Collectible Behringer Pedals?

stickyfiddle

Just wait till Josh Scott tells everyone they’re really good (clue: most of them aren’t), just in time for JHS to release clones for 100 a pop… 

But quite seriously, a handful of them are well-done clones of decent circuits, but they’re also such atrociously cheaply built, to the point that I wouldn’t ever realistically consider having one on any board I’d rely on

GoFish

nick79 said:

I’ve never really played with fuzz too much, and when I have it’s just been whatever is in the Helix. So this will be an education regardless. Gnarly is good though, I like gnarly.

It's a bit of a modern budget classic. IMO it's a wild, wild fuzz  (just turn the fuzz to 0 to see what I mean). There is no clean up so to speak and there is some octave stuff going on too. In my head I put the Superfuzz, of which this is one, as the first "high gain" / modern fuzz.

For the price, the SF300 is worth it as a boost alone. It's a good one.

LionAquaLooper

nick79 said:

On the strength of this thread I’ve just ordered an sf300, £22 from Amazon. Can’t go wrong at that price surely?

Can't go wrong.  In fact it's got 5 modes, not just 3.  If you set the slider switch to between positions 1 and 2 you get a "secret" mode.  Same between positions 2 and 3.  
As mentioned above - the boost mode alone makes it worth the £22 you spent.  And you get low/high cut/boost knobs.  

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Just wait till Josh Scott tells everyone they’re really good (clue: most of them aren’t), just in time for JHS to release clones for 100 a pop… 

But quite seriously, a handful of them are well-done clones of decent circuits, but they’re also such atrociously cheaply built, to the point that I wouldn’t ever realistically consider having one on any board I’d rely on

Sorry, but this just isn't true.

First, most of them are good. Possibly all - I've never tried a bad one, anyway. Not all of them sound identical to the originals they're copied from, so it's possible some aren't so good, but many/most are the same.

Second, yes they are cheaply built - the clue is in the retail price - but with one part exception, they are well built too - I've never seen a single one for repair. (OK, it's possible that's because they're so cheap that no-one even bothers trying to get one repaired, but I don't think so - they ask about those damn mini-pedals which do often break!) The exception is the jacks - but I've never even seen one of those broken, the problem with them is that the plug retention is poor... however, that doesn't matter on a pedalboard.

They're plastic - so what? It's a strong type of plastic and you'd have to jump on one from a height to break it. For what it's worth, I've got a Boss pedal with a casing which was broken exactly like that, and I'm not convinced a Behringer is much weaker. The pots are PCB-mounted, but the knobs are deeply recessed and protect them well.

The SF300 does indeed sound identical to the Boss FZ-2 as well. I had both and couldn't distinguish between them when directly A/B'd, so I sold the Boss. If anything the four separate knobs are a better design than the Boss's stacked treble and bass, and since I only use one pedal (not on a board) with my punk band, it made me nervous to have such a valuable pedal as the FZ-2 sitting alone at the front of the stage. I could buy at least six new SF300s for the price of having to replace it.

distressed

stickyfiddle said:

But quite seriously, a handful of them are well-done clones of decent circuits, but they’re also such atrociously cheaply built, to the point that I wouldn’t ever realistically consider having one on any board I’d rely on

My VD400 analog delay has survived almost 15 years of heavy abuse (gigs, tours, rehearsals), and still works flawlessly. You can't go wrong with sturdy ABS and Boss-type switch. During that time I've managed to kill several EHX pedals, and some more.

distressed

ICBM said:

The SF300 does indeed sound identical to the Boss FZ-2 as well. I had both and couldn't distinguish between them when directly A/B'd, so I sold the Boss. If anything the four separate knobs are a better design than the Boss's stacked treble and bass, and since I only use one pedal (not on a board) with my punk band, it made me nervous to have such a valuable pedal as the FZ-2 sitting alone at the front of the stage. I could buy at least six new SF300s for the price of having to replace it.

SF300 is incredible, though the knobs on my unit aren't very quick adjustment friendly. And the mode switch feels loose, I've thought of rehousing.

thecolourbox

Yes the Super Fuzz is really good sounding, the patch leads sometimes pop out of it but I think if I had it on a board of some kind I'd probably just put a cable tie around it to hold the jacks in place. Not discontinued and dirt cheap - for a while they did go a bit mad on prices thanks to JHS but then all of a sudden new ones came back on the scene for like £20 so that killed that off

sw67

I have a SE200 Spectrum Enhancer somewhere that i have never used.

Keefy

I bought the SF300 because (1) I had recently become a fuzz convert, (2) people were saying how good it was, and (3) it was cheap.

But I don’t like it much. Fuzz 1 is too gainy and Fuzz 2 sounds hideous. The Boost function could probably be useful so there’s no point me selling it,

There must be enough of them out there for every household in Britain to have one so I doubt that they’ll ever command silly prices.

