so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

treyhaislip said:
Glad you have tried one–when I read "If I'm not mistaken" it sounded like you hadn't. ;)




I got the V22 first and then a 333XL, never had an issue with either one except that the 333XL was way too much amp for me ;) I gave the V22 to a friend in a band called Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun and Cregg has used it live and in his studio–no complaints from him either when we last talked and he had used it for a long time.

It was funny, I hadn't heard of any issues with Bugera until I joined this forum, just like I had never heard about how bad Gibsons are until I joined this forum. Every brand will have a following of lovers and haters–I've had terrible experience with Jeeps/Dodges (transmission and brake issues on 3 brand new vehicles, Grand Cherokee and 2 Chargers) but I know guys who swear by their Jeeps and Dodges.

I completely understand IM4Tone's statement about reputation–no matter how much I'd love to be in a Challenger or a Jeep I will not be back with Dodge or Jeep even if tomorrow Consumer Reports came out and saying they are the most reliable in every category.
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Conversely..I've had nothing but great experiences with my 333XL. I know a lot of local bands who gig regularly with Bugera's & I'm yet to hear any of them complain. I also know guy's with studio's full of them & I'm yet to hear them complain. So as far as my personal experience/knowledge goes (as opposed to heresay) ..I'd say they're probably nowhere near as unreliable as they're made out to be.

In the case of IM4Tone, I remember him saying before he did'nt care for the tone of his V22 (pretty subjective)..I don't recall him mentioning the reliability issues he just brought up (maybe..) ...but yeah.. when he's apparently had bad experiences himself I can understand the problem (...worst amp I've ever owned was my 50 watt H&K Switchblade combo...sounded like weak/tinny/fizzy crap & conked out on me whenever it could, personally, I'd say I got a hell of a lemon though.. not that H&K makes junk.)
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

treyhaislip said:
No offense, but have you tried a Bugera? I've had two and they were freakin awesome and much cheaper than an equivalent all tube Marshall.

If you haven't tried one then kinda hard to turn someone away from 'em. ;)

EDIT: Loved my V22 and 333XL! No quality control issues with either one and both sounded amazing!
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I had a Bugera V22 for just under a month... At the time, they had been out for a couple of years with a recurring theme of problems and they were not "minor" has someone else said...

I first went to YouTube, looked for any demo of the V22 that was made by an owner of the amp, not some paid professional demo guy that plays it once, and moves on to the next piece of gear to test....

I checked in with the older demo channels that were about a year old... it was a mixed bag... about 50% said they had problems with in weeks or months, other's still had them and use them regularly without an issue.

So I drank the Kool-Aid. Bought one, sounded great.... until I played longer than my usual 1/2 hour a day... Decided to play for well over an hour one night and noticed the reverb quit working... I could turn it on/off via the footswitch, but there was no Reverb... Then I noticed it would switch channels....

I unplugged the amp, let it cool down and tried it a few hours later. Started to work again... A few days later, I played for a longer period of time and it did it again. Apparently there wasn't much quality controls performed on this amp for the sake of durability...

To be fair, I've only heard negative reviews on the V22, none of the other amps...


Another amp to avoid is the Peavey Valveking 50 Combo (1st series). They have an unrepairable problem of blowing the V1 Preamp tubes... Went through three before I gave up on them...
 
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Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Phantasmagoria said:
Conversely..I've had nothing but great experiences with my 333XL. I know a lot of local bands who gig regularly with Bugera's & I'm yet to hear any of them complain. I also know guy's with studio's full of them & I'm yet to hear them complain. So as far as my personal experience/knowledge goes (as opposed to heresay) ..I'd say they're probably nowhere near as unreliable as they're made out to be.

In the case of IM4Tone, I remember him saying before he did'nt care for the tone of his V22 (pretty subjective)..I don't recall him mentioning the reliability issues he just brought up (maybe..) ...but yeah.. when he's apparently had bad experiences himself I can understand the problem (...worst amp I've ever owned was my 50 watt H&K Switchblade combo...sounded like weak/tinny/fizzy crap & conked out on me whenever it could, personally, I'd say I got a hell of a lemon though.. not that H&K makes junk.)
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Ha! Well, the 333XL was 120 Watts...seeing as I am having volume issues with my 40 Watt Hot Rod Deluxe then one can understand why the 333XL was just too much amp for me ;)

Detroitblues said:
I had a Bugera V22 for just under a month... At the time, they had been out for a couple of years with a recurring them of problems and they were "minor" has someone else said...

I first went to YouTube, looked for any demo of the V22 that was made by an owner of the amp, not some paid professional demo guy that plays it once, and moves on to the next piece of gear to test....

I checked in with the older demo channels... it was a mixed bag... about 50% said they had problems with in weeks or months, other's still had them and use them regularly without an issue.

So I drank the Kool-Aid. Bought one, sounded great.... until I played longer than my usual 1/2 hour a day... Decided to play for well over an hour one night and noticed the reverb quit working... I could turn it on/off via the footswitch, but there was no Reverb... Then I noticed it would switch channels....

I unplugged the amp, let it cool down and tried it a few hours later. Started to work again... A few days later, I played for a longer period of time and it did it again. Apparently there wasn't much quality controls performed on this amp for the sake of durability...

To be fair, I've only heard negative reviews on the V22, none of the other amps...


Another amp to avoid is the Peavey Valveking 50 Combo (1st series). They have an unrepairable problem of blowing the V1 Preamp tubes... Went through three before I gave up on them...
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I got my V22 in a trade deal involving a Strat, the V22 and a Fender Hot Rod Deville...the Deville was having the same issue I ended up with the 333XL–too much power for my needs. I've done a simple mod replacing the first 12AX7 with a 12AT7 in my HRD and that has helped with the volume, but for me I need something under 40 Watts for my usage (talking about all tube amps.)

