Members jhall Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 okay, I have sound clip of it!not what you think, though. I recorded the amp without any instrument plugged in. with most amps this wouldn't be much of a sound clip, but with this v22, it's a symphony of noises!so can anyone tell me what these sound like? the only time I interfere is when I hit the channel button and boost button off and on at one point.http://www.gulchcomic.com/images/v22noises.mp3the more common whining sound is at the start, and there's a bit of the "rumble" it does sometimes towards the end of the clip. again, this whole clip had no instrument plugged in ever.it does this with no instrument plugged in, it also does it when playing, sometimes playing makes it do it more, particularly high notes. certain notes it just doesn't like and it'll make noises at me. keep in mind this is NOT feedback, it's something else entirely. That is a bad tube bub. Best way to find it is to remove the tube cage and gently tap the tubes with a pencil with the amp on and the volume up a bit.They may all make a bit of noise under this test but the bad one will be noticable. Now there may be a bit of shorting too and you may actually see the arcing going on.Don't let this turn you off to tube amps or Bugera because this is common in ALL amps at ALL price points. If I were you and didn't want to deal with playing around with tubes, I'd send it back for a replacement ASAP. When you get the new one see if it is better (chances are it may be the same if they got a hold of a batch of bad tubes). But take it from me, If you want to be a tube amp lover you'd better learn how to deal with the tube aspect of ownership or you'll just be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration down the road with most any tube amp you buy. Yes some of the "name brand" amps may be a bit more careful with the tubes they choose (Most of the big boys use Sovtek for the reason that they ARE more reliable than most and are quite resistant to microphonics. I'm betteng that Bugera is using Ruby (a Chineese Brand). Ruby EL-84s in my experience have killed more amps than you can shake a stick at.They make excellent sounding 6L6s and EL-34s that rival the best of the best in sound quality (I acutally prefered them to any other in my two 1960s bassman heads even though their life span was a bit shorter than the Soveteks they just sounded killer). The good 6l6s they make could be the reason so many see no need to change them in their V-55s ( I put Svetlanta winged C's in mine and any "improvement" may be psycological for me). Their 12AX7s are hit and miss. SO yeah, Tubes ARE the weak point of tube ampsagain the reason they tried to phase them out in the 1970s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Orange Jackson Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 Bad tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted March 15, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 bad POWER TUBE, correct? can anyone recommend a good affordable replacement set? I have been well instructed on how to set up the bias on this particular amp so I think I can handle it. and it's not my first tube amp, it's just my first tube amp that made these noises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members neffrocks Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I hate to say I told...ah nevermind. If it doesnt work right out of the box, send it back. Don't mess with tubes or anything. Send it back and get another one. Just to give Bugera the benefit of the doubt, It could've gotten damaged during shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I hate to say I told...ah nevermind. If it doesnt work right out of the box, send it back. Don't mess with tubes or anything. Send it back and get another one. Just to give Bugera the benefit of the doubt, It could've gotten damaged during shipping. yeah, taht would be my instinct. but...you can always get a set of JJs from dougs tubes and if does turn out to be a bad tube, call M123 and tell them what happened. They'll probably give you a credit or something. You can always point them to this thread too. They own this website so I'm sure they can look it up. And if you buy the new tubes and it turns out to not be a tube, no loss, imo. JJs aren't that expensive and it's always good to have a set lying around even if you end up exchanging the amp. You might even want to put JJs in it just to have better tubes in it. I've put JJs in most of my amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I hate to say I told...ah nevermind. If it doesnt work right out of the box, send it back. Don't mess with tubes or anything. Send it back and get another one. Just to give Bugera the benefit of the doubt, It could've gotten damaged during shipping. lol....it has nothing to do with the brand name of the amp. Tube amps come with bad tubes all the time. There were recently two egnater amps that came with bad tubes out of the box. I suppose you consider egnater to be cheap chinese stuff? You hear about this type of thing happening all the time with all kinds of amps no matter who makes them or how much they cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted March 15, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 hard to return considering the {censored}ing giant box won't fit in my car. so I'm sort of trying to work around that if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 hard to return considering the {censored}ing giant box won't fit in my car. so I'm sort of trying to work around that if possible. lol...I know the feeling. You sure the box won't fit in your car though? I have a two seater convertible with no trunk and I was able to fit the V22's box in mine. Had to stand it upright in the passenger seat and I couldn't see out the side window but I managed to shoehorn it in there. Anyway, get yourself a set of JJs from doug's tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I hate to say I told...ah nevermind. If it doesnt work right out of the box, send it back. Don't mess with tubes or anything. Send it back and get another one. Just to give Bugera the benefit of the doubt, It could've gotten damaged during shipping.I totally agree. Bugera, Marshall, Mesa...does not matter. If I buy something new and it does not work correctly out of the box, it's going back for at least a replacement unit. Guess I have trust issues, but if it's not reliable at first, I just don't trust it. Sure, it's a pain to return an amp, but I'd do it every time...providing I bought it a new prices. I'm more forgiving on used gear...as it's usually a lot cheaper than new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I totally agree. Bugera, Marshall, Mesa...does not matter. If I buy something new and it does not work correctly out of the box, it's going back for at least a replacement unit. Guess I have trust issues, but if it's not reliable at first, I just don't trust it. Sure, it's a pain to return an amp, but I'd do it every time...providing I bought it a new prices. I'm more forgiving on used gear...as it's usually a lot cheaper than new. I agree. Even when jhall fixed his new egnater that had a dead tube, personally I would have sent it back with a quickness. But in this case if returning it really is a huge hassle, it might just be easier to spend 20 or 25 bucks for new tubes from dougs then calling M123 and asking for a 25$ credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jbiggs1 