JezWynd

Keefy said:

I bought the SF300 because (1) I had recently become a fuzz convert, (2) people were saying how good it was, and (3) it was cheap.

But I don’t like it much. Fuzz 1 is too gainy and Fuzz 2 sounds hideous. The Boost function could probably be useful so there’s no point me selling it,

There must be enough of them out there for every household in Britain to have one so I doubt that they’ll ever command silly prices.

It must be a decent copy of the FZ-2 then, cos that sounds horrible too.

ICBM

distressed said:

SF300 is incredible, though the knobs on my unit aren't very quick adjustment friendly. And the mode switch feels loose, I've thought of rehousing.

It would probably be tricky. I know what you mean about the knobs, but I never adjust them on the fly anyway - at least for bass, I only use one setting.

thecolourbox said:

Yes the Super Fuzz is really good sounding, the patch leads sometimes pop out of it but I think if I had it on a board of some kind I'd probably just put a cable tie around it to hold the jacks in place.

I just use right-angled plugs and put an elastic band around the pedal on stage.

JezWynd said:

It must be a decent copy of the FZ-2 then, cos that sounds horrible too.

It sounds exactly what a fuzz pedal is supposed to sound like .

Revolutions

The FZ-2 is a Super Fuzz circuit, which sounds horrible. I think they’ve both done a good job there.

Setting 2 is mid-boosted I think, and that’s pretty much the early sabbath kinda doom sound.

distressed

ICBM said:

It would probably be tricky. I know what you mean about the knobs, but I never adjust them on the fly anyway - at least for bass, I only use one setting.

Interesting that knobs on my VD400 work perfect smooth. I thought my SF300 unit had defective ones. I usually use both of them live for some improv noise oscillation stuff, so it would be cool if they were a little more flexible.

So you think that rehousing the SF300 is not worth the hassle?

Kurtis

It probably wouldn't be straight forward to rehouse. They're usually all board mounted pots and micro components etc.

Very different to most DIY pedals. 

Revolutions

@distressed - someone selling an FZ-2 clone here: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/258462/fs-boss-fz2-boutique-clone-price-drop-45#latest

distressed

Revolutions said:

@distressed - someone selling an FZ-2 clone here: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/258462/fs-boss-fz2-boutique-clone-price-drop-45#latest

Oh thank you, but I'm not based in the UK not worth it

KevS

My Behringer CL9 Ibanez CP9 copyI love..I think it sounds better than my Boss CS2 and CS 3..I am tempted by the VD400 delay..Not sure if it s actually analog..A battery still won't last long,but it would give me slapback for a few sessions.I could get my old Next Analog delay fixed,but that would cost more than the new VD400 would...I have the  Boss VB 2 copy..I see that more as a novelty..One thing not mentioned is their lightness..I have heart problems..Power supplies and metal pedals weigh more to carry..I should maybe buy a couple of CP9's before they stop making them..Anybody know how long the battery lasts in the VD400 ?

distressed

KevS said:

My Behringer CL9 Ibanez CP9 copyI love..I think it sounds better than my Boss CS2 and CS 3..I am tempted by the VD400 delay..Not sure if it s actually analog..A battery still won't last long,but it would give me slapback for a few sessions.I could get my old Next Analog delay fixed,but that would cost more than the new VD400 would...I have the  Boss VB 2 copy..I see that more as a novelty..One thing not mentioned is their lightness..I have heart problems..Power supplies and metal pedals weigh more to carry..I should maybe buy a couple of CP9's before they stop making them..Anybody know how long the battery lasts in the VD400 ?

VD400 is all analog, but there's no reason to rely on the battery.

ICBM

distressed said:

So you think that rehousing the SF300 is not worth the hassle?

Probably not. At the least, you would need to replace the pots, jacks and footswitch with chassis-mounted ones and flying leads, and find a way of mounting the board properly.

Revolutions said:

The FZ-2 is a Super Fuzz circuit, which sounds horrible. I think they’ve both done a good job there.

Setting 2 is mid-boosted I think, and that’s pretty much the early sabbath kinda doom sound.

Other way round - 1 is mid boosted, 2 is (very) scooped.

stickyfiddle

ICBM said:

stickyfiddle said:

Just wait till Josh Scott tells everyone they’re really good (clue: most of them aren’t), just in time for JHS to release clones for 100 a pop… 

But quite seriously, a handful of them are well-done clones of decent circuits, but they’re also such atrociously cheaply built, to the point that I wouldn’t ever realistically consider having one on any board I’d rely on

Second, yes they are cheaply built - the clue is in the retail price - but with one part exception, they are well built too - I've never seen a single one for repair. (OK, it's possible that's because they're so cheap that no-one even bothers trying to get one repaired, but I don't think so - they ask about those damn mini-pedals which do often break!) The exception is the jacks - but I've never even seen one of those broken, the problem with them is that the plug retention is poor... however, that doesn't matter on a pedalboard.

I don’t buy it. You won’t see them in for repair because the repair would cost more than just buying a new one…