Behringer a SOLID name?

[musicelectronix]

This thread will never get old. I will tomorrow make car named Panda vicic and ask 8 grands for this suppa duppa, 2008 mode fully equiped car while Honda Civic retails for 19,000.

I will use cheap components, steal people's designs and sometimes even steal people's brand names, put it in a plastic housing with el-cheapo pots and claim it is as good as honda civic. For crying out loud!

That's what behringer is all about.

 

[seamonkey]

Gear is tested to failure when it breaks. As I have repaired a lot of gear, I have a good sense of failure modes. Solder-supported jacks and pots are definitely an Achilles heel.

By the way, is this the strong plastic case you are talking about?

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286904

Yes - that's one, but I don't use the BEQ much. I have an ADI21, with similar plastic, I use all the time. No problems. No sign of fatigue. Jacks are still tight and strong.

 

[Hawaii Islander]

I have friends that use Behringer bass cabs (in Ireland). I asked how they sounded and how they were holding up (they gig with them). They said the cabs sounded just fine and they haven't had any issues with anything breaking.

My take on Behringer is that they fill a niche in the music gear market for reasonably priced gear that will meet the needs of many people. For the price of their gear, if a combo amp lasts two or three years and craps out, then you just throw it out and get a replacement (no big deal and no loss). I mean, look at their 8x10 cabs, they were selling for ~$300.00 USD. If the sound was decent and the cab last 3-4 years, then you got your money's worth out of it.

I saw an add (NAMM I think) for high end Behringer gear under the product line of Bugera. All tube amps with high end construction and components. I haven't seen any of that gear advertized in the USA yet.

 

[Bryan316]

I wanna say this about Behringer's bass gear.


I tried out the 810 rig when my local store got it in. Now... if you listen to it with clean ears, haven't played any other amps that day before trying it, it'll fool you and sound good. If you're a rookie and try it out, yeah it'll sound good to you. But once you walk over and plug into a QUALITY rig, you'll immediately hear/feel the difference.

It's like driving a Dodge Neon that's all tricked out like a rice rocket from Japan, and then jumping into a Dodge Viper. You GET it. Yeah that Neon's got ground effects and 20" rims and glowing lights everywhere... but the Viper is the real deal.


But some people don't really know what great tone really sounds like. If it's loud and not distorting, to them, it sounds good. It took me a very enlightening afternoon when a sales guy handed me a Tobias Killer B and an Eden WT550 before I understood what great bass tone COULD sound like. Before then, to me, Ampeg was the end-all be-all, even though my current Ampeg rig still didn't satisfy me. Once I heard the qualities I was never familiar with, I understood what I was missing out on.


Behringer will do you good, until you realise that these amps don't deliver. But you can't tell until you recognise it. Their low low price tags are very mischievious.

 

[jrfrond]

Behringer will do you good, until you realise that these amps don't deliver. But you can't tell until you recognise it. Their low low price tags are very mischievious.

I beg to differ with this, at least partially.

Behringer makes their own speakers, which are just OK-sounding. If you take a Behringer bass amp and plug it into a cabinet with GOOD speakers, you will notice the difference.

I have a B3000 head that I resurrected from the junkpile for myself. I have to say that, through a Bag End 15" cabinet, it is just really sweet-sounding.

 

[Bryan316]

Hmmmmmm.... will test that idea next time I'm out and about visiting music shops.

 

[EddieG]

I've been reading the Behringer threads for a while now, and if you're being objective while you read one thing becomes glaringly apparent: How quickly the anti-Behringer crew hijack threads and then churn out the same messages out over and over again! But I'm amazed here at the level of snobbery expressed in some of these posts;

I don't think I could buy anything from a company that simply makes cheap clones of everyone else's stuff.

Behringer is like a leach on the audio industry. I could care less whether their stuff is any good - I won't buy it

I look at Behringer as the OJ Simpson of audio.

So you wouldn't drive a Ferrari if given the opportunity? Surely its a mere rip-off of Karl Benz's original design? What about all you guys who play boutique basses, Fenders, or even the massive pro-SX group on Talkbass, what about you? Don't you know that every time you pick up that axe, you're condoning the theft of Paul Tutmarc's electric bass design? Are you going to stop playing bass on principle?

I couldn't care less whether Behringer rips off other companies, unless I have a business interest in the company being ripped off, and I couldn't give a damn who had the idea first, or whether it looks like someone else's product. None of that concerns me. I'm a bassist, and I need two things; an electric bass guitar, and an amplifier. If Behringer can provide me with an amplifier to allow myself to be heard, at a price which undercuts everybody else, that's who gets my money. If QSC, Ashdown and any of the other companies who have "allegedly" been copied have a problem, all they have to do is drop their prices and I'll switch to them.