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 i really wanted to love this amp....walked into GC with the intent of buying one 2 or 3 times...and they always just seem cold, sterile and lifeless to me. i'm glad you guys are all loving yours...i just have yet to play one that was enjoyable to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhall Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 i really wanted to love this amp....walked into GC with the intent of buying one 2 or 3 times...and they always just seem cold, sterile and lifeless to me. i'm glad you guys are all loving yours...i just have yet to play one that was enjoyable to play. Did you play it loud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orbm1 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 Let me jump in... I will call Bugera/ behringer.... contact their customer support or tech support... they will give you a RMA and the address of a local shop, where they will replace the tubes for free... They did that with mine 60 days after i bought it and they put new tubes for free... cheaper that sending back... and it will be cover but both bugera and the shop warranty... just saying... I still think it got damged during shipping, and it can happen again with a new one... something that I do not like about buying tube amps online... my 2 cents... Omar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 i really wanted to love this amp....walked into GC with the intent of buying one 2 or 3 times...and they always just seem cold, sterile and lifeless to me. i'm glad you guys are all loving yours...i just have yet to play one that was enjoyable to play. You're not the only one who thought exactly that. Glad these guys like theirs...just didn't float my boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fabstrat Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 its just really tough when this is sitting next to matchless' at my local store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhall Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 its just really tough when this is sitting next to matchless' at my local store. I bet it is!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted March 16, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2010 got my multimeter, got my JJ el84s arriving here on thursday... I've received good instructions from Vintage55 (thanks again) on how to bias this amp... I'll plug em in and see what I can do. I'll let you guys know if I succeed or if I accidentally kill myself somehow or something. actually I won't let you know if the second thing happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted March 16, 2010 Members Share Posted March 16, 2010 Let me jump in... I will call Bugera/ behringer.... contact their customer support or tech support... they will give you a RMA and the address of a local shop, where they will replace the tubes for free... They did that with mine 60 days after i bought it and they put new tubes for free... cheaper that sending back... and it will be cover but both bugera and the shop warranty... just saying... I still think it got damged during shipping, and it can happen again with a new one... something that I do not like about buying tube amps online... my 2 cents... Omar THIS.I bought an Ampeg online. Came with a bad power tube. Wrote to Ampeg, they gave me an RMA number and I took the amp to a local electronics shop.Bam, problem fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted March 16, 2010 Members Share Posted March 16, 2010 fwiw, the few times I dealt w/Behringer support, it was EXCELLENT. Their phones are answered quickly by real people who had in-depth knowledge of their products. AND after replacing their product (a rack mounted reverb) 2 times, and having it break both times, they took the thing back and sent me a mixing board worth twice the original cost of the reverb. Good people to deal with. I would call them - they may send you a replacement set of tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fly_with_v Posted March 16, 2010 Members Share Posted March 16, 2010 Bugera will send you new tubes if you need them. If it hasn't been suggested, pull the tubes one at a time (with the power of and gloves) and replace them. It is very possible that they were unseated during shipping. It has happened to me with that amp. Reseated the tubes and the amp performed flawless, i even got a full set of tubes from Bugera for my troubles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted March 16, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2010 I've continued to use the amp and even though I haven't reseated the tubes again or done anything, the nasty noises have sorta.. stopped. for the moment it's behaving like a normal amp. only thing is it still does put out a bit of a "warm smell". not extreme but subtle. it's not a stink or strong by any sense. this may just be something that happens when the tubes heat up and I'm being sensitive to it. I still think I'll replace the tubes with the JJs. anyway, more observations about the SOUND of the amp-- the clean channel remains very strong at all volumes and my dirt boxes sound great through it. with the clean chan and my visual sound open road (which has been my goto OD pedal for about a year now, just lovely) I can get some really sweet sounds at really any volume. the v22's dirty channel, at low volumes, is weak. it just sounds too fizzy at low volumes. however, if you crank things up, the fizz actually goes away and it becomes very punchy, grindy, and useable. great for punk. overall I think this is a very strong amp, the tube issues mine arrived with notwithstanding. maybe when I get the new JJs dialed in it'll sound even better. we'll see. edit: NM, sounds are still there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted March 19, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 UPDATE okay, I installed the JJ matched pair. then I set the bias, which in this case was pretty easy since I had specific instructions and was told what the current ought to read. (vintage55) they say between -15v and -17v is the sweet spot so I put it to -16. then I tested out the amp. wow, mama. crackles and burps are gone and the tone -- it sounds even better. it's got such a sweet sound -- for $350 retail it's almost unbelievable at this point. what's more? the gain channel isn't fizzy anymore. I don't know if this is because the JJ tubes are better, or because the old set had a bad one-- but the fizz is gone. it's just a clean, powerful, punchy, midrangey tone now, and I can't exactly compare it to anything because I just don't know. it's probably more fender than marshall, though, but it's a very useable sound. I'm excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V-Type Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 Very Cool.The Bugera's seem too be the best low $$$ tube amp deals out there.I have yet too try their new British flavored heads but at under $500 I may give one a shot sometime very soon.Tube and Speaker upgrades can make a huge difference in a lot of amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fabstrat Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 good deal, glad it worked out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulskirocks Posted March 19, 2010 Members Share Posted March 19, 2010 Good! I am very glad to hear this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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