What exactly is wrong with Behringer brand mixers?

"Profits" might not get to customers but often prices are held in the face of rising costs in all other areas

Certainly in some cases and if you gradually shift production to an existing manufacturer inflation will eventually catch up to your current profit margins. But until then, there can be a lot of money saved by overseas manufacture that can be unaccounted for. I give you the Harman group as a great example.
 
My point was they started out with copies and now develop their own equipment. Also there will always be people that just can't afford more expensive, they aren't taking anything away from them if they can't afford them.
As far as quality you can have good or bad quality anywhere. Remember when anything from Japan was automatically branded as low quality.
 
Really whoops I bought the wrong one because they looked so alike, I really doubt there are that degree of stupid shoppers out there. People don't buy it because it looks like someone elses they buy it because it is cheaper and does a decent job for its intended purposes. I don't think you give much credit to the buyer public out there where for most cost is the bottom line which is why Behringer has prospered not because they look a like. If that was all there was to it they would charge the same amount as who they have copied instead of making it cheaper.
 
My point was they started out with copies and now develop their own equipment.

No, they started out making original designs built in German factories and then later began building knockoffs in China. And now they are trying to revive their reputation by not copying so much.

As far as quality you can have good or bad quality anywhere. Remember when anything from Japan was automatically branded as low quality.

That's because for a while it was true.
 
Really whoops I bought the wrong one because they looked so alike, I really doubt there are that degree of stupid shoppers out there.

People make such irrational decisions all the time. If that weren't true there wouldn't be a whole world of knockoff and counterfeit gear.
 
People make such irrational decisions all the time. If that weren't true there wouldn't be a whole world of knockoff and counterfeit gear.

Thats because people are trying to get that particular make or brand, that has nothing to do with this, people buy Behringer not because it looks like someone else's product and are trying to pass it off as a particular brand, people are buying it because it is a cheaper alternative.
 
I've long been a believer that you use what you can get. If all you can afford is Behringer then that's what you've got to do ...... I see no shame in it.

And while some will say there are other cheap alternatives like say, NADY, I don't think they have as wide a range of products plus some of their stuff is worse than Behringer.
I have a parametric from Behringer ..... it was used and stupid cheap.
Is it a great sounding musical parametric? ...... not particularly ......... but I have found some uses for it and the only reason I have one at all is that it was so cheap ($65).

I do have to say though, that I have 40 years of recording experience and I'm well able to dial in that very small window of headroom a lotta behri gear has, .... a newbie isn't gonna be as able to compensate for it's deficiencies.
Still ..... if you really can't afford anything at all .... you simply have to go with whatever you can manage to scrape up. It's still a lot better than the simple 4 channel switching box that I started off with.
 
I started out with a 4 channel battery powered Realistic/Radioshack mixer back in the very early 80's. It was all I could afford at the time & I still have it - though it doesn't get used anymore. It did work when I needed it to as does most of the Behri stuff I have.
 
Thats because people are trying to get that particular make or brand, that has nothing to do with this, people buy Behringer not because it looks like someone else's product and are trying to pass it off as a particular brand, people are buying it because it is a cheaper alternative.

If people didn't respond to lookalikes there wouldn't be lookalikes. Of course people know it's not the same, but they may irrationally think that because it looks the same it will be close enough, even if it isn't really that close.
 
If it fits your needs, in your budget, and felt strongly enough to buy it... Who cares what your friends think!?!
 
I'll agree with that. If your friends want you to have a nice expensive perfect sounding mixer get some money off them to pay for it! I have had quite a lot of Behringer gear over the years. No it doesn't sound like it's from a boutique manufacturer. Yes you can buy it for sensible money. See what happens there? My mixer lasted me 10 years of gigging with only one channel blowing up. It wasn't built like a tank, or a Mackie, or an Allen and Heath. I had a soft case for it and because I carried it around it wasn't thrown in the back of a truck by a hairy arsed roady who didn't care about the kit breaking. As in all things you get what you pay for and if you treat it right it'll last accordingly. As has been said - use what you have and when you know what else it is you really need, go get it.

