Behringer- $20 pedal! by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
Thick steel bottom plate! by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
Alright, so the first thing I did was take off the bottom of the pedal. I thought they were all plastic, but at the very bottom of the pedal is a really thick steel plate-- and it's grounded. It adds some weight and shielding. Without it the pedal would be so light you'd have to have it velcro'd down to step on it. Srsly. The plate alone seems heavier than a lot of boutique aluminum pedals. Kinda wish they'd switch to aluminum, since one of the things I liked about it being made of plastic was how light it could be. ... ok, that's the only thing I liked about it being plastic.
... where have I seen this before? by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
This looks familiar. I always hear that Behringer stole Boss's enclosure, but it's actually Digitech's. It uses the same switch setup and even the same method of getting to the battery.
How to keep from breaking the pots... by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
One thing you hear a lot about is the plastic knobs and pots. This is pretty clever. The knob goes fairly tightly down into the hole, so they can't move side to side. And there's that little groove that keeps it from being pressed down. Basically, you're not going to break the pots without breaking through the plastic enclosure first. Which brings me to...
ABS! Not the cheap stuff. by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
The enclosures are made of ABS-- that's what they make things like flight cases and a lot of portable industrial equipment out of. My dad uses these old Simpson analog multimeters that are made of thinner plastic than this and those things will take a POUNDING. Plastic isn't always a bad thing. I know there are environmental concerns with plastics, but as far as any structural concerns... I think they're fairly unfounded.
The footswitch part is twice as thick as the rest of the pedal, too. So that helps even more.
Guts! by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
Now, the good part. The guts. Everything is mounted to the board and pretty solid quality. The board itself is -way- better than the cheap crap EHX uses. The pots are Alps brand, and basically the same as the little pots I use on the sides of the VTFs. The jacks are the only thing in there I'd have any concern with, and I doubt they're all that bad. Again, they go through the enclosure so there's a bit of structural support.
Machine soldering! w00h! by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
Here's the back side of the PCB. It's all SMD other than the pots and electrolytic caps, and it's all soldered perfectly. It's done by machines, so it should be. There is -some- truth to the idea that SMD could be noisier, just because smaller parts can be noisier (especially resistors), but I don't think it's a legit concern for pedals, really.
Hand soldering! ... errmm... by McSpunckleFX, on Flickr
The battery snap is hand soldered... badly. I'm sure it's structurally fine, especially since they loop the wire through the board first, but the soldering here is really awful. Almost hilariously so.
Now, things that pictures can't show:
The footswitch feels kinda bad. I think the rubber thing that presses the switch is a bit stiff and/or too long. And the plastic kinda creaks on the spring. It does lead to it feeling cheap.
Plastic will always look cheaper, and there's that concern of noise. I tested it pretty quickly and there's really no noise that you wouldn't expect from a dirt pedal. The knobs are reasonably responsive, and the tone... well I don't have anything to compare it to, but it sounds pretty cool. It's a bass overdrive and I don't have a great bass rig right now (or a working bass), but I do dig clean blends on guitar, and it's pretty sweet for that.
Overall, after opening it up, I'd go Behringer over Boss alllllll day. If I had a problem with noise, I'd just tin foil the insides and call it a day. It'd be really easy to do. They'd also be great if you needed a type of pedal, but wanted to hold out for a cool one from a small builder, and needed something in a pinch.
In conclusion, I think think Behringer pedals are fucking cool and the hate is mostly unfounded.
