[tonefight]

Has anyone bought any of the Behringer equip from Musicians Friend? It looks like it is priced pretty low but that raises a question on quality.

[onetooloud]

Check with the guys from Double-O-nothing at one of their shows they have some Berringer gear.

[Craven Sound]

My theory is, you get what you pay for. I would definitely stay away from Berhinger speakers, who knows what components they're putting in them. As far as their outboard gear, DBX makes competitvley priced equipment, and it's a well known industry name. I'll probably never endorse any of their stuff, just because it's so damn cheap.

[songsmith]

My understanding is that most people take a "piece-by-piece" view on Behringer gear. Practically everybody seems to like their direct boxes, most like their outboard gear like limiters and such, some have good luck with the mixing consoles, and really nobody I've ever dealt with will use their amplifiers or speakers.
The Behringer business model appears to be thus: Buy or rent a popular piece of gear, open it up, copy the design, change it JUST enough to beat international patent laws, then manufacture it in China or Malaysia or some other place where little kids will work for the equivalent of 80 cents a day. That's how the stuff can be so inexpensive.
I use only one piece of Behringer gear, a "Shark," a little combination mic preamp/noise gate/limiter/feedback eliminator/stack delay I bought from Musician's Friend for $70US. It works okay for spoken vocal (speeches and presentation) but it's a little too digital sounding to me for music. -------->JMS

[Craven Sound]

[facingwest]

Behringer does exactly the same thing as Craven Sound said. That's why you're getting the gear so cheap. Their company doesn't have too much overhead with research and development. A lot of what Behringer makes is half decent gear. I believe the company they use for the speakers they put in their cabs are Jensen, which isn't a bad company at all. They've been around for years now.

The Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Footcontroller is one of the best I've seen for all the features it has and durability. Our keyboard/guitar player uses one to control 3 keys and his guitar rack.

Their DI-100 Direct Box's come in handy and are definitely worth the money.

Never, ever, ever, ever purchase one of their PX2000 Ultrapatch Pro Patch Baypatches. We had two and had problems with both.

I like the Composer for compressing guitars and basses. We tried it on acoustics and vocals and weren't very happy with the results of it. We did notice a problem with ours that if it's turned on too long, the little bugger starts acting up and you have to let it take a break after recording for a while. The red lights showing gain reduction will light up and stay lit up instead of doing what they're supposed to do when a signal hits them.

One of the most unique devices I've ever used is their Shark DSP110. I was really skeptical with how feedback eliminators worked and when I purchased this one and checked it out, I was blown away. I put it to the test and plugged a mic into a megaphone, turned it on, and let it go to town. I was able to stand in front of the megaphone with a microphone without any feedback.

I do not recommend the HA4600 Powerplay® Pro Headphone Amp simply because of how freaking hot it gets when you plug it in. It has great features, but you get the feeling that the place is going to burn down with how how they get.

Our soundguy, Chris Knapik, uses two Ultracurves and this particular item is one of Behringer's hottest. It is definitely worth every penny you pay for it. It sprays pink and white noise throughout a room and will automatically flatten the EQ of a room for you. Another cool feature with it is you can store presets for the next time you come into a place. (You just have to make sure you're speakers are in the EXACT same position for it to be even close as the last time.) It also has feedback elimination filters in it. Two thumbs up on this one. I believe they took this one a step further and made it almost exactly like one of DBX's new and hot racks on the market.

For the price and budget, Behringer makes adequate gear. If you're looking for upper end gear, I wouldn't recommend using too many of their products. Craven sound couldn't have said it better that you get what you pay for.

[redawg]

I like their gates and compressors. I use a 4 channel gate and a 4 channel compressor for the drums. Both work really well for me. Their direct boxes aren't bad either. I heard their mixing boards don't have shit for headroom and their speakers aren't that great at all.