Are the New Behringer Valve Microphones Any Good??

[PhilGood]

I have to chime in here for a bit. My old Ramsa board, which I loved like a child, crapped out on me recently. In my desperation to get a project done I decided to buy a Behringer desk on eBay. When I hooked it into my system I was surprised at the sound quality. No noise. Didn't color anything. In fact, it pointed out that I really didn't hear the color my Ramsa imparted on the sound. Now everything was neutral and I was hearing detail I didn't hear before. All of the mixes I've done and brought home to listen were also clearer. Its really made me re-think about Behringer and their sound quailiy. I was really taken aback!

That being said, I don't think the longevity of the board is promising. Some things still feel kind of cheap like the faders, but everything else seems solid enough. I'll just have to see how long it lasts.

The tube mics can be found on eBay. They're inexpensive enough I might buy one just to take it apart.

Go figure!


BTW, can someone show me the rule book that dictates when you post and then start arguing with someone that they suddenly have to be "cool" with you? This is an internet forum. Get thicker skin if you can't handle it.

 

[darrin_h2000]

There is a difference here...most places will let you return the board...they wont let you do this with microphones.

Ive seen a few Ramsa boards on Craigs list...I think there is a TOA and A Teac all for arround $100...if you like those 80s and 90s boards you should check it out...Im sure your local list will be similer to mine.

 

[dgatwood]

I personally own a Bass V-Amp Pro and a foot controller for it. I don't use them much, but they're pretty solid. As always, YMMV. The point is that not all Behringer gear is crap. A lot of it may be, but they definitely build some hardware that does work well.

 

[witzendoz]

I will go back to what I have always said about this subject:

If someone asks if anyone has tried a particular item of equipment they are not asking for general comments about the brand name.

Behringer has made some items of equipment in the past that have been a bit dodgy, however they also make some items that are pretty good and do sound fine, especially for the price. Remember that this is a "HOME RECORDING" forum, not a pro top of the line studio forum. Behringer have also improved over the years and they have improved quality control.

If you go through the subjects / posts I quite often agree with Darrin, but the continual slamming of Behringer products by him because he bought 1 old model mixer that was no good gets a bit tiring.

I also find that there is more resistance to Behringer in the USA than other countries for some reason.

Cheers

Alan.

 

[omtayslick]

I have a pair of Behringer ecm8000 omni mics. I paid $80 for the pair. Incredible value! Sound very good on the right source.

 

[darrin_h2000]

The fact is that if you look at this board you will find hundreds of threads telling you dont buy behringer...so it isnt just me...its most of the posters here...

I only have one peice and its a knockoff of a Boss pedal that does pitchshifting...and since it was $30 instead of $160 and since I hardly use it much it became economically viable.

But there are things you should be demanding a bare minimum of quality from and since mics are at the beginning of the chain its important to not skimp there...its like if you played guitar and decided that you will settle for a behringer axe...now it might be inexpensive but are there any serious players at all using behringer guitars...I dont think so...well you wont find thier mics in a real studio either.

The best Mics are made by companies that do all of thier research in the art of building mics...and you can buy one from AT...Shure...and AKG for a reasonable ammount if you will buy used.

 

[darrin_h2000]

I have a pair of Behringer ecm8000 omni mics. I paid $80 for the pair. Incredible value! Sound very good on the right source.

They can be tricky...your room has to be absolutly perfect...those are in reality measurment mics...and when you use them they will pick up stuff you dont point them to...I had a pair and picked them up for $20.

 

[KineticSound]

I will go back to what I have always said about this subject:

If someone asks if anyone has tried a particular item of equipment they are not asking for general comments about the brand name.

Behringer has made some items of equipment in the past that have been a bit dodgy, however they also make some items that are pretty good and do sound fine, especially for the price. Remember that this is a "HOME RECORDING" forum, not a pro top of the line studio forum. Behringer have also improved over the years and they have improved quality control.

By and large, I agree with you. However, it would appear that either no one on the forum has used this new Behri mic, or no one has an opinion on their experience with it.

