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BVV3000 INFINIUM Trial

#241
I like your tube post removal method; I ended up turning the whole amp upside down and using a cocktail stick to get one out! If you put dodgy tubes in it you might provoke a more serious fault. You bought it for a fair price and you may need to spend a not inconsiderable amount to re valve it. No tube amp can work with broken tubes. As long as it's okay you will still have a great sounding tube head but perhaps not quite as cheap as initially thought.
 
#242
I know from past experiences with used gear from GC that they usually end up offering you a small amount of in store credit to appease you or you can just return it.
I did get it cheap so I think I'll just order a pair of Tung Sol 6550s & roll the dice. I don't think the amp is damaged & I don't want to play around with these broken old tubes anymore.
 
#243
I went & ordered a pair of Sovtek 6550we power tubes, they should arrive tomorrow. I never received any calls from my local GC or the store that sold the amp online. I called Customer service told them I ordered tubes & that I would send the amp back unless I was reimbursed for the tubes, they agreed. I"ll try it out tomorrow & update.
 
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#244
Bad news, this amp has issues. I received a new matched pair of power tubes & put them in powered up in standby for 20 minutes & when I took her out of standby the same initial tube #6 position showed bad. I powered it down swapped 5 & 6 tubes which were both brand new, now 5&6 both show bad. I noticed even before today that position 5 & more so on position 6 the tubes glow as if much less voltage is reaching them.
I'm done with this amp unfortunately as I had high hopes. Returning it to my local GC on Monday or Tuesday.
 
#247
It's always a crap shoot with Guitar Center used gear. I received a Bag End cabinet with a replacement speaker of unknown make. I returned it & saw it relisted with no mention of this. They will probably do the same with this amp, so if you see a used Bugera BVV3000 on GC's used bass amp section in the next week be forewarned.
 
#249
Figured I would write an update in case anyone cares.
It looks like these amps aren't made anymore so in a few years they will be rare vintage value!!! hahaha!!

So I had sold it to a friend and he played it a bit and then installed some different power tubes and it blew on him.
I took it back and found two blown fuses. Replaced those with the correct values and it was back to working again.

I brought it to another talkbass local friend anderbass and left it at his house since he has a nice jam room to really play it hard.
We played it through his NV610 with pre and post volumes dimed and it worked great with no issue, quite a decent tube break up at that volume!!!
I left it with him for months and he had no issues with it.

I brought it home. Played it a bit at home and it was working fine with no issues.
I finally joined a band again 2 months ago and the 3rd practice with them I brought one of my SVT 8x10's and this head. Set it up, turned it on, waited a minute or so, turned off standby and got nothing, no sound, eventually the fault light started flashing and all biasing lights were on. Damn it!!! was ready to throw it away.

Brought it home. Found that same fuse blew again for the screen voltage I believe. Replaced it. Messed with it for a while without reinstalling into case. Working fine. Turned on and off a few times and eventually the fuse blew again. Now I have in total 10 different bugera branded tubes for this thing and I have swapped them around a few times with none being obviously bad. I finally installed a different set of power tubes in it.
The best matched set of 6 I have are sovtek KT88's. I wanted to install 6550's because mine is one of the first if not first to come to the US so wasn't "upgraded" to allow kt88's but my best set of spare 6550's were very noisy.
Anyway, installed the KT88's and ever since the amp has worked flawlessly. The bias lights never light up. It always turns on and works and sounds really good. Its also a bit lighter and easier to move than my other amps and since it sounds good I would rather move it back and forth for practice than the others.

I know my post is long but in my experience and opinion if you have one of these BUY SOME BETTER POWER TUBES ASAP!!!!
Maybe bugera tests them and everything but they do not seem to be reliable at all. I wonder why they don't make the amp anymore???
 
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#252
In this case, it sounds more like an design problem with the amplifier than the tubes themselves
Bugera added some auto biased controller and it goes to extremes enough to blow fuses.
They could probably fix this with a revision, but it could be costly, and everybody with the current amp would want to by the fix. If they published the schematic and software I would bet somebody else could figure it out.
In all, it's probably a good thing they stopped making them.
 
#254
I have a couple of matched (supposedly) Bugera 6550B sextets so I was expecting those to be okay. Although if you believe the blurb you can fit any unmatched valve and the auto bias will compensate. I have replaced one faulty valve already but that was sent to me under warranty so that wasn't matched and seems to be working okay at the moment.
 
#256
With the original Bugera tubes in it mine ran fine for over a year, Infinium LEDs flashing randomly once in a while showing it was doing its job keeping the BIAS controlled, then one LED lit up permanently.
I decided to replace all the pre and power tubes in it with JJs, just to know if it would make any difference.
After that it sounded even better, a little warmer, a touch more oomph, glassy highs.
Unfortunately not for too long - one of the JJ6550s drew air in the next rehearsal session and blew a fuse on the board.
Got it fixed under warranty, put another brand new JJ6550 in that was matched to my 5h old set and since then no issues whatsoever.
Never have seen any of the LEDs light up again in over 3 years now.
It's also one of the older ones, bought it back in Dec 2012.
 
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#257
My bvv3000 sounds awesomely good since audio systemas in Spain fixed the unit. Main issue was the PSU module and one bad tube - as they reported. Bought one Bugera 6550 and they fixed the PSU.
Regularly I play it through 2x warwick wca11 pro and did a couple of gigs only since the repair because it's a back breaker. From time to time I check the infinium leds, yep, they light up occasionally and randomly, which means it's biasing the tubes just fine. Maybe kt88 's will be better and I'll consider them if the 6550's fails.
Maybe the PSU should be reviewed more thoroughly? Is it safe to say the bvv3000 likes kt88's better or that was just one happy user?
 
#258
Adriano Macedo said:
My bvv3000 sounds awesomely good since audio systemas in Spain fixed the unit. Main issue was the PSU module and one bad tube - as they reported. Bought one Bugera 6550 and they fixed the PSU.
Regularly I play it through 2x warwick wca11 pro and did a couple of gigs only since the repair because it's a back breaker. From time to time I check the infinium leds, yep, they light up occasionally and randomly, which means it's biasing the tubes just fine. Maybe kt88 's will be better and I'll consider them if the 6550's fails.
Maybe the PSU should be reviewed more thoroughly? Is it safe to say the bvv3000 likes kt88's better or that was just one happy user?
Click to expand...

Adriano, could you explain what was wrong with your PSU module and how was it fixed please?
Thank you, Mark.
 
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#259
I own a bvv3000, and also had some issues. A friend of mine took a look at it and measured some things. There was over 630v going through the poweramp valves, 6550 valves are Max. 600v so he tuned it to 580v to be safe. Still running the 6550's without a problem. KT88 can run up to 800v, so maybe that's worth a shot. Also swapped out all of the pre amp valves, big difference. More power and less noise. Next step is new power amp valves.
I use a peavey 115 350w eminence 8 Ohm and a 410 400w 8 ohm xl series Hartke with the BVV.
 
#260
SergevanR said:
I own a bvv3000, and also had some issues. A friend of mine took a look at it and measured some things. There was over 630v going through the poweramp valves, 6550 valves are Max. 600v so he tuned it to 580v to be safe. Still running the 6550's without a problem. KT88 can run up to 800v, so maybe that's worth a shot. Also swapped out all of the pre amp valves, big difference. More power and less noise. Next step is new power amp valves.
I use a peavey 115 350w eminence 8 Ohm and a 410 400w 8 ohm xl series Hartke with the BVV.
Click to expand...

Hi Sergevan, so you had an earlier BVV3000 without the infinium circuit? This would explain how your friend could adjust the bias?
 

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