A guy owed me $, so he gave me a....

[cgworkman]

Somebody gave me a Behringer Tube pre-amp. Now before this, I've never used any Behringer products. But I have to say, this is the nicest sounding, cleanest tube pre I've ever had the chance to use.

This guy owed me a couple hundred bucks and wanted to know if I'd take this Behringer preamp as partial payment. I figured sure - why not - wouldn't hurt having an extra pre laying around. Well I took the chance and gigged with it Saturday. It was very nice I was surprised at how "tube-like" it sounded considering ti doesn't have any tubes (at least I don't think it does). My SR5 was singing through it. The soundman was very impressed with signal he was getting at the board. He told me it was very clean - and plenty of it.

The unit has a bunch of crap on it. Like effects, etc. All I ran was the tube pre-amp. Nothing else. It also has a built in tuner that when I checked it out seems to be very accurate. That was a shock!

So what's the deal with Behringer? Are they a new company or something? I looked the unit up on the Internet and it only retails for like $200+.

Anybody know anything about Behringer. Is all their stuff good, or is this a fluke?

 

[spectorbassguy]

I've spoken to a couple of different retailers and they agree that Behringer really doesn't come up with any ideas of their own. They will buy a piece of gear, take it apart, get schematics on it and copy it exactly and sell it cheaper. This is only what I've heard - I can provide NO backup for it.

 

[cgworkman]

That's interesting. I was unaware of them as a company or anything else for that matter. I'd seen them featured in the Musician's Friend catalogs - but I never really paid them much mind.

But regardless, this pre sounds GREAT!

 

[tkarter]

Basically, if it is working it will work as good as what it was copied from. Lots of the stuff that is bought is broke right out of the box. That said it still gets the player a lot for his money spent.

tk

 

[cgworkman]

Basically, if it is working it will work as good as what it was copied from. Lots of the stuff that is bought is broke right out of the box. That said it still gets the player a lot for his money spent.

tk

Broke right out of the box?

 

[tkarter]

Broke out of the box as in did not work at all after purchased. Usually a return to the place it was bought will get you another. Like I said when it works it works good. Longevity seems about as good as any other like item, of course IMHO

tk

 

[midopa]

I've got a Behringer BX600, a 60-watt combo amp. I do like it lots! In fact, I prefer it over the Hartke Kickback 15 150-watt (I think) combo at my church! Plus, it's got a four-band EQ that lets me pretend I have a Bongo! I wonder what kind of evil tones I can dail in with the dual 4EQ combo I'll have once I get my Bongo and run it through my Behringer!

 

[nismaniac]

I have always heard that Behringer makes really good stuff. I use the Ultra active DI, and it is very clean. I love it.

 

[Aussie Mark]

Yes, Behringer are renowned copy cats, which seems to really piss off some people, but their rack gear is great stuff for the price. I've got several components in my PA rack - Composer Pro (compressor/limiter), Virtualizer (multi effects), 2 x Feedback Destroyers (for foldback). I wouldn't touch their power amps or speaker cabinets with a ten foot pole, but I do think their rack gear is excellent value for money.

What spectorbassguy said is true, but, hey, that's business. They're not breaking the law. Auto manufacturers and whitegoods manufacturers do the same thing every day, so there's no reason to single out Behringer as the bad guys.

 

[Jazzbassman23]

I've got their 4 channel headphone amp in my studio, and it works like a charm.

 

[spectorbassguy]

Yes, Behringer are renowned copy cats, which seems to really piss off some people, but their rack gear is great stuff for the price. I've got several components in my PA rack - Composer Pro (compressor/limiter), Virtualizer (multi effects), 2 x Feedback Destroyers (for foldback). I wouldn't touch their power amps or speaker cabinets with a ten foot pole, but I do think their rack gear is excellent value for money.

What spectorbassguy said is true, but, hey, that's business. They're not breaking the law. Auto manufacturers and whitegoods manufacturers do the same thing every day, so there's no reason to single out Behringer as the bad guys.

Mark, it's amazing how well those Feedback Destroyer Pro's work isn't it? For about $100 it serves a very useful purpose. Our church uses 2 of them and they work great.

 

[cgworkman]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The preamp I have is:

this one.

It's got a lot of sh*t I'll never use - Like all of the effects except maybe the Synth mode for those P-Funk songs. But the Tube Preamp is super clean and sounds great. I was using a BBE BMax - But I'm thinking about maybe returning that and checking this out for awhile.

I am absolutely surprised at how good this thing sounds. It's got all kinds of bass head "models". Form my understanding that means you can make your rig sound like an Ampeg or something else. But whatever - The TubePre is what impresses me - I don't really care about all the other stuff.

 

[Aussie Mark]

Chris, that's a *little* more than a preamp. The Bass V-amp is Behinger's rack mounted multi effects unit. It's their version of the Line 6 Bass Pod Pro.

Behringer do make a tube mic preamp, which I believe also does a nice job for bass. Granted, it won't sound like an Alembic or Demeter preamp, but what do you expect for $100?

 

[Aussie Mark]

Mark, it's amazing how well those Feedback Destroyer Pro's work isn't it? For about $100 it serves a very useful purpose. Our church uses 2 of them and they work great.

They're particularly good for bands who mix from stage or situations where there is an inexperienced person on the desk faders. Over the course of a gig, the FBD does suck up a bit of gain across the frequency range, because it does it's job almost *too* well, but we get around that by resetting it at the beginning of each set.

 

[cgworkman]

Chris, that's a *little* more than a preamp. The Bass V-amp is Behinger's rack mounted multi effects unit. It's their version of the Line 6 Bass Pod Pro.

Behringer do make a tube mic preamp, which I believe also does a nice job for bass. Granted, it won't sound like an Alembic or Demeter preamp, but what do you expect for $100?

Yes I know. But literally all I'm using is the Tube Pre - nothing else. I really don't have a need for all of that other stuff.