The next step, though, is to relate experiences we have had with the brand. Personally, I think Behri has actually gone the opposite direction in quality control. There was a point in time when Behri made some nice stuff (anyone remember the Eurodesk 9000 series?), however the things I have used from them over the past 10 years have been spotty. In particular, I purchased a Behri condenser mic around 7-8 years ago before I knew any better. It was a wonderful-sounding mic for exactly two years, and then it went kaput. I have A-T's that were purchased several years prior that still reside in my VO studio today. I think the brand does play a role, as it's a fair indicator of the mic's future reliability.

Were I in the early stages of building a home studio arsenal, I would look for tried-and-true tools that are reliable and versatile. If the OP really has worked professionally with professional-grade equipment, then he should probably know better than to be shopping for Behri's gimmick of the month. I don't know the price point, as I also have not seen this mic marketed in the US, but look for an sE, an AKG, A-T, Shure, RØDE, or even a good CAD tube mic.

As an aside, I suppose I don't really understand this "I don't want to sound like anyone else by using the same mic" theology. Dom, I'm not picking on you here, but I hear this every once in a while from someone wanting to sound "unique." The reason that the Shure KSM44, the RØDE NTK, and the AT4033 are popular is because they're reliable and they sound good on darn near everything. Let your music differentiate you from the pack. If people shunned the U87 for being "too popular," we'd have missed out on a lot of great recordings.

 

[PhilGood]

There is a difference here...most places will let you return the board...they wont let you do this with microphones.

Ive seen a few Ramsa boards on Craigs list...I think there is a TOA and A Teac all for arround $100...if you like those 80s and 90s boards you should check it out...Im sure your local list will be similer to mine.

Ummm...did you miss, or did I not convey that the Behringer board SOUNDS better than my old Ramsa?

 

[darrin_h2000]

We all know that that wont last...lol. You would be better off buying used quality than brand new Behringer.

 

[witzendoz]

Just to clarify my comment about early Behringer gear:

When the Behringer trade mark first appeared the gear was quite expensive, I bought 2 of the first released Composer compressors and they were not cheap, in fact these compressors were made in Germany not China, I still use them, no noise, good sound, very flexible compressor, reliable. I have better gear but when doing a complex mix down my saying is "you can never have too many compressors" ha ha so they will get used.

Behringer realised that if they were going to take on the bigger companies they needed to lower production costs so they moved production to China, (read in an interview with Uli Behringer), I believe that this is the era that saw some dodgy quality control while they got it up and running. They now have such a big factory in China that they have full control over quality and production. Remember though that they are building to a price point so a Behringer mixer is not an SSL.

I say again that this is a Home Studio Forum, Behringer products are there to get Home Recording People up and running, if they then stay with the recording path I have no doubt that they will upgrade over the years that follow. This thread started with a question about microphones and had anyone used them? The models mentioned are fairly new, they are not as cheap as some of the Chinese mics out there, so I expect some replies soon when someone actually uses them.

Cheers

Alan.

P.S. I am not connected to Behringer in any way, I just find it frustrating that there are some on this forum that bag the brand all the time without even trying the particular product.

 

[witzendoz]

Are the New Behringer Valve Microphones Any Good??, Hi I like the look of these new microphones and have been impressed with the quality of the xm8500 sm58 rip off... Wants a nice mic that stood out for my recording setup I'm buying, getting two low cost condensers but want one that is different and bit more expensive thought the behringer ones could fit the bill any thoughts?

Sorry, I thought I would bounce the original question so that we all remember what it was. Yes I too would expect the Behringer mixer to sound better than a 20 year old Ramsa. The Behringer probably won't last 20 years, but the Ramsa would have cost so much more when new that it would have needed to last 20 years.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Yeah...but that is exactly what you want to avoid...buy cheap buy twice...in the end you have spent alot more money...so you might as well splurge for quality right off....trust me I have MXL mics I cant get rid of...and they are miles ahead of Behringer in quality...most of my posts in this thread is based on actions Ive learned to regret...you dont have to make the same mistakes...dont buy that cut rate chinese stuff.

 

[Shadow_7]

Value is a function of costs. Costs go up as products fail. And when you start doing this for money, having failures might not be an option. So it really depends on how you calculate costs. In a home studio where you can run over to a drawer and pull out another backup device, fine. As long as you didn't have a failure on that one magical time through to never be repeated. Or you aren't recording a song that lasts close to an hour in an hour and half time slot.

