Behringer, a jem or crap?

[Yareek]

Lots of stuff is crap, lots of stuff is okay, nothing is great.

I have an ADA8000 8-channel pre with a digital out. It's actually really nice sounding. It's cleaner than any pre I've used (which is VERY little, so salt grains are in order). BUT, for $230, it's 8-channels and it has ADAT lightpipe output, which is crucial. I think it's some of the greatest bang-for-the-buck ever. Sure, the M-Audio Octane 8 probably sounds cleaner and better, and it's not a Grace or RNP or whatever, but for the crap I do in my basement, it is a lifesaver.

There's a big difference between a home-recording hobbyist and an aspiring recording engineer. I'm in-between the two, but sometimes cheap gear has its place. If I were charging people and trying to make a name for myself, I would probably invest in better gear, but if there was a 16-year-old who wanted some recording gear and he has to scrape and save, more power to him.

 

[TornadoTed]

In my early days recording music I had a few pieces of Behringer gear. Now I have none, they were the first thing to go in upgrades and I lost a fair bit of money on them. What does that tell you! They were ok at the time and I got some reasonable results but as a long term investment not a wise move at all, you will replace them and lose nearly all the money on them. It is worth remembering that 1 piece of quality equipment will serve you far better than several items of 'iffy' equipment. Good quality equipment also holds it's value so much better.

 

[Krishna]

Interesting, I've mostly heard that their mixers really suck, especially the Eurorack series (do they make others that are under $500?). There actually was a Behringer rack effect module I was looking at... Can't think of the name at the moment though.

The amps I've tried were definitely sub-par. I mean just as bad as the ones you'll find on special at Wally World (Target, however, seems to have stuff made by Washburn, haven't checked it out though).

From the poll, I'm really looking for a general overview of Behringer's products even though I'm mostly looking at mixers (always looking for other toys! ).

Jason

I've worked FoH for nearly 15 years, and I hate arriving at a venue and finding a Bleh-ringer Eurorack, poor EQ, high self-noise, poor accessability you name it. Hell I'm not sure theres a single thing I can say I like about them.

A level of hate I used to reserve for Studiomaster desks, now whenever I come across a Eurorack I wish it was a Studiomaster.

(To contrast, I love Allen & Heath desks, and Soundcrafts above a certain level - Not Folio's!, poss. LX-7's at a bare minimum, however whenever I come across an old workhorse like the Soundcraft 500 I cry tears of joy.)

 

[Dags]

This is the wrong question. Behringer makes adequate gear for its price point. That's all.

The more pertinent questions are "What do you need," "What are your expectations for the money you are laying down," and "Are those expectations realistic?"

If you go at it that way, the question will answer itself - being not "is it golden or crap" but "is it what I should be getting right now." Big difference.

Bravo Treeline
I couldn't agree with you more.

What you get is what you pay for. Behringer is inexpensive because there's a lot of people out there who can't/don't believe they should pay a lot of money in order to be able to get gear, so Behringer have anchored themselves well in that market.....to cater for beginners.

I do own some Behringer gear (bought prior to the company going completely China-based and was about 3 times the price compared to now) and it served me well with no problems whatsoever (knock on chipboard).
I have the original blue 32 Channel mixing desk, a 'Tube' Preamp, 2x 'Tube' Compressors and a 'Tube' EQ unit and the original Truth monitors. (As we all know, the tubes in the Vintage series gear are for effect rather than part of the amplification design)
The reason I bought them was because they offer *value for money* and suited my purposes *at that time*.

Having honed my craft with this gear, I can now understand how things work in the studio (though I am still very much a beginner) and why gear like my Avalon VT737sp channel strip and KRK monitors kick ass

Dags

 

[gbdweller]

Behringer makes a decent white zinfandel if that's your thing. Hey Q...weren't you the one telling the other Behringer thread to "DIE, THREAD. DIE!!!!"

 

[MISTERQCUE]

I've worked FoH for nearly 15 years, and I hate arriving at a venue and finding a Bleh-ringer Eurorack, poor EQ, high self-noise, poor accessability you name it. Hell I'm not sure theres a single thing I can say I like about them.

