# My "Jazz Bandit"



## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Jazz Bandit, or maybe Country Bandit?
This Bandit65 had the silver panels up the side made of plastic, that yellows badly and cracks when people try to take the grill off by pulling on them.
I took the trim off, and the Peavey emblem, and recovered the grill in black. Cloth from Nextgen in Ottawa.

The circuit has Ge diodes in place of silicone in the saturation feedback circuit, and LEDs in place of the power amp clipping diodes, new caps in the power supply, all new ICs, and cleaned up controls. 16 ohm G12T75 reduces overall loudness and has more bass then the stock Peavey speaker.
Thank you to @oldjoat for the diodes, 16 months ago! Took a pandemic to get me to open this up and do the the very basic mods.

The saturation distortion is much less then a stock Bandit, and with it turned down the cleans are really nice.
I have no idea how bad it sounds loud, or distorted, but it sounds great in my basement with the reverb on 4.
I've got about $120 into it so far. My son thinks it sounds great for jazz and with him playing I agree.


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

I have the same amp for home use and to have a possible backup if my main gigging amp goes down for any length of time.
I've been looking for mods online, but haven't found anything really laid out.
I should clarify. I'm not looking to mod as much as I'm looking to "freshen up" an old amp.
Maybe try to lessen the noise on the distortion channel as well.
Could you explain further the parts you changed out and why?


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

A few years ago there was a local blues jam and three of these were the backline. They are awesome amps.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

I am sure I have said this before, but I remember a music store owner, surrounded by costly gear, pointing to a Bandit and saying: "Best amp ever made." 

I would love to hear yours with the mods.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The Bandit series is solid and affordable. I have a Transtube model and it's very versatile.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I'll have to dig up the notes, but I found a short thread about these mods on an electronics forum years ago.
I didn't do all of them, just 4 diodes. 2 diodes got replaced by LEDs, 2 diodes by Ge diodes. The effect is to reduce when the clipping distortion comes in, and to reduce the amount of it. I also replaced the 4 main power supply caps. They didnt look bad, but they're 40 years old at this point. Also, all new ICs - they are in sockets and just pop out. $1 each or less for low noise OP-amps I figured why not.

I also use G12T75, 16 ohm, which is less efficient then the stock Peavey by a fair amount and so overall volume is a bit less.

Oh, and removing the Peavey emblem cuts back on the "I expect this to sound like death metal" sizzle at least by half! Haha..


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

Do you know which IC's you put in?
Same as stock?



tomee2 said:


> I'll have to dig up the notes, but I found a short thread about these mods on an electronics forum years ago.
> I didn't do all of them, just 4 diodes. 2 diodes got replaced by LEDs, 2 diodes by Ge diodes. The effect is to reduce when the clipping distortion comes in, and to reduce the amount of it. I also replaced the 4 main power supply caps. They didnt look bad, but they're 40 years old at this point. Also, all new ICs - they are in sockets and just pop out. $1 each or less for low noise OP-amps I figured why not.
> 
> I also use G12T75, 16 ohm, which is less efficient then the stock Peavey by a fair amount and so overall volume is a bit less.
> ...


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

tomee2 said:


> removing the Peavey emblem cuts back on the "I expect this to sound like death metal"


Yeah, that removes a lot of prejudgement.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

The bandit was my first real amp. I used it all through high school and loved it.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

mrfiftyfour said:


> Do you know which IC's you put in?
> Same as stock?


The schematic says stock op amp is "4558" so I'd guess that would be an older JRC4558 same as a tube screamer and a million other pedals... I'd like to know if the op thinks it made any difference as I would think in those older amps most noise is coming from the resistors, ymmv


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Jimmy_D said:


> The schematic says stock op amp is "4558" so I'd guess that would be an older JRC4558 same as a tube screamer and a million other pedals... I'd like to know if the op thinks it made any difference as I would think in those older amps most noise is coming from the resistors, ymmv


Yes, I put 4558s back in. There was one noisy one. I swapped them out 1 at time with no real change in sound or noise but the reverb hissing dropped out when one got changed. I think it was the very first one in the preamp circuit. 
But, for all I know I just wiped corrosion off the pins and putting the old one back in might've been just as quiet. They are in sockets. I also cleaned all the cable connectors. The inside was clean but very dusty.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Jimmy_D said:


> The schematic says stock op amp is "4558" so I'd guess that would be an older JRC4558 same as a tube screamer and a million other pedals... I'd like to know if the op thinks it made any difference as I would think in those older amps most noise is coming from the resistors, ymmv


From that schematic...
CR5 and CR6 were changed to red LEDs, increasing the clipping voltage.
And CR3 and CR4 were changed to Ge diode (AO91?), something with lower reverse voltage then a diode. 

