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who has tried out the new Bugera BVV3000?

#45
Lindex said:
It's been out for more than 15 months now. Yes, I own one. Sounds great, moves some serious air and was completely reliable so far. Nothing to complain at all as of today.
Click to expand...

Just got it this afternoon. Everything seems to work properly.
Here is a quick demo (I didn't have much time to EQ a lot - just one sound for quick review):



Btw this is from amp's XLR out straight into my laptop.
 
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#46
Now after 18 months the first 6550 tube seems to be running out of its specs.
Infinium LED goes red on one of the tubes after ~5 minutes of playing.
No audible performance or sound decrease yet, though.

I took this as a reason to completely replace all of the tubes, preamp and poweramp section, with JJs.
Hope to have them delivered by today and will let you know if there's any difference notible in sound afterwards.
 
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#47
Lindex said:
Now after 18 months the first 6550 tube seems to be running out of its specs.
Infinium LED goes red on one of the tubes after ~5 minutes of playing.
No audible performance or sound decrease yet, though.

I took this as a reason to completely replace all of the tubes, preamp and poweramp section, with JJs.
Hope to have them delivered by today and will let you know if there's any difference notible in sound afterwards.
Click to expand...

Please do report because I also think to replace all tubes...thanks
 
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#48
Lindex said:
Now after 18 months the first 6550 tube seems to be running out of its specs. Infinium LED goes red on one of the tubes after ~5 minutes of playing. No audible performance or sound decrease yet, though. I took this as a reason to completely replace all of the tubes, preamp and poweramp section, with JJs.
Click to expand...
While you're free to spend your money ;) one of the advantages of the Infinium system is that you only need to replace the one tube that is bad - there's no need to match the tubes like in an old-fashioned tube amp :cool:.
 
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#49
Of course you are right - but... ;)

First reason to me to replace all tubes is that I think that particular one wasn't exactly dead as I had no loss of sound or power whatsoever.
So I assume that it simply slowly degraded as kind of its normal ageing process.
As all other tubes have the same age and usage profile I fear that they also might go down one after another sooner or later.

Second one - I wanted to know what the amp would sound like with (probably) better tubes.
So I replaced all 5 preamp and 6 poweramp tubes with the JJs, I was a bit back and forth between 6550 and KT88 but finally decided to stay with 6550s for the moment to make sure that sound differences would actually come from the brand of the tube and not from changin to a different tube type.

Two conclusions by this time:

First - Infinium seemed to do its job perfectly in my case, heard lots of people complaining they wouldn't trust it...
It marked one tube red after some minutes of playing, switching the amp off, having it cool down and powering it back on resulted in the LED going red again after a moment.
Swapping tubes between sockets made the red LED also change to the socket where the defective tube was plugged in.
After having replaced all tubes no LED was lit anymore, they went back to flashing one or another every few minutes indicating that the BIAS was readjusted during operation if needed.

Second - sound wise the original Bugera tubes are not really bad, but switching to JJs added a bit more of warmth, clarity and bottom end.

So for all you guys out there with the first set of tubes still in the amp - don't worry there's no reason to throw your money out of tha window as I already did that for you. :D
Just stick with the original tubes as long as they do their job.
But when the day comes that they all got old and need to be replaced it definitely makes bit of an upgrade to switch to well known brand tubes.

Next time I'll try KT88s, so expect an update in this thread in 5 years or so... :whistle:
 
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#50
People diss on the stuff. I diss on them.not because they arent good, quite the opposite really. They steal designs and build replicas. They're theives plain and simple. One of their amps is a Matchless clone I believe 250Usd
 
#52
skunky33 said:
People diss on the stuff. I diss on them.not because they arent good, quite the opposite really. They steal designs and build replicas. They're theives plain and simple. One of their amps is a Matchless clone I believe 250Usd
Click to expand...

Since Western Electric didn't renew the Patent on their tube amp designs way back when, all tube amps are clones. All of them.
Find an amp from 50's to early 60's and look for the patent label on them.

Even as one amp maker cloned another, sometimes they didn't have the same components available, Marshall copied a Fender and swapped in their own tubes and inadvertently created the "Marshal Sound".

There is zero Intellectual Property in any MI tube amp made today.

You should be used to by now, one manufacturer looking at another manaufacturers gear and taking the good ideas, or just the popular ones for themselves. For some reason, some people think knob placement, or trade dress is so sacred only the originals should be made. Good luck with that. The courts don't agree. As things become popular they become desirable, and nothing wrong taking a good idea and making if more affordable as long as you don't infringe on Intellectual property.

Infinium is different. It's in the bias/maintenance path of the power tubes. There are other similar products but they are way overpriced, costing as much as a whole Bugera amp costs just for some added bias circuitry.

Other manufacturers should be looking at Infinium and making it better. For example Ininium doesn't protect things if a tube shorts out internally. This was pointed out on another thread at TB. Other manufactures should be stepping up this kind of technology, tubes are not going to get any cheaper and they'll need all the help they can get to extend their usable life.
 
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#53
It's pretty amazing to see the change in attitudes since 2010 when this was first posted.
Pretty amazing that there are actually positive threads coming up on Talkbass about Bugera and Behringer brands. That is real progress. The young musicians who have to make a living, pay the rent, while chasing their dreams, have a chance to compete with affordable equipment that makes them sound good.
It would be nice if some of these early users updated us on what they think of the BVV3000 after all the years of use, but I suspect most of the amps are still out there doing their job.
 
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#54
alaskaleftybass said:
It would be nice if some of these early users updated us on what they think of the BVV3000 after all the years of use, but I suspect most of the amps are still out there doing their job.
Click to expand...
As you asked for it:

Mine reached the age of 3 years last December (2015, just for the records...) und is still running like a Swiss clockwork - can't blame the amp for the little interruption caused by a defective JJ 6550, blowing a fuse, which was all handled through warranty.
Looking forward to another 3h rehearsal session tonight!

So now after more than 3 years of use with rehearsals twice a week and a few gigs (most of the time I take my Bugera Veyron M with me to spare my old back the schlep) I still have nothing bad to say about this amp.
And I still love its tone!
 
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#56
If it ever becomes available in the US,I'll pick one up. I been more than happy with my Bvp5500. Its been great. I take it to play without a backup and don't even think about it. I've had it about 3 yrs and gigged it and the guy I bought it from had it a few yrs before me and gigged it. I haven't ever had a problem we with anything Behringer or Bugera.
 

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