Peavey Solo Series & Transtube Series Bandit 112. This one was a nightmare and a half to do, largely due to the Transtube variants, which use NPN Darlington pairs for the gain stages. One piece of the puzzle was solved when I did the Jordan Boss Tone circuits as a side-quest while taking a break, but the simulations were still not stable enough to prevent occasional sample peaks, especially with the first Transtube model. The solution I found feels a bit hacky, but using the Delay Buffer component between the last NPN Darlington pair and the PNP driver before the tone stack. Oh well, if it works, it works.
Anyway... the history of this amp is very fascinating. It has gone through many iterations to the point where each design is vastly different from each other, particularly with the jump from the Solo Series to the Transtube Series. You can't even say that they're the same amp because of the massive shift in design choices for the overall circuits.
・Solo Series (1989-1995)
。Preamp design solely used 4558 op-amps and a pair of clipping diodes for the Saturation (SuperSAT) channel.
。Normal channel w/ Bright switch - quite clean, can also be pushed into edge of breakup territory.
。Lead (SuperSAT) channel - high gain channel. There are differences between the early 1989 and late 1989 versions:
＞Early 1989 has more gain on tap. It also has only two active EQ controls for the low and high frequencies (Bottom and Edge, respectively.)
＞Late 1989 has less gain, with the Gain switch adding more gain to match the previous version. A mid-frequency control (Body) was also added on top of the EQ along with a Shift switch, which changes the mid-frequencies that are affected by the Body control.
・Transtube Series (1995-1999)
。Introduction of the patented Transtube™ design, which uses NPN BJT Darlington pairs for gain stages and a PNP as a buffer before the EQ.
。Transistor-based preamp circuit aside, the controls are similar to the Solo Series version, with the major differences being:
＞The Lead channel uses a Fender/Marshall-style tonestack circuit. Huge departure from the active EQ circuit from the Solo Series.
＞The "Thrash" switch is more of a mid-freq notch as a result.
・Transtube Series II USA/China (2000-2005)
。Overall voicing is a tad bit different. Kinda darker sounding
。Order of channel modes are reversed for some reason.
。The Clean channel has two different voicings; Modern and Vintage. Modern has more presence in the mid frequencies, while Vintage is relatively twangy.
。The Lead channel now also has three separate voicings; High Gain, Modern, and Vintage. High Gain and Modern are the same in gain structure, Modern just scoops the mids. Vintage is lower gain.
・Bandit with Transtube Technology (2006-Current)
。This is closer sounding to the first Transtube model.
。Order of channel modes are reverted.
。The Clean channel now has three voicings; Vintage, Modern, and Warm. The only difference is that Modern retains the boost in mid frequencies, and Warm adds the top end similar to the previous Transtube model.
。The "Vintage" voicing from the Lead channel is now named "Classic."
Huge thanks to THRobinson from the Ultimate Metal forums for detailing the timeline of this amp:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1828458#4
[LEGEND]
・Solo Series Early/Late 1989
。NOR - Normal Channel
。LD - Lead (SuperSAT) Channel
。BR - Bright
。GB - Gain Boost (Late 1989 model)
。SH - Shift (Late 1989 model)
・Transtube Series
。CLN - Clean channel
。LD - Lead channel
。BR - Bright
。GB - Gain Boost
。SH - Shift
・Transtube Series II
。CLN - Clean channel
。LD - Lead channel
。MDRN - Modern
。VNTG - Vintage
。HG - High Gain
・Bandit with Transtube Technology
。CLN - Clean channel
。LD - Lead channel
。VNTG - Vintage
。MDRN - Modern
。WARM - Warm
。CLSC - Classic
。HG - High Gain
[NOTES]
・All the models are captured with 8x oversampling and 64 iterations for the highest quality possible.
・All controls are flat so you can hear the amp as it is with neutral settings. I may add additional captures with "ideal" settings, but that's not a priority for now..
・Should you wish to push more gain into the captures, use a separate gain utility/plugin and a clipper/waveshaper/limiter with a ceiling of -0.1dB or less before your NAM loader to prevent nuking the models if the input signal gets too hot.
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LiveSPICE:
https://livespice.org/
Original LiveSPICE .schx schematic file:
https://github.com/MARKTHERENCE/LiveSPICE-MK-Circuits
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There has been some interest for me to have an option for people who'd like to donate for my work, so here's my PayPal link *only* if you feel generous:
https://paypal.me/83ennui
Making these captures take a lot of time, from researching the schematic diagrams (whether original or reproduced with certain degrees of verification), to cross-referencing from various gear presentations and demos, and several passes of training the captures to determine the adjustments needed with the LiveSPICE models/components for the most accurate/ideal simulation possible.
