Bugera V22 INFINIUM 22-Watt Vintage 2-Channel Tube Combo with INFINIUM Tube Life Multiplier, Original Turbosound Speaker and Reverb

So far this is a perfect amp for home practice. I've been using it in my garage at for the most part and haven't had a complaint from the neighbors yet. I haven't changed the EL84 tubes as they sound just fine to me, although this is my first Tube Amp and others recommend to do so. I recently played at my Senior Prom using this and my Les Paul Studio. This was the first time I had really cranked the volume as it was a large ballroom. It was able to connect loud enough to the people sitting in the back around 150-160 feet away from the amp without a PA system while only being at ~70% potential volume. It was able to take all of my pedals very well, including my Boss Blues Driver which would make my Fender Amp crap out with enough gain. As for specifics; the volume control is great on both channels (although I prefer the clean). The gain channel isn't great for metal but can handle good crunch tones comparable to Fender amps that I've heard. The EQ controls work great although the Mid Range isn't that wide. I found it best to keep it at 12 o'clock as it doesn't do much either way. The amp also has a pentode/triode switch so you can get large volume tone at lower volumes. I haven't used it much myself as i find it just as good at lower volumes but I've seen YouTube videos where they use it appropriately. Overall a great amp. It's no Blues Jr or JVM 800 but it gets the job done extremely well.

I'll say first that this amp is great with the cleans. Really dynamic tone. Goes great with my Seymour Duncan Full Shred and Jazz humbuckers, which are split coil and opens up even more tone. I primarily play hard rock and metal. Anything from Randy Rhoads, Jon Donais and Syn Gates to Eric Johnson. So, after endless searching on whether or not I could dial a tone that I was looking for (high gain mainly) I just couldn't get the answer. Anyone looking for the same answer, here you go. No! It most certainly cannot get those tones by itself. It has only moderate gain (think war pigs by Black Sabbath). But, it does sound very good with my joyo ultimate drive in front! I get the sound I want when I have the extra overdrive pushing it. I had to do the same with my HT-5. Plus side to this amp, it's much louder than the ht5, better cleans, does more all together and looks fantastic. I would say add a compressor if you have one and an equalizer to dial the specifics of your tone. I thought about returning it but after playing it a couple days, I found I enjoyed it more than I initially thought. Also, I get a much much better distorted sound by turning the master up to like 8+ and leaving the volume on about 2 for bedroom level playing. I first pegged the volume and played with the master on about 1 or 2 but it sounds so much better the other way around. The half power switch (pentode/diode) and fx loop are my favorite features. Although, the loop was more of a requirement in my search for a new amp. I hope this helps anyone looking to buy a great amp. I bought this at 329 last week, it says it's 399 now. Would I still pay that much for this amp and is it worth it? Yes, most definitely. Common question: can it handle gigs? Ive played in a band for many years as a teenager and young adult and understand what it takes as far as volume and having enough headroom to sound decent. It will absolutely keep up with any drummer and handle small venues such as clubs or auditoriums. If you're playing somewhere bigger then they should have a pa and you'll have no issues if you can mic it up, obviously. Cheers!

Update 6/14/2016 Turns out, best way to get support / response in the US is through their Facebook page. They were helpful answering questions I had about proper use of standby switch etc. And apologized for the inconvenience of a bad tube, blamed it on shipping. They didn't offer to replace the tube(s), but that's OK. Even after paying $30 more for new tubes, this price on Amazon, with prime shipping is still much better than the $400 that online and local music stores charge. Update 6/13/2-16: less than a week, and less than 10 hours playing, at low to moderate volumes, the front panel power light was flashing, and one the tube failed LEDs in the back was on. Powered down, let it cool down, powered back up. Eventually, the same thing. Swapped the two output tubes and the problem follows the tube. That's good, means the problem is just the tube. And it's very convenient to have the LED show you which one is failing. I sent email to Bugera customer service, haven't heard back yet, but it's only been a day. In the meantime, I bought a matched pair of Electroharmonix EL84EH tubes, and they work and sound great. Much quieter and no microphonics. They were $30 for the pair, paid a little more to shop locally. Anyways, I still recommend this amp, especially at Amazon's price. Just don't be surprised if you have to change the tubes. Original Review (still true): This amp sounds great, real tube sound. Footswitch, effects loop were on my must have list. Fit and finish better than than I expected, very nice. Chicken head knobs are great, easy to see even in low light situations. Reverb is better than expected, but I also have a delay/echo fx pedal. The bright input is great for humbuckers, and the normal input is perfect for single coils. Special note, this is their latest generation with the "infinium" tube technology. Don't be scared off by reviews from 2010 -- they had some problems back then. I'll also add that this is a great price. I regularly see this amp for $399. Note, I'm just an ameteur musician, been playing guitar for decades. I still have a Sear Silvertone twin 12 from the 60s. Had a few small solid state amps through the years, but never really liked their tone. This new amp is perfect, liked the tone right away. Tubes really do make a big difference. But why pay double for the big brand names, or even more for a "boutique" amp?

