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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > VHT special 6 vs Bugera V5
VHT special 6 vs Bugera V5
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Harp Study
23 posts
Mar 22, 2014
3:41 PM
Just curious what people's opinions are between these two amps. I'm considering getting a small tube amp for home practice and would just go for the special 6 because of the great reviews, but I'm concerned that in order to get the tube driven sound I would have to crank the volume up too loud for bedroom use.

The Bugera V5 has a built in attenuator which in theory allows you to drive the tubes at lower volumes. The built in reverb would also be a nice feature on this amp.

I tried to go to my local guitar center and try them both out, but they didn't have either amp in stock which was a bummer.

I currently have a roland micro cube amp and a LW harp attack pedal which works pretty well, but I've been considering a small tube amp. Probably isn't necessary, but neither is a lot of gear that I have.
rogonzab
520 posts
Mar 22, 2014
3:50 PM
I tell you right now: everyone is going to say VHT Special 6.

The key aspect here is the features of the V5, it has a power atenuator (a big plus if you have volume isues) and the reverb and gain knobs are a nice thing to have.

My advice is this:
If you want pure tone go for the SP6
If you want a practice amp whit good tone, usefull in your hose, then go for the V5.
MJ
688 posts
Mar 22, 2014
4:05 PM
I owned a Vox ac4tv amp a few years ago. It had an attenuated feature of 1 watt and 1/4 watt. I was not impressed. For guitar maybe the attenuator is OK, but for harp, in my opinion it just doesn't work. You are better off just playing lower and working on you technique. The sound you get cranking an attenuated amp will never be what you will hear when playing out at regular volume.
Garlic Breath
2 posts
Mar 22, 2014
8:04 PM
I recently purchased a Special 6 and had the Nigel Briggs mod kit installed, plus replaced the tubes with a JJ elecronics 6V6S and a JJ 5751 preamp tube. I have an Electrovoice 638 high z mic, and tried both the high and low power inputs. I found that the high power input starts to feed back at about half volume. Not sure if it could be turned up higher in a larger room with the mic behind the amp, but the low power input turned out to give the best tone with the volume on 10. I also added an MXR Carbon Copy analog delay, and the sound of this combination is exactly what I was hoping for. I use just enough delay to give that concrete stairwell sound slap back. I can't claim to have professional expertise, but this rig was assembled based upon the experiences of others on various forums and it turned out to give a sound which achieves the goal of adding a great deal of excitement to my amplified practice sessions. We'd all like to play with a style and sound which pleases the experts, but we'll never get there if we don't first build an excitement about our playing within ourselves and our friends first. Having the best tools you can afford always helps to make even the toughest job more enjoyable.
SuperBee
1792 posts
Mar 22, 2014
8:46 PM
I put Nigel's mod kit into an epi vj and very happy with the result too . Knows his stuff.
Rogonzab, that is an amusing typo. An amp that is useful in my hose is not something I'd contemplated before now, but I'm considering it.
Garlic Breath
3 posts
Mar 22, 2014
8:47 PM
Forgot to mention that the Nigel Briggs kit turns the 1/4" foot switch jack into a line out jack. The output from this jack retains all the great tone from the tubes, and could be used with some smaller self amplified speakers or headphones.
MindTheGap
372 posts
Mar 23, 2014
12:47 AM
Harp Study - I've just been down the same road, so be aware that a 5W tube amp is very loud in a home! I did fit an attenuator to mine - along with the advice that it would rob tone. Actually it doesn't very much but I do think it must vary from case to case, as everyone said so. I tried a little Blackstar 1W amp and it sounded nothing like the 'little 5W amp sound' you hear and could expect from the Bugera V5 or VHT. Different circuit, apparently, different sound.

I got mine because I did need something to play out with - although now I'm finding that actually it has raised other questions - see other thread on wasps - that I'm working to understand. In a nutshell, when heard in a band setting you can hear it well enough vs much larger guitar amps but all those subtleties you've work hard for seem to melt away.

