Calling Bugera V22 Owners

[tlbonehead]

Interesting. I have the same opinion of some mesa boogie amps. That said' date=' you're comparing a 40 watt 700.00 amp to a 13/22 watt 350.00 amp. That said, I have yet to find a Fender amp with a distortion channel that I like. The Bugera's dirt channel is way ahead of the HRD's.

Easily. But what amp's isn't!

[Orange Jackson]

Easily. But what amp's isn't!

 

So true!

[tlbonehead]

So true!

We agree????? Good golly!

[Belva]

[guitarman3001]

Easily. But what amp's isn't!

 

yep. Like I said, I've never found a fender amp with a dirt channel that's actually usable for me. Not sure why fender finds it so hard to make a distortion channel that sounds good but for some reason they can't seem to do it.

[steve_man]

 

Ha Ha. I remember in a post many months ago that you said you though it was a sorry excuse for an amp. Something close to that. Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

Nah, never said those exact words. There was a firestorm thread about them...but not trying to start that up again. Just throwing my experience in there... When I ask opinions on gear here, I honestly want good and bad sides of the ear I'm looking at. Helps in the decision making process for me.

[Belva]

There are people who'll have a neg opinion of a Bugera just because it ain't a Fender/Marshall/Boogie, etc. Those people won't like it even if it's far superior to anything else. I tried a JC2112 and found it's basically a one trick pony. Not a bad thing, it's a good trick. Don't start on the "add this pedal and that" bull. That ain't the point. But many just equate the Soldano origin to something better than Bugera just because.

I'm not a "name on da headstock" guy, so I think I'll audition one with an open mind.

[tlbonehead]

 

There are people who'll have a neg opinion of a Bugera just because it ain't a Fender/Marshall/Boogie, etc. Those people won't like it even if it's far superior to anything else. I tried a JC2112 and found it's basically a one trick pony. Not a bad thing, it's a good trick. Don't start on the "add this pedal and that" bull. That ain't the point. But many just equate the Soldano origin to something better than Bugera just because. I'm not a "name on da headstock" guy, so I think I'll audition one with an open mind.

I'm not one of them. I thought what I thought because of playing thru it.

 

Its a one trick pony for me too, since the tone controls don't match up at all between channels.

[Woody_in_MN]

 

Nah, never said those exact words. There was a firestorm thread about them...but not trying to start that up again. Just throwing my experience in there... When I ask opinions on gear here, I honestly want good and bad sides of the ear I'm looking at. Helps in the decision making process for me.

 

 

Steve_Man - yeah I don't recall the exact quote. I just remember you did not care for the V22. NP - you are always welcome in my threads.

[Smilin' Bob]

How about headroom on the clean channel (I like lots) better than Vox Ac15?

[twangr]

Love my V22! The good:

GREAT tones! Both the clean channel and gain channel sound great!

The digital reverb is actually usable IF you keep the settings low. I usually run mine below 2

The tones are great!

Easy to handle (weight/size) combo

FX loop

The tones are killer!

Liked the V22 so much I bought it's big brother the V55H.

These amps love pedals!

The V22 likes JJ tubes. You will too.

 

The BAD:

Early models had some difficulties. Mine had the channel switching. The problem was a voltage regulator in the switching circuit. $2 and a little time with the soldering iron fixed it and it has run like a champ ever since.

Another issue has been a cap in the reverb circuit which causes the motor-boating or helicopter sound. Again, an easy fix. Mine did NOT have this problem.

The biasing scheme sucks! Absolutely asinine!

The tube socket are mounted on the pcb below the chassis. The holes for the tubes are too small for the bias-rite or amp-head probes so you can't do a real bias adjustment on it unless you drill the chassis to make larger tube holes.

The "tolex" looks good but is fairly poor in quality. Rips/tears easily.

 

I play in low volume band. the V22 has been great for practice and gigs. It does need more headroom for cleans at decent levels even when run in the pentode mode if you have a large band. My band is a 6 piece. Brightening up with the EQ will help a little but a bit more power/headroom will keep you off the edge of breakup.

 

I don't know about the other Bugera amps but the V series is a big win in my book.

[WildWill]

 

Love my V22! The good: GREAT tones! Both the clean channel and gain channel sound great! The digital reverb is actually usable IF you keep the settings low. I usually run mine below 2 The tones are great! Easy to handle (weight/size) combo FX loop The tones are killer! Liked the V22 so much I bought it's big brother the V55H. These amps love pedals! The V22 likes JJ tubes. You will too. The BAD: Early models had some difficulties. Mine had the channel switching. The problem was a voltage regulator in the switching circuit. $2 and a little time with the soldering iron fixed it and it has run like a champ ever since. Another issue has been a cap in the reverb circuit which causes the motor-boating or helicopter sound. Again, an easy fix. Mine did NOT have this problem. The biasing scheme sucks! Absolutely asinine! The tube socket are mounted on the pcb below the chassis. The holes for the tubes are too small for the bias-rite or amp-head probes so you can't do a real bias adjustment on it unless you drill the chassis to make larger tube holes. The "tolex" looks good but is fairly poor in quality. Rips/tears easily. I play in low volume band. the V22 has been great for practice and gigs. It does need more headroom for cleans at decent levels even when run in the pentode mode if you have a large band. My band is a 6 piece. Brightening up with the EQ will help a little but a bit more power/headroom will keep you off the edge of breakup. I don't know about the other Bugera amps but the V series is a big win in my book.

