Quote:
Originally Posted by MBDiagMan
...The Bugera looks interesting. Is the speaker good enough that it would not need upgrading, at least right away? IOW, will this be good to go out of the box? That is not to say I would not be interested in tweaking, but if it would be good out of the box I am very interested. It seems like what I am looking for at a reasonable price...
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Absolutely - FWIW the newer versions use a Turbosound speaker that's
far better than the Celestion wannabe they fitted to the first series and, having played a few, if I were buying a new one today I might be inclined to leave it as is. Just by way of information, I bought mine as a working replacement for the '64 Ampeg Rocket that had been doing yeoman duty since I bought it brand-new in sixth grade, and had earned a well-deserved semi-retirement. The modifications I performed were done with the intention of duplicating the tone of the old "Key Club" Ampeg Gemini II/B-12XT combos that graced the leading New York studios in the mid-60's; everything was well-researched beforehand, both individually and as part of the total package, and while it does
exactly what I intended I'll be the first to tell you that it's not for everybody - it's primarily a "big clean" amp with loads of headroom and dynamic range (as well as considerable volume when needed), and although it'll nail the Beatles' "NME '65" AC-50 tones or give you a nice fat bluesy crunch, it wouldn't be your first choice for modern metal or Santana-like sustain in its present configuration. Good news is that the V22 is a
very mod-friendly platform - even more so with the new Infinium circuitry mentioned earlier - so between the onboard capabilities (triode/pentode operation, switchable channels/mid-boost) and some judiciously chosen/properly-placed tubes, you should be able to dial in your preferred tones with relative ease...