5W Head Battle: Diavlo vs Bugera G5 Infinium

  • Thread starter Thread starter Junk Yard Dog
  • Start date Start date
J

Junk Yard Dog

Well-known member
Need a practice head for home. I worry 1watt may be not be enough volume through at 2x12 in my loft. My budget is $300 and I don't want anything over 5watts.

I play rock, hard rock, never really use a clean channel as I use guitar volume for cleaner sounds.

The Diavlo and Bugera sound and have cool features, and I've read the Bugera was preferred over the Blackstar, and it's less.

I don't want a modeler or a Vypyr or anything. Anyone have experience with either of these heads?

Thx!
 
BrokenFusion":23jgwjop said:
Randall seems limited on tone controls.
Click to expand...

Yup. Clips online sound good on both. G5 has more features.

Anyone else?
 
I had the Randall RD5 head and thought it was pretty damn cool. Yes there is only a single tone knob but it is still surprisingly versatile. Use the three way toggle tone stack shift to get in the ballpark and then fine tune with the tone knob. I felt it cleaned up pretty good with the guitar volume too. I recorded some clips but Tonefinder is down and can't access them.
I have not tried the Bugera.
 
bubbastain":37nbrmwd said:
I had the Randall RD5 head and thought it was pretty damn cool. Yes there is only a single tone knob but it is still surprisingly versatile. Use the three way toggle tone stack shift to get in the ballpark and then fine tune with the tone knob. I felt it cleaned up pretty good with the guitar volume too. I recorded some clips but Tonefinder is down and can't access them.
I have not tried the Bugera.
Click to expand...

Thanks, man. How was the loop? I an throw an EQ in there for more tone options. ...I like the features of the Bugera better, but if the Diavlo can get good tones at loft/bedroom levels and clean up ok with volume rolled down, that may be the go.

Also, I'd be playing these through my 2x12 semi-open back at home. I live in a very wide open loft.

Thanks, guys!
 
I grabbed the Bugera G5. More EQ and power options and I'm sure i can get the hard rock tones I want with and OD and eq in the loop, which I was going to do anyway no matter what I got.

Just hope it doesn't blow up! 3 year warranty.
 
...and after jamming on it for 20 minutes, it shit the bed. Sounded pretty good for what it is, loved the features, I fired it back up after eating dinner and it instantly had this tremolo/vibrato effect on every note played.

Don't care what that was or what caused it; when I get something and it craps out immediately, it's gone.

So I'm shipping it back today. Sucks! F'ing Bugera lived up to it's old reputation, I guess.
 
Bummer. Did you make sure a tube didn't come unseated?
 
The Randall Diavlo 5 is KICK ASS. No boost or EQ needed. It has great rock and heavy rock sounds even though most guys like them for the brootz. I have a couple in the shop here.
 
Chubtone":uy0feflg said:
The Randall Diavlo 5 is KICK ASS. No boost or EQ needed. It has great rock and heavy rock sounds even though most guys like them for the brootz. I have a couple in the shop here.
Click to expand...
Cool! I'm going to keep it in mind.

BrokenFusion":uy0feflg said:
Bummer. Did you make sure a tube didn't come unseated?
Click to expand...
No... For me, not worth the effort when I can just get my money back.

I had the Peavey Vypyr 40 and it was cool, but it rattled at higher home volumes and the automatic noise gate sucked the life out of it. no dynamics with it. I don't need or want a bunch of effects; just an amp that rocks and can take a boost. I don't want to spend time fixing something that's brand new, unless it's higher dollar.

This amp is strictly for home use and I live in a loft, so I don't need anything over 5 watts. 5 watts was PLENTY in my spacious, high ceiling loft! I liked the 1 watt the best. Shit, my 15 watt CRATE of 20 years (that just died) was solid state and it had great dynamics and was perfect for home.

I'm going to continue to look at mini heads but also look some combos. I'll bump my budget to $500, since I play at home quite a bit.

Clips of the Blackstar ID:30 TVP sound pretty good, although its a modeler.

I am also looking at the Peavey Valveking II and the 6505 Mini since you can bring them down to one watt.

Ugh...I'll keep looking!
 
Tonefinder is back up. There are several clips of the Randall Diavlo 5 watter. I hear the 1 watt version is pretty bad ass too.

Here is a lower gain clip. One single guitar track and zero post processing.


Here is another quickie clip I did with the RD5.


Also, I thought it sounded great with a boost (BBE Green Screamer in my case) although I didn't think it needed it for my purposes. I just plug one in every now and then to play with.
 
I grabbed the Diavlo RD1H. It's pretty good. Loud enough at full volume, but once I get it to full blast, it farts out quite a bit and gets mushy. I'm playing it through a 2x12, with WGS Reaper 50 and Scumback H55.

I think I may need to grab the RD5 so I can get the volume I need without it farting out like that. I don't think it's the speakers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top