Bugera 1990 vs Marshall JCM 900 Amp Demo Review / Shoot-out
The Tone King | Jun 25, 2009 | Comments 18
Bugera 1990 vs. Marshall JCM 900 – by The Tone King – Leader in gear demos and reviews!!! Subscribe at www.YouTube.com/LMSJR
Bugera 1990 Amp Review & Demo Marshall JCM 900 shoot-out
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So Marshall go through years of promoting their amps, developing their curcuits, tone and production techniques. Then Bugera come along and do a straight ripoff with no R&D, nothing but a cheap workforce so that they can attack all the the great amp builders they rip off. (Ampeg, Marshall, Peavey, Fender etc). Of course they sound the same, Bugera amps are just that, a rip-off. If you want a decent sound cheap, I guess you’ll get one, but it’s not really ethical, and if Marshall or ampeg go out of business because of it, it’s cheap and nasty amps like this that you are going to get. I wouldn’t mind if Bugera had come up with their own designs, style and sound, but they have not. A cynical attempt to muscle in on the greats. Avoid this.
Seems your biased toward the Bugera. The Marshall sounds better. Here’s why:
1) CLEAN: the Marshall’s highs sparkle and are more crisply defined than the B. The B losses them.
2) DISTORTION: the M has a broader sound. The B sounds as if the sound is trying to fit through a small hole – perhaps there’s more mid-range or a different mid-range Q. It sounds, well…cheaper.
That said, for under $500.00USD the B is OK. Believe me, most people don’t know the difference between a bassoon and a steel guitar, so without this attentive comparison, who is going to know the difference?
BTW, it was very difficult to hear the B’s reverb as you continually strummed. A few short hits would suffice. That way, we could hear the tails. Most M reverb’s are long and dark and are of not much use.
A 50-watt M through 30-watt speakers is tough to beat. Guitar, cord, amp, speaker cable, speaker cabinet…that is all you need if you REALLY want TONE!
The marshall is a little boxier than the bugera but there’s one thing that couldn’t be addressed in the comparison is the tubes and how old the tubes on the marshall are compared to the bugera. Still the bugera is a very nice sounding clone of the JCM900 marshall. But i have dealt with behringer and i would say the overall quality for the bugera is much lower than the marshall and the stock tubes in bugera’s blow chunks, they fail alot mostly out of the box or after a few uses, so if you buy a bugera put the price of changing the tubes into your decision as you would with any used tube amp. I also know for a fact that bugera is made in the same factory as behringer, they chose to use the bugera name cause the amps were desinged by the italian company bugera (also the same maker of the reissue jensen speakers)and the behringer name is not the greatest with musicians as there quality is denoted by the price. You get what you pay for in my experience
Bugera= Fire Hazard
Very cool comparison.From what I could tell through my computer moniters the Marshall did have a tighter tone and a little more warmth . The Bugera was very close but not quite the same . I’ll keep my 900
The Bugera is frighteningly close to the Marshall. But, only a Marshall is gonna sound like a Marshall. The Bugera sounds excellent and certainly a great buy. I’ll be checking one out as soon as I can.
The Bugera has a bit more punch, the Marshall sounds a tad boxy which I don’t like. The cleans are (to my ears) the same though. From what I’ve heard, Behringer is behind the Bugera amp line but they’re made in a different factory and so on. Overall, I’d grab the Bugera, because Marshalls are a bit overrated adn if I can have the same or better tone for half the price as long as it lasts, I’d be fine with a Bugera.
what mods do you think would help the Bugera ?
I have read that the Bugera doesn’t like to be moved which is bad as this kind of amp is not supposed to stay in the bedroom.
Does anyone know something about this amp quality?
But yes it sounds like the JCM900!!!
i prefer Bugera
Man… for $450 brand new is a really nice Marshall tone amp but still de JCM900 sounds brighter, more clear and better.
The good thing is, you can do some mods to the Bugera 1990, if the circuit and components allow it, and get some pretty good tones from it.
I think for a budget musician that likes the Marshall tone the 1990 is an option.
Hey TK, I was on the Bugera web site and I clicked on the “Privacy Policy” (I know! what normal person wastes their time with such things) and it gives reference to Behringer. Are the Bugera amps made by Behringer?
I agree w/ Chris. The Marshall is a little tighter, a little bass-ier. They sound very similar, though. The Bugera’s distortion has a little too much of an analog distortion sound. Looser, a little tinny, maybe. Still a very nice tone, though. Nice job on the comparison.
i know this may sound like a stupid question but…..
all the controls are at 12 o clock including master volume?
I feel the Marshall has a bit tighter sound, and has more clarity on both channels. The Bugera has a more punch to it’s gain. I would choose the Marshall for recording purposes over the Bugera, because of it’s clarity. I would choose the Bugera for live playing for it’s gain.
They definatly sound similar….but I would want to hear them in person.
It has been my experiance that Marshall usually has more of a bassy tone overall. I dont know anything outside of what I just seen of the Bugera.
Based on the prices quoted on the vid though, for the sound, the Bugera is the way to go.
The Bugera 1990 sounds really good. My question is how is the quality and is it reliable?
Great demo TTK!
Can anybody find out any substancial difference?¿ I can’t. Dunno if it’s due to my computer speakers or that bugera is such a good amp. Maybe it’s a little brighter. But still it’s an amp to keep in mind.
Thanks a lot for your demos ^^