Watch out for this company (in the UK!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter spacerocker
  • Start date Start date
S

spacerocker

New member
worst service in 30 years of playing!


I bought a second-hand Behringer GDI21 pedal from MUSIC WAREHOUSE in Colchester UK, approx 4 weeks ago for £15.

On receiving the pedal, I put a new battery in, plugged in a couple of leads and NOTHING! no red LED, no sound, nothing!

I e-mailed them, and initially they were quite helpful, and offered take the pedal back, and to send me another (second hand) pedal, which I accepted.

It took two weeks for the replacement to arrive, and guess what - exactly the same as the first! I tried it on a battery, and with a 9V power supply (of the correct polarity) - but nothing!

I have now contacted them by phone. They say the 1st pedal was sent out untested, but the second one was tested and was working. As far as I am concerned, I have now received two pedals from them which do not work! I spoke to the manager called "Lou" who refused to take this second pedal back, and refused to refund my money

THINK VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY!
 
It's a long shot, but it's not one of these pedals relies on a TS cable being present to power on?
I know some pedals either wont power on, or wont work with a TRS cable.

Worth asking.
 
Thanks - excuse my ignorance, but what is a "TRS cable"? Inputs and outputs are ordinary 1/4 ins Jack, as far as I can tell!
 
I didn't know the difference either until recently. I thought all 1/4" instrument cables were the same.

Ordered a Big Muff, plugged it in...nothing. Changed batteries, etc. Nothing. Returned it and got a new one - same thing. Eventually tried a different cable (one with only one plastic stripe rather than two) and it worked fine.

Try plugging a different instrument cable into that thing.
 
Sometimes TRS is no good.
trs-ts.webp
 
heatmiser said:
I didn't know the difference either until recently. I thought all 1/4" instrument cables were the same.

Ordered a Big Muff, plugged it in...nothing. Changed batteries, etc. Nothing. Returned it and got a new one - same thing. Eventually tried a different cable (one with only one plastic stripe rather than two) and it worked fine.

Try plugging a different instrument cable into that thing.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by 'one plastic stripe' on the cable. You need a TS instrument cable plugged into the input.
 
mjbphotos said:
Not sure what you mean by 'one plastic stripe' on the cable. You need a TS instrument cable plugged into the input.
Click to expand...

I assume he means the plastic insulator ring, between the contacts. Pic above your post. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
I assume he means the plastic insulator ring, between the contacts. Pic above your post. :)
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Honestly I had no idea 1/4" instrument cables came in balanced and unbalanced. I didn't ever intend to buy a balanced one. Other than that stripe...errrr...ring, they look identical. Never heard of TS vs. TRS until this thread either.

The only balanced connections I make are normally xlr. What do people use balanced instrument cables for since they're apparently useless for plugging guitars into pedals?
 
heatmiser said:
Exactly.

Honestly I had no idea 1/4" instrument cables came in balanced and unbalanced. I didn't ever intend to buy a balanced one. Other than that stripe...errrr...ring, they look identical. Never heard of TS vs. TRS until this thread either.

The only balanced connections I make are normally xlr. What do people use balanced instrument cables for since they're apparently useless for plugging guitars into pedals?
Click to expand...

Connection of balanced line outputs to whatever gear. Monitors, preamps, compressors....

An instrument cable is not the same as a balanced 1/4" cable.
 
Someone else with more knowledge will likely chime in, but there is a switch in a stomp box, that shuts off battery connection when the TS cable is disconnected. A TRS cable, will not connect the ground to the pedal, resulting in it seeming to not work.

OP may want to change his original post here....

Of course, we are just assuming that he used the wrong cable.
 
I think I used to think the single ring meant mono and the dual rings meant stereo.

I am clueless about this stuff. I just plug shit in wherever it fits until sound comes out. I'll shut up now.
 
TRS cable and a stereo headphone cable are two separate things. The connector looks the same.

Some basics HERE.

Quoted from a Google search: "A TRS connector with a 2-core cable (ie a cable with a shield and two signal wires) can be used for either a balanced mono signal or an unbalanced stereo signal.

If it is used for a balanced signal, the sleeve connects to the shield, ring to cold and tip to hot.

If it is used for a stereo signal, the tip is the left channel, the ring is the right channel, and the sleeve is the shield."

^LINK to quote above^
 
heatmiser said:
It looks that way. To be fair I made the same mistake...uh, minus the publicly blaming the vendor part.
Click to expand...

I saw this same guy on another site blaming the same company for what I'm going to assume is operator error until further proof is offered. They worked with him on the first pedal that he couldn't get to work, and then they said no to the second that he couldn't get to work. Even with Behringer stuff, what are the odds this company has shipped out two inoperable pedals to the same guy? Sure, it's possible, but it's also possible that the guy doesn't know what he's doing - in which case running all over the net slamming this company is unfair and misleading. As a matter of fact, in my humble opinion, based off posts I've seen him make on other topics relating to guitar equipment, I'm strongly leaning towards the notion that he doesn't know what he's doing.
 
I use TRS cables from my interface to my monitors, incidentally.. I'd never used them until I got this particular set up. No choice now... ;)
 
heatmiser said:
I think I used to think the single ring meant mono and the dual rings meant stereo.
Click to expand...

In headphones it does. :)

Hey heat, if you're even halfway interested you should google balances audio signals. It's pretty cool how it works.
If it wasn't already obvious, TRS stands for tip, ring and sleeve.
 
Thanks for all the help and info, but the Behringer is supposed to work with standard instrument cables which will be of the "TS" type rather than the "TRS" (I had never heard of these terms until yesterday!

The unit is fairly simple - connecting an instrument cable to the INPUT is supposed to connect the power, instrument cable to the output, battery in, and you are away (or at least that is how it is supposed to work!) THe fact that both these units were sold as second-hand is significant, I think!


MUSIC WAREHOUSE should have offered a full refund (including postage) after sending out the second duff unit!
 
spacerocker said:
Thanks for all the help and info, but the Behringer is supposed to work with standard instrument cables which will be of the "TS" type rather than the "TRS" (I had never heard of these terms until yesterday!
Click to expand...


Not to beat a dead horse, but which type are you using?
My point was that if you're using TRS by mistake there's a good chance it wont work.

If you've been using TS all along then your thread is probably valid. There's not a lot else can go wrong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top