New amp....Bugera V22

[rdawsoniii]

I have been a satisfied Bugera V5 owner for several years. Great amp. Have been wanting to upgrade, and when I was able to get a good deal on a V22 from Musician's Friend (along with my points, which were about to expire) I jumped on it.

Holy Smoke! I thought the V5 was good....I can't believe the sounds coming out of the V22! I know Steve DeRosa has been singing the V22's praises for awhile now (since I have the V5 I was already a Bugera fan), but this amp is even BETTER than I imagined! And this is with the stock tubes. I can't wait to upgrade (Steve, can you post the link again for the tube upgrade?).

[Steve DeRosa]

Great timing - just so happens I'm using mine tonight at a 350-seat hall with a 40-foot ceiling (shouldn't have any problem filling the place); FWIW I've done a couple of tweaks, as I said in prior posts - in order:

Speaker: Eminence Swamp Thang - If you're looking for way-huge tone from a compact package this one fills the bill, and it'll fit the V22 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 (both available at your local electronic parts supply house); 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, late breakup (lets you really hear what your tubes are doing - many people confuse speaker breakup with tube-stage OD) 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 (3-4 dB more than the OEM Turbosound in my estimation) and in sonic terms that's like picking up free watts; I've played a ~700-seat auditorium with no problem, and in a smaller room (or dialed back to practice levels) it sounds like a vintage American 2x12" - not bad for a Chinese 1x12" with a nominal 22W rating. FYI it's not really necessary - the Turbosound is a good-sounding speaker in its own right, a definite step up fron the earlier Celestion wannabe, and for small/medium-size venues or home practice/recording I'd probably leave things as-is - but if you decide to go this route I'd do the speaker swap first, for that reason alone...

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 $1.29 bargain-store specials. 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 the Bugera), to my ears (YMMV) the cleans sound smoother and the OD is more controllable with greater headroom. Caveat: if you like to get your Carlos on once in a while these aren't the tubes for you - for that Santana sustain use a Mesa SP-AX7 (available from GC/MF or directly from Mesa) in V2, or if you need more gain overall use the Mesa in all three positions (BTW, great PI/driver tube if you want to goose the power tubes a little harder to fatten things up and/or get some borderline power-tube distortion into your tone - I swap one in once in a while, depending on the gig)...

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 Russian equivalent of those legendary JAN tubes the hardcore Fender guys would sell their 'nads to get, tough as they come and a whole lot cheaper than the USA stuff. In terms of power rating I've got a set of #47's in my amp - I'm a fan of old blue-check 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" (6L6/7027/6CA7) American amp. Great for those country, jazz, or surf "big clean" tones (as well as some late-60's/early-70's Stones punch-&-crunch) when you switch into pentode mode, 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/mid-boost it'll give you a nice "medium-brown" not-quite-Marshall/not-quite-Mesa crunch (Insider tip: play with the pentode/triode switch - be sure to turn the amp off before you do - and the clean volume/OD gain-&-volume/master volume for some very interesting tonal variations on the latter two, depending which guitar[s] you're using)...

PSA: My V22 is the earlier "blue-light"/pre-Infinium version, and required a mild rebias (DO NOT attempt this with any amp under penalty of death - literally - as the internal voltages in even a low-wattage practice amp are lethal even when turned off/unplugged). The current production is a plug-&-play deal which, based on my experience with the Infinium V5, may respond differently - particularly when it comes to your choice of power tubes; that said, you might do well to contact the guys at thetubestore.com before you decide - really nice folks, and IME if there's anything about a given tube they don't know, it's not worth knowing...

FYI, the tubes I suggested above are now available as a package (apparently I'm not the only one who likes this setup) - you'll just need to specify matched preamp triodes and power tube rating when you order:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...remium-Package

Good luck - use it well, often, and LOUD, and feel free to PM me if you have any further questions...

[Song]

Congratulations on your new amp day!

[rdawsoniii]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Great timing - just so happens I'm using mine tonight at a 350-seat hall with a 40-foot ceiling (shouldn't have any problem filling the place); FWIW I've done a couple of tweaks, as I said in prior posts - in order:

Speaker: Eminence Swamp Thang - If you're looking for way-huge tone from a compact package this one fills the bill, and it'll fit the V22 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 (both available at your local electronic parts supply house); 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, late breakup (lets you really hear what your tubes are doing - many people confuse speaker breakup with tube-stage OD) 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 (3-4 dB more than the OEM Turbosound in my estimation) and in sonic terms that's like picking up free watts; I've played a ~700-seat auditorium with no problem, and in a smaller room (or dialed back to practice levels) it sounds like a vintage American 2x12" - not bad for a Chinese 1x12" with a nominal 22W rating. FYI it's not really necessary - the Turbosound is a good-sounding speaker in its own right, a definite step up fron the earlier Celestion wannabe, and for small/medium-size venues or home practice/recording I'd probably leave things as-is - but if you decide to go this route I'd do the speaker swap first, for that reason alone...

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 $1.29 bargain-store specials. 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 the Bugera), to my ears (YMMV) the cleans sound smoother and the OD is more controllable with greater headroom. Caveat: if you like to get your Carlos on once in a while these aren't the tubes for you - for that Santana sustain use a Mesa SP-AX7 (available from GC/MF or directly from Mesa) in V2, or if you need more gain overall use the Mesa in all three positions (BTW, great PI/driver tube if you want to goose the power tubes a little harder to fatten things up and/or get some borderline power-tube distortion into your tone - I swap one in once in a while, depending on the gig)...

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 Russian equivalent of those legendary JAN tubes the hardcore Fender guys would sell their 'nads to get, tough as they come and a whole lot cheaper than the USA stuff. In terms of power rating I've got a set of #47's in my amp - I'm a fan of old blue-check 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" (6L6/7027/6CA7) American amp. Great for those country, jazz, or surf "big clean" tones (as well as some late-60's/early-70's Stones punch-&-crunch) when you switch into pentode mode, 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/mid-boost it'll give you a nice "medium-brown" not-quite-Marshall/not-quite-Mesa crunch (Insider tip: play with the pentode/triode switch - be sure to turn the amp off before you do - and the clean volume/OD gain-&-volume/master volume for some very interesting tonal variations on the latter two, depending which guitar[s] you're using)...

PSA: My V22 is the earlier "blue-light"/pre-Infinium version, and required a mild rebias (DO NOT attempt this with any amp under penalty of death - literally - as the internal voltages in even a low-wattage practice amp are lethal even when turned off/unplugged). The current production is a plug-&-play deal which, based on my experience with the Infinium V5, may respond differently - particularly when it comes to your choice of power tubes; that said, you might do well to contact the guys at thetubestore.com before you decide - really nice folks, and IME if there's anything about a given tube they don't know, it's not worth knowing...

FYI, the tubes I suggested above are now available as a package (apparently I'm not the only one who likes this setup) - you'll just need to specify matched preamp triodes and power tube rating when you order:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...remium-Package

Good luck - use it well, often, and LOUD, and feel free to PM me if you have any further questions...

Much obliged! Exactly what I’m looking for.

[YamahaGuy]

Congrats! I don't get to play mine that often, but when I do, it's terrific. I love the flexibility with the effects loop, but sometimes throw my pedal board on the front end and the thing just screams with the master on about 1 1/2! I also appreciate that the footswitch is included.

Enjoy your amp.

[KevWind]

Congrats I guess I am a tube amp fan and this one seems to be real value . Have fun