I have about 10 or so Behringer pedals, and while some of them are just passable (Hi-Band Flanger), others are totally awesome (Chorus Space-C, Ultra Vibrato). Most of them are clones of discontinued Boss units. I put the UV300 against the ridiculously overpriced and overhyped Boss VB-2 and could find no difference that would warrant me paying the equivalent of 5 to 10 new Behr pedals for one used Boss, apart for snob appeal of course. I actually liked the Behr Vibrato better. Same goes for some of their Line 6 pedal clones. And their Sansamp ripoff.
It's very cool to rip on Behr in the business ethics department. Having grown up in the third world I can tell you though, in some eyes they're the Robin Hood of the musical instrument industry. Maybe selling Peavey knock offs at half price is not very noble, but at least they're putting tube amplification in the reach of most kids. 500 euros difference in price is a LOT of money in some places. And I don't think what they did to the Boss line is wrong at all. If Boss had any sense they would reissue the pedals that they are aware go for hefty chunks of money on ebay, instead of giving us yet another sad digital emulation.
Uli Behringer may be a villain to the staff of any major equipment manufacturer, but in these he's a hero
In the end, that's one company you know will make your dollar go the extra mile. They sure aren't Gibson, who would do better to pool their greens into cutting costs and QC instead of sponsoring garbage like Rock of Love or something similarly absurd.
Well said brother.
If you check my posts you'll see that I've actually said that when I worked in the industry, we had no problems with Behringer business wise at all. They deliver on time, and we rarely had to replace anyones gear or refund their money.
Where I worked we stocked most of their gear, the PA range, their guitar range, studio units, desks, the lot. I tried their pedal range extensively, personally I didn't like any of them, and didn't think they compaired favourably to Boss units, although I agree that Boss stuff is pretty average and overpriced.
Behringer rack stuff on the other hand is great value, high quality sounds and very robustly built IMO. For what it would cost in Behringer pedals to have decent delay, reverb, chorus, flange, phase, tremelo, other filter and modulation effects, decent eq, you'd get far better sounding efects and much better value buying a couple of their rack units such as the V-Verb pro, Virtualizer pro, and the Modualizer pro. Any of these units can be picked up brand new off ebay for silly money, or bought in store for way less than a bunch of pedals. For EQ and sound enhancement, I've used both the Sonic Ultramizer (a BBE rip off) and the Ultrafex pro through guitar rigs and they sound awesome. Again they are very cheap, almost as little as a boss graphic EQ pedal.
As for the new Bugera tube amps, I don't see where nobility or ethics comes into it. They're awesome amps, I have a 333xl and love it, and I'm gonna get the 6262 very soon. If anything I think by introducing this range at the prices they have, I think they've shown that other companies need to look in the mirror. There's quite a lot of stuff out there these days thats "assembled" in China for next to nothing, yet still sold at high end prices.
And as for development, yes other more "reputable" companies may indeed have spent a lot of time and money developing certain products, but there are a lot of high end companies out there that haven't had an original thought in decades, yet charge a 4 figure sum for a 30 yr old design in a new box. I know a few amp techs and have had the odd Marshall modded over the years. Often the replacement of a few pots costing very little can totaly revoice an amp. A pre amp mod to produce some high gain on an old 70s matser volume tube head can be done for as little as £50 with just a few parts. I know a few guys at the Marshall factory, and I know for a fact when they developed the MF350 and the new JVM head they had a bunch of stuff stripped down on the benches in the R&D department. If you buy a JVM 410, you're getting a Marshall/Mesa hirbyd in a Marshall box. More often than not, when an established company brings out a new range, its usually a variation on somehting they already have rather than something radically new. Re tooling to punch out a new chasis and front panel on a machine, a few minor changes to already mass produced circut boards etc doesn't take a company to the cleaners. True, smaller "boutique" amp companies do take some big risks with new ranges, but we're not talking that kind of company here. Bugera have ripped off a well established design of a company that can stand the competition. I dare bet that if Bugera had stuffed their amps into a vintage looking leatherette covered box, with some original sounding model numbers, no one would have batted an eye lid, and everyone would be saying just how great they are for the cash. There may not have been much imagination gone into the aesthetics but I think it was dam clever none the less. Every metal head skint kid that wants the sound they hear on their fave albums is going to take a serious look at these amps because of the way they look and the market they are targetting. Any experienced company in this business that isn't aware that they can easily be ripped off, and isn't ready for it only has themselves to blame. Gibson and Fender learned a long time ago that about the only thing they can patent is their name. Companies have shamelessly and ruthlessly ripped them off, often outselling them on some products and have themselves become "household" names. I remember when Ibanez, ESP, Washburn were just Gibson and Fender rip offs. Back to amps, in the 1970s if you bought a Marshall JTM45, a Park 100, a Laney stagematser 100, a Carlsbro 100top, a Highwatt 100, you got the same amp. The parts were all made by the same electronic factories in Britain, the boxes were chucked together by the same wood shops. Copying is nothing new.
I've gone over the Bugera heads, had the back off, had the chasis out etc. I can't see where they've cut any corners in the construction or parts. They built like tanks, weigh a ton, contain industry standard parts, look good, very well finished. If they can do it at that price, the others can too.
Many would say you only get what you pay for. Working in the industry for many years I would say very often what you are paying for is a plastic badge on the front of something. Bugera are proving that decent tone does not have to be exclusively for those with the bucks to afford it, it can be produced on a budget.
And there are poor kids in the US, here in the UK, all over Europe, Australia etc that no matter how many hours they put in sweeping up at Mucky fkn dees, can only ever dream of owning a Mesa, Peavey, Diezal etc.
