · Posted 27 Dec 2021 8:12 am

Hi
I found a Peavey Bandit 75 in great condition. Its all stock and no mods on it.

Has anyone tried these for pedal steel? If you have one...what is the good and bad In your honest opinion?

Thanks!

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

If I didn't have to be real loud, I sometimes used a Bandit 65 for pedal steel, which is the 75's immediate predecessor and is very similar. To my tastes, the 65 is a great Tele amp as-is with the stock Scorpion speaker, but I preferred a less high-midrange-peaky speaker for pedal steel. I wound up putting an Eminence Blue Marvel type 70-80 watt speaker in mine before it disappeared, and I liked it just fine.

There are two potential issues:

1. It would not stay pristine clean if I would have tried to get over a ridiculously loud stage volume like a Session/NV 400/1000 would have. Volume-wise, it was more at the level of the NV 112, which is plenty loud for most of my gigs. Tonally a bit different, but so is a Fender and I like those too.

2. The midrange center frequency is not frequency-sweepable. So if you don't like their choice of midrange cut/boost center frequency, you're left with the choice of changing it with external EQ or changing a few components to get what you want. Or add a pot to give you a midrange sweep.

Personally, I was fine with the stock midrange sound at reasonable volumes. Unfortunately, that amp disappeared from a rehearsal space, and I found a pair of Studio Pros (40 & 50) for stupid cheap to replace it. I like them just fine for the same purpose. They are actually pretty similar, just slightly lower in power, barely discernible.

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

I'm on board with Dave. It will work but not the best of tone without some help. I have a newer model and it's has the Sheffield speaker. Great guitar Amp but not my favorite for steel. With an outboard EQ it's much better.

Don Christy · Posted 27 Dec 2021 2:02 pm

Thank you Dave and Larry! This is what I needed to know.

The Bandit 75 is loud for sure, but at this time I will pass on the amp that's For Sale. Your information helped me.

Dave, do you have pictures or a link to look at these Studio Pro's you have?

I'm still thinking of getting a Fender Custom Twin with the 15" speaker. I hear they are real nice and warm sounding.

Reverb.com has some and its hard to swallow the $800 price on a used one right now. I might get one next spring when I have more pennies in my bank. I always like the tube sounds.

It sure would be nice if Fender or Peavey made a 1-12 tube amp at under $300. For home use it would be great! Mono Price has a tube amp in that range, but its not for pedal steel I don't think. I wonder if anyone tried it for pedal steel?

This is why I was looking for a $100-$200 amp today to have around the home.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Let me be clear - I think the Bandit 65 or 75 for in the $100 or under range is a great deal. I think I paid $100 for that Bandit 65 (probably 8-10 years ago), $35 for the Studio Pro 40 and $45 for the Studio Pro 50 recently. I had to do a few things, I discussed it further here - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=375758 - and here - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=375759

But if you don't need a full-blown 200+ watt pedal steel amp, these can work pretty well. Or maybe a mid-80s Special 130, which BTW has a sweepable midrange control and 130 watts RMS, which should be enough to blow the doors down if the stage volume is not ridiculous. Those come with Scorpion speakers too - not my favorite for pedal steel. But decent speakers can be had reasonable for an amp like this.

Those threads linked above focused on reasonably priced amps that might work for pedal steel. Here's a picture of my Peavey Studio Pro 40, as well as the Peavey Backstage that I leave at the rehearsal space now.

BTW, that Backstage, and its slightly more powerful brother the Backstage Plus, is a pretty nice little rehearsal amp if you don't need to be loud. It may take a little patient searching, but I have been able to find all of these for very reasonable prices, and they are really well-made and roadworthy.

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