Hey Teach,
I run 5 synths, 4 filters, 3 stomp boxes, 2 reverbs, 2 drum machines & a few other sound mangling devices through 3 patchbays, 2 of which are the Behringer's you speak of. I know
what they say about unbalanced lines, but so far (knock wood)
I've got no noise problems. I love the way the Ultrapatch lets
me take a signal & go to more than one destination with it, built-in mults! Kool? I think so... good luck!
I have had one problem, and that is that some cheap cables I have sometimes doesn't connect 100% so you get cracking sound. Fiddling with the cable solves it. If it's the behringer or the chape cable or both that are outside standard specs in size I don't know.
The new Behringer pach bay is balanced I think. But for effects and stuff you really don't need it, unless your studio has a lot of electromagnetic noise.