This was the thread I got the idea from:


Peavey Bandit 65 mods, anyone have any good mods? - Music Electronics Forum


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

tomee2 said:


> Oh, and removing the Peavey emblem cuts back on the "I expect this to sound like death metal" sizzle at least by half! Haha..


I always found that to be the best feature of these Bandits. I just wish mine was in the form of a head instead of a combo.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

tomee2 said:


> My son thinks it sounds great for jazz and with him playing I agree.


Is your son studying jazz or is that one of the (many) genres he enjoys playing?
Any samples of his playing on YT?
Thanks

BTW... @tomee2 Not intended to offend your playing/skills in any way. Just a personal interest in jazz here.
For all I know, maybe you taught your son all he knows!!


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

LouisFNCyphre said:


> I just wish mine was in the form of a head instead of a combo.


You could convert it to a head...I did it to my son's Bandit, much easier to tote around and for speaker loading:


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

Paul Running said:


> You could convert it to a head...I did it to my son's Bandit, much easier to tote around and for speaker loading:


I've had the amp out of the cabinet for awhile, at some point I'll cut it down and put it all back together. My Crate GX gets most of my attention though, I don't think I've ever heard an amp I like better.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

A friend of mine was making a country album and hired one of the best country guitar players in Canada (according to him) to play on a few tunes. He was surprised when the guy showed up with a Peavey Bandit


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

greco said:


> Is your son studying jazz or is that one of the (many) genres he enjoys playing?
> Any samples of his playing on YT?
> Thanks
> 
> ...


No, I haven't taught him anything.  He likes jazz, mostly on piano, but learned guitar pretty quickly in the last few years. He's self learning many standards on piano, not sure why but he likes it. 

If you want to hear a Peavey doing jazz, here is Andy Brown using a Peavey Special 130, very similar to a Bandit, just double the power.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks very much for the response and for the video. I have been looking for some jazz videos that I haven't seen and you have now made my day, week and month by linking the Andy Brown video ...I'll savour listening and watching the entire hour of it. 
Extremely impressive playing and tone! 
Have you seen him live? Where is he located...locally for you?
Thanks again!


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

greco said:


> Thanks very much for the response and for the video. I have been looking for some jazz videos that I haven't seen and you have now made my day, week and month by linking the Andy Brown video ...I'll savour listening and watching the entire hour of it.
> Extremely impressive playing and tone!
> Have you seen him live? Where is he located...locally for you?
> Thanks again!


He's in Chicago I think. Never seen live, but I catch the weekly quarantine live sessions once in a while, and with them all on YouTube there's weeks of listening there.

Edit to add that the recording quality is just excellent. I play these vids on my home stereo and it's just fantastic.


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

Scottone said:


> A friend of mine was making a country album and hired one of the best country guitar players in Canada (according to him) to play on a few tunes. He was surprised when the guy showed up with a Peavey Bandit


Wasn't that the main demo that preferred Peavey until the 5150 came out?


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## tufnr (Aug 22, 2021)

this is my cheapo head conversion using an xr600b headshell. not pretty, but dead quiet and good sounding with the right speakers.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Jimmy_D said:


> The schematic says stock op amp is "4558" so I'd guess that would be an older JRC4558 same as a tube screamer and a million other pedals... I'd like to know if the op thinks it made any difference as I would think in those older amps most noise is coming from the resistors, ymmv


Thank you to share


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## tufnr (Aug 22, 2021)

use TL072 chips, it’s a generic part


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

tufnr said:


> use TL072 chips, it’s a generic part


Original was 4558 and they're cheap enough. 
But yes, TL072 would work. lots written about these chips, too much to go into really... a near endless rabbit hole for sure!


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