u/chevelle899

I currently have a Peavey studio Pro 40. I’ve been recommended a Bandit 112.
Curious from people who’ve owned or played both — is the Bandit 112 actually a noticeable upgrade, especially as a pedal platform?

What I care about most:
Good tone at low/home/basement volumes
Nice cleans
Takes pedals well (OD/distortion/fuzz)
Doesn’t sound harsh or fizzy at lower volumes

I mostly get my gain from pedals, so the amp’s built-in distortion isn’t super important to me.

The Studio Pro 40 has been decent, but my main complaints are:
Can sound kind of boxy/stiff
Cleans can feel a little sterile
Fuzz pedals don’t always sound great through it
Doesn’t always feel full at lower volumes

I’ve seen a lot of people recommend the Bandit 112 as one of the best solid-state pedal platform amps, especially the red stripe models. Is it actually better for cleans and pedal use, or is it mostly just louder?
Also curious how well the Bandit works at bedroom/basement volume since I’m not gigging. I’ve read the TransTube stuff and power scaling make it pretty usable at low volume.

Would love opinions from anyone who has spent real time with both amps.

Would a speaker upgrade on the studio pro be a better option than getting the Bandit 112?

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for advice on a new guitar amp for home use (basement playing). My priority is great tone at low, reasonable volume levels, not loudness or gigging headroom.

Mostly play: Blues, classic rock, Doom/stoner rock

🎛️** Current amp**s
Line 6 Spider III 75W
Harsh/artificial tone at low volume
Doesn’t respond well to fuzz or dirt pedals
Not the sound I’m looking for anymore

Peavey Studio Pro 40
Better, but still not ideal
Clean tone feels a bit stiff/boxy
Doesn’t handle fuzz/doom tones well

🎯 What I’m looking for
Excellent clean tone at low basement volume
Sounds good without needing to be loud
Strong pedal platform (fuzz / overdrive / distortion)
Blues cleans (dynamic, not sterile)
Doom/stoner capable tones (full low end, not thin/fizzy)
Tube or solid state is fine — no preference
Built-in distortion is not important (I use pedals for gain)
Combo or head/cab is fine
Open to used or new amps

❌ What I want to avoid
Amps that only sound good when turned up
Harsh practice amp tone
Digital/Modeling amp
Expensive boutique tube amps
Anything that relies on amp gain over pedals

❓ My question
What amps would you recommend that work well specifically at low volume with pedals doing most of the gain work, while still giving great clean tones and solid low-end response for blues and heavier fuzz-based styles?
I’m mainly trying to avoid wasting time on amps that only really come alive at higher volume.

I’ve been suggested a used Peavey Bandit 112 — any thoughts on that for this kind of setup?

I’m trying to figure out the cleanest way to use one pedalboard with two different amps.

One amp has an FX loop and the other doesn’t.

Right now my setup is split like this:
Front of amp:
tuner
compressor
harmonizer/pitch pedal
auto wah
fuzz
muff/fuzz
distortion

FX loop:
phaser
delay
looper

When I use the amp with the FX loop, everything is set up the way I want. But when I switch to the amp without a loop, I have to unplug and rearrange cables so the modulation/delay pedals can go into the front of the amp instead.

Is there a cleaner way to do this without constantly rewiring everything? Basically trying to make switching between the two amps as painless as possible while keeping pedal order correct.

I’m getting three guitars professionally set up and planning to keep each one dedicated to a fixed tuning to avoid constant retuning.
The tunings I want to cover are:

E standard
Eb standard
C# standard

The guitars are:
Schecter C1-FR (Floyd Rose)
Squier Telecaster
Washburn Nuno Bettencourt N1 HH

Which guitar should get which tuning? I’m trying to plan out the setups in a way that makes sense from a tension, scale length feel, and hardware stability standpoint, rather than just randomly assigning tunings.

I’m also open to string gauge suggestions for each tuning.

I have these pedals. I read analog and digital pedals shouldn’t be on the same daisy chain. I also read some pedals work better in the effects loop( I have a peavey studio pro 40). With two separate daisy chains, how should I power these pedals(which one’s powered together)? What pedals should go in effects loop?

Donner Tuner pedal

Joyo Dyna compressor

Donner Harmonic Square

Donner Mini Auto Wah

MXR Phase 90

Behringer Super Fuzz SF300

Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi

Behringer FD300 Ultra Feedback/Distortion

Donner Yellow Fall Delay

Lekato Looper pedal