Behringer

I believe everyone deserves a second chance. That includes companies. Sometimes the best product can turn out to be faulty or outright dead on arrival. You phone the dealer and the guy that answers is having a very bad day, and you get the brunt of it. So everyone needs a second chance.

If you get the same problems the second time around, it’s time to reconsider.

How’s about a third time?

Enter Behringer.

Behringer is a company which offers products that are low in cost but have exceptional features for the price point in compared to other companies. Their products are heavily used amongst amateurs and entry level professionals that cannot afford top end gear, but seek the most benefits at the lowest cost.

They have a reputation for taking other companies designs and using them as templates. There’s been a court case or two but I won’t hold this against them since I’m sure every company picks apart each others products and salvages ideas. I assume Behringer gets more publicity because some designs probably look too similar to the copied counterparts. Nonetheless, I’m not interested in behind the scenes company wars, I’m interested in the performance of the product.

Here’s my story.

One of the volume controls on my ULTRAGAIN PRO MIC2200 Pre-Amp, was not registering beyond the half way mark. In other words, it could increase the volume half of what it’s supposed to on the one channel.

At the time I was given the ULTRAVOICE VX2000 by another sound engineer
since it wasn’t working at all. I decided to go to a Behringer authorized repairman to see if I could get them both fixed. My thoughts were if the Vox was not worth fixing, perhaps I could use one of the volume knobs on it to replace the one on the tube amp.

We’ll he told me that the UltraVoice amp was finished and it would cost more to repair than to replace. So I made my suggestion known about replacing the knobs. I came to learn that each volume control uses different resistances and thus cannot be inter-switched. You need the specific control made for it’s own device. But no problem, he contact the Behringer supplier for the volume knob.

They didn’t keep volume controllers in stock.

He asked them if they had any other damaged units, or units specifically kept aside for parts.

Nope.

Well that meant ordering one from overseas. So the Behringer representative ordered some.
I bothered the hell out of the repair guy. I mean I needed to record and mix while the unit was sitting open with it’s guts spewing out in the shop. So he was kind enough to let me use a SoundCraft mixer he never used. Being appeased, I dropped by periodically for updates.

The first shipment, they forget to send them.
The second shipments they sent the wrong controls.
Third and fourth shipments I don’t even remember.

3 months went by. 6 months went by. Excuse after excuse.

After a solid year, they still did not have the volume knobs(!) I had moved in the process, the repairman relocated too, and my unit in all it’s pieces were lost. So we agreed that I’ll just keep the mixer and forget about the whole thing.

Unfortunately like so many rising engineers with limited budget I also decided on a pair of Behringer monitors too. Like I said everyone deserves a second chance. Lo’ and behold, right after the guaruntee was up… problems started happening. You can read all about them in my review here.

Behringer used up all it’s strikes on their brilliant incompetence in getting a simple volume knob. But even if you want to just call that whole incident one massive fluk, they struck out when my monitors started giving trouble right after the guarantee expired. Needless to say I never bothered getting them repaired.

I also recall looking to purchase a mixer and the Xenyx Behringer mixer on display wasn’t even working properly.

Summary:

Behringer products generally have more than the usual features for it’s price point. This makes them extremely attractive to people entering the industry with limited budgets needing maximum benefits. However the flip side is that the quality is most definitely compromised. To the point that it’s simply not worth it.
Their products are guaranteed for 1 year. In the audio enthusiast and sound engineering field, this is not acceptable unless the gear has a reputation for reliability. Costs are very high for audio equipment, and one expects the investment to last. Definitely not the case with Behringer. It might even be acceptable if  you received quality service and ready replacements when breakdowns occur. Again, not the case with Behringer.

For those entering the industry, I know that Behringer is exceptionally appealing. I cannot suggest more strongly though to invest you money elsewhere. It is especially crucial at the beginning stages, where you need gear you can rely on.

The only way I could suggest using Behringer products is if you need to build a studio as fast and cheaply as possible, and plan on selling the gear off within a year. But then I feel sorry for the poor sap that buys it from you.

Sonic Brilliance Rating: *