Bugera G5 INFINIUM 5-Watt Class-A Tube Amplifier Head with INFINIUM Tube Life Multiplier, MORPH EQ, Reverb and Power Attenuator

I wanted a cheaper tube amp for practicing and I researched all I could find under $500. I played the ones I could find in the local guitar store including the Blackstar HT-5R, Egnator Tweaker, Marshall DSL15C, VOX NT15H-G2 and the Bugera V22 (mellower version of G5). I couldn't actually find the G5 to play but based on the Youtube demos and the V22 sound I decided to go for it.I'm not disappointed. This is truly an excellent amp for the money. I bought the Bugera 112TS speaker with it.The drive channel has a nice progressive gain from light crunch to a good hard rock rhythm overdrive. The distortion has the gain structure I like -- not too fuzzy or dirty, but a more meaty and refined sound. The drive channel won't do death metal or anything really over-the-top distorted but is driven enough with humbuckers to play stuff like AC/DC, Rush, Zeppelin, etc. The tone is somewhat Marshal-ish. The tone controls are progressive and useful and the morph control adds some more variation.The clean channel has a nice sound to it. It won't win any "sparkle" awards like a high end Fender but it is acceptable.The reverb is mediocre, but what do you expect for $250. I put my Arena reverb pedal and a Vox Delay Lab in the effects loop and they work great.The output wattage control is awesome for practicing at night and reducing output volume.Note that this amp has a very similar configuration to the Blackstar HT-5 and some people accuse Bugera of copy-catting. Indeed the tubes and controls are the same as the Blackstar but the sound is different. The Blackstar has a more grungy and abrasive distortion and is better for metal in my opinion. I actually prefer the sound of the Bugera for the music I play but the Blackstar seems like a nice amp too.Also the Marshall SDL15 sounds pretty nice but has a 10" speaker in the combo and didn't sound as punchy and dynamic. It seems like the amount of distortion/OD produced by both amps are similar -- they aren't heavy metal machines but play classic rock well. I did prefer the clean channel on the Marshall though -- it had a really great sparkle and dynamics to it. The Marshall was more pricey so I went with the Bugera.

I bought this primarily because I wanted to be able to crank the amp and get the most out of the tubes without all the unnecessary volume. The attenuator is perfect for this. At 5w you can play with others and not get drowned out, 1w is perfect for practicing by myself, and the .1w setting is great for later at night when people are sleeping or for apartment dwellers. I don't notice a loss of tone from 5w to 1w at all and it's minimal when you switch from 1w to .1w. Even set at .1w, the tone is much better than any solid state amp I've ever played. Sure there are better tube amps out there but you have to spend much more, great bang for your buck here. The amp has great clean tones and the overdrive channel is pretty versitile with full eq control plus the "morph" knob which changes the overall warmth of the tone in an attempt to take you from Fender to Marshall. It's pretty usefull, I like it in different positions with different guitars and pickups. It takes my pedals really well too. So for $250.00 you get great tube tone, 2 separate channels with full eq on the boost channel, the morph feature, reverb, an effects loop, 3 selectable output settings, direct/headphones out, foot switch included, all in a very handsome/well built package. I run mine into the cheap 1x12 Kustom cab and it's a great match.

I had tried a V5 and really liked the sound overall, but it’s way too big and heavy as I’m mostly planning to use it w/o speaker via sound board. So I bought the G5 with high hopes. It would be worth the price, size and weight for all the functions, which are stellar. BUT (a) is not really a tube amp, just tube preamp, they should disclose that! I hate misleading advertising. BUT that’s not the biggest issue: (b) The overdrive channel is SO overdriven that the entire range i would want to use is with the gain set between 0 and maybe 0.4. That allows no adjustability in the fly as tiny movements result in huge changes in volume. It’s operating range is basically between really distorted and screaming, with no usable crunch or touch sensitivity. I loved the idea of switching between the channels with volume set independently to the same level. But the clean channel has no gain, so no option for a little crunch, and the dirty is WAAAY too dirty. If it weren’t for the size and weight i would try modding with a different gain pot or pot + resistor but it’s too much trouble and I don’t prefer modding brand new gear out of the box. Back it goes :(. I’m going to try the T5 which is the head of a V5 + separate bass/treb (vs “tone”), also small, light, and $100 cheaper. Too bad though, i really had high hopes, and just a small change in the design that would cost nothing would make a huge difference in playability and flexibility. Or, they should at least change the description to say “distortion - we REALLY mean it!” And by the way, also say “FET output stage”.