HARE KRISHNA TO YOU MY BRUTHA' and a A-FREAKIN'-MEN FOR YOU DOTH SPEAKTH THE TRUTH!!!!!!!! I know of at least 4 pro FoH soundmen who can't stand working an MX board yet alone any sort of Euro-wack!!
Quick story that I have told often here:
A few yrs ago the wif-ee and I attended a 4 hour jazz cruise featuring famed jazz git'ist Earl Klugh and his 5 piece band. Since it was 1 of those cruise ships that had a max capacity of no more than 250 folks, the concert was intimate (we sat in the front row so close to Earl that i could've tuned his strings to another key!) Anyway, Earl perf'md using a Martin that was both mic'd and a pick-up that was run DI'd to a MX9000. All night long, during and after each song, Earl either motioned or complained to the FOH man, about the quality of his sound and requesting adjustments. "More gain", "Too Trebly","Signal noise & Feedback","Boost/Cut needed" etc. It got so bad at 1 point, after a stirring rendition of jazz saxist Ronnie Laws classic, "Always There", Earl got so frustrated with the quality of the sound, he blurted out a 4letter word directed at the FoH who in turn raised both his hands in the air indicating defeat than pointed to the the MX as the cause of the negative sound issues. After the concert was over, I asked the FoH-engineer his thoughts on the MX. Dude told me that it was a last minute & unbeknownst to him replacement for a GHOST he expected to use but somehow never got on the ship. He also told me in short that he tried to obtain the most outta' the MX's but knew he was in for a long night due the boards poor perf.

Though the concert rocked, I felt sympathy for dude as he had endure the wrath of Earl Klugh while working with a shitty board. BTW, dude's been in the soundbizz for over 30 yrs!

'Nuff said!

 

[Farview]

I thing in this instance GEM is spelled with a 'G'

 

[firby]

I have a behringer patch bay that a friend gave me... its actually pretty cool: easier to switch normalling schemes than the standard take-the-board-out-and-flip-it varieity. I also want one of their headphone distributors. Cheap. And its a headphone amp. (shrug)

I'm glad that behringer is there for folks who want entry level stuff with decent features and a low price. I figure its better for those getting started to a) learn on stuff that offers a full range of features and b) don't need to feel like they've invested the kid's college fund in their first piece of gear. I don't buy the stuff, though. Since I live near San Fran and there's LOTS of used gear around, I tend to go for stuff that was GREAT 20 years ago and cheaper now than the new crap availible today.

Take care,
Chris

That patch bay is not balanced though. Which defeats the friggin purpose if you ask me. I have one. It's not even in a rack anymore. I am with you though buy old stuff that was quality when it came out. Problem is nobody wants to part with good stuff that says manley on the front.

 

[dgatwood]

I thing in this instance GEM is spelled with a 'G'

I think the original poster was referring to the über-cute Welsh singer.... And by crap, I think the original poster was referring to most of the other music I've heard in the last couple of years....

 

[Charles Bullock]

Poor old Behringer. Well, I have a few Behringer items and I've had good luck with them.

Haven't had any problems with my Eurorack and my B-2s sound just fine. I've recorded five CDs with them. I'm sure I won't win the George Martin Production Award or anything, but eh, what the hell.

They're OK for the money as many have said. Guess I just got lucky and got some pieces that didn't have any bugs. That said, they'll probably crao out on me tomorrow. You risk a lot praising inanimate objects. The gods are always listening.

LB

PS. Those silver pyramid stickers, though, they won't last....

 

[1980Slingerland]

Hey peeps,
Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm going with what little wisdom I've got left in my 38 YO drummer brain. I'm looking into a mixer to record at home and I want it to sound as professional as I can and I only have 200 bucks. I can get a used behringer with 10xlr inputs and effects, or a mackie 4xlr input model with no effects. Both are about the same price. I find it hard to believe that behringer figured out a way to make something seem to be so much more for the same price without taking shortcuts. With that in mind, I'm thinking of getting the mackie. Comments, please?

 

[MISTERQCUE]

Hey peeps,
Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm going with what little wisdom I've got left in my 38 YO drummer brain. I'm looking into a mixer to record at home and I want it to sound as professional as I can and I only have 200 bucks. I can get a used behringer with 10xlr inputs and effects, or a mackie 4xlr input model with no effects. Both are about the same price. I find it hard to believe that behringer figured out a way to make something seem to be so much more for the same price without taking shortcuts. With that in mind, I'm thinking of getting the mackie. Comments, please?

A Yamaha MG or a Samson.

Stay away from Behringer units!

