Collectible Behringer Pedals?

JezWynd

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Keefy

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 ?

I’ve used a VD400 on a battery and current draw is pretty low - Behringer quote 30mA. I gave mine to my son for blues guitar use as it excels at that smokey faux-room-reverb short delay.

And yes it’s 100% definitely analog.

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

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…

So why do they ask about those cheap mini-pedals, which break a lot? I’ve seen (and usually refused) loads of those for repair.

Do you have any examples of broken Behringers, and what broke? Having looked inside a couple of them I can’t see anything particularly sub-standard or poorly made compared to even pedals that cost quite a lot more.

Pedals are mostly quite simple circuits using cheap components, it’s not surprising that they can be made as cheaply as a Behringer if you save a fair bit on the single most expensive component by far - the casing. But that still doesn’t make it a poor material choice.

downbytheriver

I’ve seen a couple that refused to work on batteries after they’d been powered from A power supply - I assume that was something to do with the socket. 

My personal favourite is the Preamp Booster PB100 which is a pedal of many uses (from boosting acoustic pickups to solo boost to overdriving an amp and no doubt other uses) - I know I’ve still got one somewhere…

nick79

Well the sf300 arrived. First thoughts, yeah it’s plastic and feels a bit cheap but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. 

It sounds good though! 

LionAquaLooper

downbytheriver said:

I’ve seen a couple that refused to work on batteries after they’d been powered from A power supply - I assume that was something to do with the socket. 

My personal favourite is the Preamp Booster PB100 which is a pedal of many uses (from boosting acoustic pickups to solo boost to overdriving an amp and no doubt other uses) - I know I’ve still got one somewhere…

If only the PB100 had a mid knob as well. It would be an even better swiss army knife.

BillDL

I've bought, acquired, swapped, and given away quite a number of Behringer pedals over the years.  I have never had one physically break or fail electronically.  Behringer offer a 3 year warranty if registered with them within a given time or otherwise a 1 year warranty, but at anywhere between £15 and £22 I suspect most people would throw them in the bin after a couple of years if they did fail.  Some of the ones I've had have been gigged on a hinged lid ABS or budget flight case or Pedaltrain rack type board, but not as extensively as I suppose it would need to realise weak points after continuously being bundled around and stepped on.  The only "electronic" failure I had was my own stupid fault for tightening up a loose jack nut too much and causing the connector inside to sever.  I used to think the weak point might be the slightly less rugged feel to the hinges of the pedal switch, but none have failed at that point either.  The best test of ruggedness would be to give them to a school music class.  I suspect they will be like some of the employees at my work in that if you gave them a bloody brick they could somehow manage to break it.

I currently have the following (possibly others) in pedal cases in the cupboards somewhere that I haven't used for a while given that I prefer a guitar into a reverb-equipped amp on a slight crunch drive with no effects these days:

DR600 Reverb https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0597
TM300 Tube Amp Modeller https://www.behringer.com/behringer/product?modelCode=P0518
TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive https://www.behringer.com/behringer/product?modelCode=P0488
UC200 Ultra Chorus https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0601
UO300 Ultra Octaver https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0603
UT100 Ultra Tremolo https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0117
UV300 Ultra Vibrato https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0507
VD400 Delay Pedal https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0508

The TM300 Tube Amp Modeller isn't a favourite.  Although it can provide a couple of good and useful amp simulations that I have found for my tastes, those particular settings are a little noisy into the front end of an amp. I haven't tried it into the effects return of an amp though.  The pedal isn't as versatile as I hoped it might be.

The UO300 doesn't track nearly as well as some other octave pedals I've tried, but if it's modelled on an older Boss octaver then they didn't track particularly well either.

I like all the others, particularly the VD400 delay and the UT100 tremolo.  The DR600 reverb (and presumably the Boss pedal it is based on) doesn't go slowly enough for some people, but there are mods documented on YouTube and other websites to allow it to be set to slower speeds.  I don't use vibrato very much and that hasn't affected me.

I have found a few listings by people that have given their interpretations of the direct equivalent pedals by other companies like Boss that the Behringer pedals are based on.  I don't know how accurate those comparisons are, however given that many of us have never owned some of those Boss equivalents it would be hard for us to know.  The good thing is that at such a low price Behringer pedals have given us the opportunity to test different pedal types without the risk of having wasted money buying something more expensive that we didn't like.  I certainly don't think a Behringer pedal is four times less good than a Boss pedal, as the pricing might infer.

guitargeek62

Are we including the behinger-built TC-branded line here too? If so then the Dimension Chorus one is spectacular, as is the Thunderstorm Flanger (BF-2)x.

ICBM

BillDL said

The UO300 doesn't track nearly as well as some other octave pedals I've tried, but if it's modelled on an older Boss octaver then they didn't track particularly well either.

I don’t know if the circuit is exactly identical to the Boss, but it doesn’t sound the same to me - in my opinion not as good, although it still works ok.

euan

Plenty of people over the years have done the Behringer torture test video to show that the plastic casing survives abuse. In fact i know someone who did such a video and received a whole load of pedals from Behringer as a thanks.