  The blazar 1ES 1959+650 was observed twice by BeppoSAX in September 2001
simultaneously with optical observations. We report here the X-ray data
together with the optical, R_C magnitude, light curve since August 1995. The
BeppoSAX observations were triggered by an active X-ray status of the source.
The X-ray spectra are brighter than the previously published X-ray
observations, although the source was in an even higher state a few months
later, as monitored by the ASM onboard RossiXTE, when it was also detected to
flare in the TeV band. Our X-ray spectra are well represented by a continuosly
curved model up to 45 keV and are interpreted as synchrotron emission, with the
peak moving to higher energies. This is also confirmed by the slope of the
X-ray spectrum which is harder than in previous observations. Based on our
optical and X-ray data, the synchrotron peak turns out to be in the range
0.1-0.7 keV. We compare our data with non simultaneous radio to TeV data and
model the spectral energy distribution with a homogeneous, one-zone synchrotron
inverse Compton model. We derive physical parameters that are typical of low
power High Energy peaked Blazar, characterised by a relatively large beaming
factor, low luminosity and absence of external seed photons.
