NAD - Bugera V5 Infinium

Lamf77 · Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:22 pm

Popped up on OfferUp last night. Seller had no price listed, so I messaged and asked what she was looking to get. She said she was accepting offers and was not picky. I offered $50, and when there was no cord.....grabbed it for $45.

A great little tube amp. .1W, 1W and 5W built in power attenuator lets me adjust for most home volumes. Not sure about a possible speaker swap....keep original for now.

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AnotherJim · Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:43 pm

Great price. They seem to be well regarded as do the V22’s for the price

bc rich · Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:53 pm

Great grab , was surprised to see that they are now $260 new . 'Speaker out' is a plus .

BatUtilityBelt · Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:20 pm

Great little amp as-is, and you got a steal. I liked mine even better after I swapped the speaker for a Celestion Eight 15. I have also run it with an external 12" cabinet and it punches up a weight class just great.

Partscaster · Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:44 pm

I have the head version. its a good amp.

Flatline · Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:46 pm

Nice that is a great score for $45.

dabbler · Tue Sep 28, 2021 8:40 am

Mine isn't an Infinium (I might be a little jealous) but I DO love my Bugera 5 watter (bought new a while back). It sits in my family room along with a handful of guitars and basses that I can pick up and jam with whenever I want.

Lamf77 · Tue Sep 28, 2021 10:35 am

BatUtilityBelt wrote:Great little amp as-is, and you got a steal. I liked mine even better after I swapped the speaker for a Celestion Eight 15. I have also run it with an external 12" cabinet and it punches up a weight class just great.

Celestion 8/15.....going to look into. Did you stick with 4 ohm?

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BatUtilityBelt · Tue Sep 28, 2021 10:42 am

Lamf77 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 28, 2021 10:35 am Celestion 8/15.....going to look into. Did you stick with 4 ohm?

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Yes, 4 ohms.

andrewsrea · Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:48 pm

Nice grab!

My best friend, who is a bass player who dabbles in guitar, wanted a Fender blackface tone about 8 years ago. I talked him into a Bugera Infinum V22 head, which he got for around $350 new. Great amp out of the box, even better with a set of Sylvania 6L6 biased a little hotter. It absolutely got the Blackface vibe on the clean channel and took pedals well.

These are great value for a home player. For a gigging musician, they had reliability problems for a while. I've heard they've addressed that.

Lamf77 · Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:01 pm

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:48 pm Nice grab!

My best friend, who is a bass player who dabbles in guitar, wanted a Fender blackface tone about 8 years ago. I talked him into a Bugera Infinum V22 head, which he got for around $350 new. Great amp out of the box, even better with a set of Sylvania 6L6 biased a little hotter. It absolutely got the Blackface vibe on the clean channel and took pedals well.

These are great value for a home player. For a gigging musician, they had reliability problems for a while. I've heard they've addressed that.

It is a bit dark, but not bad. Some refer to the V5, non-Infinium version as being too dark. I was reading on mods, something about the tone pots and parallel caps....but they were for the V5 version.
I made an offer of $25 on a Weber Signature 8"....will swap in for kicks.

andrewsrea · Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:35 pm

Lamf77 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:01 pm
andrewsrea wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:48 pm Nice grab!

My best friend, who is a bass player who dabbles in guitar, wanted a Fender blackface tone about 8 years ago. I talked him into a Bugera Infinum V22 head, which he got for around $350 new. Great amp out of the box, even better with a set of Sylvania 6L6 biased a little hotter. It absolutely got the Blackface vibe on the clean channel and took pedals well.

These are great value for a home player. For a gigging musician, they had reliability problems for a while. I've heard they've addressed that.
It is a bit dark, but not bad. Some refer to the V5, non-Infinium version as being too dark. I was reading on mods, something about the tone pots and parallel caps....but they were for the V5 version.
I made an offer of $25 on a Weber Signature 8"....will swap in for kicks.

