Behringer Power Mixers

[lar]

Does anyone have experience with or evaluation of Behringer's line of "box style" powered mixers. I've heard both good and bad and am thinking about going for either their PMX 2000 or PMX 880S Europower power mixer.
Thanks
lar

[noisedude]

I've used the PMX2000 on and off, it's a Behringer sponsor one that they have loaned a DJ friend of mine. I get to try out a lot of Behringer gear that way.

It seems pretty decent - I used the power amp section with my Soundcraft M12 in front to power a large, high-ceiling hall, and got everything but drums through it with just a teeny tiny bit of headroom to spare. If you're mixing yourself from onstage it's worth a punt for sure.

Not tried the FX out but I imagine there'll be one or two vaguely usable reverbs or whatever if you hunt hard enough. I couldn't mix easily without faders though - the visual aspect of that is needed for live mixing for me.

[AussieInLondon]

We use the PMH(X if you are stateside) 3000 for small to medium sized clubs and functions. It works perfectly. Nice easy layout and the FX are enough to saturate a vocal or whatever - all the basics are there and a few extras that you would only use for fun, not at a serious gig.

Build quality is fine. I buy bespoke flightcases for all our stuff to protect it in transit. Adds weight, but I would rather that than a knackered mixer/amp.

Power-wise it drives the B1520 cabs without any hassle at all. The main connection to the cabs are speakons, which means an extra expense to factor in. But worth it in my opinion.

Other than all that, the rest is subjective to you and your ears.

Hope this is of some assistance to you.

[noisedude]

I wondered why all the shops have PMH2000s and my friend has a PMX! It must have come direct from Behringer rather than a local dealer I guess.

[wilkee]

No, they simply changed the name to match the newer devices.

Tony

[noisedude]

I should make clear that I only get to try gear that Behringer perceive as relevant to DJ-ing. Hence why I hadn't tried the MIC2200, but I have now used a lot of their PA gear recently (and some rackmount 'bass expander' that turned out to be the most pointless invention ever).

[lar]

Hey people - Thanks for the input! Appreciate it
lar

[db_sound]

I have a broken PMX2000 that I need schematics for.
I bought it used and it is fine for my small Blues band.
We have played for as many as 300 people with it.
It is just used for 3 Vocal Mics and sometimes will run a kick drum mic as well if needed. Last week at a gig that also had a DJ, we had our PA plugged into a speaker to get sound levels before anyone arrived and after we were done it was powered down but left plugged in to the speaker. The DJ used the daisy chain input on the same speaker as we were plugged into, powered up HIS PA and baked mine. As I am an Electrical Engineer I am tempermentally unsuited to paying money to somebody to fix this thing but need the service book for it to avoid having to reverse engineer the circuit. Can anybody help me with this? Behringer hasn't responded yet. One thing I did notice was when I opened the case up, the Bridge circuit looked like it was blown up before It's recent mishap. I have a little mental note to myself to look into this matter as well as I don't think it is related and I did buy the thing used.

[deepwater]

Wharfedale makes some nice power mixers in a box. www.wharfedalepro.com

[noisedude]

Not really sure that's at all related? Although I'm sure you will turn out to be able to sell them

db sound - I think you may have just discovered the major problem with all these cheap mixers ... they're not often very servicable. All that surface mount, all-in-one PCB stuff can be difficult to repair.

But if the only problems are in the amp stage you may be lucky. Don't expect anything from Behringer via email - their support is terrible. I would ring them up, pester them, and most importantly - don't tell them how you blew the amp. If you're asking for a favour with schematics, they won't help. If you lay a broken piece at their door and say you'll never buy Behringer again, you might get lucky. It's worked for me once or twice.

[GABritton]

I've had a PMH-1000 shit on me recently. I play a couple times a week to small clubs and haven't had a problem with it, but Sunday night, we plugged in started playing and the guitars were okay for a minute, then the whole damn thing goes quiet. I take a breath, turn it off, let it sit for a minute, turn it back on. Play guitars for a second....sounds good, then start singing, the damn thing cuts off again. I looked at my vocals and I wasn't clipping, or even close. I was easy on the mains, I wasn't trying to blare, but I wasn't being extremely quiet. Needless to say we got pretty pissed at the board =) .

Took it home and pluged it up the next day with a *similar* speaker setup (using the main amp setting, pushing 300W per side. Two 150W on one side and 150W on the other. I dont' think it was too much on the speakers that night, cause when i took it home, I plugged in a bunch of stuff loud to see if I could re-create the problem, but I couldn't get it to cut off like it did that Sunday night.