Good luck.
 
Although most mixers have the same controls, they differ in several major areas. The eq (some don't have a sweep knob for the midrange or better and most don't have parametric capability. Some have built-in effects, others have sends and returns for outboard equipment. But the section that really makes the most difference are the pre-amps. The price of any ixer is a sign of how good the pre-amps are. There are several budget and mid range budget preamps that are better than the price you pay. Onyx and Focusrite are two that come to mind. To understand the value, check out the stand alone pre-amps. They range from about $250 for duals to over $4000 for a single one. If Behringer has any problems it might be in the pre-amp area. Try this. Do NOT do anything with the eq. Just record flat with as much signal as you can get without clipping. Then try mixing with the eq flat as well. If the sound is good, your pre-amps are ok. Then try it on several other systems and then run it through a mastering VST set on a mild setting, preferably one of the presets. I don't suggest using eq at all if you can get away with it. Fixing pre-amp issues with eq is not the best idea. Getting a clean and distortion free signal recorded is much more important. I hope this helps Good Luck.
 
..........It's what your clients think. ;)

If you have clients, that's a horse of a different color. You're spending money (and charging money) for the presentation. If you record only your little song ideas in an untreated bedroom, then you should thank your lucky stars every day that you can record for peanuts. Imagine only a few years ago (OK, maybe a decade ago); praying to find even a 1" tape deck, a console, and then paying someone to service this gear. Then try finding 1" tape that you don't have to 'bake' to use. The first ADAT machine came out in 1992 at a cost of $4K for eight tracks. Still want one?
Today you can buy anything and they toss in Cubase for free. Heck, even a lamp at Ikea might come with Cubase. Now add maybe $500 for a surprisingly decent laptop (Dual Core 2.4GHz, 4G DIMM, 500GB HD), $150 for an interface, another $300 or $400 for some mics, and for 1/4 the price of that ADAT you can record (and more than 8 tracks without bouncing). You got started on the road to learning for a fraction of what your Father spent a handful of years ago. If that includes Behringer, so be it.
But to be a business, and charge people for a finished product? Nooooooooooooooooooo!
 
But to be a business, and charge people for a finished product? Nooooooooooooooooooo!

When you charge people for a service, you are delivering to them a product that is fit for purpose. That purpose is not defined by you, but by the customer. If the customer is happy, then it doesn't matter how you got there, nor what you used to achieve that.
 
Outsourced Behringer products have a bad rep for QC (Quality control). Buggy, inconsistent, high failure rates of one circuit or another in a short time. Behringer was once a good German company with products made in Germany, a couple of which I still own. Today’s Behringer is in name only.

With all the well-made vintage equipment out there going for peanuts there’s not many good reasons to buy Behringer. Musicians need to get out of the mindset that they have to choose only between new products. What’s the point if you can get a 25-year old Tascam or Mackie console that’s still working like new for less than the cost of a new Behringer console that will fail you after two years?

It doesn't matter how little something costs if it doesn't work!

Many current production Behringer, Mackie and Alesis products are cookie-cutter clones poorly made in China with the only difference being the brand stamped on it. I avoid them.
 
What’s the point if you can get a 25-year old Tascam or Mackie console that’s still working like new for less than the cost of a new Behringer console that will fail you after two years?

It doesn't matter how little something costs if it doesn't work!


The only caveat is there is some of those discrete parts (like capacitors) may fail after that long. The otherside to that coin, is you can get in there and replace those a lot easier than some mystery surface mounted speck. It's like razors. I get a crappy shave with the disposables.
 
The little Behringer mixers I've used sounded harsh, and the channels burned out rather quickly. I could've had a more robust, musical-sounding board from the get-go for what I spent on them. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. ;)
 
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