# Bugera BC30-212 Thoughts and Stories



## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

Hey all,

I am looking for an el84 based amp and not looking to break the bank. I have narrowed it down to the *Bugera BC30-212* but I would love to hear other opionions, thoughts and good/bad stories about this amp. I can't seem to find many reviews on it, and when I do I am not seeing any real issues with reliability or horror stories about it. I would love to hear some of your experiences with it and I would like to have your honest opinions on it. Even if you only heard the amp, it would be nice to hear all that you've got to say about it. Just looking for the low down. Thanks!!


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

Nice review here:

YouTube - Gannin Arnold and the BUGERA BC30-212

I just bought a Bugera Vintage 22. IMO it is a working man's blues amp, incredible value for $385. However, Bugera uses very cheap speakers, they have to cut costs somewhere! I spent $112 and put an Eminence Wizard in mine, and I would not trade for anything I have heard in the $500 range.

I think that Bugera has really nailed the vintage look, and the vintage tone with these new el84 based amps. YMMV.


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

I was wondering if they are as cheaply built as everyone says they are. I am leary about buying something that will crap out 6 months down the road. Half the time when I look on the net about these amps, too many people are busy filling up the threads with this constant Bugera and Behringer bashing. I would love to avoid this with this thread and try and get down to if they are junk or not, and if they sound good, bad, close or far from what they are "supposed" to sound like.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I did tons of research for several months before plunking down $385 for my Bugera. I am impressed with the quality of the components, save the speaker, which I explained above. I like the looks and the tone of my Bugera better than the Fender Blues Junior, with the Eminence Wizard speaker change, of course. And even then, I have $50 less invested than the Blues Junior, which also comes with a cheap speaker which needs replacing.


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

Sweet. I have done tons of research as well, but it is hard to sift through all of the BS and Bugera bashing to get to wht I want to know. I would love to see some pics of inside of the amp (BC30) and here some toughts from someone who owns or at least had the oppurtunity to try one. I would also like to replace the speakers in the amp as well, if I go with the BC30, to a more tradtional vox type of speaker. Like the Celestion blue or something.


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

A lot of less expensive EL 84 tubed amps (and a few really expensive ones) have problems dissipating heat, to the point where sometimes solder joints or circuit boards fail. Afriend of mine had one of the older Crate V30 models and had to re-solder the whole board.


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

washburned said:


> A lot of less expensive EL 84 tubed amps (and a few really expensive ones) have problems dissipating heat, to the point where sometimes solder joints or circuit boards fail. Afriend of mine had one of the older Crate V30 models and had to re-solder the whole board.


This is one of the things I was worried about. Is there a way to remedy this? Can you add anything to cool the amp down? What about transormers or something to that effect? I am not made of gold, thus I like the price point and I would like to add a few mods, even if that means mods to keep it running smoothly. Any ideas, or am I almost certain to buy an amp that will overheat?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Can you add a small computer type fan?


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

Ya, even something like that, if possible, would be sweet.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I really. really. really. really. really wanted to like it (this was the 22). They finally got one in locally, so off a buddy and I went to the store. Spent about half an hour playing it *despite the fact that it buzzed and rattled and made other noises that were not guitar based, right from firing up*. I suggested to the store staff that perhaps it needed tubes? They said that they wouldn't be replacing them, that there was nothing wrong with the amp, but unprompted said that they had been having a LOT of returns on Bugera product, and didn't recommend them in general. Not yet totally dissuaded, we plugged into the 55 and messed around a while, it was OK and didn't have the issues the 22 had, but isn't quite the same vibe and was lots bigger.

I would have tried another, but they never brought another one in. Like I said, I reallllllly wanted to like it but there was just no way.


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

Oh wow, well these are types of things I wanted hear. Good or bad.


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## JimiGuy7 (Jan 10, 2008)

Anyone know if you can put a cooling fan in something like this?


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## Toogy (Apr 16, 2009)

I have a V22, and personally LOVE the sound of it.... now the bad....

The first one I got had the notorious channel switching problem that is documented by Behringer here: Bugera V22, V55, or V55HD erratic channel switching or reverb switching behavior

I was able to exchange the first one I had for another one and believe it or not, it had exactly the same problem!! Now if this amp didn't sound as good as it does I would have just returned it and forget it, but I looked up some information online and basically you can add a heatsink to one of the regulators on the board and it fixes the problem! So I decided to give that a shot, the hardest part was really taking apart the amp. Once it was all apart, it took about a minute to find the regulator and attach a heatsink to it. Since I have done that I haven't had any problems with it. (knock on wood!).

Like I said it is a great sounding amp for less than $400 CDN.


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## bscott (Mar 3, 2008)

I have the Bugera 5 watt and LOVE it!!! ( I am selling the Marshall 30 watt DFX. That being said the new Class 5 is supposed to be killer)That being said, I did hear of the rattling problems and some turned out to be just loose screws (OK OK no laughing here!!!). A bit of loctite can fix that problem up. I am still breaking the little 5 watter in but it just what I need for home. It has built in attenuator that you can switch from 5 to 1 or 0.1 watts. At 0.1 watts you can crank the gain and volume up full to get break up/distortion but not drive everyone out of the house.

Brian


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