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TC just got bought....

#84
Munjibunga said:
Actually Lexicon and Digitech are both owned by Harman International Industries, along with brands like JBL, Crown, AKG, Soundcraft, dbx, BSS and many others. Let's hope B-word doesn't buy Harman. B-word also owns Midas now.
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The names Behringer, and since folks are avoiding saying it like Beetlejuice I am gonna do it... Behringer, Behringer, Behringer.
 
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#85
The only experience I have with TC Electronics is with their vocal pedals - my band uses a few of these. They work well and are bullet-proof.

I hope the build quality travels up into the Behringer line.
 
#86
Big Hoss said:
The names Behringer, and since folks are avoiding saying it like Beetlejuice I am gonna do it... Behringer, Behringer, Behringer.
Click to expand...

I have mixed feelings. I have a couple Behringer things that sound pretty good and mostly work pretty well... I don't love the reverse engineering aspect or the slightly greasy interactions of a certain Behringer luminary on TB.

I have two Behringer Composer-Pro Compressor/limiter/expander units that actually sound better than the DBX 266XL that I have. And while the DBX was cheap bought new, the two Behringer units cost me around 30 bucks each, 'slightly used'. The catch being that both Behringers have buttons/switches that don't work.

I also have a Behringer 2442FX mixer I bought again 'slightly used'...sounds better than a nearly identical Mackie board...but again has a bunch of 'little stuff' that doesn't work right. Like the LED panel for the mains only half works. The 8th channel is noisy and only works intermittently. Both bottom feeders in the audio world but the Mackie while sounding not quite as good, is still 100% functional for the same amount of use.

I also have one of the 8 channel Behringer headphone amps. Nice feature set, etc., and it hasn't broken, but it should be marketed as a 7 channel...because the channel that's closest to the power supply is so noisy that it's not really useable. I bought it knowing that...and what do you expect for the price...

Maybe that should be the corporate motto?

Behringer... What do you expect, for the price?
 
#87
BurningSkies said:
...
Behringer... What do you expect, for the price?
Click to expand...

With the right expectations I think Behringer is OK ... especially for a hobby musician that doesn't work the gear very hard and can tolerate less than top notch build quality and noise. I have a couple of utility items that are nice tools for various situations - two small 4-channel mixers, a headphone amp, a line mixer, a feedback destroyer, a cable tester. If I made a living from music I might not use them, but for my amateur and infrequent use they do the job fine and at the right price point. Other items that are more important to me I spend more money on.
 
#89
My point was it is ridiculous and childish to avoid the name of a company as if the name itself has some sort of magical power, or is some sort of obscenity.

I don't have a ton of Behringer gear, but I have some. A couple of UControl USB Audio interfaces that work pretty well, One came with a full PodcastStudio USB kit. So I have the 5 channel mixer that is annoyingly small, a pair of lousy headphones, and a good enough for a backup singer condenser mic... I also have the newer model UControl, a couple of their studio headphones, and the 12 channel non USB mixer with effects. All of my Behringer gear works as it should. I do NOT like how how the transformer, OR the mixer gets when in use. The solution for me was to elevate them so that they get full air flow around them to dissipate heat, and the problem went away...

The Behringer studio headphones I have I actually favor a great deal over a set of AKGs that I bought a few years ago. Those are awful...

On the headphone amp front, I have a Pyle Pro, and Pyle is a good name for it... Because it is a big steaming pile of... well you know...

Seriously though, I understand, you have to be careful about input levels into the headphone amp or it distorts like mad. I also have a Wireless Lavalier mic rig from them that, well the Wireless rig works as I expect, but the mic is garbage. I set it up with a second hand Sony Lav mic and it sounds awesome! At least for speech, I wouldn't use this for singing or anything like that...

An audio engineer friend of mine has that same XENYX 2442FX you mention, it's seen probably 5 or 6 years of hard, frequent road use at various functions such as sound support for bands, weddings, corporate events etc... in all sorts of environments. Only recently has the first channel started acting flaky. Considering the amount of use this mixer has seen, and the insane environments it has been forced to work in, it is amazing to me that it still functioned after a year. Many of these events are outdoors in Texas summer heat, and humidity, it gets shoved in a road case and tossed into a trailer no less than 4 times a week, it has been rained on, dropped in mud, and generally badly abused...

I won't say Behringer is faultless, or makes fantastic equipment, but they make in my experience, and what I have been able to witness first hand, very workable gear, that tolerates a fair amount of abuse, and is brought to market at a price that many of us can afford...

That 2442FX looks to be superceded by the X2442USB, with a retail on Amazon of $379.99, compared to the Mackie at $649.99, which I have seen one of those fail mid performance, and a Yamaha MGP24X at $1199.99. If you totally swamp your mixer at an outdoor event like my friend has done. Well the Behringer is a lot less painful of a loss than either the Mackie or the Yamaha... It can be replaced at far less cost, and get you back up to working that much faster...
 
#90
The only TC pedal I ever owned fell apart and they wouldn't even honor their warranty. I never took it apart or anything. I just ended up throwing it into the garbage after hanging onto it for years. Behringer sure couldn't do any worse in my opinion.
 
