Behringer vs Boss (other specific questions too)

[HeavyXIII]

So, I've seen that Behringer's line of pedals is almost entirely clones of other pedals. Normally this isn't a striking thing to me. However, based on a few key demos and research (involving the VB-2 and FZ-2) they don't sound too bad. The biggest issues I hear about are their longevity and buffered bypass.

So here are my specific questions for those of you in the know:

- How involved of a process is improving the buffer on a pedal that needs to retain it's buffered bypass? (as opposed to true bypass conversion, which is supposedly simpler)
- Complexity of relocation to an aluminum box. How much?

In my case, my eye is on the DR400, which is more or less a clone of ye olde RV-3. I figure is the DR400 were really that good, they'd pop up more often and perhaps the legit RV-3s would sell for less. However, as was the case with the VB-2 and FZ-2, they're kind of "sleepers", and I wonder if the DR400 is similar?

Any opinions on the differences? Even between pedals I didn't mention?

[alexsga]

I had a bad experience with a BSY600 (a Boss SYB-5 copy). After a couple of weeks of buying it, the footswitch began acting up but worse still was the fact that the output from my bass gradually seemed to become too much for the pedal and started farting out. I used Behringer's expression pedal that was supposed to work with it and THAT started to fail too.

I also briefly had a DR400 to replace my RV-3 but to my ears it sounded a lot more sterile and there was a ton of hiss! Awful.

I now prefer the peace of mind that the Boss boxes give me over hissy, plastic Chinese Behringers. To me that extra bit of cash is worth it. I would not, however, spend hundreds on a VB-2. If I was that desperate for that underwhelming "vibrato" sound the VB-2 yields, maybe then I'd consider the Behringer clone.

[Ro_S]

I can't see the point in modifying or rehousing a behringer; you might as well as get the Boss, second-hand or new.

Or, alternatively, get a better quality cheap pedal like Daphon, GLX or Biyang tonefancier - many of those are rip-offs of boss pedals too.

[Doctor X]

the vb-2 version is pretty good, you could always leave it on in a loop to get around the buffer

[Kiruya]

I can't see the point in modifying or rehousing a behringer; you might as well as get the Boss, second-hand or new.

Or, alternatively, get a better quality cheap pedal like Daphon, GLX or Biyang tonefancier - many of those are rip-offs of boss pedals too.

Daphon, Biyang are good enough for the buck, and Eno pedals are better, I think. They are rip-offs of famous brand pedals.
Here is what I get:

DA-3 is BOSS DS-1,
OD-9 is Ibanez TS-9,
DM-3 is EHX Metal Muff,
DSO-2 is Fulltone OCD,
DR-1S is ProCo Rat,
DS-1 is Mi Audio Crunch Box,
OCT-1 Octaver-Boss OC-2 Octave
Eno BMF Fuzz is Big Muff
Eno CH-2 is Boss CH-1

They are about 30 bucks, that is amazing.
Looks like Mooer pedal.

[MEC]

Here is some info on quality and rehousing:

http://ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=14 ... =Behringer

http://ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=15 ... =Behringer

[julius_deane]

I've owned a few Behringers and Bosses and Danos and such.
-I've done some testing with a tpb loop and found no issues with the buffers, although your results may vary.
-When the pedal is on, that's when problems may begin. For example, the Behringer clone of the Verbzilla starts cutting volume over 50% wet or so.
-The hardware is unreliable. About half of the ones I've owned ended up with some kind of issue in months or less. For example, the Behringer multi effect I bought often shuts off randomly now.

In my opinion, they're a great way to try things our get some variety in your room, but I wouldn't trust them when you need something reliable.

I've never had issues with any boss stuff.

As a disclaimer when I talk about stuff like this, I always mention that I've had issues with boutique pedals too, it's just easier to get those fixed or fix them yourself usually. :-)

[bigchiefbc]

It seems it falls on me to be the only guy to defend Behringer/Bugera around here. I have 2 Behringer mixers, a Behringer USB recording interface, a Bugera head, and 5 Behringer pedals, and have yet to have any one of them fail on me. Oh and my cover band uses a mix of QSC and Behringer power amps and a Behr fx unit in our PA rack and one of our monitors is Behr. The only QC issue I've encountered out of any of them is ONE of my BSY600s has an issue with the footswitch, so that sometimes when trying to turn it off, it thinks I'm trying to go into "hold" mode instead. I just keep it in one of the loops of my Boss LS-2.

It's so weird that so many people around the web report this litany of problems, but I've somehow been lucky enough to have all this Behringer gear, I gig out with all of it, and it's all held up. I guess I don't know how to explain it, but whatever.

[FlyingVFanatic]

Ive had a couple of Behringer Pedals in the past few years, a HD300 distortion (apparently a clone of the Boss MD2? ) and it sounded reasonably okay for when i was in my nuthin but metal days, though it quickly developed an annoying issue with the Level control... It popped up a millimetre or so, and that silenced the pedal... So either i had to keep my foot on the controls, or tape it in position....
I also had a Behringer Phase Shifter of some kind and... It just sucked balls man... I couldnt get anything but totally useless sounds out of it.... Nothing like the small stone i just got.....

Oh, this is how the HD300 looks right now