Is Behringer really that bad?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joch
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I went to a hooker once........... :o

I said, "I've only got a $5 note"........... :confused:

She said, "That's all right" ........"I have change" :eek:
 
I wonder if a Behringer hooker would be noisy and then blow........
 
Behringer does copy other people's stuff - but their quality is so so compared to the good stuff. BUT they fill a market need for cheap stuff. My first computer interface was the Behringer UCA202 for $25. It worked for the time. My current is a U42S which cost me $600 (thanks to Canadian markup) . Is it 10 times better, maybe overall but at the time I was quite satisfied with the Behri.
 
Behringer does copy other people's stuff - but their quality is so so compared to the good stuff. BUT they fill a market need for cheap stuff. My first computer interface was the Behringer UCA202 for $25. It worked for the time. My current is a U42S which cost me $600 (thanks to Canadian markup) . Is it 10 times better, maybe overall but at the time I was quite satisfied with the Behri.

I have one of them Behringer UCA202`s myself..it does what it`s suppose to..not bad for a cheap lil`unit..obviously not a high quality fancey thing..but it does work..
 
I have one of them Behringer UCA202`s myself..it does what it`s suppose to..not bad for a cheap lil`unit..obviously not a high quality fancey thing..but it does work..

Well if I pay for a product, I would at least expect it to work! :laughings:
 
just sold my behringer xenyx fx 2222 desk ...got a soundcraft m8 in its place ... using the soundcraft tomoz hopefully notice a difference in quality otherwise just sold a good very versitile mixer for nothing......not used any other desks so my opinion not worth a sook......probably end up loving it like my first car
 
I love my XM8500.
It would be a great $100 mic. The only problem is that it's not $100 :eek:
$20 :cool:

I might pick up another one or two later this year.
 
Behringer makes some good stuff. I've never been too big of a fan of their equipment but if you are on a low budget and need equipment, im sure behringer will get the job done. Like most companies they make very consumer grade products and also produce higher end products. I have a behringer keyboard amp and a roland keyboard amp and the roland sounds much better. But how can you compete with a company that has their own city!

Their quality is getting better. Out of 50,000 mixers that behringer city made, the failure rate was only 0.1%.
 
Yes, you get what you pay for. That is a rule of thumb for everything in life.
As for Behringer; the only Behringer item I own is a 32 Eurodesk mixer with effects that I have owned for years. It hasn't let me down yet. In fact, there have been more than a few shows that my mixer was used over another member's Soundcraft board. The Behringer just did things better. Maybe I got lucky.
 
I`ve literally made thousands of dollars using my $350`ish Beringer EP4000 amp for DJ`ing..
has`nt let me down yet, and ROCKS the house as they say..
 
Generally, the quality of behringer is rather low. BUT: I have some behringer stuff, simply as it is rather cheap. Mic pres will surely be noisy for recording, but may help for the first steps. You might wanna add a cheap mic pre like a ART tube MP which costs something like 50$ here in Germany. Not too good either, but it may help to get some hiss out, if you don't crank either pre. The thing is: youÄll have to start to know what you like (and if recording is your thing). So I'd not start with something that has a higher loss of value when resold than the behringer costs...

Just my 2c

aXel
 
Generally, the quality of behringer is rather low. BUT: I have some behringer stuff, simply as it is rather cheap. Mic pres will surely be noisy for recording, but may help for the first steps. You might wanna add a cheap mic pre like a ART tube MP which costs something like 50$ here in Germany. Not too good either, but it may help to get some hiss out, if you don't crank either pre. The thing is: youÄll have to start to know what you like (and if recording is your thing). So I'd not start with something that has a higher loss of value when resold than the behringer costs...

