D-Tar solstice vs. much cheaper Behringer...

[oliebrice]

any thoughts on what makes the D-Tar solstice worth so much money?
It seems like something like the Behringer Xenyx802 will do much the same job for a fraction of the cost...
still trying to get my head around incorporating a mic into my sound, it seems to be between the accusound mic/contact mic set-up, or buying a microphone and blending it with my bassmax. Both require a pre-amp/mixer, what are the advantages to spending more?
cheers,
olie

[larry]

Originally Posted by oliebrice

any thoughts on what makes the D-Tar solstice worth so much money?
It seems like something like the Behringer Xenyx802 will do much the same job for a fraction of the cost...
still trying to get my head around incorporating a mic into my sound, it seems to be between the accusound mic/contact mic set-up, or buying a microphone and blending it with my bassmax. Both require a pre-amp/mixer, what are the advantages to spending more?
cheers,
olie

I tried a Behringer mixer a few years ago to do exactly that. I personally found their gear to be extremely noisy, and I felt the signal sounded worse just by passing through it before I touched a knob.

Their new Xenyx stuff may be better, I don't know.

I do use a Dtar Solstice on every gig, and I am very happy with it. I think it has tremendous flexability in how you can route different signals, and sounds great. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars only because the EQ does not seem to be voiced for bass (though it would not be on a cheap mixer either) and the phantom power is not a full 48v. Other than that, it is awesome. I also think very highly of their service dept. My power supply failed after the warranty and they sent me a new one immediately (no charge) with sincere apologies. They really stand behind their gear.

Behringer may stand behind their gear too for all I know, but I probably don't speak enough Chinese to find out...

I absolutely believe it's worth a couple hundred bucks more for the Solstice, YMMV, FWIW, IMHO, ETC...

[bolo]

I like the Solstice too, a lot. Lots of output routing options, phase reversal for each channel, XLR and 1/4 inputs, and most of all, a good clean sound.

I could be wrong, but I don't see the same types of output routing options on the Behringer. And the input impedance is not suitable for piezo pickups, unless I am reading their specs wrong. So you would need a preamp in some cases before you hit the mixer.

Don't know much about the Accusound gear. Only seen it in magazine ads, in Double Bassist I think.

[oliebrice]

thanks for the thoughts, you've almost convinced me to get a solstice...
do you use another parametric eq post solstice when using a mic, or has it got enough eq capacity to deal with troublesome frequencies?

[bolo]

Unfortunately I can't help you much there. I keep the EQ flat on the Solstice pretty much all the time, and if I want some EQ (which is rare), I just use the EQ on my amps that sit behind it. Of course then if I am dealing with a blended signal from a pickup and a mic (which is why I use the D-TAR ... duh), the EQ on the amp effects both signals.

I have discovered that the Mid EQ control on the Solstice is very effective at taming feedback from my mics (the high pitched squealy electronic kind). But it does not have a notch filter, if that's more what you are thinking of.