I did research on the Bugera issues and have read that the earlier ones had issues and that they've supposedly fixed them–just never heard of any issues with them until I joined this forum.

I'm sorry the amp didn't work for you bro–hopefully you've found something that has. The Reverb on my Fender has gone out, but I love the tone too much to complain...and I use an EXH Holy Grail ;)
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Detroitblues said:
I have one of the Peavey Mini heads for sale, if anyone is interested. The Valveking 20MH... Too much gain for my tastes...
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Like I said, you just gotta change them stock 12AX7s out for something lighter. Like a 12AU or 12AT, I found a 5751 works well in the clean and pairs nicely with am AT7 in the gain.

That really opens up this amp it takes pedals even better in my opinion
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Zeuss said:
Like I said, you just gotta change them stock 12AX7s out for something lighter. Like a 12AU or 12AT, I found a 5751 works well in the clean and pairs nicely with am AT7 in the gain.

That really opens up this amp it takes pedals even better in my opinion
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Switching to 12AT7 for me really opened up the clean headroom in my amp. Super simple mod that worked great!
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

astrozombie said:
This is why you're "no pro"!

I just got an amp yesterday that is BLOWING MY MIND and I am writing all sorts of new things just because I can't stop playing it!

Of course, be responsible, but dream big! Will you ever give up playing guitar?

Go grab a guitar and bend a note on it. Any note. Isn't that a cool sound? Doesn't it make you want to keep playing?
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What did you get??? The Vox?
 
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Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

What I keep wondering is, if there's nothing wrong with Bugera and they sound similar to the "original" amps they're going for... what's the compromise? Where's the quality being sacrificed in the name of a lower price tag?

You can't tell me you can make a JCM900 imposter that sounds just as good as the real thing with that price difference.



I can't blame you guys for wanting a cheaper alternative, but you can't blame me for going after the real thing. You know?
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

astrozombie said:
what's the compromise? Where's the quality being sacrificed in the name of a lower price tag?

You can't tell me you can make a JCM900 imposter that sounds just as good as the real thing with that price difference.
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On the other hand it might boil down to a more realistic price tag/far lower profit Margins. When you're buying the original you're paying for the name not the sum of it's components cost. No harm done & to each his own, but there's no reason to assume compromise.

Having said that , the Bugera's Ive played have all had pretty much their own sound. Similar yeah, but they are'nt "identical" sounding to anything out there. 6262's for instance have less/less muddy lows & are more middy/same with the Trirec & the amp it's supposed to copy , 333XL's don't really sound much like JSX's at all, V22's seem to have their own thing going and so on. They're marketed that way because they sell more amps that way.

If anything there are plenty of "boutique" builders & clone makers who get way closer with practically identical circuits/marketing tactics & charge the earth for that "expertise"...then get lauded like there's no tomorrow 'cause "it sounds so close to the real thing..you would'nt believe" (lol... hypocrisy anyone?)
 
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Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

I wouldn't expect an inexpensive amp to sound just as good as the big name brand it's patterned after. But if it even comes close, for a significant reduction in price, and as long as the quality isn't terrible, I would say that a lot of folks who don't necessarily play for a living, would appreciate that.
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Demanic said:
I wouldn't expect an inexpensive amp to sound just as good as the big name brand it's patterned after.
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Check one out ..you'll be very pleasantly surprised ;)

The stereotype is: more expensive = better (in reality things are different...)
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

astrozombie said:
What I keep wondering is, if there's nothing wrong with Bugera and they sound similar to the "original" amps they're going for... what's the compromise? Where's the quality being sacrificed in the name of a lower price tag?

You can't tell me you can make a JCM900 imposter that sounds just as good as the real thing with that price difference.



I can't blame you guys for wanting a cheaper alternative, but you can't blame me for going after the real thing. You know?
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Well, I am not one saying they sound just like the "real thing"; rather, I am just saying they sound awesome for the price! "Made In China" is a huge reason there is such a big price difference.

EDIT: And nothing wrong with wanting to get the "real thing" either–go for what works best for you personally
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

I have a Bugera V5 that doesn't rattle if you hook it up to a cab. Sounds great. btw, I may not be a pro but I am releasing an album anyways. blah
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Anyways when they eventually die...forget repairing them!
Last one I looked inside was full of SMD parts......
Dunno but in my world gear can get too cheap....

Yeah some can have some luck in keeping them running....but they where not made to last for that long, thus becoming very expensive at some point!
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

I've got a V22 that I've had for 7 or 8 years. It was my first tube amp and I totally loved the sound. I initially had a problem with it...it blew a fuse. I haven't had a single problem with it since. No not one.

And as far as tone goes...I put a Swamp Thang in it and couldn't be happier. Great all around tones. I play a very wide variety of music (was in a cover band) and didn't have a problem getting any tone I wanted from it. I do use lots of pedals, however.

But as far as quality issues go, I haven't had any except for the fuse the first month I owned it. I totally love this amp.
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

In all fairness though, the younger guy had'nt really dialled that Engl in that great ( :laugh2: ) & was'nt half the player that the older dude was..

I like some Engls (Blackmore, Savage), JCM 800's, JTM 45's & the odd Mesa ...most anything else & I'll actually take my 333XL ..not kidding ;)

I don't just like it 'for it's price'....
 
Re: so ive been taking a long hard look at bugera...

Yeah I've been pondering for a while now and I really do think the 333xl sounds spectacular, it's got an awesome warm clean channel, a really nice overdriven crunch, and high gain on par with anything else I've seen on YouTube... I'm thinking an Avatar 2x12 v30 cab and a boss GT-100 and I'll have a rig for every situation I could ever imagine being in...

Will report back when I get it all together and working... Thanks :)
 
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