NAD

[bikerboy94]

Bugera V5 Infinium is coming today. My first tube amp.

[Deleted]

Same here my very first tube box. My V5 should arrive Wednesday or Thursday. Can't wait! Exciting times!

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 5:19:01 GMT papache said:

Same here my very first tube box. My V5 should arrive Wednesday or Thursday. Can't wait! Exciting times!

I'm interested in how it takes your pedals. I've found it to be a learning curve as all my pedals have been bought to make my solid state sound more tubey.  Now I have tubes the pedals are all serving different purposes, some are sounding better, some worse.  Best of all though is the fact that I just keep turning them off so I can hear the clean amp.

You're gonna love learning to get new tones.  Happy times.

[salteedog]

Could be one of those Bugeras in my future too. Unless I can resist the GAS. You guys aren't helpong of course.

Funny thing though is last week I spent a lot of time playing through my much derided MG15CF - basic Marshall ss amp without even reverb. I had been planning to flog it or trade it. Without reverb its too flat and at anything above 4.00 the drive channel gets too fizzy. On singlecoils at least.

But last week I did three things differently....
1. I moved it to my living room which has a high ceiling.
2. I angled it to face up maybe 30 degrees.
3. I left the single coils alone and just played my HB-35 with humbuckers.

I gotta say I was surprised at the really nice clean tones I was getting ( I'm busy learning to play Peter Green/Fleetwood mac's 'Oh Well' which calls for a clean or at most slightly crunch tone).

So...I might keep that amp for a little while yet. Certainly I'm not just going to give it away for nothing in order to get rid of it.

[Deleted]

salteedog. High ceiling is your new reverb. I always like an amp to be off the ground, at least above knee height. I also find many amps are very directional so the sound can be great when your head's in front of it but move to the side and it all goes Pete Tong. For this reason I have learned to plump for open backed amps which seem so much more airy and full which suits my ears.

Good to keep an amp which suits humbuckers. I can see why that sound may not be ideal on single coils.

[salteedog]

Yeah the high ceiling does a great natural reverb. Its a bitch fow watching telly though. Can never hear dialog properly without turning it up way too loud.

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 9:11:01 GMT @defjef said:

Aug 2, 2016 5:19:01 GMT papache said:

Same here my very first tube box. My V5 should arrive Wednesday or Thursday. Can't wait! Exciting times!

I'm interested in how it takes your pedals. I've found it to be a learning curve as all my pedals have been bought to make my solid state sound more tubey.  Now I have tubes the pedals are all serving different purposes, some are sounding better, some worse.  Best of all though is the fact that I just keep turning them off so I can hear the clean amp.

You're gonna love learning to get new tones.  Happy times.

Im not sure I will need the amp sim pedal. Yes it will be interesting to see how my pedals behave with this amp. I still need my pedals for me Kustom ss amp which Im keeping because of the 12" speaker. I might even get a Jensen speaker for this ss amp at some stage.

Cheers for the new tones 

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 9:40:09 GMT salteedog said:

2. I angled it to face up maybe 30 degrees.


I gotta say I was surprised at the really nice clean tones I was getting

I always have my Kustom ss amp angled and directed towards me. Sounds the best. I am keeping my Kustom ss amp firstly because I cant get any money for it in Denmark and I will use it for stereo playing with the Bugera and see what sound I get that way. I could as well A/B the two amps, run pedals into the Kustom and Bugera as it is with only the onboard reverb (I can do this on stage when I play for my hens and sheep on our farm) 

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 10:39:27 GMT salteedog said:

Yeah the high ceiling does a great natural reverb. Its a bitch fow watching telly though. Can never hear dialog properly without turning it up way too loud.

Put it through the amp.

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 11:20:50 GMT papache said:

Aug 2, 2016 9:40:09 GMT salteedog said:

2. I angled it to face up maybe 30 degrees.


I gotta say I was surprised at the really nice clean tones I was getting

I always have my Kustom ss amp angled and directed towards me. Sounds the best. I am keeping my Kustom ss amp firstly because I cant get any money for it in Denmark and I will use it for stereo playing with the Bugera and see what sound I get that way. I could as well A/B the two amps, run pedals into the Kustom and Bugera as it is with only the onboard reverb (I can do this on stage when I play for my hens and sheep on our farm) 

What WILL be interesting now is seeing how close to the Bugera your Kustom can sound with the pedals and all to help it along.  Think I'll have a go at that too.  I'll set my two up as close to the same as possible and do a blind test.  I can put to bed once and for all the ss vs tube question in my head. My hunch is that cleans will be obvious but driven a bit I'm interested to see what transpires.

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2016 12:27:25 GMT @defjef said:

Aug 2, 2016 11:20:50 GMT papache said:

  I can put to bed once and for all the ss vs tube question in my head. 

Yes, me looking forward to the same thing, to listen to one than the other. I mean some amps like Peavey Bandit are emulating the sound of tube amps and most amp sim pedals try to do the same. Most gadgets seem to try to emulate tube sound. I wonder now how the Real Thing sounds and if buying emulating ss amps is just the second best thing and maybe part of the Solid State/Modeling Amp Industries advertising scheme   

I have heard those saying that Tube Amp Industry is selling smoke but I never heard anyone saying that Modeling Amp Industry is maybe selling smoke. I guess I will soon know what feels best for me since all is subjective when it comes to art (Full Stop).

BTW, the amp was sent to Denmark today about 13h. 

[salteedog]

SS vs. Tube vs. Modelling is interesting on several levels.

- for most of us, our reference guitar tones are from the recorded music of 50s, 60s and 70s. Live sounds and most recorded sounds from those eras are with some notable exceptions entirely valve amplified. As such, they are seen as more 'authentic'.

- Because of the non linear nature of transistors, SS is a lot more complex form of amplification than tube. And because they were expected to produce tube style distortion, early SS amps were rubbish for overdriven tones. Took them a while to get over the reputational damage.

- In respect to modelling amps..the first modellers were using slow 8bit processors and schoolboy grade algorithms. Of course they were crap. The latest modellers are technically orders of magnitude better.

- Like everything else, amp manufacturers need to ensure they continue to sell their premium products as well as bringing beginners into their brand. Thats where marketing, pricing etc. come into play. Technology not so much.