So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

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Danglin' Fury

New member
Hey all. Wonderful amp. I loved the JSX platform and that's what this amp is, minus a variable resonance control. That just wasn't cutting it so I installed one. Brilliant!! Then, it need a bit of a change in the gain department. As in MORE! MMMMMUUUUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So, on the third gain stage, I modded it to be like the cold clipping triode of an Engl Powerball. Holy friggin' high gain Batman! It has this.... luscious percussiveness that it didn't used to have. My goodness, this thing is like no other amp I've heard. Imagine, if you will, a JSX, has a demon spawn with a 5150 and an Engl Powerball. With a little Mesa Mark 4 high gain sprinkled on top. The Crunch channel was only ever so slightly affected and the clean channel remains pristine as I didn't touch that triode. But the Ultra channel.... the Ultra channel is now officially a MADMAN!!!! Huge chunk, blistering crunchy pick attack, and the sustain is divine. No turning back. This is now MY tone. And it is glorious. Even better with a parametric EQ in the loop. If I can, I will make a recording and throw it up here. I have been thinking about doing this for a while now, as it would be easily reversible. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. I'm off to melt faces ladies and gents. Cheers.
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

woah there pardner. how's about a clip for the poor souls on here.
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

Sounds interesting...

I've got one too..no idea what I'd do with more gain though :lmao:

(Already got a pretty awesome gain boost when I swapped my stock pre-amp tubes)
 
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Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

It's definitely more but it is not overbearing. It in no way makes the amp farty, or flubby, it is all positives. The low end is still waaaaaay tight and even more present since I also added the variable resonance control. It changes the character of the distortion. It makes the initial pick attack more pronounced, and it sounds more percussive and the growl is more prominent, but with the addition of the capacitor across the plate resistor, that smoothes out some of the raspy high end. Even with the presence all the way up. Really an awesome mod. I didn't invent the mod, It's like I performed a little amp Jeet Kune Do. Took a little of this, a little of that and decided what worked best for me. And my ears. Lol!
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

...lol, I love my 333XL's tone just the way it is ..but you've definitely got me intrigued ;)

Not that I have the wherewithal to mod anything in my amp..pretty sure I'd just electrocute myself :lmao: but I'm pretty curious to hear this.
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

I hear ya. I just got bored with it really. Well, not bored just GAS I guess. I noticed the schematic of the Powerball had a similar topology. Quite a few of the resistor and capacitor values were the same or pretty close, so I said what the hell. It's only a few resistors and a couple capacitors, so why not. Plus, if I didn't like it, I could always switch it back. I am an electronics tech/R&D tech at the company I work for and I play with high voltage/high current everyday so I knew I wasn't going to meet Jesus modding my amp. Lol!! Anyway, I'm gonna try to have some clips up by this weekend. Busy schedule at work plus I have a 10 and 4 year old boys so not a lot of free time.
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

That's awesome! I had a 333XL and was disappointed in the 3rd gain channel, felt like it was just a muddy verison of the 2nd channel/gain. I didn't think about modding it, it was a great amp for the clean and drive. Glad it worked out for ya!
 
Re: So I modded my Bugera 333xl....

Danglin' Fury, Can you add some more detailed info about this modification please?
 
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