ben604 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Just spotted this for £435 including VAT and delivery at some online electronics retailer... [url="http://www.dhwelectronics.com/Guitar_Combo_Standard_004001400010/ZB683_Bugera_BVV3000_Infinium_Vintage_300_W_AllValve_Bass_Amplifier_Head_with_Infinium_Valvle_Life_Multiplier"]Bugera BVV3000[/url] Not much around the internet on them from people who actually have them, but it's a pretty decent price for a 300w All valve amp... considering taking a punt...any thoughts? Anyone actually got one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 "Impedance switch (2 and 4 Ohms) to match virtually any speaker cabinet" but not an 8 Ohm one, then. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevans09 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 IIRC one of the guys I used to know had a guitar amp made by them, seemed to like it. Would be interested to hear your experiences . Always thought Behringer stuff had an undeserved reputation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benplaysbass Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Our guitarist just bought a 15watt valve amp by Bugera for £75(new), so far he has had no problems and it is mighty loud for 15watts. Would like to know if these 300watt valve amps are any good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Its an Ampeg SVT clone - basically a copy of the circuitry, but with modern (or cheap, chinese) components (just like a genuine Ampeg these days then!). The Infinium auto-biasing sounds promising (if it works) as it will save a fortune in matched valves. But I looked around for one of these to try a while ago and came to the conclusion that they didn't actually exist as nobody had one in stock and I've not seen a single owner review! I'd love to know what you think if you can get your hands on one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTypeV4 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Very insteresting indeed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben604 Posted November 15, 2012 Author Share Posted November 15, 2012 ha, it's been relisted for £641!! Never mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I think Thomann have it cheaper http://www.thomann.de/gb/bugera_bvv3000_infinium.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pow_22 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 hmmm, wouldnt mind a go on one of those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Me too but nobody actually seems to have one in stock except the mail order companies, and I'm dubious about those having waited 6 weeks for a 'next day delivery' of an item that was 'In Stock' only to find that it is actually 'on order from the manufacturer' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 It looks like there's two different ones... http://www.bugera-amps.com/EN/products/BVV3000-INFINIUM.aspx Coming Soon! http://www.bugera-amps.com/en/products/bvv3000.aspx Available now, but does not include the Infinium Auto Biasing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 [quote]6550 (also known as KT88)[/quote] Only by people who don't know how to read data sheets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Thing Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Interesting that there's still hardly anything about these online. I'm still going to get one though. For that money it would be rude not to. My last Behringer amp was excellent and I've always had good service from Thomann. http://www.thomann.de/gb/bugera_bvv3000_infinium.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 [quote name='Bass-Thing' timestamp='1407233724' post='2518520'] Interesting that there's still hardly anything about these online. I'm still going to get one though. For that money it would be rude not to. My last Behringer amp was excellent and I've always had good service from Thomann. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/bugera_bvv3000_infinium.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...00_infinium.htm[/url] [/quote] I think there's a few on that US bass forum we don't like to talk about. General consensus seems to be: Not a bad amp at all, but... • The valves in it can be pretty prone to failure so add the cost of a re-valve.* • The case is a bit flimsy - a few people have added some internal bracing. * I should caveat this point in so much as by failure I mean the red light comes up quite often on the infinium thingy. That means the valve has gone out of tolerance level, not necessarily completely failed. Most amps don't have this feature, so it may be that on a normal amp valves fail / fall outside tolerance and it goes un-noticed. I'm still considering one, I just wish they'd do a rack width version (like the SVT Pro), and I'd like to hear from a few people who have had a year or two good service out of them. I wouldn't expect one to last as long as a 70s SVT though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttitudeCastle Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 I did a show with a guy who had one that he'd rehoused and revalved and the think actually sounded really good, definitely SVT Classic alike, less thick but more toppy and a tad less middy. Though after his tinkering and settings I'm not sure if that was the amp for what he'd done to it. I've used a fair few Bugera guitar amps and they are actually not bad at all, definitely brings the tone in a much cheaper package. For groups who use lots of amps (like the last band I played geetar in and my current new band on bass) it was really nice. Ended up using a 6260 and a TriRec together with Marshall Cabs and for £700 rather than the £3k those heads they are based on would run you it was certainly not far from those tones, a bit less character and life but pretty darn close with the way we used them (nice and tight and thick and fat). Also used a 1960 and it sounds really like a Plexi. I see a decent amount of love for the BVP5500 as an SVT-3 clone. Would absolutely love to hear one of these! Never heard any other Bugera Bass gear in the flesh, obviously there are the usual warnings of reliability, but hey, worth a punt right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) [quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1352908270' post='1869255'] "Impedance switch (2 and 4 Ohms) to match virtually any speaker cabinet" but not an 8 Ohm one, then. G. [/quote] Would it not be the case that if you put it in 4 ohm mode and presented it with an 8 ohm load it wouldn't mind, just be less output, as per most other amps out there? The reduction in output would be more marked if it was in 2 ohm mode and you gave it 8 ohms to play through? Or am I showing my limited knowledge of valve amps - would it blow up and let the magic smoke out? Do people still make equipment that you need a doctorate in the care and usage of cranky, unpredictable machines to operate? Edited August 5, 2014 by neepheid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Valve amps like to be presented with the correct load unfortunately. I didn't know these were that cheap - £390 for an all-tube 300W monster with 6x 6550s?