Bugera V5 Guitar Combo Amplifier (5 Watts, 1x8")
The Bugera V5 combo offers great tube tone in a small package. With a headphone output, the V5 is also silent-practice friendly compared to other tube amps.
Overall User Ratings (based on 13 ratings)
Submitted December 31, 2013 by Jason A in Cedar Park, TX
"Exactly what i was looking for"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I am somewhat new to playing guitar. In my quest for the sound in my head I have tried many amps. This amp has a sound all its own. The 8" and open back can get plenty loud at 5 watts. I like the switchable attenuator and have found I prefer the 1 watt setting in my third floor apartment and manipulate gain and volume to keep the sound low. I use a few pedals with it. The Analog Man modded Ibanez Tube Screamer and El Rey Fuzz de la Muerte sound fantastic. I don't think it sounds "dark" as I have heard others describe. If by that they mean it is not as bright and chimey as a Fender than they are right. I use this for rock and blues riffs and noodling around for practice. The reverb is good in my opinion. I owned many smallish amps before settling on this as my go to. Orange micro terror head with 8" cab, fender super champ xd, vox vt20+. even a few other all valve amps. I haven't used the headphone output, but my expectations are that it would be pretty lackluster. I am able to get the sound I want at a volume so low that I can here the guitar picking over the amp.
Musical Background:
Amateur noodle maker
Musical Style:
rock, blues, metal
3 of 3 people (100%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted February 17, 2010 by a customer from hotmail.com
"A great amp for an amazing price."
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This is my main home amp and I will be jamming with friend with it on the weekend. I think it sound much more natural then the fender SCXD or VCXD that I owned. Simply a great amp for everything but metal.
Sound
Simply a great home practice or small club amp. Warm tube cleans and crunchy overdrive when set right, the reverb is nice too.
Features
The attenuator is a great feature. Gain, tone and reverb controls all work well. Great construction and it looks cool, nice size too, not too small. Stock speaker and tubes sound great to me, just let is warm up a little before you judge.
Ease of Use
It's easy to get a good tone out of it.
The overdrive is best with the volume way down and the gain cranked.
Quality
no sure, no issues so far, but I've only had it a week. There were some problems with the V22 with channel switching, but I havent heard any thing about the V5 having issues. Looks to be built very well.
Value
An amazing value. Unheard of.
Manufacturer Support
not dealt with them.
The Wow Factor
Well it looks cool anyway, and it sounds absoulty great. "Sex Appeal" that is stupid, it's an amp..
Musical Background:
active musican
Musical Style:
jazz, fusion, rock, instrumental hardrock, classical.
10 of 11 people (91%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted May 6, 2010 by a customer from usa.com
"Retro/Vintage tube goodness."
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
I imagine I will be very satisfied with this amp for years and years to come. I doubt I'll buy another amp since I already have two other 120 watt amps. I might do a tube swap or upgrade the speaker later on...or not. Living in a condo and having neighbors doesn't allow many opportunities to crank my Peavey 3120 half stack. I can see this little 5 watt amp being my go to amp.
If this amp were lost or stolen I'd replace it as soon as possible.
The only thing I wish I had been aware of before buying it was its association to Behringer.
The best thing about this amp is its authentic tube crunch and .1 watt ability...and the cool retro/vintage design.
There's really not much to dislike about this amp. Bugera did a great job in every way.
Sound
Nice and crunchy with a definite classy tube vibe to it. You can go from clean to distorted with a turn of the gain and tone knobs. If you're looking for a rectified Mesa sound look elsewhere, but if you want authentic tube distortion this is your amp. I plugged in my Carvin CT3 and this amp responds well to everything I do. Next I tried my Fender Strat through it and all the tonal options the single coils give me is really nice. I think a guitar with two humbuckers is your best option with this amp. Think Angus Young and his SG.
Features
There's really not much included other than a power cord. A Standyby switch would have been a nice touch, but the included headphone jack is a thoughtful extra...because even with the volume on 10 and turned down to .1 watt this thing is still really loud for an apartment or condo.
Ease of Use
No learning curve here - just plug in and go.
Quality
Surprise, surprise it's made by Behringer. If that turns you off then maybe look for another 5 watt tube amp. I think this amp will last for a long time though. Maybe the people at Bugera (if it's even in a separate building) are aware of Behringer's hit-or-miss quality reputation. It's pretty solid, looks to be well made and has a really cool vintage/retro thing going on. I can see a lot of these backstage before the gig starts.
Value
This amp is definitely worth every penny. There are other similar amps in this style and price range, but do yourself a favor and get an amp with power attenuation. Being able to crank this thing at the lowest power setting is worth it. Nothing else in the world like a tube amp at full blast.
Manufacturer Support
I haven't had to call support and for some reason I doubt I will.
The Wow Factor
As far as looks go and the "gotta have it" thing, this amp should be on your short list. I dig the vintage/retro design and this has it in spades. It's a clean and simple design. Really nice.
Musical Background:
20+ years playing and a home recording enthusiast
Musical Style:
Everything but Country, Rap and Techno and the like
4 of 5 people (80%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted December 9, 2010 by a customer from msn.com
Bugera V5 Guitar Amp Customer Review
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I have to see how long it lasts I only had it for a few months so if it lasts over a year.