I'm slowly narrowing the problem to the power section, but I'm skeptical about sending it off for a couple months for them to tell me I need to pay $200 to fix it. I'm going to keep trying to use it, but bring my backup system in case it shits again.

Anyone else had similar problem?

[noisedude]

Did you have it in a box or something? They do go hot so circulation is important.

Don't send it off. Have it replaced - kick up a fuss till they do. If you send it off you'll never see it again. Behringer are terrible like that - they once told me I'd have to wait 18 months for spare parts for a guitar amp I'd only bought the day before. How does that work with the warranty? "Oh, well I'm sure we'll be able to do the work at shipping cost only in 18 months, seeing as it's not out of warranty when the fault came up?" My arse!

[AussieInLondon]

Originally Posted by GABritton

I've had a PMH-1000 shit on me recently. I play a couple times a week to small clubs and haven't had a problem with it, but Sunday night, we plugged in started playing and the guitars were okay for a minute, then the whole damn thing goes quiet. I take a breath, turn it off, let it sit for a minute, turn it back on. Play guitars for a second....sounds good, then start singing, the damn thing cuts off again. I looked at my vocals and I wasn't clipping, or even close. I was easy on the mains, I wasn't trying to blare, but I wasn't being extremely quiet. Needless to say we got pretty pissed at the board =) .

Took it home and pluged it up the next day with a *similar* speaker setup (using the main amp setting, pushing 300W per side. Two 150W on one side and 150W on the other. I dont' think it was too much on the speakers that night, cause when i took it home, I plugged in a bunch of stuff loud to see if I could re-create the problem, but I couldn't get it to cut off like it did that Sunday night.

I'm slowly narrowing the problem to the power section, but I'm skeptical about sending it off for a couple months for them to tell me I need to pay $200 to fix it. I'm going to keep trying to use it, but bring my backup system in case it shits again.

Anyone else had similar problem?

Before you "Get out of your pram" to Behringer - which is the right thing to do if the mixer is faulty - can I ask just one obvious question that hasn't, so far, been asked?

If you have not been able to replicate the cut-out that happened at the club, is it possible the club had a "frequency limiter" in action and you were not aware of it? They are a pain in the ass in some of the clubs here in the UK. They are set to cut-out the power to the gear for x seconds until the db has returned to the preset. There are ways around them, but I am not going into that in this thread.

If you are sure you have not been the victim of a "db limiter" at the club, then I agree that you should shout loud and long at your supplier for an instant replacement.

99% of our stuff, recently, has been purchased at Digital Village's chain of stores here in the UK. They have replaced a mic and a preamp on the spot without question when I had to take the faulty ones back. I hope that the guys you bought from are as helpful.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

[noisedude]

Your dealer is your friend when Behringer gear breaks. Behringer is not. After my dealer had the same farce with Behringer over the phone, they were so pissed off with Behringer that they swapped parts out of a display amp on the spot, and then sent the broken one back as dead on arrival to the distributor!!!

[GABritton]

Thanks for the replies...

No Aussie, no db limiter in the club. I've played here a few dozen times and never had that problem. And actually have played w/ my full band pushing almost 2,000 watts, and it's been fine...

I might tear into the mixer this weekend to look and see if anything is blatantly blown. Luckily a friend of monie is the one I bought it from, so it shouldn't be hard to get it replaced.

But besides the problem, i've had it for 6 months and I do love it...It's easy to setup, light, not hard to dial in a good sound. Use the effects sparingly....maybe just some reverb, but depsite the problems, I still like the board...

[db_sound]

Noisedude:

Thanks for the ideas, I was sort of hoping for a better company culture to deal with but it never occurred to me *before* I bought it.

-Any more than I would have imagined some bone head would plug in their power amp without going," hmm, something is already connected to this speaker, I wonder if it will cause a problem?"

>>My thought is that my local music dealer will be more interested in getting me to pay to have it fixed than to be helpful. I can also say that attitude is really dumb because I suspect that it is people in my age bracket who spend the most per person in any music store either for our kids or ourselves.

db sound - I think you may have just discovered the major problem with all these cheap mixers ... they're not often very servicable. All that surface mount, all-in-one PCB stuff can be difficult to repair.

>> I work with ridiculously small SMT packages ( ever even seen a 204 size? they are the size of a salt particle) every day as a designer and am not put off by topology. I don't like to waste my time if I can get documentation for the circuit though. Having the schematic and placement diagram will also give me a real idea how they did the design so I can see where I can make quick improvements for a few minutes work and little cost out of my samples stock.