I just glanced at the schematic of the Bugera V5 and I think the only difference is the power scaling. I think the signal path is essentially the same and noticed the values of the blocking caps are a bit big, as are the cathode by-pass caps on the preamp tubes. Since the B+ voltage is not enough to swing those low notes and the transformer is too small to handle the power, it would sound dark and saggy. Change the caps to lower uF values and perhaps add a 150pF bright cap across lugs #3 & #2 of the volume pot and it will sound tighter-brighter.

Lamf77 · Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:02 pm

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:35 pm
Lamf77 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:01 pm
andrewsrea wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:48 pm Nice grab!

My best friend, who is a bass player who dabbles in guitar, wanted a Fender blackface tone about 8 years ago. I talked him into a Bugera Infinum V22 head, which he got for around $350 new. Great amp out of the box, even better with a set of Sylvania 6L6 biased a little hotter. It absolutely got the Blackface vibe on the clean channel and took pedals well.

These are great value for a home player. For a gigging musician, they had reliability problems for a while. I've heard they've addressed that.
It is a bit dark, but not bad. Some refer to the V5, non-Infinium version as being too dark. I was reading on mods, something about the tone pots and parallel caps....but they were for the V5 version.
I made an offer of $25 on a Weber Signature 8"....will swap in for kicks.
I just glanced at the schematic of the Bugera V5 and I think the only difference is the power scaling. I think the signal path is essentially the same and noticed the values of the blocking caps are a bit big, as are the cathode by-pass caps on the preamp tubes. Since the B+ voltage is not enough to swing those low notes and the transformer is too small to handle the power, it would sound dark and saggy. Change the caps to lower uF values and perhaps add a 150pF bright cap across lugs #3 & #2 of the volume pot and it will sound tighter-brighter.

I saw a picture on how to put the caps across the volume pots. I am attaching to see if it is correct. Not sure I want to tackle anything more difficult. Gonna swap in a JJ Power Tube and Tung-Sol 12AX7 I have along with the Weber Speaker when it arrive. See how it sounds. Thanks for the advice @andrewsrea !

Friedl · Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:06 pm

I have the head version. I swapped the 12ax7 out for a Sylvania, I think. The el84 is still stock. Sounds great into a 2x12.

andrewsrea · Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:32 pm

Lamf77 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:02 pm
I saw a picture on how to put the caps across the volume pots. I am attaching to see if it is correct. Not sure I want to tackle anything more difficult. Gonna swap in a JJ Power Tube and Tung-Sol 12AX7 I have along with the Weber Speaker when it arrive. See how it sounds. Thanks for the advice @andrewsrea !

Yes - that works. 250pF - work one lead/lug at a time - work fast as not to over heat the solder trace. They tend to break and lift if overheated.

With a clean soldering iron and the cap ready to go in, dab a little solder on the tip of the iron, drop the solder, put the capacitor lead in position and touch it and the volume pot lug with the iron to get the solder flowing. Then remove the heat without moving the cap. Repeat for the other lead and trim excess lead after the solder cools.

Lamf77 · Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:51 pm

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:32 pm
Lamf77 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 8:02 pm
I saw a picture on how to put the caps across the volume pots. I am attaching to see if it is correct. Not sure I want to tackle anything more difficult. Gonna swap in a JJ Power Tube and Tung-Sol 12AX7 I have along with the Weber Speaker when it arrive. See how it sounds. Thanks for the advice @andrewsrea !
Yes - that works. 250pF - work one lead/lug at a time - work fast as not to over heat the solder trace. They tend to break and lift if overheated.

With a clean soldering iron and the cap ready to go in, dab a little solder on the tip of the iron, drop the solder, put the capacitor lead in position and touch it and the volume pot lug with the iron to get the solder flowing. Then remove the heat without moving the cap. Repeat for the other lead and trim excess lead after the solder cools.

Thanks! Like the Gibson shirt too!