Awesome Bugera review

[Robert****]

This is a review for the Bugera V22. I thought it was so entertaining! Figured you might get a chuckle out of it too.

Features: Here goes. 2 channel triple 12ax7 into dual el84 out. Switchable between pentode and triode to let you choose between simply disgruntling the misses or severely peeing her off. Try and find ANYTHING like this for this price and you'll be laughed out of the store. And then when the lovely misses tells you to put on some dang headphones you can tell her your new box doesn't take one. So there. 12 inch speaker that many report as one of the things they will Switch out for a "better" sound only to be puzzled over the fact that their $300 celestion really didn't make a hoot of difference. This thing breaks up like a tasty cracker right out of the box. This thing will easily fill up a decent size club and will earn you some nasty looks from your bassplayer for drowning him out. Amp has an effect loop. I think. For some reason. // 8
Sound: Play both an active strat and a passive one straight through it. The active makes it bark like a rabies english bulldog. Little noisy on the neckpickup, but then again I've never heard it do anything else on any other amp. I don't even bother switching the thing to Drive anyhow. This is a tube. Cook that preamp and let the tubes do the breaking up. No. This is not a metalamp. No. It doesn't do line6 tricks. This is back to the roots sweety. Roots that were carefully amputated by the likes of VH1 and MoronTV.

The passive makes this box sing. The harmonics will make you tear up. Unreal. The sparkly headroom is truly unbelievable. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Again. Footswitch is made out of recycled eggboxes and will break as soon as you look at it. Will make the amp shut away its Drive and reverb only to come stuttering back in after a second. The fix involves replacing the cable with a plugin jack on the Switch and a generic cable to the amp, But still find it unbelievable that Bugera would risk their virgin reputation on something as stupid as a cheap footswitch. Amp itself is built like a brick. 6 for the rediculous switch.. Fooey Bugera! // 6

Impression: This is one rediculous little amp. Am an old blueshead and heard pretty much everything (?) that's out there and drooled over. Yes. I know. Bugera. eew! Its not a F word! Its not a M word neither! Its made by chinese 12yearolds! Its not played by my favorite american Idol! What good can any amp be that's the same price as my playstation?! Euh. Hangon..

Bugera distributes the thing. They don't build 'm. They just listen to you complain about the footswitch crapping out after a week, and it will. They had to cut a corner somewhere, and they did it with the wire that connects the Mcdonalds happymeal footswitch toy to this nasty little powerhouse. There are already fixes published on the interweb forums on how to repair this yourself, but if that's what you bought this thing for you're the type of person who buys a car for the defective ashtray.

In short. There finally is a workingman's bluesamp. If you want to impress the "experts" you could change out the bulbs to some more renowned brand and Switch out the perfectly great speaker for something more socially acceptable, or you could just say you did. And they'd believe you. Heck, Stick a tubescreamer or a sansamp in front of it if you have to. Itll eat it up and make your hair stand on end. In a good way. But this is one of those that allows back to basics. First time in a long time.

Would rob an old lady and cash in her foodstamps to buy another one if some unholy ever decides he needs this more than I do. So be warned. So. Save up for your brandname and keep dogging this one. Just keep an eye in your mirror, because one of these is creeping up on you. // 10

[duhvoodooman***]

Enjoyable read. Laughed out loud at a couple of his lines. But he never once used the term "amph". And it definitely sounds like that footswitch is NOT going to work 999,999 times out of 1,000,000....

[guitarhack]

Classic! Now I want one!

[Robert****]

Well, I got a new signature out of it...

[Jimi75]

That was real entertaining review.

[Spudman***]

That's a pretty accurate review. I'm not sure what language it was in but accurate nonetheless.

The foot switch issue takes a 10 cent heat sink bolted to a relay. A simple fix. Apparently the relay gets hot and flips. So if you are in the gain channel it switches back to the clean by itself - but only when the foot switch is plugged in.

I've only played mine on the clean channel and have not had one bit of trouble through 4 1/2 months of gigging every weekend with it and rehearsing at home. All the tubes did get switched out early on. I don't think the stock tubes were very good. The sound is very consistent now especially since the speaker has broken in. Speaking of...plenty of folks have put different speakers in only to end up putting the stock one back in. I'm happy with the unit as is.

And, FWIW, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe cover fits perfectly, and a really handy feature is that where the rear feet are located allows the amph (happy now?) to tilt back without falling over. It's pretty stable resting on the bottom edge of the amph and the sound comes up where you can easily hear it.

[Radioboy950]

I don't know about the amph, but that review gets 5 out of 5 stars!
Somebody should hire this guy to do regular gear reviews.

[Tig***]

Yep, The Tone King doesn't have anything on this guy!

"Yes. I know. Bugera. eew! Its not a F word! Its not a M word neither! Its made by chinese 12yearolds! Its not played by my favorite american Idol! What good can any amp be that's the same price as my playstation?!"

An instant classic!

[SuperSwede]

Excellent review

"This is back to the roots sweety"

[NWBasser]

I'd be damned surprised if that could get up over my bass rig!

Nice review and just maybe..I outta check it out.

[Duffy]

That sounds like a really cool amp. I might get one some day.

Sounds great stock, maybe a high quality tube change to JJ's or something. What did you put in Spud?

The speaker sounds like it is a good one stock.

If you were so inclined you probably could carefully remove the "Bugera" nameplate from the front of the amp and it would have a very classic, old school look and leave any of the inquisitive wondering what it is instead of dismissing it as a stereotyped, pigeon holed type of non-descript entry level amp worthy of little respect: force them to listen to it and give it a good shake, then tell them it is a hand made little known amp.

It is a shame that so many fans and players alike are brand fixated.

That said, I love my new Fender Nashville Telecaster and Vox AC15c1. These are cult following type brands that are more than just brand names but are more like a lifestyle association; kind of like Harley Davison, one of the most undependable mass produced motorcycles in the world, but with super dedicated cult followings that pay mega respect to their brand name.

Sounds like a Fender amp that would crack out to stand up to a V22 would cost about twice or three times as much.

It is amazing what a fairly small amount of wisely spent money can buy you in musical equipment.

If Spud and Robert rate the V22 out as being a decent amp, I think that is something that I, personally, will take seriously. I'm always looking for great values on musical gear. I know there are some great deals out there, but they are just hard to find sometimes.

These kind of reviews are really useful. This is an amp that someone can use at home but is also prepared to be used in a gig situation at a reasonably small event.

I don't care for ridiculously loud slammer drummers that only know one volume, flat out slamming loud, with a total lack of dynamism or consideration for other band members, the audience, or the venue. When you bury these guys with a ton of volume they don't like it either. They can give it but they can't take it. It's always nice to have that reserve power to obliterate them if the need arises.

But it shouldn't have to arise, and the V22 should be plenty powerful for a lot of situations, and probably VERY appropriate for most situations.

I wish I had one. Time will tell.

[Kestrel]

I picked up a Bugera V22 a few days ago. Great sounding amp and quite impressive considering it's price. It takes pedals really well too. I took the Bugera to a jam session on Saturday and put it to use throughout the evening without a negative incident. The fellas were impressed with the tone and were surprised to see everything on the amp was stock. Their response was "damn, how much did that amp cost again?" I did think about swapping out the tubes, but I figured I'll wait until these go and test their longevity. All in all, I really like this amp.

[Monkus]

I'd buy the amp just on that review. I lol'd. Hard. Have some cash left over after the Cube tho and seriously thinking about this...