Sorta NAD - Bugera v5

[bleedingfingers]

My 14 yo daughter has been playing acoustic for a while, and now wants to tackle electric so I’m pulling together a full electric setup to give her for Christmas. She’s already found a Squier Contemporary Jaguar she loves, so we spent Saturday morning trying out practice amps to get to go with it

I mostly practice electric with modeling amps and she had already decided she didn’t want one after messing with mine (“too complicated — and I’ll spend all my time trying sounds instead of playing”. I’m impressed she’s self-aware enough to recognize that about her approach to learning). We spent a good while at the store playing with various reasonably sized amps suitable for bedroom practice, and she homed in on an Orange Crush 35rt and a Bugera v5 as the two she liked the most control wise and sound wise. Some more time a/b ing the two, and she picked the Bugera. Which I was glad for, as the attenuator will be perfect for bedroom practice time without her sisters wanting to kill her

So, the sorta part. It will live in my office for now and I get to play with it until Christmas! You know, just to make sure the speaker is properly broken in

Thanks for all the Bugera talk here. They wouldn’t have been a brand even on my radar to look at without all you enablers praising them. I got to spend a couple hrs trying it with my S-500 and my CV Jazzmaster this afternoon, and really like some sounds I get with both. Another recommendation for it as a really fun and good sounding home amp

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by bleedingfingers

My 14 yo daughter has been playing acoustic for a while, and now wants to tackle electric...She’s already found a Squier Contemporary Jaguar she loves...

I mostly practice electric with modeling amps and she had already decided she didn’t want one after messing with mine (“too complicated — and I’ll spend all my time trying sounds instead of playing." I’m impressed she’s self-aware enough to recognize that about her approach to learning)...she picked the Bugera. Which I was glad for, as the attenuator will be perfect for bedroom practice time without her sisters wanting to kill her...

Thanks for all the Bugera talk here...I got to spend a couple hours trying it with my S-500 and my CV Jazzmaster this afternoon, and really like some sounds I get with both. Another recommendation for it as a really fun and good sounding home amp

She's got her head and heart in the right place: with a vintage-style setup like that she'll get a good grip on the building blocks of tone, and when (or likely as not if) she's ready to add stompboxes to the mix she'll have the knowledge to use them as intended, aural condiments rather than a sonic meal unto themselves. As a retired teacher I've always been an advocate of simple WYSIWYG amps - tube or analog SS - for newcomers, for all the same reasons she states and, as you're both discovering, that mellow, tweedy postwar-style tone is a natural complement for any Leo-designed guitar...

Use it well, often, and (not too) loud - BOTH of you...

[Glennwillow]

Congrats on that Bugera v5 for your daughter! What a cool little amp!

- Glenn

[Chickee]

Your daughter will have a terrific rig to expand her guitar skills this coming Christmas/NewYear season! A great, easy playing short scale Squier Jaguar with a very highly regarded Bugera v5 amp to complete the package.

As a tail end baby boomer(1957) I could only have dreamed of gear as dialed in, playable and as good sounding as the above rig when I was fourteen years old.

Between the advent of the internet and all its available teaching tools, and the much better than good guitars and amps at accessible price points(read-inexpensive) the novice players today have every base covered to surpass generations of current guitarists in skill, craft and performance. What a wonderful legacy we as guitarists get to leave behind, an entire generation of killer guitarists, better than any that have come before. I like that. I like that a lot.

frank d.

[lowrider]

How is this amp for low volume? at home playing? Like, just above acoustic guitar volume?

[antvas1963]

V5 is a great amp. I love mine.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by lowrider

How is this amp for low volume? at home playing? Like, just above acoustic guitar volume?

Louder than you think - I've played coffeehouse gigs and band rehearsals (with a tasteful drummer) with mine, and between the headphone out and 0.1W setting at-home volume is no problem...

[leew3]

Well done Dad! She'll do well with this gear and it's kind of you to take one for the team by playing through it until Christmas.

[bleedingfingers]

Originally Posted by lowrider

How is this amp for low volume? at home playing? Like, just above acoustic guitar volume?

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone


The v5 has an attenuator -- 0.1, 1, 5 watt modes. I'm fortunate to have a 15x15 office that's detached from our house, so it's also where I play electric since I can be as noisy as I want w/o annoying my family. I've been trying it mostly in 1 watt mode, some in 5, out there. 5 watts is a little loud for me for very long in that size room if I turn the volume on the amp much past 5 or so. 0.1 sounds ok and if I needed to use it I wouldn't mind, but 1 sounds much "fuller"

Did some quick decibel reads just with an iPhone app - not anything calibrated but this just gives you some idea. With my S-500, guitar volume dimed (which I don't normally do - those pickups are loud) and amp volume dimed also, 0.1 peaks in low-mid 70s. 1 peaks in mid 80s, and 5 also peaks in mid-upper 80s. It didn't really register much difference between 1 and 5 but I suspect that's the relatively inaccurate readings plus the logarithmic nature of volume -- 5 definitely feels and sounds louder than 1 when you're standing 3 feet from the amp playing!

When it migrates up to her room, she'll probably use 0.1 in the mornings (she likes to get up really early and practice before school) and 1 or 5 when the rest of the house is up....

In addition to the attenuator it also has a headphone out if you need really quiet. It's just a straight headphone out (no simulated cabinet stuff like some solid state practice amps in that price range) but sounds quite nice