This sounds fantastic. My only issue is that it doesn't have a headphone jack. If you're wondering if you can play it in an apartment the answer is "sort of". I also have a Bugera T5 head. That has headphone connection, and is a lot easier to keep the volume down, but there's no fx loop. Update: I've had this for 5 months now and one of the tubes is going out. The red warning light works, but it doesn't tell you anything your ears haven't already. You may want to get some better tubes right away. I bought one of each (because they can also be used with the other amp I mentioned), so I can fix this immediately, but I ordered more so I can replace all 5 with JJ's. I may put a greenback in it eventually, but for now, I'm happy with the stock speaker.

First, I do like the sound and features of the amp. The clean channel has great tone and the gain channel sounds good with gain set around 2 or 3 with a nice bluesy breakup. I'm not thrilled with the gain higher than that but a new set of tubes might help a bit. The reverb is better than I expected and the footswitch feels solid although the cable for it is pretty flimsy. However, I found that it has a bad power tube right out of the box. From the first time I tried it I noticed a rattle noise when I play certain notes, even at low volume and clean or dirty. I did some troubleshooting and pinpointed the noise to the tube - with the power OFF, a gentle tap with the tip of a pencil on tube 1 produces the same noise, the others are all quiet. Considering where this shipped from I wasn't really that upset and as I said, I like the sound of the amp. However, what makes me extremely disappointed and the reason for the low rating is Bugera's customer service which is possibly the worst I've encountered. I registered online, uploaded my receipt, submitted a service request and got an email reply in a day. I was surprised that their reply said based on my purchase date (a week ago), that they couldn't honor my warranty request. Seriously! I replied explaining that it was brand new, told them exactly what the problem was and that if they would send me a replacement tube I would happily install it. The response was that I should return it to Amazon for an exchange or refund. They obviously don't care to keep me as a customer with a response like that. I again replied that this didn't make sense, couldn't be cost effective for them, that I did in fact like and want the amp, and didn't want to go through the hassle of a return especially when it could be resolved quickly with a cheap replacement part. I asked for a supervisor but was refused. I then said if the supervisor wouldn't reply I wanted to let the president of the company know what a terrible experience I was having and how unreasonable their policy is. They've decided to ignore me instead. I don't normally like to rate a product so low that I know I would like if the company actually stood behind it and valued their customers. I would caution anyone else considering it. I wanted this amp for a long time but would rather have spent more money with a company that knows what service means.

I have only had the amp for two days but I'm finding it as everything as advertised. I don't usually play loud but I'm sure that with the amount of volume I am getting out of low power it must have plenty of head room.

The tone of this amp is unbelievable, lots of sustain, very simple to use, much better than modeling amps....Tubes are the bomb......No regrets whatsoever

At $330 the price is $70 lower than you’d pay in most music stores. It’s the same price as the “head” version you’d get in those stores (as well as on Amazon). So…you’re effectively getting a free speaker cabinet upgrade…and that’s no small thing as the speaker is a pretty good one. You can do some research online and find out that players think that this is a very good amp and excellent for the price. There have been fixes and improvements to the model over the last several years so take that into consideration when reading about older, pre-“Infinium” V22 units. There are a few things that you should consider about this amp: The tubes that come in it are probably some of the cheapest available. You’re going to want to put some better ones in. Mine had two (out of three) microphonic 12AX7 tubes and one of the two EL84 tubes was getting a flashing red light. After a LOT of back and forth with their support via email (based in Las Vegas) they are sending me replacements for 4 out of 5 tubes. However, I’ll probably just hang onto those for spares as I have already purchased and installed a complete set of JJ Tubes that cost $50 and I can tell you that it sounds significantly better now…particularly on the lead channel. With the $50 added this thing is still cheap! Changing out the tubes involves (carefully) removing four screws on the back of the amp section and the four on the top so that the amp section can be pulled out. Then you have to remove the “tube cage” to get to the tubes. Leave the cage off after you’re done because, as others have said, it’s probably going to rattle and is unnecessary for operation. Also, while the amp section is out, tighten EVERY screw in this thing to prevent cabinet rattle. I did this and now the only thing rattling is my windows. The reverb is a pretty cheap one (CoolAudio V1000 chip) but sounds decent. The chip that’s in there is capable of 16 different sounds but the amp is “fixed” to only one (small hall/1.5 second decay). There’s an eight-part video someone uploaded on YouTube that delves into this. The two-switch footswitch is very sturdy and controls the channel switching and reverb on/off. Being a real “Tube Amp” there’s not a lot of snazzy effects built in but that’s true for most top of the line amps, also. I’ve already augmented my setup with a pedalboard and several effects pedals…compression, delay, tremolo, fuzz, and the all-important tuner. Take a look at the Donner stuff for pedals and pedalboards…they’re cheap but good…although I prefer my Belcat tremolo pedal to the Donner one. I can’t give the thing five stars because of the included tubes. With the JJ Tubes and a little work it’s a 5-star amp for under $400. I’d give it 4.5 if I could.