BUGERA 6260 & 333 AMPS WITH 412 CAB
March 15, 2008 | Reviewer: Marcel Yammouni
Distributor: BEHRINGER
This edition, I’m reviewing two amps … the Bugera 6260 and Bugera 333. The style of the 6260 is reminiscent of the EVH 5150. I’m sure a lot of the kids today may not remember the 5150 made famous by Eddie Van Halen, but it has a great design to it. The other is the Bugera-333 which has a Mesa Roadster vibe about it.
The Bugera 6260
I thought I’d start by plugging into the 6260. Using my standard Les Paul I thought I’d explore the clean channel first. The clean channel has a lot of ‘bassy’ warmth, particularly when the EQ is set to flat. It required some tweaking before finding the right spot, which I found by increasing presence and treble and taking out some of the mids. I brought in a bit of reverb to take the edge off and I was there. Like all good clean sounds it had a nice ‘Twin-esque’ clarity. Plugging in my Strat, I wound some of the treble off and was in business. The reverb was surprisingly nice. It was warm and had a lovely decay that wasn’t too long and toilet-like. Even some of the more expensive amps out there don’t have reverbs this good.
The second channel cranks out some mighty gain at this stage. I’m back on the Les Paul as my Strat wasn’t suitable in this situation. It seemed a little harsh sounding at first. Once I got into some more EQ, it was all fine and dandy. The EQ is very responsive on this amp. I tried getting that New Metal rhythm sound, first by backing off a fair amount of mid range and setting the gain to about nine o‘clock. The 6260 was still pumping out a fair amount of gain for a rhythm sound. In the end I had to turn down the guitar volume to just clean it up a little. When I wound it back up, it made for a good lead sound.
Each channel of the 6260 features a vintage designed EQ section with Bass, Mid and Treble. Both channels offer Classic Presence control for further adjustment. There is added Impedance switching to match any speaker cabinet, from 4, 8 to 16 Ohms..The amp comes with a four-way footswitch for channel and effects loop selection to tap your favourite effects.
The Bugera 333
The Bugera 333 is a very similar amp to the 6160 in most respects. Where it wins out for me is with the three channels (clean, crunch, lead), each with it’s own EQ section. This really helps if you’re using more than one guitar. In a situation where the clean sound might need more treble and the dirty needing less, you’re able to fine tune this and switch without having to go to the amp every time. The third channel on the 333 was very similar to the second in regard to gain. For that Metal style, it’s advantageous to have a chunky rhythm sound and for solos, click over to the third channel with slightly more gain and treble to help cut some more. A couple more features of the 333 include a Damping switch (High, Medium, Low) for total sound control, an FX Loop with independent Send and Return level controls (also serves as Boost function), a heavy-duty footswitch for Channel selection and an FX Loop /Boost function is also included.
Both amps were tested through the Bugera 412H-BK cabinet. The Bugera 412H-BK has been matched to work perfectly with all Bugera valve heads, and incorporates a flexible mono/stereo mode which allows you to switch from 200-Watt, 16-Ohm mono to 2 x 100-Watt, 8-Ohm stereo operation.
It also comes with recessed carrying handles and rollers for easy transportation and reinforced corners with protective vinyl covering, completing the overall professional look and feel of your BUGERA cabinet.
In conclusion, on a bang-for-your-buck basis, the Bugera is one of the better amps to have been released in some time. All of the gear road tested utilises high-quality components and feature exceptionally rugged construction. I can’t think of anything else that competes at this price level. Great news for the consumer!