So, to start off, I have to say that it was a pain in the ass to find one, and a bigger one to buy it. I don't know why that is, seems like Bugera made a small amount of them, or something. I've gone through probably all BVV3000 topics on every forum, and hardly anyone said anything about owning one, only the usual Bugera/Behringer/Ampeg slander. There is only one reliable (typical) review of the amp, from a German gear site with some audio on it. No „independent“ review, no YT video whatsoever (except those from NAMM which are hardly satisfactory, and the MIJ one which is cool).
Getting one was a no easy deal. US sites hardly ship to EU, and considering the heaviness of this amp(33.8kg/74.5lbs), USPS is not likely to help you. Same problem with Japan. Thomann, being the biggest EU online store doesn’t have it, and my local Bugera retailers would order those, but would not get them. Finally, I managed to buy one from Musicstore for 770 euros, incl. tax and shipping.
Some of you will probably say it's a big amount of money for a Bugera, and the usual „you can get a used CL for that money“ talk. That may be so in the US. In the EU, especially the shithole where I'm from, Ampeg's resell value is approx. 85%-90% of the new price (btw, used CL on sale is a rare occasion here). Simply speaking, for a new CL, you can buy 3 BVV's, for a used one, 2.5 new BVV's.
In comparison to other Bugera amps, yes, it's more expensive. But also, it's built better. I've tried out almost all Bugera products, and BVV is definitely built best. BVV provides a heavy duty chassis, which can take its weight without problems. You'll feel safe carrying it around holding it's sturdy handles. Tone pots are really great, I didn't expect such a high quality „feeling“. They give a nice smooth resistance, and all of them feel the same. All in all, it's copy of the CL. Specs for this one are little puzzling. The ones I got in the owners manual and ones on their web are not quite the same. This goes for some minor differences in dB regarding tone controls. You have probably noticed that the tone controls are almost the same on BVV and CL. Also, some minor differences in dB, but all the HZ and kHz are exactly the same. One more thing that you find in the owner’s manual and not in the web one is the systems data for infinium valve monitoring (biasing); it says 6x34 mA .Although, being a blatant copy of the CL, it apparently has some minor differences.
Soundwise, it's everything a SVT-CL is; a monster. These two amps sound the same, although it seems that the BVV can provide a little bit more drive. Forget about “tube simulations”, “tube” compressions, DI boxes, drive boxes, rackmounts, solid state amps, hybrid amps, hi-end tube simulating amps, signal blends and everything else out there. These are just lame solutions that are trying to sound like the real stuff. They may emulate the character of a tube amp, but will never have anywhere near enough balls or low end, and thanks to Bugera, now mortals can have it for a fair price. Don’t get me wrong; I consider CL to be the best bass amp ever, and with the BVV around, I just can’t justify it’s high price, considering it’s not built in the US anymore. OK, some parts may be better, but if BVV breaks down, you can get it fixed, and still spend way less money. With Ampeg, you are paying for the name, and that’s a fact.
I wanted to buy an alltube head for a reasonable price, and besides BVV, two more amps were taken in consideration, VB-2 and Eden WTB300V. I could get both amps for a cca 200$ higher price than the BVV. I tried out the WTB, but was not impressed at all (maybe because I was playing an SVT-CL right before it
). It lacked pretty much everything the CL had, and as you may have noticed, I wanted that CL tone. Unlike BVV, VB-2 has some decent yt videos, and though it sounded cool, it was no CL, and was more expensive. Buying the BVV was the best option for the amount of cash I had, and it has surpassed all my expectations; Bugera has once again nailed the sound of another amp (and let’s be frank, that’s no quantum physics). As far as reliability, time will tell. Suppose money is not the issue (and it totally is!), I would go for heritage CL or some old VR, but between non US built CL and BVV…well, as I said before, it’s hard to justify the price.
I hope I gave my 0.02$ to all of you guys trying to find some decent info on this amp. I will try to put a video of it actually playing on yt, considering Bugera is incapable of doing the same -.-
Getting one was a no easy deal. US sites hardly ship to EU, and considering the heaviness of this amp(33.8kg/74.5lbs), USPS is not likely to help you. Same problem with Japan. Thomann, being the biggest EU online store doesn’t have it, and my local Bugera retailers would order those, but would not get them. Finally, I managed to buy one from Musicstore for 770 euros, incl. tax and shipping.
Some of you will probably say it's a big amount of money for a Bugera, and the usual „you can get a used CL for that money“ talk. That may be so in the US. In the EU, especially the shithole where I'm from, Ampeg's resell value is approx. 85%-90% of the new price (btw, used CL on sale is a rare occasion here). Simply speaking, for a new CL, you can buy 3 BVV's, for a used one, 2.5 new BVV's.
In comparison to other Bugera amps, yes, it's more expensive. But also, it's built better. I've tried out almost all Bugera products, and BVV is definitely built best. BVV provides a heavy duty chassis, which can take its weight without problems. You'll feel safe carrying it around holding it's sturdy handles. Tone pots are really great, I didn't expect such a high quality „feeling“. They give a nice smooth resistance, and all of them feel the same. All in all, it's copy of the CL. Specs for this one are little puzzling. The ones I got in the owners manual and ones on their web are not quite the same. This goes for some minor differences in dB regarding tone controls. You have probably noticed that the tone controls are almost the same on BVV and CL. Also, some minor differences in dB, but all the HZ and kHz are exactly the same. One more thing that you find in the owner’s manual and not in the web one is the systems data for infinium valve monitoring (biasing); it says 6x34 mA .Although, being a blatant copy of the CL, it apparently has some minor differences.
Soundwise, it's everything a SVT-CL is; a monster. These two amps sound the same, although it seems that the BVV can provide a little bit more drive. Forget about “tube simulations”, “tube” compressions, DI boxes, drive boxes, rackmounts, solid state amps, hybrid amps, hi-end tube simulating amps, signal blends and everything else out there. These are just lame solutions that are trying to sound like the real stuff. They may emulate the character of a tube amp, but will never have anywhere near enough balls or low end, and thanks to Bugera, now mortals can have it for a fair price. Don’t get me wrong; I consider CL to be the best bass amp ever, and with the BVV around, I just can’t justify it’s high price, considering it’s not built in the US anymore. OK, some parts may be better, but if BVV breaks down, you can get it fixed, and still spend way less money. With Ampeg, you are paying for the name, and that’s a fact.
I wanted to buy an alltube head for a reasonable price, and besides BVV, two more amps were taken in consideration, VB-2 and Eden WTB300V. I could get both amps for a cca 200$ higher price than the BVV. I tried out the WTB, but was not impressed at all (maybe because I was playing an SVT-CL right before it
). It lacked pretty much everything the CL had, and as you may have noticed, I wanted that CL tone. Unlike BVV, VB-2 has some decent yt videos, and though it sounded cool, it was no CL, and was more expensive. Buying the BVV was the best option for the amount of cash I had, and it has surpassed all my expectations; Bugera has once again nailed the sound of another amp (and let’s be frank, that’s no quantum physics). As far as reliability, time will tell. Suppose money is not the issue (and it totally is!), I would go for heritage CL or some old VR, but between non US built CL and BVV…well, as I said before, it’s hard to justify the price.I hope I gave my 0.02$ to all of you guys trying to find some decent info on this amp. I will try to put a video of it actually playing on yt, considering Bugera is incapable of doing the same -.-