#91
BurningSkies said:
I have mixed feelings. I have a couple Behringer things that sound pretty good and mostly work pretty well... I don't love the reverse engineering aspect or the slightly greasy interactions of a certain Behringer luminary on TB.

I have two Behringer Composer-Pro Compressor/limiter/expander units that actually sound better than the DBX 266XL that I have. And while the DBX was cheap bought new, the two Behringer units cost me around 30 bucks each, 'slightly used'. The catch being that both Behringers have buttons/switches that don't work.

I also have a Behringer 2442FX mixer I bought again 'slightly used'...sounds better than a nearly identical Mackie board...but again has a bunch of 'little stuff' that doesn't work right. Like the LED panel for the mains only half works. The 8th channel is noisy and only works intermittently. Both bottom feeders in the audio world but the Mackie while sounding not quite as good, is still 100% functional for the same amount of use.

I also have one of the 8 channel Behringer headphone amps. Nice feature set, etc., and it hasn't broken, but it should be marketed as a 7 channel...because the channel that's closest to the power supply is so noisy that it's not really useable. I bought it knowing that...and what do you expect for the price...

Maybe that should be the corporate motto?

Behringer... What do you expect, for the price?
Click to expand...

What are you trying to get at?

So what that Behringer is/has reversed engineered things. That's the way technology works. Everybody borrows from everyone - all the time. Why in god's name should I reinvent the wheel, if someone has done for me?

And what do you mean by "the slightly greasy interactions of a certain Behringer luminary"? Are you talking about the last time Uli Behringer vistited this forum? I didn't find anything greasy about that. I find it exceptional that the owner of Music Group is finding the time to at least try to answer some of the questions - although the answers are lacking. He does a much better job on other forums. Might be because the people aren't as negative and hostile towards the brands that he represents.
 
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#92
Behringer made his money by COPYING, not reverse engineering. Everyone benchmarks, but it is totally shameless to simply copy every detail including the PCB layout, etc. The first mixer he showed in Frankfurt was a Mackie with his own label stuck on and the production units were identical. If you look at all the early products you can see that hey are exact copies of other famous units.

It's real easy to sell stuff cheap if you don't have any engineering costs and use the cheapest parts. It's like buying a Copy Watch in China and about as honorable.
 
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#93
Bassamatic said:
Behringer made his money by COPYING, not reverse engineering. Everyone benchmarks, but it is totally shameless to simply copy every detail including the PCB layout, etc. The first mixer he showed in Frankfurt was a Mackie with his own label stuck on and the production units were identical. If you look at all the early products you can see that hey are exact copies of other famous units.

It's real easy to sell stuff cheap if you don't have any engineering costs and use the cheapest parts. It's like buying a Copy Watch in China and about as honorable.
Click to expand...

Sorry not true.
 
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#96
Fishheadjoe said:
So, I wonder if Behringer paid the advertised price for TC or did they simply pay the peak price, you know, the one they had up for a milli-second?
Fishheadjoe
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That's ok because TC's price was grossly overstated anyway due to their compression algorithms.

(I can say this because I LIKE TC...)
 
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#97
FretNoMore said:
Because they have more money?
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Lol actually after thinking about it, it makes more sense in selling it to behringer, let say they sell it to Gibson, i bet Gibson will try to rebrand their pedals to Gibson brand instead of tc. Like their new les Paul studio monitor.

If they sell to roland it will create conflict between the boss brand, if it is being sold Yamaha, not sure whether they try to do anth funny making it compatible with the line 6 stuffs.

Behringer is the best coz they won't rebrand tc, as tc perceived brand value is obviously better than behringer (talking about pedals,let's leave the amp discussion aside). Same thing with what they do with midas, tannoy etc. At the same time acquire behringer distribution network and it's lean manufacturing practice.

Again I am no expert but just speculating here
 
#98
Big Hoss said:
The names Behringer, and since folks are avoiding saying it like Beetlejuice I am gonna do it... Behringer, Behringer, Behringer.
Click to expand...

It's really "The Music Group", "The Music Group", "The Music Group" :)

Bugera and Behringer being part of it. Bugera being most relevant to this forum. I expect people want to emphasize Uli Behringer is the CEO of "The Music Group", like not all the other brands and people that work there don't matter.
 
#99
Yes, the umbrella company IS The Music Group, however their main brand name, and the CEO name are what some folks take offense to and childishly try to omit the name in its entirety as if somehow naming a company is a bad thing... I don't like Chevrolets, but I don't abbreviate the brand name for sure!
 
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#100
Big Hoss said:
Yes, the umbrella company IS The Music Group, however their main brand name, and the CEO name are what some folks take offense to and childishly try to omit the name in its entirety as if somehow naming a company is a bad thing... I don't like Chevrolets, but I don't abbreviate the brand name for sure!
Click to expand...

Oh, I don't know I like some Chevy's :-)
And I looking forward to what MG comes out with now that TC is part of the mix
Seriously cool stuff gear and software TC and I'm positive the Music Group will have a positive influence on them.
Like I said, pronto should be the three year warranty. I never got TC's 1 year warranty. And it kept me away from their gear.

BTW, The Music Group has their own operating system. It's what the use in their hi-end mixer products. Pulling in TC could really make some strong embedded products. I'm looking forward to it.
 

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