Just my 2c

aXel

I have never found Behringer mic pres noisy, but I am not talking about the $20 mic100 (have one by the way, I sometimes record guitar amps with it and a ribbon mic plugged into it for a dirty guitar sound), but the pres in the mixers are OK and the MIC2200 is very quiet. OK they are not top line pres, but then neither is the price. Let me say that most of the hiss people seem to get is a bad gain setup. Do say things like surely assuming that because it's cheap it must be no good.

alan.
 
i wouldn't say Behringer is that bad, but more it's not that good. From my experience with the few Behringer products i 've owned, their products make you happy at the beginning and as soon as you haven't compared them with other stuffs. For example, my first mixing desk was a Behringer and it was doing the job quite fairly.Then one day i went to a friend and heard the same desk but build by Mackie and the difference was so huge that change the Behringer for a Mackie became an evident need.
For me Behringer might be good for you when you start and have a low budget but now i'd rather wait a little and buy a second hand stuff from another brand than buy Behringer.
 
I think one of the main problems with Behringer gear is that they make some gear that I find really good, and some gear that is very average.

For example I own 2 original Composer compressors and an original ultrafex2 they must be over 20 years old now and they still sound great and work fine. Mind you the original composers were not a cheap item when they come out. I also have a few small mixers that I use for various live duties and they work fine too, I have even recorded from then at a conference and they were very quiet. I also have a headphone amp that works fine and a Ultragain 2200 that seems very good for the price that I use as an extra mic pre when we run out of inputs. Most of the DI's seem OK and the Autoquad noise gate does its job.

However I think the effects pedals are rubbish, I bought 2 to try out and they have been used once. The mic100 mic pre is not very good so I don't count that but as I said before I use it as an effect to overdrive the mic signal, but then again it only cost me $20 second hand so what do I expect.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but what I am saying is that with Behringer gear you can't judge it all by the performance of just a few of their products.

Cheers
Alan.
 
Mic pres will surely be noisy for recording, but may help for the first steps.
For me, there are two things seriously awry about that statement. Firstly, if a preamp is noisy, then I don't really see how it can be of any help whatsoever. It'll cripple you before you ever get to be able to take steps. The whole point of a preamp is to boost a weak signal so you get a good healthy one at the requisite level. A noisy preamp is like a printer that smudges every vowel.
But it's a suspect notion that "the pres will surely be noisy". I have the MIC2200 and the 6 preamps in the UB1832 and they're not noisy at all.
So I'd not start with something that has a higher loss of value when resold than the behringer costs...
While I understand this, I have a concept that I live by, I call it "Dead money". That is, once I have spent the money, it is dead. The same way it is if I buy a meal or a comic or spend it for bus fare or petrol or buy a drink. Dead. As a dodo. D A I D !!
So resale value becomes irrelevant to me and I'm free to use the gear as I please without worrying about what it may be worth in two years time. It's really quite liberating. I don't care what my house is worth. Don't give a fribley on the cranston. I'm not thinking of selling it. This is where I live ! I cross bridges if I need to and when I get to them.
That way, should there be any resale, it's a bonus. It is not possible for me to lose money on an item because I've already spent the money. It's already gone. It's dead money.


the pres in the mixers are OK and the MIC2200 is very quiet. OK they are not top line pres, but then neither is the price. Let me say that most of the hiss people seem to get is a bad gain setup.
I'd have to agree with this. I found the MIC2200 was sometimes magnificent, sometimes hummy hissy. One day I asked myself what made the difference. It was when I used a 1/4" jack~XLR cable that I found I didn't get a loud enough signal. So of course, I'd boost various settings, introducing the requisite amount of hum and hiss. I noticed that using a cable that was male to female XLR ended that because the signal was loud and clear with no hiss. No hum. No boosts needed. So much so, that you could be 7~8 feet away from the mic and get a good vocal. Dynamic or condenser mics would pick up the sound of you scratching your head ! If you listen closely to acoustic guitars or vocals, sometimes on the track is the sound of my kids playing downstairs !!

