Comments on: Bugera 1990 vs Marshall JCM 900 Amp Demo Review / Shoot-out

By: Max Normal

Max Normal — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:41:41 +0000

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.

By: JUNKMAN

JUNKMAN — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:19:25 +0000

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!

By: john

john — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:33:18 +0000

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

By: Zak1122

Zak1122 — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:54:23 +0000

Bugera= Fire Hazard

By: Bobby Peirce

Bobby Peirce — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:10:16 +0000

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

By: axemanjoe

axemanjoe — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:33:46 +0000

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.

By: TubeMetal

TubeMetal — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:18:50 +0000

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.

By: scott

scott — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:27:58 +0000

what mods do you think would help the Bugera ?

By: coolfix

coolfix — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:35:59 +0000

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!!!

By: surachet

surachet — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:15:20 +0000

i prefer Bugera