Well after much thinking and a nice long holiday to China, I am finally the proud owner of a massive (for a combo) Bugera 6262-212 Combo. 120 Watts of pure tube power. Despite reading alot of bad reviews about the amp, I drove all the way to Cheras to AVEM to check the amp out. I paid them a deposit on the spot, bought it the next day, and have since concluded that all the bad reviews are either from racist quai los who dont have the amp and hate it solely because its china-made, or people who have bought the amp and got a dud.

The amp feels pretty solid, but if you knock it at the sides you feel a SLIGHT kind of sway, like the cabinet could just collapse if someone pushed it hard enough. The knobs and speakers are attached pretty solidly, the wiring seems well done. This thing is 28.5 kgs heavy or something like that. Liftable, but not if you're carrying it a long distance. I've taken out the rubber studs on the bottom of the amp and put heavy duty wheels in place of them. Makes moving it around easier. Included was a 4 button footswitch. It's excellent, not one of those marshall style footswitches with the stupid metal nipples that are so hard to aim for, this thing has 4 nice big rectangular switches, Clean/Crunch, Lead, Reverb, and FX Loop.

This thing is LOUD. I put the volume at 4 on the lead channel in the shop, and the whole place was literally shaking. Back at home, the volume at 3 is enough to make my pet poodle run away with its tail between its legs. I usually play it on about 2, because I don't really want to damage my hearing. It sounds good even at low volumes, the preamp gain on this thing is bloody high. Cranking the volume up to about 3 you start to get some really nice power amp gain. Volume at 6-8 on the lead channel sounds AWESOME. But I think you'd overpower the entire band at this volume unless you're playing a large-ish venue. So not much point playing at that volume. I haven't put it to 10 yet.

I can get almost any sound I want from this thing so far. From classic rock ala Led Zepellin and GNR, to an emotional-singing-with-my-guitar tone ala Joe Satriani or Vai, to a nice crunchy metal sound like Avenged Sevenfold or Trivium. It also does Metallica really well. I don't think this amp would cut it for nu-metal though. It's got slightly less gain than what you would need for that.

WARNING: I've been testing the amp for barely a week now, and to get all the tones I've mentioned requires a fair bit of EQ-ing. But messing with the dials really affects your sound. You can literally hear the sound changing as you turn the EQ knobs. Not like alot of other amps I've tried.

3 channels, clean, crunch and lead. Clean isn't too impressive.. I think it may be my Schecter's pickups but the clean breaks up really easily if you want it loud. I tried putting the gain on 1 and volume to 10, wasn't loud enough but it stays clean. Gain up any higher than 2 and it breaks up VERY easily. Crunch is nice for ACDC, thats about it. Maybe I just don't listen to enough low gain guitar. Lead is just awesome. All those tones I mentioned earlier all come from the Lead Channel.

I'm real happy with my purchase, definitely worth the RM2500 I spent. The guys over at AVEM, Maverick and Ah Long specifically are really nice, threw in a bunch of free stuff (8m worth of cable and 2 packs of strings). I haven't tried performing or jamming with this baby just yet, but I'm going to get a chance to do that real soon. I'll post an update when I do.

This post has been edited by ianhooi: Sep 24 2008, 01:58 AM

yep. EXTREMELY good, i would say, for a 120 watter. was supposed to pay 2690, but after some nagging from the momma i went back and bargained a lil bit. got it for 2.5. Erm, but for people thinking of buying this amp or any other bugera amp, I bought the last piece in the store. the next shipment apparently is going to have a price of about 20-30% higher. Bugera decided that their amps are pretty good and are upping the price. the components and features are going to be the same, however.

ahh finally, someone did a review on a bugera.. hahah.. How much does the 6262 head costs btw?

the head is slightly less than the combo, but i wouldnt know the exact price. the only bugera they had left in the shop was this one, and the guy (Maverick) didn't remember the exact price. they're the same wattage though, you'd probably be okay buying the combo and changing out the speakers if you don't like them, or running it through an extension cab.

This post has been edited by ianhooi: Sep 24 2008, 02:12 AM

I've been eyeing on a Bugera since they came out a while ago...but still ain't got enough $$ to really get one though..

Thinking of getting a head and pair it with a custom cabinet... Good review btw

their excellent. the next shipment is coming in possibly 2 or 3 weeks time. i know, because i was actually eyeing the 333XL. But listening to it on youtube, listening to artists recordings on forums, talking to the guys at AVEM, decided their voiced about the same, except the XL has a noisegate and some other stuff. GO GET ONE!! then we can start a bugera owners club

if youre gonna move it around a bit, i suggest you abandon the head idea and get the combo, cause the head weighs just a bit less than the combo, add to that the weight of your custom cab, and the advantages of the head, which i cant really think of right now except being able to stare at the pretty blue tube glow and having 2 more speakers in a 4x12 to push additional air dont seem that great. but still, whatever you buy in the end tell me yeah?

Dude, this is awesome! Was thinking of getting one for myself sometime in the future. Now you do know you're obliged to do a Youtube demo of it right?

This post has been edited by fatboythin: Sep 24 2008, 02:36 AM

LOL. I am in the midst of getting a Satch song up to scratch. Maybe I'll record that. But the cam mic will probably be really crappy. I'll see what I can do. Haha.

Hahah.. I think it will still be a long way before i can afford one...but i'll definitely get one! But I think by that time, bugera has already released some new replacement models

Nice review.I wanna get one too,but that thing seems freaking loud!

It is. BUT, it sounds real good at bedroom volumes too, so dont worry. The preamp gain is very high, so no problem getting a good sound without the power amp having to kick in.