Bugera G5 Infinium

I was looking for a full tube ampli to use at home for practicing, with FX loop, low watt and headphone jack in. When I saw this one was I convinced right away, at that time I was not looking for a good sounding ampli, just something practical to use at home.
Well... I was actually quite surprised when I plugged my guitar in the first time and I played the "God Save The Queen" intro... it sounded actually quite close to the original, without me having done anything else than randomly keeping the bass low and the mids high.

Great sound, great usability, Infinium technology, 5-1-0,1 watt, headphone, FX loop, switch pedal, incredibly low price, excellent building quality... what do you want more?

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!

I was waiting for this amp for 5 weeks or so... No blaim at Thomann. It was worth waiting.
First time Bugera buyer. I only had transistors in my life (line 6, marschal, fender, Peavey)
As I stacked in 80's ! and I love thrash metal, I have been constantly struggle to archive decent tone on budget. It's over now!
This amp is great. I get close to Killem All/Never Neverland/Peace sells kind of tones - but not quite there. There was a lack of last touch!
To boost crunch channel I use Deamon Tube screamer (cheap as chips) in the front of amp, 10 band EQ (Donner Seeker) and Rowin Noise Gate (another cheap pedal of Amazon) FX LOOP - after tweaking everything I am so happy with the tone! To make it even better I have added TCe Mimiq Doubler (I know - in mono is bit overkill the purpose - but it makes a difference and makes me even happier - you won't really need it - and it's bit priceyyyy)
To archive 90's tone I have added TC Fangs Metal (another great cheap pedal) and bingo - Master of Puppets, Rust in peace, Black Album and more ....
To get a modern metal I am using Behringer UM300 (cheap cheap cheap) modern, distord ... Not a big fan of it (might be a reason of sufficient performance for this genres)
I am mainly using for old school thrash kind of metal, and my chain looks like: guitar with Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem- Deamon Tube screamer - Bugera G5 - EQ 10 band - Noise Gate - back to Bugera G5 - Harley Benton G112 Vintage - AWESOME !!
Clean channel - very simple, I have added chorus pedal and is ok - I don't care ! Who cares ! ;)
This amp is build great, heavy and sturdy. Feels solid and looks fantastic! Added footswitch is surprisingly good quality (heavy and sturdy) but with bit lack of button feel when stomping...

Negative things I have found:
* Small tiny imperfections in finish (tolex in some corners - very minor thing)
* Quality check missing ( one screw on a side was half way out, same thing with footswitch, one screw loose at the bottom of unit)
* Lack of this final bite in tone without boosting

No regrets of buying it, lot of features (FX loop, attenuator, cab sim for headphones or recording, standby for silence practice and even line in for backing tracks) and all that for under £200 !! What else you need ! It's fantastic for this price! It's coming with European power plug... However... Thomann gifted me UK plug for free! (Kettle type cord) Thank you Thomann! (Great service btw)

This review could be much longer......

If you want play metal on budget - get Line 6 Spider 4 15W for home practice (£40 second hand) and enjoy music. However, if you looking to upgrade/evolve to next step while still maintaining budget - GET THIS THING!
Thanks for reading

All the best for all musicians around the world!

I never owned a Bugera amplifier before this wonderful device and after ten days of use I can confirm the great choice I've made.
The built quality is really high-grade: materials, components, manufacturing, assembly are conform with top brands.
I also own Marshall, Laney, Roland and Vox amplifiers and this Bugera G5 is perfectly in line with those acclaimed brands.

Features are incredible; there is nothing more one may ask to an amplifier: two channels, reverb unit, UK/US morphing feature, an effective EQ, effect loop, bundled foot-switch for channel selection and reverb On/Off, line input, emulated output/headphone (1x12 and 4x12), 5W/1W/0.1W power attenuator, Tube Life Multiplier technology and auto biasing system.

And what's more, it's a full tube amp!

Sound palette is astonishing: one can choose between a really clear clean channel and a very powerful overdrive channel, playing with an infinite set of intermediate sound configurations. Noise is very well controlled and the output power flexibility gives this amp the capability to be used for home recording, practicing and rehearsal sessions as well.

Both pre-input and in-loop effects are well handled: I prefer to use OD / DIST stompboxes before the input socket but placing them on the FX Loop gives a great sound flexibility (this amp also has a level switch to accomodate the signal level of stompboxes and rack unit EFX).

At the end, the overall rating of this amp (taking into account its target price) is top level!
I know this is a cheap replica of another tube amplifier head but the implementation quality of Bugera is really surprising.

UPDATE after a month of use: I confirm my absolutely positive opinion and with a 12" cabinet loaded with a Fender-Eminence speaker the voice of my Bugera is simply astonishing!!!