Note Definition... with a bridge pickup?

[1reeper]

Yes, so I've been told.  But like I said, I'm currently at university and I'm moving around a fair bit, so I can't really bring an amp around with me (and I live with 3 other people, so a cab is entirely out of the question), and I don't really see the point of getting a smaller, more travel-friendly amp when I can wait a bit and get a proper rig when I'm done here.  Also, I have tried a few different amps (currently in Toronto, so guitar shops aren't exactly rare) and there's still an issue, more or less.

[Dave Sloven]

IMHO - as the owner of a teal stripe Bandit - unless you are playing country (which you are not) the Bandit is useful only in the sense that it is a relatively powerful amp with a good, natural clean channel.  The distortion channel is pretty lame.  What it does do well is pedals into the clean channel, where you are really hearing the full character of the pedals.  If you plan to keep it for a bit longer have a look around for a decent distortion pedal.

There are basically two iconic sounds that come from this amp.

The first involves a Boss Heavy Metal pedal (or clone, like the Behringer clone) and everything dimed.  That is the famous 'Sunlight' sound you find on early releases by Entombed, Dismember, Dark Throne, Therion, Unleashed, etc.

The second is the Swedish hardcore or crust punk sound which you can get by using something like an old Coron Distortion 15 (if you can find one!!!) or, alternatively, something like an MXR Distortion+ (preferably the script reissue) or even a Boss DS-1 in a pinch.  You can also add an EQ pedal.

I guess I don't really need to add that 'note definition' is not a strong feature of either of these sounds, you could play the cr@ppiest guitar around through a set-up like that and no-one would know.

Other than these couple of sounds and some country stuff (maybe with an MXR Dyna Comp out front) it's not very useful in a live setting, although it can get you by in band practice if needed.

But yeah you might want to hold off until you have that rig an reevaluate your pickup then 

[1reeper]

Well, seeing as how I make my own pedals, this works great then.

And yes, a better rig would help infinitely.  It's just that BK's hold their value fantastically so that if I do buy a pup now, and change my rig later, and realize that I need ANOTHER pup, I can sell the BK and still get most of my money back.

[Dave Sloven]

Well, seeing as how I make my own pedals, this works great then.

And yes, a better rig would help infinitely.  It's just that BK's hold their value fantastically so that if I do buy a pup now, and change my rig later, and realize that I need ANOTHER pup, I can sell the BK and still get most of my money back.

The one thing I would suggest is that if you have a friend with a rig closer to that to which you aspire see if you can play your existing pickup through that amp.  If the issue is with the amp rather than the pickup then you might be able to add an EQ pedal to fix it. The advantage of that is that a decent EQ pedal (e.g., an MXR 10-band or Boss 7-band) will still be of value to you with your new set-up.

[Telerocker]

Well, seeing as how I make my own pedals, this works great then.

And yes, a better rig would help infinitely.  It's just that BK's hold their value fantastically so that if I do buy a pup now, and change my rig later, and realize that I need ANOTHER pup, I can sell the BK and still get most of my money back.

The one thing I would suggest is that if you have a friend with a rig closer to that to which you aspire see if you can play your existing pickup through that amp.  If the issue is with the amp rather than the pickup then you might be able to add an EQ pedal to fix it. The advantage of that is that a decent EQ pedal (e.g., an MXR 10-band or Boss 7-band) will still be of value to you with your new set-up.

+1