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Bugera BVV3000 - anyone tried one?


Painy
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I've recently been gassing for an all valve amp and as much as I'd ideally love an SVT-CL I really can't afford one so I've been looking online at the BVV3000 which is Bugera's (Behringer's) SVT clone. Now I know generally you get what you pay for and all that but I also believe you can pay a premium for the prestige of a name. Anyway, given that the Bugera can be had new for less than half of what you'd expect to pay for a used SVT, I reckon it's at least worth further investigation.

So, has anyone had any experience of this amp that they can share and specifically anyone who has also used an SVT that could give some insight into how they compare sound wise?

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Funnily enough, I've been searching high and low for the same answer recently.

From what I've found, once you get past the "It's a Behringer, so it'll burst into flames and kill your granny" comments, they seem to be well liked by those who have actually bought one (and not just made stuff up)

The autobiasing of the power valves is a good feature, and you can now use any valves with the correct pins.

Never seen a sniff of one second-hand, but most places are doing them new for about £470-£500

I'd love one to go with my Ampeg SVT410, but it's the 75lb lift that could be the showstopper

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The auto biasing thing does look like a really good feature given the cost of completely re-valving a 300w head.
The whole Bugera to Behringer is as Lexus is to Toyota thing is exactly as I usually describe it. Plus the fact that they're not too common kind of adds to the whole boutique vibe.
They're actually only about £425ish on Thomann right now and if you're not to fussed about buying B-stock (which I believe are just returns but with full warranty) they've got some for under £400!
Really am feeling quite tempted myself.

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  • 4 years later...

I had one many moons ago. Great sounding amp for the money, I was let it go because I just couldn’t come to terms with the weight of the thing and was dubious about its longevity. A late response to this thread but I was curious if there were any bvv3000 still out there.

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I know a lot of people slag them off, but you can't go wrong with Behringer / Bugera. I've got a Behringer PA and speakers that's absolutely bullet proof and sounds superb. I also have the Bugera Veyron amp head and it's an utter beast, and one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard. I also have a Bugera 2x12 cab which I now use as an onstage moniter, again absolutely faultless. I wouldn't think twice about buying anything from the Behringer / Bugera range. 

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19 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Ah bugger. Didn't realise someone had resurrected a zombie.

Oh well, the same still applies. 

Sorry about the resurrection ☹️, I was just curious as to whether any of these are still in the wild. Sold mine about 5 years ago and regretted it. 

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20 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I know a lot of people slag them off, but you can't go wrong with Behringer / Bugera. I've got a Behringer PA and speakers that's absolutely bullet proof and sounds superb. I also have the Bugera Veyron amp head and it's an utter beast, and one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard. I also have a Bugera 2x12 cab which I now use as an onstage moniter, again absolutely faultless. I wouldn't think twice about buying anything from the Behringer / Bugera range. 

I think they’re on a par with Harley Benton, not fancy by any means but solidly put together with domestic appliance grade electronics. Not guaranteed to last or be very serviceable but you can get good mileage out of their stuff 

Edited by Quilly
Typo
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I bought a BVV3000 Infinium a while back to scratch my 300 watt all tube itch and still power it up now and again to remind myself what a fantastic amp it is. I don't gig it due to its weight although it's built extremely well as far as I can see and has the advantage of auto bias of the power tubes. I bought a Hotcovers vinyl cover, spare sextet of 6550B tubes and upgraded the spring type tube retainers with the Birtcher style used inside the Ampeg SVT CL Heritage. 

Edited by Sparky Mark
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6 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

I bought a BVV3000 Infinium a while back to scratch my 300 watt all tube itch and still power it up now and again to remind myself what a fantastic amp it is. I don't gig it due to its weight although it's built extremely well as far as I can see and has the advantage of auto bias of the power tubes. I bought a Hotcovers vinyl cover, spare sextet of 6550B tubes and upgraded the spring type tube retainers with the Birtcher style used inside the Ampeg SVT CL Heritage. 

