The Behringer/BOSS Faceoff

[exin]

I think alot of us who own pedals have encountered this ... go for a cheapo Behringer or get a well-known BOSS pedal that alot of people are using ...

Firstly, does anyone here own a Behringer pedal? If so, what's the model and the effect and what are your thoughts on it?

What do you think of Behringer "copying" BOSS designs and circuitry?


I used to own a CS100 Compressor Sustainer from Behringer before i sold it off to get my BOSS LMB-3 Limiter Enhancer ... honestly, i thought Behringer products, despite being German-designed and Chinese-made ... compared on equal standing with BOSS. The circuitry for Behringer's must be ... compartively low-grade compared to BOSS for them to bring it down to such a low price, not to mention the plastic casing they use for the stomp box itself.

The drawback i found on Behringers is that, when you want to replace the battery, goodness, it's like trying to get the Excalibur out of the stone man .. seriously, you have to push the pivot on both sides of the top cover to get it in to take out the top so that you can put the battery in. BAD DESIGN.

But tonewise and effectwise ... i thought Behringers were amazing stuff for it's price.

BTW ... where's the Behringer shop in Singapore? i remember a friend going down to Parklane and said it was there but i couldn't find it ...

 

[subversion]

Behringer pedals are available @ Luther...

i own a Pre-amp booster which i use for both guitar & bass output enhancements. when i bought the pedal, it wasn't a consolation for not owning a BOSS equivalent (is there a BOSS pre-amp booster?). just wanted something cheap & useful & it was just that.

Behringer pedals are employing the same locking mechanism as the Digitech units but the reception to the latter pedals are more accomodating- mainly because the latter brand name has less technical issues in the long run...

 

[theblueark]

The Behringer shop at Parklane has been closed for quite some time. Luther is now the official distributer of Behringer as far as I know.

I own the Behringer chorus which I bought for some projects and for fun at $40 second hand. It's a really thick and overly heavy chorus, I prefer the Danelectro FAB one which costs $40 from Yamaha first hand, if we were to compare pedals of that price.

The Behringer pedals have really cheap parts and if you remove he baseplate, you'll find you'll end up with what feels like a toy. The metal baseplate accounts for 80% of the weight of the pedal.

The potentiometers on the Behringer pedals are surface mounted onto the PCB, but are not attached in any way to the enclosure. This probably means that if you twiddle with the knobs a lot, eventually they will break off.

The battery compartment is the stupidest design ever and I broke the whole plastic part the first time I opened it to change the battery. I now switch on the pedal by sticking my pinky into the hole to press the little tiny switch Behringer calls first class switches. Maybe I'm clumsy but that still sucks.

As far as how the rest of the line sounds, I'm not to experienced with them. But trying them out through the ss amps at luther I feel they are really lacking tonewise.

 

[exin]

I got to agree that the battery compartment is a seriously dumb design. Getting it in and out is already troublesome enough ... not to mention the plastic parts that scares you a little when you try to get it up.

Mentioning the knobs, that's kind of scary if they do break off ...

I read some reviews that Behringer's tone can be comparable and some people say better than BOSS.

 

[Colarndo]

Behringer's line of pedals was shamlessly ripped off from BOSS.
BOSS sued them but all they did was to change the color of the pedals.
Behringer is famous for Reverse Engineering. They copy the actual products, but produce it as a lower quality version.

 

[exin]

Behringer's line of pedals was shamlessly ripped off from BOSS.
BOSS sued them but all they did was to change the color of the pedals.
Behringer is famous for Reverse Engineering. They copy the actual products, but produce it as a lower quality version.

Hahahahah ... i could tell man ... when i first saw the stomp box line i could immediately tell that they ripped off from BOSS somehow ...

But i have to admit their Bass Cabs and Bass combo amps are nice ... tried one not too long ago and it sounded good ..

 

[theblueark]

Actually they changed the shape too. When they showcased it at NAMM it was exactly the same colour and shapes as BOSS. They got into some trouble and so changed the shape.

See here's their display during the convention:

Funny story I heard:

Some guy went to the NAMM show and stopped at the Behringer booth. They showed him their new mixers. The guy said, "that's a Mackie mixer". The Behringer people replied, "It's true that our mixers bear many resemblences to Mackie mixers"

(There is some copying and disputes between Mackie and Behringer too btw)

To which the guy said, "No I mean that IS a Mackie mixer, I can see the Mackie logo."

Apparently Behringer couldn't come up with a prototype in time for NAMM, so they took a Mackie mixer, spray painted white over the enclosure and the logo, and displayed it as their own. But you could see the shape of the logo because the decal is not flat on the surface.

 

[jony]

Behringer's line of pedals was shamlessly ripped off from BOSS.
BOSS sued them but all they did was to change the color of the pedals.
Behringer is famous for Reverse Engineering. They copy the actual products, but produce it as a lower quality version.

Hahahahah ... i could tell man ... when i first saw the stomp box line i could immediately tell that they ripped off from BOSS somehow ...

But i have to admit their Bass Cabs and Bass combo amps are nice ... tried one not too long ago and it sounded good ..

I do have fun looking at some Behringer pedals and say.. Ah thats equivalent to the Boss DS-2.

Behringer will really do well to go and clone some Boss pedals that have been discontinued.

 

[subversion]

Behringer's hinge/ battery access mechanism is a hateful contraption only because it's plastic.

 

[Guest]

25 June - 1 July 2005
Behringer to base its operational HQ in Singapore.

Maker of audio equipment for the music industry, Behringer also announced its plans to invest $10 million to set up a research and development centre in Singapore over the next three years. The R&D centre is expected to employ 50 engineers by end of next year. Its CEO cited Singapore's infrastructure, communication link, business competencies and proximity to Asia as the reasons for the decision to base their headquarters here.

Extracted from: http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/news_economy_article20050701b.shtml

Behringer's recent recruitement needs:
http://sg.jobstreet.com/jobs/2006/6/default/20/1003764.htm

Hey, $10,000,000 investment in R&D here. Hope some talented musician & engineer SOFTies can go in, do us proud, be innovative and improve on the future products' design. Err... and don't copy. :lol:

 

[exin]

25 June - 1 July 2005
Behringer to base its operational HQ in Singapore.

Maker of audio equipment for the music industry, Behringer also announced its plans to invest $10 million to set up a research and development centre in Singapore over the next three years. The R&D centre is expected to employ 50 engineers by end of next year. Its CEO cited Singapore's infrastructure, communication link, business competencies and proximity to Asia as the reasons for the decision to base their headquarters here.

Extracted from: http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/news_economy_article20050701b.shtml

Behringer's recent recruitement needs:
http://sg.jobstreet.com/jobs/2006/6/default/20/1003764.htm

Hey, $10,000,000 investment in R&D here. Hope some talented musician & engineer SOFTies can go in, do us proud, be innovative and improve on the future products' design. Err... and don't copy. :lol:

Plagurism is bad ...

anyway .. the NAMM show pedals are .. goodness .. pure BOSS copies man .. seriously .. i think they had that screwdriver thingy for the cover also .. and i bet the pedal cover to get to the battery is just there because they had to change it cos BOSS sued them .. goodness ..