Who's cheap gear do you trust the most?

Who's Cheap Gear do you trust the most?

  • Peavey

    Votes: 244 36.7%
  • Carvin

    Votes: 98 14.7%
  • Behringer

    Votes: 276 41.5%
  • Alto

    Votes: 14 2.1%
  • Phonic

    Votes: 10 1.5%
  • Nady

    Votes: 23 3.5%

  • Total voters
    665
I've used a lot of Behringer rack mounts over the years and they've been fine for what they are. I bought one of their small mixers and it was junk though.
 
FWIW,

+1 for the Peavey speaker design. A Peavey speaker (in the original Bandit) was the only thing that ever went wrong for me and it was quickly replaced for free long after the warranty date expired because they thought that was the right thing to do. Peavey stuff that I bought 40 years ago, used and sold is still around. I have friends that still complain about the weight of their CS-400 and 800 power amps but they mist up when you tell them to modernize. I don't know why I no longer have a single Peavey item but I do know that all the ones I got rid of were to friends and family---and they still have them or passed them on.

I like the quality and performance of Carvin gear but I did have two power amps fail on me. I can say that I got my money's worth out of each of them.

I think Nady should stay out of the speaker business entirely but some of the DI's and hum eliminators, while not my first choice, come in handy in a pinch and do their job. The NADY SPC-25 (no longer available?) and the SCM960 (rebadged Joemeek JM37DP) are gem-sleeper under-$100 LD condenser mics. Nady wireless units always find something to bug me---no pun intended.

No direct experience with Alto or Phonic.

Every Behringer mixer I've had (and bandmates preferred them over the Mackies) developed some sort of problem (phantom power issues, bad channel, lost channels, never fatal, sometimes repairable). 2/3 of the Behringer power amps that I own failed at about the 2-year mark---just would not turn on. Of the four Behringer guitar amps that I owned, all four are still working for the people I sold/gave them to. I have/had a bunch of their compressors but they never got any/much use. The DI20 is a very versatile worthless piece of hissy crap but a lot of their other little boxes fall into the Nady category---useful in a pinch. We sometimes use the XM8000 mics for audience participation; they seem work fine. I have a B205D (purchased after two Mackie SM150 failures) and a B208D, their class-D powered speakers, and they have been reliable. I also have an ADA8000 and an SRC2000 which have been workhorses, as has been an UCA-202 for USB interfacing consumer audio sources and their CT100 cable tester (the "intermittant" function is priceless).

Paj
8^8
 
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I voted Behringer because I have owned lots of it over the years, and the number of faults has been no worse that any other brand, and these faults, split by the quantity I own, makes them stats wise, one of the MOST reliable. One item of brand X that goes faulty is very bad, compared with say 20 items where 2 have had a fault. However, reported faults on the most popular brand look very bad - but it's a matter of scale.
 
I'm not sure how Carvin made that list. In the 70s and 80s it was not at all considered "cheap" But I've been using Peavey bass cabs and sub cabs for decades. Bands I've been in swore by their power amps. So that's where my vote would go. There are several Carvin amps and guitars that I'd like to own, so maybe if they really are "cheap" I'd have to give them a close 2nd place.
 
I rely on a fair amount of Canadian made gear... Apex, Art, Yorkville and Traynor. All of it pretty decent for what it is. I also have some Behringer stuff that I like. Their tuner makes a great rack light and their headphone amp works well if you get the model that doesn't catch fire.
 
Peavey hands down. My 1st mixer was a 12 channel powered tank. It fell out of the back of a truck (in a road case), on the way to Baton Rouge in 81. Was hit by at least one car. Got to the gig and it worked fine. Gave it away in 05. It still worked.
 
Peavey Classic 30 was an awesome little amp, at least 20 years ago when I owned one. Wish I would have kept that amp....I could say that about a handful of crap I sold so I could buy the next amp I lusted after.
 
Been using Peavey mixers and speakers for almost 40 years now and never had a piece fail on me.... I have a Peavey XR1212P mixer that I used for an outdoor gig last summer which was interrupted by a sudden downpour. We got the equipment home, dried it out with a blow dryer--and it's working fine.... I used one of the Escort series all-in-one PAs for almost 10 years before moving up to the XR1212P [which I've had for four years now] and I'd recommend that line before any other package system if it suits the person's needs....
 
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