expirediconian | Staff posted Sep 22, 2023 10:21 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expirediconian | Staff posted Sep 22, 2023 10:21 PM
Bugera T50 Infinium 50W Cage-Style 2-Channel Tube Amplifier
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$499
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I'm not a technician but I've got over a dozen classic tube amps, most of them point-to-point hand-wired , and I used to play in and record rock bands.
"Hand built" probably simply means hand-assembled. There's no way an amp specced like this could cover a skilled technicians wages and materials even in china even at the msrp.
I'm not saying it's a bad amp. But it's certainly not built with lifetime serviceability in mind, and I'm very curious how it sounds and how many corners were cut to push it out at that price point.
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You'll need a guitar speaker cabinet, not regular stereo speakers. For the money, this is pretty much the best entry-level option (even after paying international shipping). The Celestion V30 speakers it uses are some of the best you can get, and this is basically speakers + cabinet for the price of just the bare speakers.
https://www.thomannmusi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M...SbY
It is not great at anything but metal/wildly distorted tones, although it seems the t50 has a clean channel.
My main head is a Mesa Mini rectifier I typically run @ 10w through a 2x10 cab with my band and playing out gigging with them. I'd imagine you could push a full stack (8x12") with this T50.
I'm not a technician but I've got over a dozen classic tube amps, most of them point-to-point hand-wired , and I used to play in and record rock bands.
"Hand built" probably simply means hand-assembled. There's no way an amp specced like this could cover a skilled technicians wages and materials even in china even at the msrp.
I'm not saying it's a bad amp. But it's certainly not built with lifetime serviceability in mind, and I'm very curious how it sounds and how many corners were cut to push it out at that price point.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.
Two EL34s running in push/pull configuration? You can hook this up to a 4x12 cab and play clubs with this thing easily. How many watts do you actually need? Even a 15-20w tube amp with a pair of 6v6s or EL84s (in push/pull configuration) is loud enough to overpower a drummer in jam sessions. You guys must be thinking solid state amps where you need almost 10x the power to be just as loud. This is no exaggeration. I even have a little 5w tube amp and that thing gets just as loud as a solid state 50w modeling practice amp I have. Part of that is because tube amps sound really good cranked where as a solid state amp only sounds good until about half way up. Do any of you guys have any experience with tube guitar amps?
Edit: They much louder than you may think. In fact, that 5w tube amp I mentioned previously, I had to put an attenuator circuit on the output wired to a switch so I can use it while other people are in the house (essentially cuts the output power in half). Check out this video [youtu.be] here of this dude with his homemade 2w peak output tube amp. It almost gets to yelling volumes. If you're into tube amps, check out dude's site. Lots of good info on it. https://robrobinette.co
It is not great at anything but metal/wildly distorted tones, although it seems the t50 has a clean channel.
My main head is a Mesa Mini rectifier I typically run @ 10w through a 2x10 cab with my band and playing out gigging with them. I'd imagine you could push a full stack (8x12") with this T50.
Yeah, don't think a lot of guys here grasp how loud this actually is. A 50w tube head is loud as f#ck (even if that is peak output as a few people were complaining about). I was the same way when I was starting out years ago because I mainly had solid state gear and a 50w SS head would barely push a half stack enough to keep up with a live drummer and the rest of the band. Realistically you would need a 100w SS head to get anything done. As far as your T5 goes, I'm sure you can mod it a little to get a bit cleaner sound out of it. You may be able to bias the tubes slightly hotter (yes, I said hotter so that would give you a bit more headroom - it works backwards from what you would think). Other measures would be maybe get rid of some cathode bypass caps. If the amp has NFB coming off the output tube circling back to one of the preamp cathodes, try lowering the resistance. That makes a big difference without lowering the gain much, if any in my experience (it cancels out distortion). There's probably a few other little odds and ends you could do like that. Not a big fan of swapping 12ax7s for 12at7s or especially 12au7s (those should really get new bias resistors at the very least and don't know why everyone thinks they should just drop in just because they fit LOL). I'm sure that's what everyone will suggest to you; it's the usual go-to for some reason. It may reduce distortion plopping one or more of those tubes in, but it comes at the cost of gain (amp will probably not be as loud). I also suspect that the tubes which came with the amp are cheap chinese tubes, wouldn't hurt to swap them out with name brand ones and just keep the factory ones as spares. I've seen that little head on sale here before too and was kind of intrigued by it, especially since it has reverb. How is the reverb on it, is it usable? I would never have a use for the head in this deal thread at all (way too much power). If I did grab it, I would probably get to work modding it and convert it to a double EL34 single ended amp (would essentially cut the power in half and would possibly sound better in the process too).
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Yeah, don't think a lot of guys here grasp how loud this actually is. A 50w tube head is loud as f#ck (even if that is peak output as a few people were complaining about). I was the same way when I was starting out years ago because I mainly had solid state gear and a 50w SS head would barely push a half stack enough to keep up with a live drummer and the rest of the band. Realistically you would need a 100w SS head to get anything done. As far as your T5 goes, I'm sure you can mod it a little to get a bit cleaner sound out of it. You may be able to bias the tubes slightly hotter (yes, I said hotter so that would give you a bit more headroom - it works backwards from what you would think). Other measures would be maybe get rid of some cathode bypass caps. If the amp has NFB coming off the output tube circling back to one of the preamp cathodes, try lowering the resistance. That makes a big difference without lowering the gain much, if any in my experience (it cancels out distortion). There's probably a few other little odds and ends you could do like that. Not a big fan of swapping 12ax7s for 12at7s or especially 12au7s (those should really get new bias resistors at the very least and don't know why everyone thinks they should just drop in just because they fit LOL). I'm sure that's what everyone will suggest to you; it's the usual go-to for some reason. It may reduce distortion plopping one or more of those tubes in, but it comes at the cost of gain (amp will probably not be as loud). I also suspect that the tubes which came with the amp are cheap chinese tubes, wouldn't hurt to swap them out with name brand ones and just keep the factory ones as spares. I've seen that little head on sale here before too and was kind of intrigued by it, especially since it has reverb. How is the reverb on it, is it usable? I would never have a use for the head in this deal thread at all (way too much power). If I did grab it, I would probably get to work modding it and convert it to a double EL34 single ended amp (would essentially cut the power in half and would possibly sound better in the process too).
My main amp is an Egnater Rebel 30 MKII and I have to switch it down to 1W to practice with it at home- and even then it's super loud. It's great in bars and small venues, but at home you'll rumble the plaster off the walls.
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