New Guitar amp

Not sure if I should post this in this area, but.

I've been needing a new guitar amp, my Twin Reverb is just too loud for practicing and noodling around the house.

Anyhow, I was looking for something small like a vintage Fender Champ, 8" speaker, all tube, with reverb, no more than $250.

I looked at quite a few and tried out several the past 6 months.

There was one I was thinking about getting, a Bugera V5 5-Watt Class-A Valve Amplifier Combo.

Has power output selection, reverb, gain, volume, tone, headphone & speaker jack, and all tube, both the pre-amp section and power amp section.

List price is $299, but they are usually selling for $199.

I got a notice from them tonight, they have 1 factory refurb now available. As new, full warranty. I talked to the guy and he said a factory refurb is actually better as they go over everything in the amp and fine tune it. So I GRABBED IT.

Here it is, but not at my refurb price.

Bugera V5 Infinium - 5W 1x8 »

 

looks nice!

 

That's the nice way of saying the TR is friggin' L-O-U-D (but that tone). As a player of one of these bad boys, this gave me a chuckle.

 

Looks like I forgot to add the price I got it for in my post, $99!

 

Well the worst part is I've got one of those 135 watt ones from 1978, that thing will comb your hair!

 

Oh my gosh, those things are loud. Mine is from very early '69. I did throw in some Altecs and it seems like it got louder when I did (not 135 watts loud, though). It also got a ****e ton more heavy, as if that was needed.

Is the Bugera tube?

I was in a local shop the other day and spotted some nice (custom color AC15's). I was tempted. At the moment, my quietest amp is an AC30... ...so, all of my in home playing is done, unplugged.

 

Yup, all tube, pre and power section.

Seems there's a big following over at the TD PRI Tele forum, they have an 82 page, 5 year running thread on this amp!

I put some old alnico magnet Electrovoice SRO 12"s in my Twin, my gosh those speakers weigh 60 pounds each!

I can not even move my Twin by myself!

 

Those EV's look monstrous! I've got two 417s from Altec.

This has been a permanent fixture underneath my TR ever since I put them in.

I'm going to have to check out the Bugera V5. I've seen their larger amps before and just looked on their website and saw the 1960 Infinium. Seriously? 150 watts? I've got a 50W Marshall that I can't take out of the house unless I bring my Hot Plate with me. Granted, their amp looks like it has a MV on the back.

 

Another nice, cheap, lower power, all-tube amp is the Fender Excelsior, which features an 18" speaker and 15 watts IIRC. It has a gnarly 50s look and sound, and has truly excellent variable tremelo too.

A cult was starting to form around the Excesior (it's a great modding platform), when Fender abruptly discontinued it.

I've been using mine with my 50s rock'n'roll band instead of my '63 Bandmaster, and it's ridiculously good. I think these used to retail for $299.

 

Very nice. Enjoy it.

 

Looks like a single 12AX7 and EL84 under the hood - you could have fun rolling different combos of tubes (and not have to spend big for matched pairs of EL84s).

 

Those altecs are quite a bit more efficient than the stock speakers so they will make the amp louder. i swapped the stock jbl's out of my super reverb for some vet 10's and it quieted down quite a bit, which was good for me. With the jbls i couldn't get good tone from the power section without blowing the house down.

Nice choice with the bugera. I had a v22 briefly and i loved the tone, especially for the price. Unfortunately after three returns over defects i gave up. I really wish behringer would work on quality control. They actually have some great gear at their price point but qa is their weakness. Really hit or miss. That said factory refurb is def the way to go since any defects have been gone through.

Enjoy the amp! Can't be beat for that price!

 

Nice.

I could never get along with the Twins. Though I have always loved the Princeton Reverbs.

 

Doodling and practicing on a Twin Reverb is a sure guaranteed way to 1) peel paint off the wall (as an entire sheet, mind you) and 2) destroy your hearing of every living creature in its direct line of fire.

Speaking of Princeton Reverb, here is a picture of Princeton Reverb clone I have (Allen Sweet Spot -- I have the classic "skirted knobs" on mine): Allen Amplification - Sweet Spot Amp »


Even it is too loud for a bedroom -- I have one of those FDM speakers in it (9db volume reduction).

 

Yup, that's definitely a stage amp. Does this one have a half-power switch? I wonder if Paul C. had his hands in your amp.

 

Would love to hear your impressions of it once you have spent some time with it.

 

Fortunately my Twin has factory casters and a master volume. The master volume has an OD/boost pull switch function. Like that thing really needs more????

 

I will report back.

I already have a plan to break in the speaker, I'll wire it to one of my stereos in the garage and play a test CD on repeat that I have, it has many various frequency sweeps on it. I'm guessing a few days of that at a reasonable volume should break in the speaker.

 

Anyone interested in a very long 82 page 5 year discussion of this little amp check out this thread. (I hope it's ok to post a link to another forum?).

Bugera V5 Club »

 

A few hundred... goodnight, what a deal! I am greatly indebted to Paul C.

 

When they sent me confirmation e-mail yesterday that they were getting ready to ship my amp and gave me my tracking number they offered me this add on to my order:


List price is $175, street price $90.

They offered it to me for $45 w/free shipping along with my amp they were packing up.

Heck I have several classic stomp boxes already, but I couldn't refuse 3 pedals at that price.
$15 a pedal! Even comes with 2 patch cables & 2 longer ones.

• The SUPER METAL SM400 boasts brutal distortion, mind-blowing sustain and the sound of an overdriven stacked tube amp
• The DIGITAL MULTI-FX FX600 features 24-bit high-resolution stereo effects such as Flanger, Chorus, Phaser, Delay, Tremolo and Pitch Shifter
• The DIGITAL DELAY DD400 provides 24-bit high-resolution stereo delay/echo using RSM (Real Sound Modeling) for delay time up to 1.3 s

 

This is an absolutely amazing practice amp. Highly recommended:

 

I don't care for modeling amps. Looks like a boom box.