behringer mixers

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tony moore

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hey folks,

i'm sure this topic has been covered, but nothing came up in a search. anyway, i've been looking for a mixer to use with my tascam tsr8 reel to reel and for general non-tracking use as well. i've heard all the bad rumours about behringer boards. i went to guitar center to audition various boards. i ab'd a mackie 1604vlz, a behringer 2004 (not sure of model, but it's the 16X4 board without the cheesy effects), and an allen/heath board. since i'll be only using the board to mix with, i'm mainly concerned with the eq and overall sound of the board. i auditioned an adat of material i had tracked (transferred from the tsr8). the allen/heath one hands down. but i could hear little difference between the mackie and the behringer. if anything, i liked the eq of the behringer just slightly better. and the behringer had a seperate power supply. so what gives with the bad behringer rap? i have an older composer comp and have used autocom's and even multicom's and really liked them. i think their effects units stink, but then again, i don't like many multi-fx units. any opinions?

also, anyone heard/used the new soundcraft m series?

thanks!

tony
 
Hey man, please, please PLEEEAASSEE do a search on Behringer mixers!

I have listed numerous reasons why to stay away from those crappy boards!!!
 
biters

Me too Mistercue,alot of the new ones are actually a bite off of Mackie.Get a Mackie trust me mic pre`s are excellent.
 
I was also looking for a mixer under $100 and I came up with a Phonics and It sucked... but there was also a behringer in the store fot 100 bucks!!
I can't afford a Mackie, they are expensive, and I'm just planning to use this mixers as a preamp for plugging everything to my PC... is it better if I get like a mic preamp? because I know those are cheaper...
 
pablo, a dedicated mic pre would be better....Art and Dbx make single channel pre's for $99 that are very good.....
 
ok, it seems like mars will meet me for another exchange today!
 
If you are using the mixer for mixdown the pres dont factor in much here. Besides the pres in the behringer arent that bad for transparent stuff. Dont overdrive them though.:o
 
tony moore said:
i'm sure this topic has been covered, but nothing came up in a search.
Click to expand...
Ya know, I don't think it ever has... good thing you asked, Tony!!! ;)

:D :D

Bruce
 
I made a HUGE mistake when I bought me Behringer board. It's noisey, the mic pre's are harsh, chanels and groups keep dropping out.... I could go on. :mad:
I'll be trading in (if anyone will take it) on a Mackie ASAP!!!
 
Markd102 said:
I made a HUGE mistake when I bought me Behringer board. It's noisey, the mic pre's are harsh, chanels and groups keep dropping out.... I could go on. :mad:
I'll be trading in (if anyone will take it) on a Mackie ASAP!!!
Click to expand...

Have you heard the Mackie pre's youself?
Becaus IMO they are more harsh than the B'ringers.

Keijo
 
I have compared them directly in the past... you couldn't pay me to use a Behringer pre.

Bruce
 
behringer mx2004 report

hey guys,

well, out of pure curiousity, i took my dubya refund and bought a behringer mx2004 board a couple weeks ago. i have had a mackie 1202vlz for about 3 years now and have it used for everything from live mixing/recording, running my effects sends/returns for a larger board, etc. so i think i'm pretty familiar with the sound of the 1202, it's pre's and eq's. and compared to the outboard pre's and eq's i own (art, joe meek, vintage ward beck) and to other boards i'm familiar with (older tascam, vintage mci, ramsa), i've never been very happy with it. tho i do think it's fantastic some apps, like the ones i listed earlier. anyway, for the past 2 weeks i've been comparing the boards pretty extensively by mixing, tracking, and just running program material thru them and messing with the eq and gain structure. so here's my comments, fwiw:

construction - the behringer seems every bit as well made as the mackie. the faders feel good and the pots feel sturdy. the layout feels a bit more cramped on the 2004 than the mackie 1202, but there's alot more going on. a better comparison would have been with a mackie 1604... one thing i do like about the behringer is the power supply is removed.

pre's - completely different in my book. the behringer seemed duller and not as detailed as the mackie. maybe some would call the behringer 'warmer' and the mackie 'harsher'. neither boards pre's are even as good as say a cheap art or joe meek, and i've seen that same opinion echoed here as well. but since i don't intend to use the pres for more than line level, it doesn't bother me.