I don't actually own any Behringer gear, but regularly use a Xenyx 1204 mixer and an Ultrabass amp in a rehearsal space I use. They've always been reliable for me, and done exactly what I've needed them to do. That's all I ask. And I haven't had any sudden guilt pains while using them.

 

[Jack]

On iwantoneofthose.com there is a Behringer podcasting kit. In the description it says that Behringer is a 'name to be reckoned with'.

It is wrong.

 

[Bryan316]

So you wouldn't drive a Ferrari if given the opportunity? Surely its a mere rip-off of Karl Benz's original design? What about all you guys who play boutique basses, Fenders, or even the massive pro-SX group on Talkbass, what about you? Don't you know that every time you pick up that axe, you're condoning the theft of Paul Tutmarc's electric bass design? Are you going to stop playing bass on principle?

I don't drive a Model T, because there have been innovations since its creation that are better than the original.

I don't play an amp from 1980 because there's amps that are better, stronger, louder than that old amp.

I'm not driving Karl Benz's 3-wheeled invention because 4 wheels have more stability.

I couldn't care less whether Behringer rips off other companies, unless I have a business interest in the company being ripped off, and I couldn't give a damn who had the idea first, or whether it looks like someone else's product. None of that concerns me.

Wow, you haven't ever designed anything in your life, have you? My boss would have quite a few words with you, and show you the company that directly copied and faxed our blueprints from our equipment we sold them, so they could have another company build a duplicate of our design for cheaper and screw us out of another sale. Not to mention build a crappier product without the same weight capabilities or safety implementations.

I'm a bassist, and I need two things; an electric bass guitar, and an amplifier. If Behringer can provide me with an amplifier to allow myself to be heard, at a price which undercuts everybody else, that's who gets my money.

Ahh, if life was always that simple.

If QSC, Ashdown and any of the other companies who have "allegedly" been copied have a problem, all they have to do is drop their prices and I'll switch to them.

And drop their quality to compensate for that price difference? I'll never do such a thing, because I understand firsthand the concept of "you get what you pay for."

I don't actually own any Behringer gear,...

THEN ZIP IT!!! You know not what you speak of! Until you've actually used or owned their gear, you've got no room to talk! You're worse than a sports radio jockey! Ain't good enough to play the game professionally, but you think you're justified to talk about it!

 

[EddieG]

I don't drive a Model T, because there have been innovations since its creation that are better than the original.

I don't play an amp from 1980 because there's amps that are better, stronger, louder than that old amp.

I'm not driving Karl Benz's 3-wheeled invention because 4 wheels have more stability.

But you're using a product that has knowingly ripped off another's ingenuity. Seems like double standards to me.

My boss would have quite a few words with you, and show you the company that directly copied and faxed our blueprints from our equipment we sold them, so they could have another company build a.......

Blah blah blah! I'm a consumer, I couldn't care less if someone stole your idea. It's YOUR business to protect your intellectual property and copyrights, not mine.

Ahh, if life was always that simple.

Maybe not for you, maybe you need all the latest effects pedals and the like. Me, I need a good amp and cabinet(s). End of story.

THEN ZIP IT!!! You know not what you speak of! Until you've actually used or owned their gear,......

So the fact that I posted "I don't actually own any Behringer gear, but regularly use a Xenyx 1204 mixer and an Ultrabass amp in a rehearsal space I use......I mean, should I put that in a few languages for you? I have used them for around a year and a half, so presumably that qualifies me to comment on the quality of them. Or not.

Bottom line, for example, if the Behringer EP power amps do exactly the same job as the QSC power amps, but for less bucks, Behringer gets my cash. Maybe I think that the guys at QSC are a great bunch of guys and stuff, but business is business. If you want to spend exorbitant amounts of money on big name gear, your problem. I just want something that does the job I need it for, at a reasonable price. Whoever makes that product and how they make it is absolutely none of my concern.

 

[Lalabadie]

Bottom line, for example, if the Behringer EP power amps do exactly the same job as the QSC power amps, but for less bucks, Behringer gets my cash. Maybe I think that the guys at QSC are a great bunch of guys and stuff, but business is business. If you want to spend exorbitant amounts of money on big name gear, your problem. I just want something that does the job I need it for, at a reasonable price. Whoever makes that product and how they make it is absolutely none of my concern.

Until you need customer support or end up buying three 500$ amps in less than the lifetime of a good 1100$ amp.

 

[Kelly Lee]

We actually made it 7 pages this time before the wheels fell off. That has got to be a record.

Anyways...closed. :scowl: