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I really like the sound of the Peavey bandits, they seem to deliver a similar sound to a lot of high gain amps but a lot cheaper and easier to manage.

The only problem is the Bandits can be a bit on the heavy side for me; I guess I'm used to 1x10 combos, but I need the extra bass response. The Envoy seems to be the same thing but half the weight, but unfortunately has no FX loop. Is it possible to get a 10" speaker with the same bass response as the average 12"? I imagine it might be, if it traded off some volume for low end, and was sensitive enough to make that feasible.

There's also the problem that it's not meant to sound as good at lower volumes(which is odd for an SS amp) and you can't get the clean channels to break up at lower volumes. This can be a problem as sometimes I like to run a fuzz into a slightly dirty channel which I'm not sure the Bandit can do(unless the dirty channels become near clean at lower gain).

Anyway I'm looking for suggestions from fresh new people, if any of you have had experience of the Bandit, or a similar amp. I'm open to pretty much anything that has some high gain sounds, a decent clean channel for taking pedals, good bass response and doesn't weigh a ton, wouldn't mind a modeler if it sounded at least as good as the Bandit.

Ampeg Reverberocket.
LOADS of bass, doesnt get SUPER high gain but it can get pretty dirty. It takes pedals like a champ and the reverb is beautiful.

i am in love with my vox ac4 half stack. 1/4 watt, 1 watt, and 4 watt settings. it loves the pedlulz and i tried it out with a baritone and bought it. the bass responce is nice. i bought the half stack, but they have a combo that sounds about the same. if you have a local dealer you should give one a test drive!

magiclawnchair wrote:i am in love with my vox ac4 half stack. 1/4 watt, 1 watt, and 4 watt settings. it loves the pedlulz and i tried it out with a baritone and bought it. the bass responce is nice. i bought the half stack, but they have a combo that sounds about the same. if you have a local dealer you should give one a test drive!

I recently got a Vox AC4TV 1x10 combo for Christmas and I'm really enjoying it. The bass response is good. For a tube amp the price was right. It's no frills though but sounds nice with pedals and has a nice clean sound that can be pushed to beautiful tube driven bliss. I would try one out if you can! It's also really easy to carry around.

props to the vox ac4!

I actually like a lot of people recently already have an AC4, I need something that can actually get some clean headroom over a drummer. Like, I can't use any heavy distortion pedals with the AC4 at serious volumes, it just makes everything sound too Voxy. In general it has a problem with that(as do a lot of Vox amps in general - kind of a trade off for having more interesting clean tones) unless I turn the tone down, which makes the cleans a bit dull when I switch between the two.

The Ampeg is way out of my budget. I'm looking at like around the price of a Peavey Bandit, maybe a bit more. I'll probably be buying used.

you say "too voxy" like it's a bad thing! I'd recommend watching ebay for a good deal on a peavey classic 30, those things crank!

Played around with my AC4 for a bit; it's really not that bad after all. What it does really well though are clean tones and broken up clean tones. The higher gain tones are interesting since they're a nice fuzzy distortion, but somehow they seem to lack sustain or something, it's more like it's making you think it's higher gain than it actually is. A tube swap might work but I kind of like the harsher character of the amp as it is.

urmm a fender blues jr maybe? wont go SUPER high gain really but it can manage anything up to hard rock and given that youre looking to run a pedal thru it anyway id say it should do what youre looking for. nice full bass and mids, specially with the mid boost button down (which it always should be)

ifeellikeatourist wrote:you say "too voxy" like it's a bad thing! I'd recommend watching ebay for a good deal on a peavey classic 30, those things crank!

I think he's looking for an SS amp?
And though Peavey's Classic series really IS great, they pretty durn heavy amplifiers... my classic 50 2x12 weighs 60lbs!!

rabbit wrote:urmm a fender blues jr maybe? wont go SUPER high gain really but it can manage anything up to hard rock and given that youre looking to run a pedal thru it anyway id say it should do what youre looking for. nice full bass and mids, specially with the mid boost button down (which it always should be)

Blues Juniors can be pretty damn awesome, especially with all the BillM mods. I still have mine stock, and it's a little muddy, but with the mods it cleans up real nicely and can be cranked much better.

Nychthemeron wrote:

rabbit wrote:urmm a fender blues jr maybe? wont go SUPER high gain really but it can manage anything up to hard rock and given that youre looking to run a pedal thru it anyway id say it should do what youre looking for. nice full bass and mids, specially with the mid boost button down (which it always should be)

Blues Juniors can be pretty damn awesome, especially with all the BillM mods. I still have mine stock, and it's a little muddy, but with the mods it cleans up real nicely and can be cranked much better.

ohh ive never tried or heard a modded one, ill look into that. i think that you can get such a great tone out of a blues jr but it does take some fiddling, i dont think its an amp you can really just flick stuff around with and find the sound you want. but then im kind of perfectionist about that kinda thing so who knows.

Ideally something a lot like a JCM800 would do. My favourite "metal" tone is probably Opeth's Orchid which is a Boss HM-2 into a JCM800. But I'd want a little teeny bit extra gain on board so I can get some heavy stuff without always needing a pedal.

The best high gain tone I could get would be something that sounds like the stuff they used on Gish and MCiS. The only thing I can get that would do that would be maybe the JMD1 which models the JMP1.

Something a bit Marshally would be great, or something a bit 5150/6505 ish. There's plenty to do Mesa-ish sounds.

Considering just getting a Modeler and a Keyboard amp/PA/Powered Cab.

if its the marshall sound youre looking for then get a traynor any of the ycvs will do you nicely i think