eq - i liked the behringer eq MUCH better than the mackie's. it seemed much more musical and gentler. also seemed like the high and low shelving had a wider q, which i like. while the mackie may be more precise, it just sounds cold to me. tho' i think the mackie would still make a better effects mixer as the more radical eq seems to work well in that app.

noise - both boards seemed very quiet to me. i can't imagine that the noise floor on either boards would present in a problem in most mixing apps.

overall - i can't make any claim to the dependability of the berhinger yet, but i can say i purposefully was a bit a rougher on it this 2 weeks. i even let program material run thru the channels overnight a couple times and all seems cool. my other behringer gear (composer, autocom, multicom) has been perfectly reliable for the 4-5 years i've owned it. in short, i think the behringer mx2004 is a great, lower cost alternative to a mackie or the like. i think good music can be made with either board. at $300 new, i'm sure it will more than it the investment back. now, if i could afford a neve or such console, i'd own one! but for the $ and sound of the board, the behringer is hard to beat. if the name bothers you that much, put some tape over it like some folks have done with peavey gear ;-)

aftermath - i ended up winning an ebay auction for a tascam 1516 for $300. i forgot i placed the bid and bought the behringer. anyway, the tascam freakin' rocks! i have no idea why the older tascam boards are going for so cheap, but if you're need of a mixer, look for one! so the behringer is being relegated to my home studio and the tascam will reside with the tsr-8 my project studio.

i hope all this babble helps someone!

tony
 
Hi Warlock
I sure have. A mate has a 1642 VLZ which I borrow whenever I can. They are very sweet in comparison to my Behringer.
I not saying that this is the general rule. I might just have a dud. But I can only go on my own experiences.
Mark
 
I could swear I've read that review somewhere before here.
 
behringer review

not from me :-)

tony
-originally from cincy and has said looavul all his life ;-)
 
Just as a footnote to this thread............

I was talking to a guy I know today, who for his own reasons put a new Behringer MX 8000 into his studio about six months ago. IT DIED! So did the second one and then the third. At this point the supplier offered him an MX 9000 (no extra charge) and guess what..................IT HAS DIED TOO. All have had similar faults and he ain't real happy.
From what he said I think if they were only subject to "light duty" use they may be OK, but using them with most channels running ( which can often be the case in a studio) seems to be more than they can handle. And these things are sold as "professional level" consoles. What a joke.

Peace..............ChrisO :cool:
 
I use a Mackie and a Behringer. The Mackie is three times the price and twice the mixer.

The Behringer is less mixer all around, but for my application - as a simple mixer for a church hall sound system (no, not upstairs, with the JBLs and the compressors and the delay / eq / biamp setup kept tight under lock and key! I play with the circuits downstairs, with the ceiling speakers) it really does the trick. It is quiet, simple, and lends itself to a "set and forget" arrangement for occasional use. Not bad for $200 bucks - it represents value. Plug in, turn on the switch and everybody can hear during the spaghetti supper.

On the other hand, I wouldn't record with it, or with any other $200 mixer, if I had any expectations.
 
XDR. The best smackdown I ever gave my credit card was the day that I bought my 1604vlz pro. The XDR preamps are perfect for my semi-pro setup. Tons and Tons of headroom. Your better off buying a used mackie.
 
The thing I would really like to know from all these Behringer haters is have they seen or used the stuff made in the last year? These boards and other equipment have improved a great deal from what I have seen, also reviews from people who have actually bought and used Behringer's stuff and Mackie's is really enlighting. Sometimes things go for a shit, I would be really really curious to know what the problem was with that board but once again from a technicians standpoint as well I am impressed by the new gear I have seen and own.
 
I have a MX3242 with the external PS, my biggest hangup with it is the narrow amount of space between each channel. It takes extra time to find which channel your on.

I don't use the mic pres have hopefully my external ones are better.
Compared to the Fostex it take a little more time to fine tune each channel but once it adjusted it sounds nice and clean. The FX is better than nothing as far
as reverb is concerned. And it's nice to be able to put the PS in the closet with computers and other noisy stuff.

I got mine after they were discontinued for $300 your not gonna find anything on the planet 16 channels plus 16 b channels 16 Direct outs and 16 inserts. It might be far from superior but it will let you record in a logical easy style.
 
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