Quote:
Originally Posted by Fret-O'File
...pulled the trigger on the V22 Infinium...from beautiful clean tones, to nasty blues and searing lead sounds to straight-up heavy crunch this amp really does it all. Tone wise this thing rivals most of my rigs from the last 20 to 25 years. I've had Marshall JCM 800 50 & 100w heads - Krank Rev head, Carvin head, Boogie power amp and Marshall Pre-amps, Marshall Valvestate, Marshall & Mesa 4x12 cabs...Just so many setups over the years costing thousands each and I swear aside from volume, this $300+ amp would hold it's own with any of them...The tone controls are a bit more on the subtle side but they give you enough control and to be honest the thing just sounds good, so not a ton of tone tweaking is needed...I crank the channel volume and use the master for the output and it gives you this huge open sound that just puts a smile on my face...If you are thinking about a new amp, I highly recommend trying one out before you drop three and four times the amount on a big name amp...
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- and some folks around here thought I was either lying or nuts when I said I could pull all those sounds out of this little $300 tone box - glad to finally meet a fellow believer
; FYI I have one of the post-October '09 "blue-light" models, made after they ironed out the initial-production gremlins, and I've
never had any issues with it since purchase in early 2010...
A few suggestions for easy DIY mods that'll help you wring the most out of your amp, in order:
- Speaker: Eminence Swamp Thang (8 ohm)
Although the new Turbosound speaker is a vast improvement over the original Celestion-clone one of these will take your amp to a whole new level, and it'll fit your original cabinet with no hassles. You will, however, need to make a new speaker lead with 16-gauge two-conductor wire and a right-angle phone plug; the original factory lead is securely soldered to the speaker terminals, and I doubt anything short of nuclear holocaust can remove them. Although there will be a noticeable difference from day one, you'll need to devote ~25-50 hours of play time at moderate volume for it to really come into its own; you'll be rewarded for your efforts with extended low-end, smoother mids, clear but not edgy highs, and a definite "American" tonality - IME a perfect complement to the EL84 power tubes, which can get brash in the upper-midrange if you push them too hard. In addition, efficiency on this one is ~102 dB - and in sonic terms that's like picking up free watts; my amp can handle a ~600-seat auditorium with no problem, and in a smaller room (or dialed back to practice levels) it sounds like a 2x12" - not bad for a nominal 22W rating. FWIW, I'd do this one first, for that reason alone - you'll probably never need that V55...
- Preamp Tubes: Preferred Series 7025
Here's a link:
http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/Pr...ies-7025-12AX7
Everything the reviews say they are, and infinitely better than the OEM $1.49 bargain-store specials - big, fat, clean Fender blackface/blue-check Ampeg tones in spades when used in all three preamp positions, and my own go-to setup. BTW, I'd spend the extra $5 each for matched triode sections; although some guys say it only matters in the PI/driver stage (V3 in your V22), to my ears the cleans sound smoother and the OD is more controllable with greater headroom. Caveat: if you like to get your Carlos on more often than not, these may not be the tubes for you - for that Santana sustain use a Mesa SP-AX7 (available at GC) in V2, or if you need more gain overall use the Mesa in all three positions (great PI/driver tube in V3 if you want to goose the power tubes a bit - I interchange it with the 7025 as need be)...
- Power Tubes: Preferred Series 7189
http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/Pr...9-Premium-EL84
These are pre-Glasnost, Soviet-era mil-spec tubes designed for use in MIG fighter jets - the equivalent of those legendary JAN tubes the Fender guys would sell their gonads to get, and tough as they come. In terms of power rating I've got a set of #47's in my amp - I'm a fan of old Ampeg-style "big clean" tube tone - and other than the slight compression when you push them hard (and I do mean hard), in combination with the upgraded preamp tubes and high-efficiency speaker you'd think you're listening to a "big tube" (6L6/EL34) 2x12" amp. Great for country, jazz, or surf when you dime the master and control the volume from the preamp stage and/or your guitar, does the Beatles' "NME '65" Vox AC50 tone when you hit the mid-boost, and in OD it'll take you into "brown-town" crunch - especially with a couple Mesa SP-AX7's in V2 and V3...
You probably won't need to do this with the new Infinium self-monitoring/self-biasing circuit, but if you do you'll need a tech who really knows what he/she is doing - this is not a DIY job for novices. Although most of the info you'll see online suggests a 22mA reading at the bias point, the tech who showed me how to do the job myself said to use the -vDC figure (FYI Bugera is very tight-lipped with info of this type, in the interest of preserving/maintaining their service network - fortunately the guy had 30+ years of tube experience and recognized this discrepancy). My target figure with the #47 tubes was -17.2 vDC (initial reading with the old tubes was -17.4) - the initial reading and final target figure for your amp/tube combination may (and probably will) vary - so I'd suggest starting with something in this general range and working slowly (with a capital SLOW - you'll definitely want to be in the shop when this is being done if at all possible) until you achieve the tone you're after...
FYI, the tubes I suggested above are available as a package - you'll just need to specify matched preamp triodes and power tube rating when you order:
http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...remium-Package
Use it well, often, and LOUD...
