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If Behringer and Ampeg had a crack baby....
- Thread starter splitcoilsenior
- Start date
+1
I've never encountered a problem with Peavey and think they are very well built products. Seems the stigma of being inexpensive equaling crap never goes away.
+1. however, those of us old enough to remember a time when peavey DID make crap don't let that go too easily. but at least peavey was somewhat original. behringer is blatant.
You know, I was thinking that very thing....I surely would NOT have wanted to be in THAT bedroom when it was conceived.......uuuggghhhhh...
Older Peavey gear = built like tanks.
You could drop them out of a moving truck and they'd still work perfectly. Too bad more manufacturers can't say that.
With Behringer/Bugera, I'd worry about looking at them wrong and having them fail. Those are disposable amps. Use them, they fail, toss them in the garbage and replace . . . rinse, lather, repeat . . .
You could drop them out of a moving truck and they'd still work perfectly. Too bad more manufacturers can't say that.
With Behringer/Bugera, I'd worry about looking at them wrong and having them fail. Those are disposable amps. Use them, they fail, toss them in the garbage and replace . . . rinse, lather, repeat . . .
I agree completely! I recently purchased a Heritage CL to go along with my 8X10. Why? Simple, I have used Ampeg products for most of adult life. Nothing more and nothing less. I stick with products that I trust.
I am not going to sit here and bash the "other" guy. I have never played their equipment and probably never will. However, it is readily apparent to me that they are attempting (at least in theory) to copy the Ampeg head.
That's enough for me to stay away. However, if some young guy wants to pay for their stuff - good luck! Hope it performs well for you. But remember this - it's a copy. Not the original.
The only Behringer product I have much experience with is their attempt to copy a Sansamp. It's not a terribly faithful sounding copy. A halfway successful emulation of a tube emulator that in itself didn't sound like a tube amp. I actually like it better than the original, but I use it (as I did the BDDI) for a song or 2 when I want make my tube amp sound like a nasty solid state amp.
i have tried some bugera guitar amps at the local dealer, i must say i was impressed by the sound of these amps. I think it was last year, since then i was monitoring info on the net about bugera amps, and i must say they don't have more quality issues than any other guitar amps.
!!!!!!!! And now comes the interesting part, imagine living in a 3-rd world country where the average salary is around 200$/month, you won't be buying a Ampeg SVT CL because it's impossible due to financial reasons as you can see. You will be considering the Bugera tube amp, because this is the closest you can get to a Ampeg SVT CL sound. And you know what, a big part of the world is in this situation. The positive side is that the labour there is a lot cheaper, so it doesn't cost too much to service a tube amp or even upgrade it with better components, this is why people take a chance with behringer products. Behringer mainly targets 3-rd world countries actually.
!!!!!!!! And now comes the interesting part, imagine living in a 3-rd world country where the average salary is around 200$/month, you won't be buying a Ampeg SVT CL because it's impossible due to financial reasons as you can see. You will be considering the Bugera tube amp, because this is the closest you can get to a Ampeg SVT CL sound. And you know what, a big part of the world is in this situation. The positive side is that the labour there is a lot cheaper, so it doesn't cost too much to service a tube amp or even upgrade it with better components, this is why people take a chance with behringer products. Behringer mainly targets 3-rd world countries actually.
You get what you pay for.
I wouldn't even touch this - and that is saying alot.
Especially from somebody who has four 15w guitar combos that are all solid state.
Point of the story, i will buy anything that is working for the right price. Except a Bugera/Behringer.
I wouldn't even touch this - and that is saying alot.
Especially from somebody who has four 15w guitar combos that are all solid state.
Point of the story, i will buy anything that is working for the right price. Except a Bugera/Behringer.
I've always heard about Berhinger and more recently Bugera being horrible amps, but I find it hard to believe that anything being made these days is THAT bad.
- Nov 15, 2006
- 2,219
- 86
- Disclosures
- El Presidente of Sanford and Sonny Audio Weapons (Bluebeard Fuzz)
I don't fault behringer for being a copycat as much I fault them for making it poorly.
Even if you disagreed with the politics of those copycat Dano pedals at least they were well built and sounded awesome.
Often many people (myself included) enjoy a lawsuit bass or a Gorilla bass combo but I have yet to meet anyone having Behringer as their guilt pleasure except for fx pedal circuit-benders.
Even if you disagreed with the politics of those copycat Dano pedals at least they were well built and sounded awesome.
Often many people (myself included) enjoy a lawsuit bass or a Gorilla bass combo but I have yet to meet anyone having Behringer as their guilt pleasure except for fx pedal circuit-benders.
well i'm fortunate that it's not an issue for me. and it's nice that people in poorer countries can afford it. but i would never call it an altruistic service. uli behringer's goal is to make money and lots of it off of the backs of hard working folks who actually design the stuff he rips off and off the backs of people who can't afford the good stuff.
Just becuase it is "handmade" doesn't mean it's point to point.
What I find very interesting is their statement:
"Each BUGERA valve goes through a rigorous 48-hour burn-in process before being individually evaluated by a skilled Quality Control Inspector (a real live human being). Only about one in every ten valves actually gets the go-ahead for use in our amps. The rest get tossed onto the slagheap, where they are melted down to make shot glasses."
They claim to discard 90% of the tubes they buy. They must be buying very cheap tubes.
i could believe they're buying very cheap tubes. i think the more likely explanation, though, is that they're filthy liars.
I think a previous poster posed an intersting question that no one answered. I see a lot of people here upset not because behringer makes low quality gear, but because they copied someone else's design. How is this any different from any boutique amp maker that is doing handmade point to point marshall, fender, and vox copies then charging 3 grand for them??
As far as I'm concerned, B is making cheap crappy gear, but they also sell it for a rediculously low price....so they are charging a fair market price for it....so I don't see that as a problem. I just don't see how it's any different from any other amp maker, really. They are all basing their designs on fender, marshall, or vox for the most part. Why is it ok for other companies to do this, but not Behringer?
As far as I'm concerned, B is making cheap crappy gear, but they also sell it for a rediculously low price....so they are charging a fair market price for it....so I don't see that as a problem. I just don't see how it's any different from any other amp maker, really. They are all basing their designs on fender, marshall, or vox for the most part. Why is it ok for other companies to do this, but not Behringer?
This has been answered. Please read a few posts back.
Just because Behringer have a deceptive strategy : make you believe it is the same as the original, or even better, while it is not at all. This also has been answered.
It's OK if they take non-patented circuit sections and incorporate them into their own designs. It's probably legal if they lift the entire non-patented circuit and house it in a box that looks a lot like the original, although many aren't comfortable with it, because, well, it's weak.
Behringer hasn't been sued successfully that I know of, aside from Aphex, so we can't really sit here and talk about how they're clearly doing illegal things.
That leaves us with our morals. Apparently, most of us think:
1) We're OK with a small manufacturer who lifts a portion of a non-patented electrical circuit and incorporates it into a high quality piece of gear, AND,
2) We're NOT as OK with a (large) manufacturer who lifts a portion of a non-patented electrical circuit AND just barely enough of the graphic design to not get sued, as a way to do less work and make more money.
I don't have a problem with the difference.
