Will we all being playing our Gibson's through Behringer's before to long?

[electracoyote]

Has Behringer taken a cliff dive in recent years? I played an old 90w combo amp that carried me solidly for several years, all through high school and a bit into my college years.

If anything, from what I've seen, Behringer QC has improved.

 

[macheted01]

I owned some Behringer gear. Not bad, and most would say a lot of bang for the buck. Mainly, I had some powered speakers, by them. I have sold them off several years ago, to upgrade to some Bose gear. The guy who bought them Behringers off me, is still using them today. They are not for everything, but for the musician on a budget, it is nice to have them around.

 

[GBassNorth]

I've always viewed Behringer as kind of the Danelectro Longhorn the amp world. They seem a bit odd, flimsy and cheap but they are very affordable and can sound good. Seems a number of people do get by gigging them.

 

[ofajen]

The saddest part is Steinberger....such an awesome groundbreaking company, I would kill to own an L2....there will never be another, the Synapses fall very short.

You should check out Ned's newer stuff at NS Design. And his NS Stick from Stick Enterprises.

Otto

 

[47VevetS]

You should check out Ned's newer stuff at NS Design. And his NS Stick from Stick Enterprises.

Otto

Yes, that stuff IS good, its that quality, crafstmanship, and attention to detail and innovation that is missing from Gibsons Steinberger line. Thaey should repair or rebuild the molds and make em like they used to.

 

[bikeplate]

These guys are pretty sure you're mistaken... Gibson and many other non fender brands have been instrumental in shaping the music we hear and play today.

Don't think that way at all. I've owned 30 Sadowskys, 2 Alembics, 5 Spectors, 3 Laklands and enough other basses to make most people choke. My point is Gibson is primarily a guitar brand. Go into 20 music stores. Hundreds of Gibson guitars, nearly zero basses. Just plain fact

 

[GBassNorth]

Don't think that way at all. I've owned 30 Sadowskys, 2 Alembics, 5 Spectors, 3 Laklands and enough other basses to make most people choke. My point is Gibson is primarily a guitar brand. Go into 20 music stores. Hundreds of Gibson guitars, nearly zero basses. Just plain fact

Actually I can go into 20 music stores and see Zero Sadowskys, Zero Alembics, Zero Spectors and Zero Laklands - my odds of seeing Gibson and Epiphone basses in those same stores is infinitely higher. I fail to see the logic in your wild statement that "Gibson has never been a relevant bass brand".

Does Gibson have a strong Guitar following, heck yes. Does it dwarf their bass sales, heck yes. Do Fender guitar sales dwarf Fender bass sales, heck yes. Again, what's your point? Relevancy is determined by what people do with the product not how many are hanging on the wall. And some very great players have done many great songs with Gibson basses - I call that relevant.

 

[bikeplate]

Actually I can go into 20 music stores and see Zero Sadowskys, Zero Alembics, Zero Spectors and Zero Laklands - my odds of seeing Gibson and Epiphone basses in those same stores is infinitely higher. I fail to see the logic in your wild statement that "Gibson has never been a relevant bass brand".

Does Gibson have a strong Guitar following, heck yes. Does it dwarf their bass sales, heck yes. Do Fender guitar sales dwarf Fender bass sales, heck yes. Again, what's your point? Relevancy is determined by what people do with the product not how many are hanging on the wall. And some very great players have done many great songs with Gibson basses - I call that relevant.

Cool you win

 

[M.R. Ogle]

"...now ALL restaurants are Taco Bell."

 

[GBassNorth]

Cool you win

Actually that's an impressive list of basses you've owned. I bet it was hard to pick a favorite in that line up!

 

[Mosstone]

They were able to void the Guilds lifetime warranty..... oh wait, that was good for Fender, not me as the consumer. My bad!
(Unfortunately a true story)

Ouch! Bad form, Fender...

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Actually, I do have a problem with your use of the word "greed", particularly in this context. The word itself has negative connotations, and you're assuming a motivation in others that you do not actually know to be true. To quote the definition from Wikipedia:

Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness, is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

Profit in and of itself does not equal greed, and greed by itself is not the only motive for profit.

As far as loyalty to one's customer base: Mike Tobias has a well-established history of continuing to support and service customers who bought his basses prior to the Gibson buyout. I believe that Genzler and others have similar reputations, but obviously not everyone does. It's unfair to say that people who sell their companies are greedy and do not care about their customers. It's just not universally true. (Although, to be fair, there are plenty of examples to the contrary.)

Based on the definition of greed I would imagine everybody at the top of any given corporation meets that criteria. Or are we saying that people with six figure salaries are not going "beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort?"

 

[Mosstone]

Has Behringer taken a cliff dive in recent years? I played an old 90w combo amp that carried me solidly for several years, all through high school and a bit into my college years.

I am NOT a gear snob, but in IMHO, Behringer only had one direction to go in terms of quality. I bought a 100W Behringer "Ultrabass" amp a few years ago when MF was trying to blow them out the door. I just needed an amp for practicing at home, so I could leave my main amp at my band's rehearsal space. It was on clearance for $100, so I thought, what the heck? How bad could it be?

What a piece of crap! It was unsuitable even for practicing in my living room! I remember its big marketing gimmick was something called the "Dynamizer" tone circuit. As far as I could tell, the Dynamizer was mostly good for making the amp have a lot of knobs (you know it's GOTTA be a good amp if it has a lot of knobs, right?) but very little else. Could NOT get a satisfactory tone out of it. The speaker crackled at high levels and eventually, the amp would die after being on for more than 15 minutes. I ended up sending it to an authorized repair shop (on my own dime.) and the amp came back with EXACTLY the same problems it had when I shipped it out! I think I eventually threw a tablecloth over it and used it as an end-table.

You could say, yeah, I got a defective one, but even when it was working properly, it still sounded like junk. And of the ones I've tried in stores, I've never been able to get a tone out of any Behringer amp that I would consider useable, let alone desirable.

 

[wmhill]

Ouch! Bad form, Fender...

that's what I thought, though they did offer a free estimate, provided I paid shipping both ways......

 

[ofajen]

No great loss...sorry Gibson fans The original Tbird (not the current "reissues") the original EB3 (not the current "SG bass") and the original Ripper were the high water marks.

More proof that I live a charmed life. My first bass is a 1976 Ripper that I've had for over 30 years. Even better, it has had a neck-only setting since I got it, which wasn't a stock setting. Only Gibson bass I've ever played.

Otto