i wouldn't say Behringer is that bad, but more it's not that good.
:laughings:This is known in the trade as "Damning with faint praise ".
compared them with other stuffs. For example, my first mixing desk was a Behringer and it was doing the job quite fairly.Then one day i went to a friend and heard the same desk but build by Mackie and the difference was so huge that change the Behringer for a Mackie became an evident need.
Lots of people feel that way about their kids, wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends......
Seriously though, that's natural and isn't down to one company or another. If you hear something that, to your ears, makes a big difference above and beyond what you currently have, then it makes sense to start asking yourself whether or not it's time to move on and possibly look at acquiring that other thing. People make all kinds of gear moves. Price point is not necessarilly the yardstick by which something is judged. Someone with a lo~fi taste/ear may make the exact opposite move to you, for precisely the same reasons.
Progress at the rate you progress at.

I think one of the main problems with Behringer gear is that they make some gear that I find really good, and some gear that is very average.
As I'm sure do many companies that don't get Behri bashings on a regular basis. Behringer seems to be "historical Nazis" of the HR.com cyberspace and anyone that speaks up for them, an appeaser ! :D
However I think the effects pedals are rubbish,
I have the wah~wah pedal and it's not very good. Actually, it's pretty crap. But I've owned 4 different makes before {including a Dunlop} and they all were not much better.
what I am saying is that with Behringer gear you can't judge it all by the performance of just a few of their products
But people will !
 
I have honestly never thought about or cared about the resale value of ANYTHING I have EVER purchased..it`s just not something i consider at all..FWIW..

If the absolute top of the line mackie amp fell into my lap right now, I still would`nt part with my ep4000, now way..even if I was offered the exact same amount of money i paid for it new...
 
I have honestly never thought about or cared about the resale value of ANYTHING I have EVER purchased..it`s just not something i consider at all..FWIW..
.

Too true, 2 things, 1) why would you worry about resale on an item of gear that was as cheap as chips in the first place (Behringer) and 2) when you buy an expensive item of gear you don't worry about resale because you buy it forever. I too never think about resale....when I have finished with gear it is because it has worn out or I don't need it anymore, I have even given old gear away for free to help someone out because it has not been worth anything anyway and I have had full use out of it.

Alan.
 
I've had quite a few Behringer products. Some are good, others not so.

The headphone amp has been a totally reliable unit, and does its job well.

The Behringer C2 mike is cheap as chips, but is an astonishingly versatile mike. For instruments, it's way better than an SM57, specially in getting some detail in live settings. I've posted samples a number of times elsewhere on HR.

The digital EQ (DEQ2496) has been superb and dependable unit.

I wasn't keen on the virtualizer, and it eventually failed. There have been other Behri units that have not fared so well either.

Having said that, I've also had failures with AKG, Presonus and Rode, so Behri is not unique.


As others have said, I buy stuff because I want it, not because I want to sell it again. Consequently I have a fair bit of surplus junk now cluttering up space.
 
Witzendoz makes an excellent point. Talking about "Behringer gear" is far too general. Some of their stuff is actually quite good, especially for the money while other items can't be recommended.

My only Behringer gear right now is four ADA8000 mic pre amps with ADAT output. I use them, mainly for live stuff, in conjunction with a digital mixer that has ADAT inputs. I've now had them for 7 years and they're still going strong. The mic pre amps aren't the best quality (and do get a bit noisy if the gain is up above about 3 o'clock on the knob) but are fine for most things. I use my best stuff for the "money channels" and the Behringers for everything else. (And, regarding the noise, I'd owned them for about 2 years before I had to turn them up high enough to notice anything.)

The same applies to lots of other things. In the live world, the Behringer DCX2496 speaker management system is very well thought of and often recommended in preference to competitive gear costing more than double the price. Their EPS amps are great value for the money, again often better than more expensive stuff from other companies.

However, you have to ask about each individual bit of gear. Most of their DI boxes are fine but one of their small stereo ones is appalling.

So...ask about specific gear, not Behringer in general.
 
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