Dead Bandit on ebay.

[CrazyEddie]

Hello all!
I'm Ed, from the UK. I'm new here.

Now then. There's a dead Peavey Bandit on eBay, not far from me - the new style with the codpiece logo. The seller only says "The amp needs some repairs after a power surge at band practice."
What's the likely fault? Is it a major to fix? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron.
Most of all, do you think it's worth the 45 quid starting price?
Cheers,
- Ed

[J M Fahey]

Its worth is up to you.
I feel a dead amp (or anything else) is worth *nothing* until repaired.
At most, its value lies in its cabinet, speaker , (empty) chassis and power transformer, *if* you are building, say, am LM3886 amplifier and don't have where to house it or if you want to build some tube project, same considerations.
When the seller claims " it's probably a 5 cents part" you tell him "indeed? .... *which* one? .... troubleshooting time runs $60 an hour .... "
"Repair it and I'll gladly pay 5 cents extra for what you replaced".
.

[joecool85]

Peavey Bandits had a variety of configurations, right?  I suppose if it was a big amp (50+ watts and at least a 12" speaker or two 10s/12s) then it might be worth some money.  But only if you need said amp.  It probably is a silly fix, but it could be a quite costly one - especially if the owner is down playing the problem.

[CrazyEddie]

Cheers, guys!

Joe - the Bandit is always a 1x12 combo, currently of 100W. As SS guitar amps go, they're one of the most respected, which is why I thought I would start there on my mission to stop worrying about tubes. My instinct is that 45 pounds for a non-working amp is quite a lot of money. Then again, how much can go wrong with an audio amplifier?

I thought there was a chance it was a common problem with that amp. I think for that price I'll just avoid it.
- Ed

[J M Fahey]

I thought there was a chance it was a common problem with that amp.

You mean, as in "the red wire always unsolders in those amps, just resolder it and crazy glue it to the chassis so it doesn't happen again" ?
Unfortunately, it's *never* like that 
The part is usually not a problem; finding which one is the big one.

[joecool85]

I thought there was a chance it was a common problem with that amp.

You mean, as in "the red wire always unsolders in those amps, just resolder it and crazy glue it to the chassis so it doesn't happen again" ?
Unfortunately, it's *never* like that 
The part is usually not a problem; finding which one is the big one.

I dunno, Fender Frontmans almost always have a bad input jack.  I'd say 75% of the time that's the issue I see with a broken one.  Easy and cheap fix.  Not all amps are like that though.

Also, $45 quid is about $90 USD.  That's quite a bit for a broken amp.  I paid half that (almost exactly) for my broken Vox AD50VT.  Turned out to be an easy fix and it was WELL worth the money.  However, I've done this before so I knew what to look for and how to diagnose and repair the problem.  Since this Bandit is twice the money and it seems you have less experience, I'd say take a pass on it.  Heck, for just a little more you can get a working amp of similar wattage.

[dan92y]

Hello all!
I'm Ed, from the UK. I'm new here.

Now then. There's a dead Peavey Bandit on eBay, not far from me - the new style with the codpiece logo. The seller only says "The amp needs some repairs after a power surge at band practice."
What's the likely fault? Is it a major to fix? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron.
Most of all, do you think it's worth the 45 quid starting price?
Cheers,
- Ed

Greetings.  I read your post and hope you don't mind input from a technological pygmie.  Get a working amp and save the hassle unless you are good at troubleshooting.  I have an amp that 'died' and am trying to fix.  The guys here have been AMAZING in helping me.  I Have NO CLUE how to troubleshoot these things and as much help as I have received on the forum, it has been frustrating as **$&&$!  Don't know your experience level, so I hope I don't insult.  Good luck and hope you get LOUD real soon.
Dan

[CrazyEddie]

You make the good point that for that price I could very nearly get a working one.
That's just the starting bid - there's a Buy It Now option at £65, which is definitely working Bandit territory. Very optimistic seller.

I will probably be hanging around here in the future as I'm planning to take a break from valves, for a while at least.
I'm keeping my eye on Bandits, but also Super Tramps, Trademark 60s etc.

[joecool85]

You make the good point that for that price I could very nearly get a working one.
That's just the starting bid - there's a Buy It Now option at £65, which is definitely working Bandit territory. Very optimistic seller.

I will probably be hanging around here in the future as I'm planning to take a break from valves, for a while at least.
I'm keeping my eye on Bandits, but also Super Tramps, Trademark 60s etc.

I really like my Vox AD50VT and would recommend pretty much any of the Vox Valvetronix series amps.  The older/used ones go for relatively cheap and they sound excellent.