 

 

Thank you, THAT was very helpful.

 

Now, how does the V55 compare to the V22? Similar tone just able to go louder? Or is a diff animal, tone-wise?

[Woody_in_MN]

UPDATE: So...about the only thing I did today other that walk the dogs, is drive to GC to play a Bugera V22. I spent about 20 minutes with it - mostly on the lead channel. So executive summary? It is an OK amp. I expected it to be louder. I had the master dialed back to 4 - but still. I mean I could make it work. I guess I'm not sure it is going to give me more than what my Valveking 112 gives me - in fact in some ways it gives me less. I guess I'm not too interested in acquiring one. Probably too much overlap with the Valveking. Thanks to all for your comments and feedback. If I did not already have the Valveking, it would be more appealing.

[guitarman3001]

 

UPDATE: So...about the only thing I did today other that walk the dogs, is drive to GC to play a Bugera V22. I spent about 20 minutes with it - mostly on the lead channel. So executive summary? It is an OK amp. I expected it to be louder. I had the master dialed back to 4 - but still. I mean I could make it work. I guess I'm not sure it is going to give me more than what my Valveking 112 gives me - in fact in some ways it gives me less. I guess I'm not too interested in acquiring one. Probably too much overlap with the Valveking. Thanks to all for your comments and feedback. If I did not already have the Valveking, it would be more appealing.

 

 

wow...I'm surprised. I had a VK 112 and imo it is one of the harshest, driest, most shrill, and least warm sounding amp I've ever played through. The V22 is a hundred times the amp that the VK is. I gigged my VK once and then stashed it in a corner never to be played again and I finally sold it. The V22, at least to my ears, is so much warmer, more responsive, smoother, etc... that I wouldn't even put them in the same category. Could there have been something wrong with the V22 you tried? I've heard that some of them come biased very cold and that makes them sound not so good. Maybe that's what was up with that one?

[steve_man]

Sorry it didn't do what you expected. I, actually think that the Valvekings are not bad amps. Tried one out a few months ago. Not too shabby, imo. Didn't impress me enough to sell one of my other amps to pick one up, but there were some usable tones there. Just goes to show the differences in taste between all of us on this forum. Some rave over amps, while others are not really taken with something. Guess that's why there 100's of different amps out there! Have you tried out a Peavey Classic 30? Pretty nice amps, and can be had for a song used...

[Woody_in_MN]

 

wow...I'm surprised. I had a VK 112 and imo it is one of the harshest, driest, most shrill, and least warm sounding amp I've ever played through. The V22 is a hundred times the amp that the VK is. I gigged my VK once and then stashed it in a corner never to be played again and I finally sold it. The V22, at least to my ears, is so much warmer, more responsive, smoother, etc... that I wouldn't even put them in the same category. Could there have been something wrong with the V22 you tried? I've heard that some of them come biased very cold and that makes them sound not so good. Maybe that's what was up with that one?

 

 

This might be a stretch - but out of the box, I think the V22 is a better sounding amp than the VK 112. HOWEVER, if you retube the preamp tubes on the VK there is a big improvement - which is what I did. Aanother trick I learned is to dial the gain on the VK dimed or close to it, then use the volume to adjust to the circumstances. The amp actually sounds LESS harsh to my ears with the gain way up, then dail back the volume.

[Woody_in_MN]

Sorry it didn't do what you expected. I, actually think that the Valvekings are not bad amps. Tried one out a few months ago. Not too shabby, imo. Didn't impress me enough to sell one of my other amps to pick one up, but there were some usable tones there. Just goes to show the differences in taste between all of us on this forum. Some rave over amps, while others are not really taken with something. Guess that's why there 100's of different amps out there! Have you tried out a Peavey Classic 30 ? Pretty nice amps, and can be had for a song used...

 

That was actually another amp on my list. I have not played one - but have been asking questions about it over at the Peavey forum. The general feeling is that the Classic has a great tone for what it does well - which is vintage Blues/Rock - the VK does not truely excel in any one tone but seems to do a lot of different tones pretty well. The VK is more of a modern amp - the Classic 30 is well...more a classic or vintage take on an amp. Again - probably too much overlap with the VK. BTW - I am not the kind of guy that has a dozen amps laying around. About 3 covers pretty much all my needs.

