The new Bugera G5 amp has more features than you´ll ever need!
T h e b u i l t i n P O W E R S O A K
First of all it has 5 watts of tube power, but has a built in power soak where you can switch it down to 1 watt or even 0.1 watt. That is very useful if you want to practice at low volumes at home. I play it mostly on one watt at home and use it with my Palmer 1x12 cabinet which is loaded with a Celestion Greenback speaker.
T H E C L E A N C h a n n e l
The clean channel sounds very beautiful, crystal clear and stays clean even if you drive it hard, depending on the pickups of your guitar. If you set it to 0.1 watt, you can drive it to a crunch sound. The reverb sounds fantastic, but be careful not to raise the reverb level too high or you might sound as if you play in a cathedral. The clean channel can be shaped with one several tone control, which works very well, you won´t miss a three band EQ.
T H E O V E R D R I V E C h a n n e l
The overdrive channel might be the reason why most people buy this amp. I would describe the sound of the OD channel as hot rodded "marshallish". But is has its own character. It can be shaped by a three band EQ and the special Morph EQ which shapes the midrange and helps you to realize more British or American style tones. I mostly use it on the UK side with my Les Paul (about 3 o´clock on the dial), with my Strat I often turn it to noon.
I play mostly rock or hard rock from AC/DC to Led Zep. to Guns and Roses or even 80s metal and it does a good job for this kind of music.
T H E E X T R A S of the Bugera - and the "I N F I N I U M" Technology
It comes with a well built footswitch, which can be used to go from the clean channel to the od. channel and to switch the reverb on and off.
It has a line out which can be used for recording (if you connect the head to a mixer or interface) or you can use it with headphones.
You can put the amp on standby, when used with headphones: This will mute the speaker cabinet and you can practice even at night without annoying your neighbours.
The infinium tube LED at the back of the head will indicate if your power tube has to be changed. If you have to change the power tube, you can just simply put the new tube in and the amp will do the biasing automaticly.
The G5 uses one ECC83a tube in the preamp and a 12BH7 tube in the power amp section.
I haven´t used the FX loop so far. The amp has a line in which can be used to connect the head to your MP3player/device so that you can practice to your music. The only point I have to criticize is that the amp produces an unpleasant smell when getting hot, for example if you have used it very long. But this is getting better and I think the smell will disappear in a few weeks and won´t bother me any longer.
Overall I´m very satisfied with the Bugera.
Edit: I have it for 5 weeks now and the unpleasant smell has disappeared completely! I´m still very happy with this amp!
