New Amp Day - guess what it is!

Drew_TNBD

LOL at the dudes saying they could tell it was SS after the fact.

I couldn't tell. It's not my cuppa tea sound wise, but it does sound very good. Other Tacoma guitarist has a little Peavey Bandit thing that he loves.

guitarfishbay

martinw said:

I agree with Dindude. It's not a bad sound, but you can tell it's SS. There's some nice chime on the cleans but the transition to distortion is too sudden with variations in picking strength, and the distortion towards the end has a hard edged character to it.

If you stick an NT1A infront of a valve amp you'd get a similar high end hard edge on distorted sounds IME.  Comes out very differently to a dynamic as a close mic which is what most people are used to hearing.

Couldn't find anything quickly on youtube as an example except this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxBvprz3gSQ

ThePrettyDamned said:

EDIT: @ICBM, how does the bandit cope at higher volume levels?  Would it gig?  Likewise with this 1x10 combo, is that more or a home amp or would it do for a small gig too?

No idea bout this amp but my bandmate has the full size bandit and gigged it a lot before buying his current amp.  It is plenty loud enough for use with a drummer and sounds pretty decent actually.

ICBM

I purposely used the NT-1A because I wanted more of a 'true sound' rather than the usual SM57 close-mic sound. I actually thought it would show up the difference more! And because I was going for a low-gain sound which I think suits the 'airy' sound of a condenser mic better.

The distortion *does* have a slight hard edge to it, even listening to it direct. I'm not sure if I would have been able to tell that my own recording was solid-state blind, but I think so - there's a very distinctive buzz on the transition from clean to dirty which all solid-state distortion I've ever heard has… although some valve distortion can have too.

That said, I was able to set the Peavey up to sound so close to the 5W Tweed amp in the room that I honestly think most people probably wouldn't be able to tell which was which in a video where it wasn't clear which the sound was actually coming from - and that's comparing pure solid-state to pure power valve overdrive.

I just thought it was a fun test - I genuinely think the difference between valve and solid-state is far less than most people think it is, but still… there's *something* about valve that has the edge. It was also a pain in the backside to dial the Peavey in very finely to sound that good, which is something I usually find with solid-state - valve amps are usually much less fussy.

dindude

Drew_fx said:

LOL at the dudes saying they could tell it was SS after the fact.

I couldn't tell. It's not my cuppa tea sound wise, but it does sound very good. Other Tacoma guitarist has a little Peavey Bandit thing that he loves.

Erm, if you read my first post on page one, my first words were "I think it's a tranny", long before the amp was revealed.

I'm not trying to be cleaver ('cause I'm not!), it's just what I heard. 

p90fool

I honestly struggle to hear the difference between valve and solid state if they're both being played through a decent cab. As others have noted, there are some really crappy valve amps around at the moment, with nasty speakers in dead-sounding boxes.

I've never been fooled however, if it's me doing the playing and it's at stage volume. They just FEEL different, though not necessarily worse.

randomhandclaps

It would be interesting to know how much of our opinion on what it might be was subconsciously guided by the fact that ICBM owns two Mesa TOVs and has a vast amp knowledge so maybe our ears were expecting to hear something a bit special (I don't the mean recording, I mean the amp he/you were using).  We will never know.

As for guessing solid state after the fact, that's fucking nothing, I guessed the exact damn amp after the fact.  >:)

ThePrettyDamned

randomhandclaps;74548" said:

It would be interesting to know how much of our opinion on what it might be was subconsciously guided by the fact that ICBM owns two Mesa TOVs and has a vast amp knowledge so maybe our ears were expecting to hear something a bit special (I don't the mean recording, I mean the amp he/you were using).  We will never know.As for guessing solid state after the fact, that's fucking nothing, I guessed the exact damn amp after the fact.  >:)

It's an interesting point. I suppose that would imply that we listen with eyes and knowledge rather than ears.

Who would have thought? I know I do it makes you wonder just how in control of tone we are...

randomhandclaps

Well similarly we've all had a time when we were playing with a tone we are completely happy with then wake up the next day dial in the same settings and our ears hate it.

crunchman

I had the little brother Peavey Envoy from about 1990 that was a really good little amp for what it was.  I think my brother still has it.

Drew_TNBD

dindude said:

Drew_fx said:

LOL at the dudes saying they could tell it was SS after the fact.

I couldn't tell. It's not my cuppa tea sound wise, but it does sound very good. Other Tacoma guitarist has a little Peavey Bandit thing that he loves.

Erm, if you read my first post on page one, my first words were "I think it's a tranny", long before the amp was revealed.

I'm not trying to be cleaver ('cause I'm not!), it's just what I heard. 

I think ur a tranny!

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Very nearly, and like ThePrettyDamned who PM'd me earlier with "Peavey mini bandit thing I can't remember the name of", close enough that I'll have to give you it .

http://theangelconversations.com/pics/PeaveyStudioPro110.jpg

Studio Pro 110. An all-solid-state practice amp (which technically is a 'master volume' amp, even though I knew that might be taken the wrong way ) from 1993. Dead stock.

I recorded the clip on the dirty channel, with exactly the settings shown. (Except for the reverb being off for the recording.)

Interesting that most people thought it was a valve amp. Even more so, the 5W amp I mentioned that I compared it to for volume was a Tweed Champ circuit with a 12" speaker, and I was able to dial the Peavey in so it sounded very close. I know it's easy to play tricks with your expectations in a recording with no reference, but it really does show how much of it *is* down to the expectations.

That little amp really does sound very good, almost as good as a pretty decent valve amp, even if you're in the room with it.

Nice

I'm reliably useless at telling tones from clips. I did (honest ) ) think maybe the dirt sounds sounded a little solid state (but it's hard to tell) but the cleans sounded really good. So did the dirt, to be fair.

randomhandclaps

Drew_fx said:

dindude said:

Drew_fx said:

LOL at the dudes saying they could tell it was SS after the fact.

I couldn't tell. It's not my cuppa tea sound wise, but it does sound very good. Other Tacoma guitarist has a little Peavey Bandit thing that he loves.

Erm, if you read my first post on page one, my first words were "I think it's a tranny", long before the amp was revealed.

I'm not trying to be cleaver ('cause I'm not!), it's just what I heard. 

I think ur a tranny!

With that attitude you're never gonna get the chance to check for sure.

guitarfishbay

ICBM said:

I purposely used the NT-1A because I wanted more of a 'true sound' rather than the usual SM57 close-mic sound. I actually thought it would show up the difference more! And because I was going for a low-gain sound which I think suits the 'airy' sound of a condenser mic better.

The distortion *does* have a slight hard edge to it, even listening to it direct. 

I was specifically talking about when the tone hit full saturation/distortion at 1:26.  I've got an NT1A and it can work really nicely for cleaner sounds but when more dirt comes on I've found it less flattering than a dynamic.  I didn't get a chance to listen to the clip until after the reveal, but I wouldn't have got it right in all honesty.  This is the first time I've heard one of these and it sounds nicer than I would've expected.

Happy NAD!

Deadman

Well shag me sideways. I like that.