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Author Topic: Bugera Amps  (Read 6169 times)

hamfist

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Bugera Amps
« on: July 09, 2008, 07:10:23 AM »
Can they really be as good as I'm hearing from some others ?  At those prices !!

Anyone played one yet ?

Jonny

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2008, 08:16:29 AM »
Apparently they're basically Peaveys, like the 5150-II

Don't hold me on that, I think that's what I heard. I was interested too but gave up when the cash flow drastically decreased. :lol:
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Oli

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2008, 11:02:32 AM »
We've got one of the combo versions at uni, i haven't had a chance to play it yet, but i will do in the next week or so, probably do a couple of test recordings with it.
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dave_mc

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2008, 03:39:42 PM »
heard good things too, haven't tried them though. I'll reserve judgement until I do- people (including me, i'm not pointing the finger) have a tendency to lower their expectations when prices are lower, which, on internet forums, can quickly morph a "surprisingly decent for the price" review into "best amp ever, better than a diezel/soldano/bogner"...

:)

MDV

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2008, 03:43:56 PM »
I'm really tempted to order a head, to have a look see. I've heard great things about the sounds, and a 5150-alike would be usefull (moreso than another guitar anyway)

That said, I'm not worried about the price, I'm worried that its Behringer!!

dave_mc

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2008, 03:46:41 PM »
^ aye, i like 5150s (not sure i need one though :lol: ). I think some of them are copies of the xxx and jsx too (from what i've heard).

MDV

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2008, 03:50:02 PM »
Well, they're OK!

I'm not a huge fan, but they can sound decent. I'm kind of hoping that my Uberkab will work its magic and make it sound like the bugle of the apocolypse, like it does with everything else :D

Mainly I think it would be handy to have an extra sound on top of my powerball (and TSL and cube and VT-XL) around.

BigK

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2008, 04:02:48 PM »
Im really tempted by the 333, the only thing that holding me back it the lack of a presence control, I know that the 333xl has one but that comes with EL34's rather than 6l6's and I wont have the money too change them for quite a while. Having said that I might just order one from thomman and if I don't like it I'll just send It back....  :gif:
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dave_mc

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2008, 08:23:34 PM »
Well, they're OK!

I'm not a huge fan, but they can sound decent. I'm kind of hoping that my Uberkab will work its magic and make it sound like the bugle of the apocolypse, like it does with everything else :D

Mainly I think it would be handy to have an extra sound on top of my powerball (and TSL and cube and VT-XL) around.

yeah, i mean they aren't my favourite high gainer by a long shot, but assuming the bugera is a close-ish copy, £300-£400 wouldn't be too bad. I know i wouldn't buy one at peavey prices over here...

JamesHealey

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2008, 09:14:47 PM »
might have a word with my boss see if we can order one in to try out, don't think we deal with Behringer though.

MDV

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2008, 10:14:14 PM »
Well, they're OK!

I'm not a huge fan, but they can sound decent. I'm kind of hoping that my Uberkab will work its magic and make it sound like the bugle of the apocolypse, like it does with everything else :D

Mainly I think it would be handy to have an extra sound on top of my powerball (and TSL and cube and VT-XL) around.

yeah, i mean they aren't my favourite high gainer by a long shot, but assuming the bugera is a close-ish copy, £300-£400 wouldn't be too bad. I know i wouldn't buy one at peavey prices over here...

Exactly my reasoning.

dave_mc

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2008, 04:15:01 PM »
cheers mark. they seem to have reverb too (i don't think the peaveys do) and the odd different control here and there, so they don't seem to be exact copies, more "inspired by", perhaps... :lol:

Oli

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2008, 08:29:05 PM »
Well, i'm just sitting by the 6262 2x12 combo version(at uni), and it doesn't sound very good. The cleans are poor and lack the feel and response of a valve amp, and the distortion sounds like a fizzy MT-2 pedal. The (digital) reverb- a spring emulation doesn't have much too it, and the presence controls are very unresponsive. Overall the amp lacks in general tone, and sounds like a small solid state practice amp, not too dissimilar to the Marshall MG, or the Fender Frontman series. The footswitch is built reasonably solidly, but uses a proprietary connector that is similar to a PS2 keyboard/mouse connector, but with an extra pin, so i'd guess that if the footswitch fails, you'll have to buy one from them rather than fixing it. The build quality of the amp is reasonably poor, it feels and looks cheap close up, especially the plastic tolex. The controls are all PCB mounted, rather than panel mount, and are likely to fail quicker- there is some sideways movement of the pots as they are not secured to the chassis.

When you open the amp up a bit (over 12 'o' clock), then the amp starts to sound a bit better- at least at lower/no gain. High gain still sounds really fizzy and lacks any 'balls' to it. However, this being a 120w valve amp, it is very loud, and far outside a practice level that would be tolerated outside of rehearsal space. The 6L6 valves are Bugera branded, which are likely to be mass-purchased stock where quality could vary. The speakers are 'Bugera Vintage Guitar Series' which doesn't inspire much confidence into them- items actually labelled as vintage by the manufacturer rarely are.

To summarise, it's not very good, and 'the soul of valves' slogan is hardly fitting, considering the output and price. At £399, there are far better options out there.

Hope that gives you an insight into the amp :)
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indysmith

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2008, 09:20:52 PM »
The footswitch is built reasonably solidly, but uses a proprietary connector that is similar to a PS2 keyboard/mouse connector, but with an extra pin, so i'd guess that if the footswitch fails, you'll have to buy one from them rather than fixing it.
Couldn't be a MIDI cable could it??

and thanks for confirming all of my suspicions :P
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Oli

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Re: Bugera Amps
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2008, 10:46:50 PM »
The footswitch is built reasonably solidly, but uses a proprietary connector that is similar to a PS2 keyboard/mouse connector, but with an extra pin, so i'd guess that if the footswitch fails, you'll have to buy one from them rather than fixing it.
Couldn't be a MIDI cable could it??

and thanks for confirming all of my suspicions :P

Nah, it's like:


But with an extra pin (or a pin less), definitely not midi :)

I suspect that under the hood of the amp, the valves aren't doing all that much- if the reverb is digital and they didn't stretch to put in a reverb tank, then what else is done digitally?
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