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Originally Posted by banjostory  I recently purchased a Bugera BVP5500, and i love it, contrary to the very mixed views on it, it has worked amazingly for me, and the tone is brilliant.
However, I have been debating about upgrading the valves inside, but I have no idea how to go about it, or what to replace them with.
I think there's 4 AX7 in there at the moment, but I can't remember without looking |
Bugera and Behringer are part of the Music Group. They are a major manufacturer using tubes. Check their videos about how they manufacture and test. They test every tube they use and reject ones that don't meet spec. Chances are low you're going to be able to buy a better tube than the ones they supply. The tubes that B* rejects are returned to the manufacturer who in turn sells them to other amp manufacturers, and internet sellers.
But if you want to roll tubes, because they will all sound different...
For rough description of all the tubes, look at an internet seller.
They'll have pages and pages of replacement tubes and descriptions of each brand and nondescript adjectives like warm, smooth, bright, grind, ... which may give you an idea of what you want to try.
And watch out for NOS (New Old Stock) tubes are not like bottles of wine that somehow improve with age. Many NOS are counterfeits. They are often new tubes silk-screened to look like old tubes, and sometimes include a box made to look old also. There's a huge mark up, and very little regulation, and nobody can really tell, so there's good reason for counterfeiters to jump in the tube market.
You'll get a 90 day warranty with tubes - but they're going to be impossible to exchange without a re-stocking fee. Many of Internet vendors charge you to pre-test the tubes for you to make sure they are not micro-phonic. You can bet that tubes they test and find microphonic they won't ship to you - but end up back on the shelf to sell to someone else.
Your best bet is to find a local repair shop, or Craig's list hobbyist is a large stock of tubes. Take your amp in and swap them out live, give them plenty of warm up time, and use your own best judgment to pick out whatever combination meets what sound you think you're after.
Tubes are just very variable. You might just want to try a pedal or modeling before the amp to get an ideal sound. Something you can repeat the sound with and rely on being consistent.