[guitarman3001]

I agree about the classic 30 being a great amp. I had one for a while. Actually drove 8 hours roundtrip to buy it. Very very nice amp and like you mentioned, it's definitely a vintage kind of tone. Great for blues, classic rock, and southern rock. Only thing I wasn't too crazy about was that when you turn it up, it sounds kind of small. Not sure if that's a description anyone else can understand but it sounded...I don't know....small. Also rattled quite a bit. And it had a lot of tube rattle too. But at low to mid volume levels it had a really nice sweet spot and got a very nice liquidy smooth lead tone. I sold it when I got the bugera because I thought the bugera did pretty much everything better. But a lot of people like the C30 over the bugera and I have no problem recommending them.

 

btw, I never modded my VK. Left it stock. To me it sounded so bad stock that I didn't want to invest anything in it. But you're not the first person I've heard say that it can sound much better with different tubes and a different speaker.

[Belva]

Question about the V22. Does it have an ext. speaker jack? I'd like an amp that allows me to use the stock speaker and another cab to move more air when needed.

[guitarman3001]

 

Question about the V22. Does it have an ext. speaker jack? I'd like an amp that allows me to use the stock speaker and another cab to move more air when needed.

 

 

Yep. You can also set it to either 4, 8, or 16 ohms. It actually has two regular 1/4" speaker jacks. One is used by the internal speaker but if you wanted to you could just unplug it and basically use the amp as a head and run two external cabs if you felt like it.

 

I've used it to run the internal speaker and three external cabs at the same time. I have a weber Z-matcher and used that to run the internal speaker, a 4x10 marshall cab, and two 1x12 mesa boogie cabs at an outdoor gig we did. That was a sight to see. It's still only pushing 22 watts but I was able to aim the cabs in different directions and got a huge sound out of it.

[Belva]

 

Yep. You can also set it to either 4, 8, or 16 ohms. It actually has two regular 1/4" speaker jacks. One is used by the internal speaker but if you wanted to you could just unplug it and basically use the amp as a head and run two external cabs if you felt like it. I've used it to run the internal speaker and three external cabs at the same time. I have a weber Z-matcher and used that to run the internal speaker, a 4x10 marshall cab, and two 1x12 mesa boogie cabs at an outdoor gig we did. That was a sight to see. It's still only pushing 22 watts but I was able to aim the cabs in different directions and got a huge sound out of it.

 

Good to know. Thanks. I'd want to get 2 identical speakers, build another cab and make a mini stack. Unless I could find a single speaker with the same SPL as the stocker AND I like the sound of it.

[Woody_in_MN]

Guitarman - I got the VK used. I played it side by side with a Marshall JCM DSL401. I thought the VK did higher gain better AT SUBDUED levels ( that is bedroom to small hall volumes). But the VK seemed a bit harsh. So I researched and got some replacement tubes. I found out it already had JJ's in the preamp. I got a re-labed Phillips (or RCA) NOS for clean channel - a Sovtek LPS for phase inverter, and a tungsol for high gain. I think they were all improvements for the tubes. If did not have the VK already - I would have gotten serious about the V22. The price is good, and I have heard they are loud enough to gig with - so that is as much punch as I would need. Although it did seem a little heavy/bulky. Probably at the very edge of what I would want to move around given my bad back problems.

[steve_man]

 

That was actually another amp on my list. I have not played one - but have been asking questions about it over at the Peavey forum. The general feeling is that the Classic has a great tone for what it does well - which is vintage Blues/Rock - the VK does not truely excel in any one tone but seems to do a lot of different tones pretty well. The VK is more of a modern amp - the Classic 30 is well...more a classic or vintage take on an amp. Again - probably too much overlap with the VK. BTW - I am not the kind of guy that has a dozen amps laying around. About 3 covers pretty much all my needs.

 

 

If you like the higher gain tones of your VK, a V30 might fit into your arsenal very well. They also take pedals very well. There was one in the spam thread for about $200. If I had the cash, I'd jump on it...seems like a great deal for a tube amp. However, if the VK does what you want it to...you might be all set!

[guitarman3001]

Cool. It's definitely loud enough to gig with. My band never mics any instruments, just vocals, and the V22 is easily loud enough even competing with my other guitar player's 30 watt 2x10 delta blues. BTW, the classic 30 is noticeably smaller and less bulky than the V22 so you may want to take a look at those.

[Woody_in_MN]

Thanks guitarman and Steve - After the retubbing I love the warmish cleans of the VK, it does crunch pretty nice. I am still really playing with dialing in just the right high gain tone - but I feel I am pretty close. Really since I don't have a lot of room for amps, I think I am going to stick with the VK over the C30. For my needs I'll take the versatility of the VK over the sweet spots of the C30. Just works better for me. But if I ever see a C30 - I am going to plug in. A lot of guys love the C30 sound. I do too based on clips I've heard. The little time I spent with the V22 I can see there is versatility in the triode vs. pentode.