New Cheapo Behringer Guitar Stomps

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Logan
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Ben Logan

Ben Logan

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I don't know about you folks, but I'm pretty excited about Behringer's new line of cheap-ass guitar stomp boxes.

For "bread-and-butter" effects, I'm willing to save up for nice stuff - like my analog-miked-out Ibanez TS-9 for overdrive, or the AD-9 I just got in the mail for delay.

But, being a relatively poor bastard, for true "effects" - as in icing on the cake type guitar effects that aren't going to make an appearance on every track, I'm pretty stoked about a dirt-cheap option.

Perhaps I'll eat these words, as I haven't yet tried the new Behringer Tremolo (supposedly "modeled" after the Boss TR-2) that should be on my doorstep when I get home.

Anyone have any experience with these things? Are they any improvement over the former bottom-of-the-barrel Kings: ARION?
 
I've never played with any of them. Matter of fact, I haven't seen any in stores yet either. But with some effects, you have to wonder how bad they could be. Like you say, just for...well...effect.

But Arion? Oh gawd, I had a delay or something by them that was awful. IF only I could remember the brand of my very first distortion pedal, I might have a brand name even lower on the totem pole.
 
I'm curious about these stomps too. Looks like some of them are no longer TBA on the behringer site.

I'd love to try their the EQ pedal and volume booster
 
If they don't f**K with the tone too much, they might be worth it. I wouldn't mind having a few at those prices. But I still remember buying a Arion chorus with the same intention. Luckily, I managed to trade it at a music store even-up for a beat up MXR micro chorus. The guy was happy as a clam to get the shiney new Arion. I actually felt guilty unloading that piece of crap.
 
i heard there was going to be an extra delay in getting them out to stores, because Boss sued them for looking too much alike, so they had to redesign.
 
Tadpui said:
I've never played with any of them. Matter of fact, I haven't seen any in stores yet either. But with some effects, you have to wonder how bad they could be. Like you say, just for...well...effect.

But Arion? Oh gawd, I had a delay or something by them that was awful. IF only I could remember the brand of my very first distortion pedal, I might have a brand name even lower on the totem pole.

Was it Rocktek?
They're just hilarious :D
 
Ok, so my $20.00 Behringer Ultra Tremolo arrived yesterday. I wasn't expecting it to sound like the tremolo on my deluxe reverb, but I was hoping for something useable on an occasional overdub with my tiny recording amp at night.

First, the thing is made of plastic. There's a sticker on the back picturing a trash-can with a "no sign" on it. First tip off: a sticker that says in picture form, "don't throw me away - you'll be tempted to."

Next came battery installation. You have to poke two little prongs on the side of the stomper to take the cover off. It's a pain. If you had to change a battery out in public, it would delay the show a good five or so minutes. Lame design.

Then the test: plugged it into my little Fender Champ. Bummer. A waste of twenty bucks. There's very little difference in the waveforms (sine and square) unless you crank them to either extreme. I could live with that, but the worst thing is that the hiss / artifacts produced along with the tremolo'd signal are so loud as to render this thing useless for even a semi-buried recorded track. I'll stick with the tremolo plugin on my UAD-1 (which is actually great). I was hoping this little guy would let me hear the trem while recording (vs. imagining it while recording, and then effecting the track during mix). No luck. Steer clear of these.

That said, I may send this one back in exchange for the cheapo chorus.
 
Damn - I was really hoping these would at least tempt Boss & others to bring down their pedal prices!

Ah well - good job I don't use tons of fx ATM.
 
behringer sucks..save your money and buy something that you dont have to question the quality of...
 
Codmate said:
Damn - I was really hoping these would at least tempt Boss & others to bring down their pedal prices!

Ah well - good job I don't use tons of fx ATM.

I don't use many effects either, but I thought I might start getting into some "different flavors" if these pedals were any good. But, no dice! I'll stick with the minimalist approach.
 
I'm sorry to hear the trem sucks Ben. You're the first person I've been able to find that has tried one of these new stomps.

Behringer hasn't released all of the couple of dozen of new stomps so maybe somewhere in all that plastic there's a hidden gem.

Thanks for the review.
 
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