Anyway, after a lot of experimenting, and strictly IMO FWIW etc, I conclude that for practicing and recording at home that there's not much to tell between the 5W tube amp, or the Harp Break (like your Harp Attack), or a modelling amp (like your cube). Below is my demo comparing all three.

But then the nice thing about having the tube amp is that it opens the door to experimenting with mods and tube etc. I've not done that yet, but I can imagine that's a lot of fun and very rewarding.

Just on the practical front though, I wouldn't be able to play the tube amp much at home without the attenuator. Depends on your home of course, but I had to stick cushions around it. In that sense, rogonzab's advice looks spot on to me.

But don't let practicality put you off! Enjoy a tube amp!



----------
mtg

Last Edited by MindTheGap on Mar 23, 2014 1:03 AM
Harp Study
25 posts
Mar 23, 2014
5:28 AM
Thanks for the help everyone.

Rogonzab: I have seen several videos of the bugera v5 thanks to you and thought it sounded great. I just wish I could try one first, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

MTG:
Thank you very much for the wonderful and very helpful post. I thought all three sounded very good and similar. I would probably be better off just keeping what I have for now and if I ever start doing some open jams I can look into something else. If I spent as much time playing as I do looking up gear I would be a much better player, but I guess that is all part of the journey.

Thanks again everyone.
Bugfan
1 post
May 26, 2014
6:37 AM
Did you buy one or the other?
I have the V5 for a year now and have made a few minor changes which seem to add to it. I am using an Astatic ceramic element in a Superlux D112 shell into the Bug. I have changed the speaker to a WGS veteran - 10"....I haven't opened up the baffle to 10" yet so its squeezing the sound thru an 8" hole still but was a definite improvement. The speaker is 8 ohm rather than 4 ohm so this has reduced volume but that's ok for my small room blowing.I have also changed the preamp tube to a 5751 tube and its now much easier to find a nice harmonic distorted sound before getting preamp distorted if you know what I mean. I am going to change the input resister to a 5.6 meg to match the mic input instead of standard 1 meg guitar based resistance. From what I read this should give a little more bass response also. Has anyone else tried doing this?...seems an easy 40c mod to me.
Harp Study
35 posts
May 26, 2014
10:45 AM
Bugfan- I ended up going with the vht instead of the burga v5. It was a real close call but I ended up with a price on a vht that I couldn't pass up. I am very happy with the amp but likely would have been happy with the V5 as well. Sounds like you are enjoying you burga.
Bugfan
2 posts
May 27, 2014
4:20 AM
yes been tossing up between keeping or trying the VHT too....but couple of mods have kept me with the bug. I'd like to try side by side.
Bugfan
3 posts
Jun 06, 2014
6:37 AM
Well I picked up a VHT spec 6 combo. Side by side was very interesting comparison. The Bug is a little brighter and I would say evenly toned - as I have set it up with the 10" speaker. The VHT a bit deeper toned and louder. The VHT mellowed a little with the 5751 tube in it and I can see where its potential is once cranked more but of course by then it is louder. The Bug is quieter than the VHT as far as mains hum and hiss goes when volume up but not playing.
I reckon the bug is a better home practice amp - if you need to get more into that Chicago sound at lower volumes but the VhT is better once you start getting a bit of volume up. The Bug feedsback a lot less at a similar volume. I would say overall the VHT is more sensitive and so can give you a wider range of sounds whereas the Bug is more forgiving. The bug looks better ! Tough choice between the two of them ....I think having had a play with both I'll probably go the VHT way and have a go at the mods that are well documented but I get the feeling there could be some good stuff done to the Bug as easily by the valve amp techs.
Harp Study
38 posts
Jun 06, 2014
6:44 AM
Bugfan; thanks for posting the comparison. I always wanted to sit down with both and do a sound test. Over all I am happy with my VHT but the burga looks pretty awesome and I often wonder what could have been.
Barley Nectar
408 posts
Jun 06, 2014
8:01 AM
My advice to a player who already has a small amp would be to save your money and buy something bigger for stage use...BN

Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Jun 06, 2014 8:01 AM


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