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 [quote name='ashevans09' timestamp='1352910534' post='1869299'] IIRC one of the guys I used to know had a guitar amp made by them, seemed to like it. Would be interested to hear your experiences . Always thought Behringer stuff had an undeserved reputation. [/quote] I agree I think Behringer stuff is great at its price point I have had a fair few of there stomp boxes and they have always been and despite being mostly plastic they are surprisingly strong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 I've had a few Behringer bits of kit and it's been fine...I quite like them actually, as much as any other. I played through an Behringer Ultrabass head the other week and was really happy with the sound I got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1407247361' post='2518722'] Would it not be the case that if you put it in 4 ohm mode and presented it with an 8 ohm load it wouldn't mind, just be less output, as per most other amps out there? The reduction in output would be more marked if it was in 2 ohm mode and you gave it 8 ohms to play through? Or am I showing my limited knowledge of valve amps - would it blow up and let the magic smoke out? Do people still make equipment that you need a doctorate in the care and usage of cranky, unpredictable machines to operate? [/quote] People do run SVTs into 8 ohm cabs and generally get away with it, but there is an increased risk attached. Running a valve amp from the 4 ohm tap into an 8 ohm load stresses the output transformer more than usual in addition to losing power, especially if you're driving the amp hard. Some amps will cope better with a mismatch than others, and too low a speaker impedance is generally safer than too high, unlike with solid state amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Thing Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Not been on here for a bit so sorry if I've missed anything. Anyway after umming and arring and a lot of farting around I finally bought one of these. I got it from here http://www.woodbrass.com/en/product_info.php?currency=GBP&products_id=189015& and I don't know a lot of places that do a top quality 300w bass valve amp for £350 but whatever. I have to say that to date it's the best bass amp I've ever had. It's got monstrous range and tonal variation and it's seriously f***ing LOUD! I bought it to replace my Hartke LH1000 which was good but timid in comparison. Anyway I'll update in a while but so far so bloody marvelous! At a price like that how can you go wrong really? I've played Ampegs, Oranges and Hiwatts etc and this sounds just as good. Word of warning... it weighs 35kg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Purchased a BVV 3000 14 month ago. As I play in three bands, I have some amps like a GenzBenz GBE 1200, an Ampeg SVP Pro + Poweramp and was looking for an amp for the third band to get the Peavey TMax into retirement. I practise once a week with the Bugera, and we did a short tour (14 days, 12 gigs) last fall. I could not use it a lot the first half of this year because I was in hospital. Six weeks ago I returned well again and again started to use the amp for practising. Some open air gigs, and even worser, some really sweaty indoor gigs in the summer heat are coming up the next weeks. The amp comes near to an Ampeg SVT CL sound wise. It has endless power, punch and is able to give you lots of pleasing tones with Jazz-, Precision- and Musicman Stingrays Basses. This are the instruments I use with the amp. The amp has the same EQ as the Ampeg SVT CL, bass, mid frequency, mid cut or boost and treble. The ultra bass knob cuts low mids, I think at 380 Hz, and boosts bass and treble. I am not a tube (valve) specialist, I was using solid state or hybrid amps, mostly hybrids, for now 40 years. All tube amps always seemed to be expensive, lots of bucks for maintaining, new tubes, and so on. Now I fell in love with the Bugera. I was talking to some fellow bass men that live in the USA and asked them about their feelings about the BVV 3000. Best answer sounded like this: As Ampeg uses Chinese guts for the SVT's for maxing out profit, you just should jump on the amp. Some member of my German bass-website bought a BVV. One of them is a valve freak and knows something about valve amps. He swapped the Preamp- and Poweramp-valves. He got a huge improvement in his sound. But - one of the real expensive valves failed, something of the interior blew a 2 mm hole into the glass. This blew up two resistors, before the fuse had a chance to melt. But it was repaired unter warranty, no costs at all - except the blown fuse who are known to be out of warranty. The amp now runs flawless, the sound is more alive, more dynamics as he says. I will keep the original valves in the poweramp, but go for a set of better ones for the preamp. But I am waiting until fall, I have to use the amp until then, and the sound is ok for me. But I want more gain and a bit stronger mids. This are things you are able to do by changing the preamp valves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Forgot one thing: the Bugera fires up a Tecamp L 810 @ 4 Ohm. Perfect match to the amp. I misunderstood something in the advertisement and ordered a Tecamp L 215 @ 8 Ohm for the amp. I used the cab with the amp because Behringer customer service sayd that a mismatch would not cause any problems due to the Infinium circuit. As I like to check things out I changed cabs. My GBE 1200 does 600 Watt @ 8 Ohm and sounds friggin' awesome with the 215". So I tried the L 810" with the Bugera. Wow, just wow. I had a huge number of SVTs with the matching 810" as rented backline, but never with a ported 810". Now, for me this is a perfect match. There is that much low end and punch, the amp is much more modern sounding. It's a keeper! The BVV gets the permission to stay with the 810", and the GBE 1200 has a new 215" - cab. So now anything is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Now if they would just do a 100 watter for just a little less in a slightly smaller box, that would be very appealing indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzjames Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 [quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1439638755' post='2844574'] Now if they would just do a 100 watter for just a little less in a slightly smaller box, that would be very appealing indeed. [/quote] yup! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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