I think they’re the kinda amp you just leave in the rehearsal room and gig with something else.

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8 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I think they’re the kinda amp you just leave in the rehearsal room and gig with something else.

Agreed; although I'd happliy gig it if I had roadies to do the lifting. It is actually a few kg lighter than an Ampeg SVT.

Edited by Sparky Mark
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I don't know if this model suffered from the same thing, but I've heard of an issue on some of the Bugera valve guitar amps where the auto biasing circuit fails and essentially bricks the amp, and is a more complex and involved fix than may be economical to pay a tech to sort.  As a result of stories like this I'm wary of automatic biasing, though I do quite like the approach on some Ampegs where they have bias monitoring circuitry but the bias adjustment itself is a simple manual trimmer.

Edited by Beer of the Bass
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1 hour ago, Beer of the Bass said:

I don't know if this model suffered from the same thing, but I've heard of an issue on some of the Bugera valve guitar amps where the auto biasing circuit fails and essentially bricks the amp, and is a more complex and involved fix than may be economical to pay a tech to sort.  As a result of stories like this I'm wary of automatic biasing, though I do quite like the approach on some Ampegs where they have bias monitoring circuitry but the bias adjustment itself is a simple manual trimmer.

Ashdown have a great feature that allows you to bias valves yourself . The VU Meter doubles as a voltmeter 

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17 hours ago, Beer of the Bass said:

I don't know if this model suffered from the same thing, but I've heard of an issue on some of the Bugera valve guitar amps where the auto biasing circuit fails and essentially bricks the amp, and is a more complex and involved fix than may be economical to pay a tech to sort.  As a result of stories like this I'm wary of automatic biasing, though I do quite like the approach on some Ampegs where they have bias monitoring circuitry but the bias adjustment itself is a simple manual trimmer.

yes, I think they got ahead of themselves with this feature. What "I woudda done" is just make very basic amps (i.e. Vol , Bass, Treble, Gain and Master) in the range 100 - 300W using KT88s. No frills. people would love them and they still would have been heaps cheaper than whats in the market at the mo.    

Edited by Quilly
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On 02/01/2020 at 10:05, Quilly said:

yes, I think they got ahead of themselves with this feature. What "I woudda done" is just make very basic amps (i.e. Vol , Bass, Treble, Gain and Master) in the range 100 - 300W using KT88s. No frills. people would love them and they still would have been heaps cheaper than whats in the market at the mo.    

I'm not sure that's correct. Bugera Infinium all valve guitar heads and combos are still readily available from many major retailers in the UK. I'm confident the technology works, it's just that the market for big heavy all valve bass heads is already well served for the very few bass players prepared to schlep them. Bugera/Behringer need to manufacture high volumes to have an advantage.  The market for guitar all valve amps is massively larger because a lot of guitarists prefer how they sound and they don't need big watts whilst the vast majority of bassists are happy with solid state for 300 watts +. 

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5 hours ago, Jb_reborn said:

Actually thinking about getting rid of mine as it's just been sitting in storage, it sounds awesome but just way too heavy to be moved. 

You should be able to shift it easily. Like you I got rid of mine for the exact same reason . It was totally impractical  to use it gigging or rehearsals 

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9 hours ago, Jb_reborn said:

Actually thinking about getting rid of mine as it's just been sitting in storage, it sounds awesome but just way too heavy to be moved. 

I should do the same, but where will I ever find a 300 watt all valve head that sounds easily as good, maybe better (in my opinion of course) than an SVT for £350?

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4 hours ago, Quilly said:

You should be able to shift it easily. Like you I got rid of mine for the exact same reason . It was totally impractical  to use it gigging or rehearsals 

Agreed, but it's actually a few pounds lighter than an Ampeg SVT so could be considered a lighterweight backup to one of those. 😊

Edited by Sparky Mark
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