 

[iratecaller666]

hey

Well I thought Behringer was great however, after using:

MULTICOM PRO MDX4400 4 chanel compressor / limitter for vocals
AUTOCOM PRO-XL MDX1600 stereo compressor (for my guitar gear)
FCB1010 - Midi fooot controller
V-AMP PRO - guitar preamp
2x UB series mixers

.. the only product that I kept is the FCB1010. I didn't keep it because it was great either, since the expression pedals loose their calibration all the time. I kept it because I couldn't afford the better alternatives. (Can't justify spending a whole lot on a foot controller.)

The compressors are noisy and color the audio. The so-called "interactive knee" is laughable. You can hear it kick-in. The op-amps must not be the greatest, maybe that's the problem. The compressors also can't handle bass, which is quite odd. It's as if there's a high pass filter built into the compressor. (Something that should be left to the user, not Behringer.)

The LED push buttons are feeble. They pop off easily.

The v-amp pro is really noisy and has no definition. It's "ok" for blues rythms, but that's about it. Forget about crips clear front-and-center soloing. To use this preamp in a mix, you essentially have to bury the guitar into the mix and ensure that it doesn't stand out. POD's suffer from the same problem, but not as bad as the v-amp. (in all fairness, the v-amp is much cheaper.) I've yet to hear a nice clip with a POD either. (There's a gentleman on this BBS who made a clip with his POD using his telecaster, and it sounded very decent .. he's the exception, not the rule.)

The midi switching on the v-amp is slow and sometimes it takes over a second for the effects algorithms to load up.

Can't beat the price though!!!! Stay away from the compressors, that's all.

The mixers, on the other hand are good bang for the buck. It's not the cleanest sound, due to the cheap parts and assembly, but they'll do the trick for jamming and live use.

Tristan

 

[Todzilla]

I voted crap, but I do have a bright spot.

I bought their 16 channel single rack space mixer for $99 new. It is not in my recording signal path, but serves as a cheap way to combine tons of MIDI modules' outputs into a monitorable stereo pair.

It works as it should, but hisses like a mofo. You turn it off and suddenly the room goes silent.

 

[Zproducer]

save your money

eh... what can i say, when i first started recording i used a 8 channel behringer mixer. i went crazy trying to figure out why i couldnt get a good sounding mix. then i got a high-end Allen and Heath. needless to say, i figured out why i couldnt get a decent sound. save your money a bit longer and buy a decent mixer.

 

[The Doctor]

eh... what can i say, when i first started recording i used a 8 channel behringer mixer. i went crazy trying to figure out why i couldnt get a good sounding mix. then i got a high-end Allen and Heath. needless to say, i figured out why i couldnt get a decent sound. save your money a bit longer and buy a decent mixer.

That's the point of MISTERQCUE's rants!

Save your money and buy something, ANYTHING other than a Behringer mixer!

 

[JosephCampbell]

I've worked FoH for nearly 15 years, and I hate arriving at a venue and finding a Bleh-ringer Eurorack, poor EQ, high self-noise, poor accessability you name it. Hell I'm not sure theres a single thing I can say I like about them.

A level of hate I used to reserve for Studiomaster desks, now whenever I come across a Eurorack I wish it was a Studiomaster.

(To contrast, I love Allen & Heath desks, and Soundcrafts above a certain level - Not Folio's!, poss. LX-7's at a bare minimum, however whenever I come across an old workhorse like the Soundcraft 500 I cry tears of joy.)

Our band owns an old Soundcraft 500. I think it is a 32 channel, it is a work of art.

 

[Krakit]

There are many reasons to buy Behringer, just as there are many reasons NOT to buy.

If money is an issue for you and your end result is just to play live, for yourself or for project recordings (demos) then buy Behringer. I do.

If money isn't an object, you plan to record seriously or are planning to record other people (either seriously or not) for money, Behringer shouldn't be your first choice. Especially if money isn't an object.

In terms of dollars, Behringer is ounce per ounce a bargain. In other words, their gear usually out performs all others in their price point. (Operative word is "usually").

However, you can typically out perform the Behringer products by spending as little as $20 more. If you are willing to spend $100+ above Behringer MSRP then don't even consider Behringer.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

Carl

 

[jaykeMURD]

Behringer, all in all, is so-so. All of their products have great value, however most of them are cheap for a reason!

 

[5ergo]

Their EQ for sub is quite popular