Sound
The sound quality of this amp is killer... It is way better than the crate v8 I had and the little epiphone amp that is so popular. I cant belive this kind of quality to come out of a little speaker.
Features
The switchable wattage is very usefull In church I used it at half and plenty of volume at home use it at low setting. Had reverb gain dont need anything else really.
Ease of Use
Very easy to use old style knobs for distortion turn up guitar to full and turn gain up to get the tone you like. Although I think its made for more mellow and bluesy sounds instead of killer distortion.. I use my Digitec RP500 for distorition and its very good.
Quality
Well made finish is very good and everything accessible like I like
Value
Ive tried many small tube amps to get portabiltiy and sound and this one so far is the very best. For its price it cant be beat...
Manufacturer Support
havent had any issues so no idea on support
The Wow Factor
This has become the most popular amp I own. Due to its sound and portability The best when it comes to practice sessions.
Musical Background:
Active Musician
Musical Style:
Blues Rock
3 of 4 people (75%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted July 3, 2013 by Bill H in Maricopa, AZ
"Bugera V5"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
The amp arrived today. Totally amazed at how it sounded for the price!
Musical Background:
40 years
Musical Style:
Blues, Mo-town, Rock and Christian
1 of 1 people (100%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted August 24, 2014 by a customer from yahoo.com in Mooresville, NC
"Wonderful!"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I have owned many amps over the years. For the money, this is an exceptional value for those who like a vintage sounding tube tone. Easy to "mod" and improve, but lots of tone right out of the box. Excellent value!
Musical Background:
I've played guitar for 14 years.
Musical Style:
Classic rock, blues, Christian, R & B
Did you find this review helpful?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted July 21, 2013 by Robert B in Fair Haven, MD
"Nice practice amp, not as loud as you might expect for 5 watts"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
First of all, Zzounds is amazing. I bought this amp on an impulse at 4a.m. and it was at my door the next afternoon shipped free! The amp looks well-built and sounds pretty decent for the price. I thought it would have somewhat more volume that it does, since 5 watts is really quite a bit. However, the manual states the 5 watts as "peak", which at least doubles the number that most pro manufacturers state for their amps. So really it's more like a 2 watt amp in my opinion. You can get some volume if you are using the gain up above 3 or so, but it breaks up pretty fast, so you won't get a whole lot of volume with a cleaner tone. But the small size makes it a great little amp that's easy to throw in the car for jams that don't involve drummers. And the headphone output is a great feature that will add a lot of mojo to your practice sessions when the family's asleep. Because of that, and the price, it's a keeper.
Musical Background:
Gigging guitarist since 1967
Musical Style:
Rock, country, blues, jazz
Did you find this review helpful?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted March 9, 2012 by Rick D in College Station, TX
"Great tone but has a problem"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I sent one of these back and the replacement had the same problem. After the tubes get warm there is a tailing vibration. After a little research I discovered it was the tube cage. Once that is off you are good to go. As an obvious design flaw this needs to be addressed. Check out the Bugera 5 club on Telecaster.com to see how prevalent this problem is.
Musical Background:
30 Years of playing
Musical Style:
Blues and folk
1 of 3 people (33%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted July 14, 2014 by ron hoffman in billings, MT
"bugera v5"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
very nice little amp for my apartment, always have it on the lowest setting with my les Paul and 57 classics. it has nice cleans and some nice crunch, but it does not distort at all without an external pedal. maybe with some hot pickups it will. nice for the price .
Musical Background:
7 years
Musical Style:
rock blues jazz fusion
Did you find this review helpful?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted July 14, 2014 by ron hoffman in billings, MT
"bugera v5"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
very nice little amp for my apartment, always have it on the lowest setting with my les Paul and 57 classics. it has nice cleans and some nice crunch, but it does not distort at all without an external pedal. maybe with some hot pickups it will. nice for the price .
Musical Background:
7 years
Musical Style:
rock blues jazz fusion
Did you find this review helpful?
Thanks for your opinion!
Submitted April 9, 2010 by a customer from comcast.net
"You Can't Beat This Amp With A Stick"
It's louder than you might expect and would certainly do in a situation like a coffeehouse. A noisy bar or nightclub, not so much. But it's really a practice amp, anyway, isn't it?
Sound
Let me start by saying I didn't buy this amp from Zzounds. I didn't even buy it new. I bought it used from a national storefront chain. I've had low-power "practice" amps before and have been mostly disappointed by how thin the sound was. I have a Bugera V22 and love the tone. Somehow, this tiny amp sounds exactly like my V22 does when the volume on that more powerful amp is turned down to play in my apartment's living room.
Features
Unlike most tube amps, this baby has a 1/4" headphone socket for private playing and another one to use to drive an external speaker.
Ease of Use
Unless you're totally new to electric guitars, how to use this amp is obvious. There is a manual, which is sparse, but what is there to know?
Quality
I've only had mine for a while and even though it was used, it was in "new" condition. Based on first impressions, the construction seems very good.
Value
From what I can see, nothing else in the same price bracket comes close. It's a steal at the typical street price.
The Wow Factor
If you like the retro look, this amp has it in spades. How many amps come with bird beak knobs anymore. I love the black and cream color scheme and the metallic fabric.
Musical Background:
Was in bands in HS, college. I'm 63 now and just play at home.
Musical Style:
Mostly blues, some rock.
7 of 7 people (100%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Please wait.