Peavey BANDIT Operating Manual

OPQÄTING
GUIDE
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Through ourResearch & Development programs, wehave recently made tremendous strides insolid-statedesign andPeavey's new
Bandit" embodies totallynewinnovations aswell astheexperience gainedoverthepastfifteenyears.Musichasseenampsgofromsmall
singleunitsto largestacks andnowbackto smaller a mps again. M any musicians t odayaredesperately s eeking agoodsmall a mp. T he
newPeavey Bandit'"is quite a departure from previous solid-state ampsand represents w hatwe feelis a dramatic increase in
performance o verunitspreviously a vailable. Thisversatile n ewamplifier f eatures t otallynewcircuitrythroughout. Careful a ttention has
beenpaidto even themost s ubtle factorsinfluencing tonaltexture, o verload dynamics, sustaining characteristics andinteraction ofthe
p, pream power amp stage/loudspeake r
Ingredients a nd"seemingly i nsignificant" d etails makes thedifference between a superlative a ndexceptional amplifier andonethatis
merely good.
The Bandit'"incorporatesthe featuresneededto reproducethe complextonalitiesanddynamicsnecessary for today'sguitarists.
Our intensiveResearchand Developmentprogramhas recentlyyielded severalsignificant and, we feel, pivotal breakthroughs in
amplification of theelectricguitar.For manyyears,both guitarists and instrument a mpmanufacturers h avediligentlysoughtto
reproducethewarm,"saturating"characteristic of vacuumtubeswith solid-stateequipment. O urinnovative newBandit'"featuresanew
effect that we call "SATURATION'"," which producesthe kind of gain compression/expansionthat haspreviously beenobtainable only
withaselect fewextremely highgain, r elatively powerful tube type amps. Inthepast, m any companies have attempted toreproduce the
muchsoughtaftercharacteristics of vacuum tubesby usingfieldeffecttransistors, MOSFETS, i ntersta9e t ransformers, seriesgain
stages, e tc.Theresults wereusually loudbutdidnotaccomplish t hegoal.Wefeel o urnewSATURATION circuitgives thenecessary
dynamic characteristics, harmonic texture, a ndcompression/expansion
Tocomplement theBandit'sy• sophisticated c ircuitry,wehave included thelatest g eneration t hree-band p assive t onenetwork and
further enhancedthe equalizationwith activepresencecircuitry capableof yielding a substantialboostor cut. This uniquepresence
equalization i slocated attheproper pointinthecircuitrytoallow incremental control o verthe extreme highs......even whenplaying inthe
distortion mode.
The combinationof the input dynamics,"SATURATIONT"" effect,and the extremelyeffectiveequalizationcircuitry enablesthe
Bandit'"to quiteliterallysimulatealmostanyguitarsoundavailable fromanyamp,oldor new.TheBandit w alsofeaturesasecondnormal
channel that is footswitch selectable and incorporates our unique AUTOMIXT"switching circuitry now being copied by so many of
Peavey's competitors.
In additionto the above,a full rangereverbhasbeenincludedutilizing a currentsourcedrive circuit for optimizeddampingand
maximumperformance from the reverbdelay line. The rugged50 watt poweramplifierfeatures idealdampingand bandpass
characteristics. This new electronic chassis is complemented by a newly designed loudspeaker whose characteristics have been
carefullymatchedto complement t hefrequencyresponse, p oweroutputanddampingfactorof theBandit'sre poweramp.The ruggedly
constructed 3/4" c abinet is covered with a rugged 34 oz. vinyl which has proven to be unmatched for roadability and durability.
FRONT PANEL
INPUTS (A) (B)
The newBandit'" hasbeenprovidedwith two inputjacks,eachhavingdifferentsensitivities andauniquearrangement a llowingthe
gainofbothjacksto beequalized w heninstruments areplugged intobothjacks. T hehighgainjack(A)istheinputnormally used andhas
considerably m ore sensitivity a ndinputimpedance thanthelowgainjack(B).Thislowgainjackhasbeen included toallow extension of
theinputdynamic range. I f theoutputsignalfromyourinstrument isprematurely overloading ( distorting) t hehighgaininput,thenthe
low gain input (-6 dB) should be used.
GAIN BLOCK'"
TheBandit'"hasbeen designed utilizingournew"GAINBLOCK f "" signalprocessing f rontend.Theprovision of three interacting
controlsallowstotalcontrol of the amp'sgainstructure(dynamics),harmoniccontent,overloadtexture,andoutput level.Eachof the
three control functions must be understood, and adequateexperimentationtime must bespent in order to fully utilizethe potential of this
unique and innovative new amp.
PRE GAIN/PULL BRIGHT CONTROL
Ourleadchannel p regaincontrol i ssimilar toaconventional volume controlinthatit isthefirstlevel s etting device inthesystem. Our
inputpreamp circuitryutilizesvariable negative feedback withthepregaincontrolaspartoftheactive circuit.Utilization of thistype
circuitryenables anoptimum combination of inputdynamic range,inputimpedance, andlownoiseoperation foranyparticular g ain
setting. O peration s hould present n oproblem sinceitsactionisconventional even though theassociated c ircuitryisquitedifferent f rom
older,totallypassive circuits.Please beawarethatthiscontrolexhibitsthe professional l ogarithmic(audio)taperhavingapproximately
one-fourthof the gainachievedat the 12:000'clockpositionwith the balancebeingobtainedasthe controlisrotatedclockwise.Many
manufacturers utilize "linear" action controls that concentrate almostall of the gain in the first one-third of the control rotation. Whilethis
"linearoperation" i s"initiallyimpressive," it should benotedthathaving all thegain"upfront"inthefirstone-third turnismisleading a nd
significantly reduces the amount of control latitude available.
Thepregaincontrolfeatures anintegral p ullswitchgivinga boostto thehighfrequencies o f approximately 8dB.Thispullswitch
enables significant " brilliance" t o beadded whendesired. E xperience h asproven thatadded brilliance tends to detract s omewhat from
the smooth overload characteristics
"SATURATION"" CONTROL
The SATURATION'" control is the element for setting the operating point for our new and unique "SATURATION'" circuitry.
Because theguitar amp isa veryvital partof the soundof theelectricguitar,wehavedevotedmanyyearstowardachievingthe proper
"sound"andgain/overload d ynamics soughtby guitarists. U ntilnow.ampsutilizingvacuum tubes(valves) h ave beenconsidered by
manyplayers to besuperior t o mostsolid-state units.Today, P eavey istheonlymajormanufacturer ofbothtubetypeandsolid-state
amps, giving us a unique opportunity to study and analyze the various characteristics of each type.
combination. The thousands ofhou rswe have s pent giving this attention tothe many a nd various
(C)
when playing in the distortion
(D)
TO PREVENT
HAZARD, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE
TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.
soeagerly soughtafterby contemporary m usicians.
mode.
WARNING:
ELECTRICAL SHOCK OR FIRE