But if the only problems are in the amp stage you may be lucky. Don't expect anything from Behringer via email - their support is terrible.

I would ring them up, pester them, and most importantly - don't tell them how you blew the amp.

Interesting. Don't tell them? Just claim it smoked when we were playing? I like it.
That it shouldn't have happened in this way is pretty clear to me but as a piece of used equipment I am on shaky ground.

I think this tack is worth a try. Thanks!

D

[boingoman]

Originally Posted by noisedude

Not really sure that's at all related? Although I'm sure you will turn out to be able to sell them

LOL@Noisedude.

[kid klash]

I've had a PMX-2000 for going on 2 years now, and haven't had a lick of trouble with it. We use it for rehearsals 4 times a week, and we also use it for club gig vocals. I even used it at an outdoors reunion gig on a REALLY hot day, with no problems. It's clean, quiet (noise-wise), powerful, and has great-sounding effects, mic pre's and EQ. With my ASCAP discount, it cost me less than $300 at the local GC, including a pair of 25' Speak-On to 1/4" speaker cables.

[noisedude]

They are a really good buy. Very worth the money.

[kvband]

Did anyone ever find a schematic for this thing? I got one real cheap because the guy says the power amp doesn't work, but someone installed two 1/4" outputs in the back that aren't wired to anything, and I don't know if he ever tried the speakon jacks or not; probably not. Problem is, some of the power amp wires were disconnected, and I can't be sure where they go without a schematic. The mixer works fine through another amp, but I'm hesitant to use it until everything is wired correctly; fire hazzard? A virus-free email attachment would be greatly appreciated. I found the manual: Google Behringer PMX2000 manual if you need one, but it doesn't contain a schematic. I'd think about giving you a baby bunny...

[Paj]

I bought a Behri PMX2000 four/five years ago so my keyboard player could have separate power/mixes for his backline keys and vocal monitor in one package; also, it gave us redundancy in case our main mixer pooped out (A-H Mixwiz---not likely!); and, it comes in handy for rehearsals and really small society gigs. Not a single problem to date (I have had three UB mixers develop problems---none "fatal" on the gig). For features/channels v. price, I don't think it can be beat and my unit has been more dependable than one of my friends comparable Yamaha units. I'd get another if it was stolen but we do carry a backup keyboard head. So far it's been one of the tougher Behri pieces that we've used.

Paj
8^)

[gecko zzed]

Originally Posted by GABritton

Thanks for the replies...

No Aussie, no db limiter in the club. I've played here a few dozen times and never had that problem. And actually have played w/ my full band pushing almost 2,000 watts, and it's been fine...

I might tear into the mixer this weekend to look and see if anything is blatantly blown. Luckily a friend of monie is the one I bought it from, so it shouldn't be hard to get it replaced.

But besides the problem, i've had it for 6 months and I do love it...It's easy to setup, light, not hard to dial in a good sound. Use the effects sparingly....maybe just some reverb, but depsite the problems, I still like the board...

One area to check is to make sure that the speaker leads themselves are ok.

I have a PMH2000 that would occasionally go to sleep. Turn it off, leave it off for a while, then turn it back on . . . good as gold . . . then it would go to sleep again. Very annoying!! But I couldn't replicate the problem outside the venue. I checked the speaker leads, found that one of the speakon connector wires was adrift and apparently causing momentary shorts. The PMH2000's overload circuitry kicked in and shut it down.

I fixed the leads . . . no more sleepies!

I got the PMH2000 as an emergency backup, and also to take to venues where they wanted a basic, simple PA (as opposed to taking my full rig). It's been a steady, reliable and easy-to-use workhorse.

[mgraves]

Originally Posted by kvband

Did anyone ever find a schematic for this thing?

http://www.bbmusic.bc.ca/behringer/PMX2000_medium.pdf
That might be what you're looking for.

I have a PMX2000 that I started using again recently but I can't get any effects to work. The display shows "d2" and will not change when I rotate the knob. Anyone know what the problem might be?

[ABELIS]

Originally Posted by mgraves

http://www.bbmusic.bc.ca/behringer/PMX2000_medium.pdf
That might be what you're looking for.

I have a PMX2000 that I started using again recently but I can't get any effects to work. The display shows "d2" and will not change when I rotate the knob. Anyone know what the problem might be?

can you help me with this schematic pmh 3000 {behringer}