But it is a matter of perspective I guess. Are you just recording for fun / results optional? Or are you trying to make the gear pay for itself / make a living at it?

For me failure is not an option. It's part of the reason I got into recording. I got tired of other peoples failures. You're selling a product at $100 per unit, but you can't afford a $50 box with a window for your video gear? Or a $5 ziplock bag, and $5 worth of Rain-X? Get real..... Not that I've had any experience with Behringer gear yet. But in terms of risks management, if they have one dud out of so many products, would you buy a parachute from them?

 

[Disease8]

wow

does this happen on every board on this forum? A simple question is turned into an opinionated nightmare arguement...
"BTW, can someone show me the rule book that dictates when you post and then start arguing with someone that they suddenly have to be "cool" with you? This is an internet forum. Get thicker skin if you can't handle it."
I do have thick skin!!
But calling somebody a noob is a bit stupid when you don't know them isn't it?
My opinions are valid you know why? Because I'm a proffessinal like you guys, I recently met with the owner of one of londons most popular recording studios Premier studio (check out their website) and you know what he said about chinese made mics? He said they a really good? And I recently visited Pete Watermans studios where madonna and kylie and loads of others record.. I sat in a £1000 a week monitoring room and listenend to a recording made on a Neumen going through a Neve pre.... Was it miles and miles above the quality I can achieve on a £100 mic going through a £100 pre??? NO!!!! Sure it sounded different but not "better".. In fact I was not hugely impressed and it reinforced my decision to stick to cheaper gear and have a decent quantity over slight increase in "quality" (subjective)...

I agree with PhilGood that actually behringer gear can colour things less and give a more clean and neutral sound.. I don't want somebodies opinion of what sounds good entering my gear I want it to sound like the sound I originally put through it.. And in fact I think Chinese gear has no reason to sound worse sure its cheaper they get everything made themselves and do it in huge quantities so of course it will be cheaper but are they any less talented engineers or musicians? NO! So why can they not make top notch gear on the cheap? Its just a different system and results in cheaper end products. And I do believe that there are people out there that want to make us good quality cheap gear because they know people get ripped off by Shure and Seinnheiser with similar quality...
Call me a newb if you want but the jokes on you as we all know to point a finger shows a certain amount of insecurities? Maybe people just can't accept that they have spent so much money on products that are totally over priced???

 

[darrin_h2000]

My opinions are valid you know why? Because I'm a proffessinal like you guys, I recently met with the owner of one of londons most popular recording studios Premier studio (check out their website) and you know what he said about chinese made mics? He said they a really good? And I recently visited Pete Watermans studios where madonna and kylie and loads of others record.. I sat in a £1000 a week monitoring room and listenend to a recording made on a Neumen going through a Neve pre.... Was it miles and miles above the quality I can achieve on a £100 mic going through a £100 pre??? NO!!!! Sure it sounded different but not "better".. In fact I was not hugely impressed and it reinforced my decision to stick to cheaper gear and have a decent quantity over slight increase in "quality" (subjective)...

proffessinal...does that mean you get peyed...lol.

I do understand they do let company reps tour some studios...even if its for T-Bone and Behringer.

You spell like alot of the foreign shills around here...like how much does T-bone and Behringer pay you to litter the board trying to sell their products.

BTW...did Philgood give you his permission to drag his credibility down to yours...a small semi positive post doesn't license you to assume he agrees with everything you say.

 

[Disease8]

Ok I'm reporting you

Hi what a surprise the little old man that has a personal vendetta against me..
You are very insulting.. I have not dragged anybody anywhere I just quoted him? I do not work for behringer and t.bone you are just trying to insult me now I wouldn't expect that from a 40 year old?!?!?!?
Please grow up ...

 

[darrin_h2000]

I think the moderators will be interested in the fact that most of your posts have been shilling for these cheap products and the PMs in my mailbox with your petty little threats.

 

[mshilarious]

Take the insults to the Cave or better yet, off the board. If I moderate anything in this thread, it will be the f-bomb drops. Everyone's opinion of Behri is a valid point of discussion, no need to get personal.

 

[Chili]

You spell like alot of the foreign shills around here....

This statement puts you on thin ice.

Be careful how you word your thoughts. This is an international board with people contributing from all over the world.

(and it's "a lot", not "alot")