Bugera T5 Infinium Head

First impression:
On unboxing, the T5 did not make a great first impression. I thought it was B stock! It was literally covered in fingerprints! That greasy fingerprint look just doesn’t go well on black and chrome. It also had what looked like a tape glue mark near the logo. I got a good clean with a dry cloth. What a beautiful looking piece of gear this is, a vintage look that is to die for.
The Bugera T5 Infinium Tube Amplifier is well built.
It is heavy, certainly but well supported by a sturdy leather vintage style handle that makes it super portable.
Tall rubber feet gave the T5 plenty of clearance to avoid cab handles.

The front panel:
The front panel sports a standard input jack socket, 5 Knobs, a “Phat” switch, a jeweled power light and a power switch. There is no “standby” switch. A matching chrome and black Bugera logo fronts the chrome cage.

The controls:
The Gain control increasingly pushes the amp into saturation as it is rotated clockwise producing a very usable overdrive.
The treble and bass controls work as one expects - nothing unexpected there.
The reverb was something of a surprise. Sounding rather “springy”, especially when added tastefully. A super reverberant wash is available beyond the 12 O’clock position.
The Volume knob, perversely, does not seem to add volume. There is hardly and noticeable difference at all between the 11 o’clock position and when fully clockwise. Where the REAL volume push lies, is with the Phat switch.
The Phat switch boosts the volume while bypassing the EQ. It certainly does make a huge difference - when engaged, one never wants to switch it off!

The Back Panel:
Power is via 3 pin IEC “kettle” plug. Also here are two quarter inch jacks. The first is for a 4 ohm speaker, although this is labeled as a minimum load, you can use 8 or 16 ohm cabs.
The second jack is for headphones. Extra points to Bugera for not using a mini jack here!
Bugera eliminate bias issues using what they call their “infinium” system. LED indicators show when a tube needs replacing. The T5’s is next to the phones jack socket.

Inside:
Under the hood things also look great but you will only really get to see this if you are curious or wish to swop out or replace tubes.
Removing the cage reveals the transformers, tubes and a screen printed Bugera logo - it’s like an art piece!
The tubes are very secure and it takes some determination to remove them - a good thing as secure is better.
The inside of a T5 chassis reveals considerable digital circuitry - probably the reverb.

Performance:
For 5 Watts the T5 is certainly much louder than one expects. If your personal history is primarily solid state amps, this amplifier will be a wake up call as to why guitarists everywhere have refused to abandon tubes for so long.
Blues tones from the T5 are beautiful - everything from almost clean to great crunch - everything a blues player looks for.

Let down:
I REALLY wanted this amp but it was let down by one thing.
The amp I was using had an unpleasant  "fuzzyness" when trying to get the cleanest possible sound out of it. This "fuzzyness" hung in the dying tail of a note and sounded exactly like a crossover problem in a push pull amp - but this is a Class A amp so how could that be?! When playing power chords it sounded like intermodulation - something didn’t sound right to me. Ironically, "digital noise" in my digital practice amp is WHY I wanted a tube amp in the first place! This was a different type of noise but just as distracting.
I had no EL84’s so couldn't test that - but I did have a lower gain 12AU7 tube so was able to swop that with the 12AX7 hoping like crazy that it was a tube issue and that the problem would vanish (because I really DID like this amp) but it did not help.
In the end, I reluctantly packed up the T5 and returned it.
If you do get a chance, try one, I recommend this simply because if I just got a dud or damaged B stoc

Only 4 stars for sound at present as I have not burnt/worn the valves in yet; but expect the sound to improve. This little amp brand new with Reverb --- wow

I wanted a small amp head to go with a cute snakeskin covered 2x6 Jenson speaker Honeyboy cab and the Bugera T5 does not disappoint A great, very sturdy, well made and cool looking amp head with amazing headroom for one so small!! It is so well constructed in beautiful steel with a cool shiny finish and heavy [in a good way] for its diminutive size! It is amazingly well made with a great top handle and for the excellent price, an absolute steal! Well packed and swiftly delivered by the great folks at DV247 I can highly recommend them and the Bugera T5 The only accessory you will need, apart from the cute inexpensive cover is your favourite cab and off you go With so many choices of settings you will be bound to find your perfect sound and the reverb and other effects you can add make it a wonderful choice from home to small venue the T5 will have you covered and draw admiring looks wherever you take it! I highly recommend it!!

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