PA ~ ~ ~ what makes you smile, & what makes you think "oh, shit !"

ICBM

The problem with Behringer is very simple - their gear is price-pointed down to the bone. This means that you're at the mercy of component manufacturing tolerances - it *should* work, if everything is exactly to spec, but the margins are so tight that if something is a little under spec there is no safety margin and you will get a failure.

Worse, it's then often uneconomical to repair because it's both very cheap to begin with and not designed with serviceability in mind. I recently decided to scrap a Behringer guitar amp I got very cheap after the customer refused the repair estimate, because the only way of changing the several broken pots and a display unit on the front panel would have been to destroy the glued-on panel facing… and no I am not joking.

In other words, you pay your money and get a roll of the dice. It could work fine for years, or it could fail very quickly or even be dead out of the box. If it works, it generally performs well and sounds good for the money.

chrispy108

Obviously Behringer gear is built to a price, but they sell it at the price it's built at. It's not like their stuff is worse built than a competitors for the same money.

Back on topic, I was always weary at gigs when I turned up and saw something too shiny, or even worse being unpacked from a cardboard box. I'd rather not be the soundmans guinea pig.

I'd rather a shit PA fixed in a room that the guy knows inside out, than a swanky shiny PA that the guy has never used.

MikkiMcMurderer

ICBM;202715" said:

MikkiMcMurderer said:

This thread Is funny, I just got told we had to use the house PA at this weekends wedding gig. When I asked the venue for details of what it was, they replied that it was an Alko Elvis! I thought that was a drinking game but sadly no, just a typo for Alto Elvis speakers - nasty business. I think we'll be using our QSC K rig somehow!!!!





No reason you can't use the house PA.

















































They'll never hear it over the top of yours and your backline, of course.







I've actually found that method useful in the past - in places where the 'house PA' is the DJ system with wall/ceiling-mounted speakers all around the venue, it does actually let you get a better dispersed sound into the far corners without quite as much level at the stage. Take a single aux send from you desk to the house PA and treat it as an extra monitor mix, and it's not much more work.

They will indeed be relegated to wedge duties!

impmann

Engineers that you need to raise your voice to 'speak' to thanks to the tinnitus usually have me worried. 

DJ brand stuff is to be avoided too - we rocked up to a show the other week where "Dave Double-Decks" was already set up with his bins, mids and tops... we walked in with our little EV set up (800w powered tops and powered subs that are smaller than the average practice amp) and he laughed and asked if we wanted to use his "professional" rig... we smiled, declined and then drowned him out, and sounded better. Twunt.

Behringer stuff is fine if you treat it as disposable - as ICBM says it can't be repaired easily and its built to a price. However, often their gear sounds OK while it works - my old band had a 900w powered mixer thingy that was the pooches plums if you just wanted a clear vocal PA and it cost less than £220 new. Brilliant for the money.