The Bugera V5 Infinium Amplifier

How Loud is the Bugera V5 Infinium Amplifier?

How Loud is the Bugera V5 Infinium Amplifier?

A popular question I see online is how loud is the 5 watt Bugera V5 Infinium Amplifier? I tested it recently with a sound pressure level meter and also tried it at a gig! Today I am going to share my overall findings of this particular question.

Is the Bugera V5 Infinium Loud Enough to Gig with?

I did “get away” with the Bugera V5 for one low volume set at a small gig.  How I did this was by running the amp up 3/4 of the way. To get a slight volume boost for solos I ended up pushing it as hard as I could with a volume boost pedal.

While I managed to get an okay guitar tone, the volume boost didn’t add as much volume as I was hoping for.  What it did do was give the Bugera V5 a slight volume kick but it added more preamp distortion due to the low headroom.

I knew this was going to be the case but it was a good way to use the amp to its maximum capability in the live setting.  I didn’t see any advantage using overdrives with this amp as the volume pedal keeps the amp slightly cleaner.

The Bugera V5 Infinium is “just” loud enough for the gig when the drummer was not playing very hard.  As soon as the second set started, I need more volume and the Bugera had nothing left in the tank. Thankfully I thought ahead and also had my Artist TweedTone 20R amplifier at the gig to swap to.

If the drummer in the band is only playing brushes you should have no problems. Anything over that volume and you’ll be totally struggling.

How Loud is the Bugera V5 for home use?

The Bugera V5 Infinium amplifier is perfect for home use. One of the great things about this little amplifier is the fact you can change the output power to three different levels

  1. 5 watts – 5 Watts if the maximum output
  2. 1 watt – Perfect for most home users
  3. 0.1 watt – use this mode if you live in an apartment

I tested the Bugera V5 Infinium with a sound pressure level meter.  I tested the amplifier at a distance of 1 meter (3 feet) here were the results.

  • 5 watts = 109dB average
  • 1 watt = 103dB average
  • 0.1 watt = 92dB average

For those that don’t know how the decibel scale works, it’s not like a percentage scale.  Every +3dB more is almost twice as loud as it was before. Comparing 92dB to 109dB is a huge difference.  I tested this at 1 meter.  Testing the decibel rating further back results in a much lower score.  This lower score translates into not very loud for a “loud gig”.

One option is you could mic the amplifier up and run it into a PA system for louder gigs.  Odds are, you will be drowned out volume-wise from a loud acoustic drum kit if you’re doing a loud gig.

In this video below you can hear the differences in how each of the volume settings sounds in comparison to each other. Skip to 11:18 for the volume test of the Bugera V5.

Who is this amplifier for?

This is a great little amplifier for someone who wants to use it mostly at home.  I can’t imagine anyone using this as a main gig amp unless you’re playing background music at a restaurant.  At 5 watts the Bugera V5 is louder than conversion level but 109db is not loud enough for a regular loud gig.


Buy the Bugera V5 Infinium on Sweetwater

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