So the Behringer FX pedals have slowly started to find their way to the stores so I've took the EQ700 equaliser and TO100 overdrive pedal home for some testing. Might be of some help if you're looking for pedals yourselves. Both pedals were run into both a V-amp2 and Vox AD30VT using my AFS75 jazzbox. Batteries were used since I've had some noise problems using adapters with other brands of pedals. Both pedals were E19, just above $20 each.
The EQ pedal is a pretty obvious clone of the Boss GE7. It is housed in a yellow, plastic casing and features the same 7-band EQ sliders and general level slider. The plastic casing seems sturdy enough but I'd definitely won't feel as safe using these pedals compared to metal casings of most other brands. I myself will mostly use this for my home-recordings but if you are looking for a pedal to tour with you'd better bring a bunch of these pedals along. Then again, four of these pedals is cheaper then one Boss pedal. This pedal does create some noise at times, like pretty much any EQ pedal will, depending on how you use it. When used in a normal way the noise is pretty limited, but once you go boost certain frequencies too much you'll get noise quite like you'd get when increasing the gain on your amp. The sliders seem somewhat fragile, even compared to the faders and sliders they use on their cheaper mixer units. In short I got more then I expected for the pathetic ammount of money they charge for it. It works espescially well with the Vox amp, and really brings the shine out of some of the amp models. It can get a bit noisy and it isn't as durable as most other pedals but for this absurd price it is a downright steal.
The TO100 features the standard drive, tone and level knobs, which feel just as flimsy as the sliders on the EQ700. Seemed to be based pretty much on the Boss SD1 which I had some time ago. This pedal seems to have two basic ways to use it: either use the level knob to boost the pre-amp or use the drive knob to get the bulk of your gain out of the pedal. Using the drive knob seems to result in a pretty dominant output of the pedal, in that the differences between various amp models I tried get pretty darn small. When using it as a booster the results are much different. The older marshall models on the Vox suddenly come to live and some of the less usefull V-amp models actually turn out pretty decent with this pedal. The noise was way less then I expected and is quite like the noise you get with the SD1. if I have to be honest I have to say I like the drive sounds of the SD1 better then the TO100 but in the end both pedals fail to delived great tone on their own. When used to boost the amp further the TO100 functions very well.
Final notes: If you're looking to extend your effects-gear you might want to take a look at these pedals. I doubt they will survive regular gigging and if you're doing just that you should take a look at (somewhat) more epxansive brands like Zoom, Boss and Danelectro. If you just want some effects for home use these are perfect. Don't forget they cost just twenty bucks so don;t expect the ultimate in tone. I'm really impressed with the quality, the pedals simply are usefull. Thats more then I hoped for.
I couldn't try them in store but could take them home to try them for a week. They ain't going back. Can't wait for the compressor and tuner pedals to show up. :D
Thanks, Arjen, you've just about confirmed their place in society. I've got a Wah-pedal on order, so I'll let you know as soon as it arrives.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Well, it's hard to say anything else about them. It would be unfair to call it crap and hilarious to call it the best. It does the job and if you need more you can get something else. Anyway, really interested in the wah pedal as well, so can't wait to hear your opinions. Specs are great (both bass and guitar, optic control) Their volume pedal has an excellent feel to it so if they base it on that it might well replace my George Dennis wah. :lol:
Arjen,
With the exception of the Wah pedal and maybe the acoustic pedal Behringer makes, why would you need to use these if you already have V-Amp? Now I have heard that the distortion from the V-Amp (or PodXT for that matter) still have a ways to go to sound like the distortion pedals but to me it sounds just about perfect!
Thanks
Why? Because it sounds different. Your JCM800 model with gain at 40% sounds quite different from my JCM with no gain at all and the pedal set at 40%. It doesn't replace the V-amp sounds, it adds to it. Or I can boost a relatively clean channel on the Vox, that stays around overdrive with max gain, further. Finally, I use it with the keybord and bass. Sounded to me like reason enough to spend E19. :lol:
Arjen, have you seen the cheaper Danelectro ones there yet? Priced about $15US? Presumably priced to compete. There's an overdrive, a distortion and a metal distortion. Obviously they've cut some corners as well, but I'm quite enjoying my 'FAB distortion'.
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
Seen them, played them, they're fine as well. Only downside is they cost twice as much in Holland, for no obvious reason.
Ouch :x
At least there are some options now that most people can afford.
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
The reason for using individual pedals as against a multi-fx unit is resources.
Multi-fx units share resources, which is what makes them cheap(er). You have one power supply, one processor (maybe more than one, but who knows) and one "input unit" (i.e knobs, switches, etc.). So, you can think of it as one PC with a multi-fx software.
Individual pedals, on the other hand, are totally discrete - they share nothing with any other pedal. This is one PC per effect.
The thing about multi-fx units is that they have to time share - they process a little bit of the signal for effect 1, then take that snippet and process it for effect 2, which then goes to be processed by effect 3, etc.
Discrete units process a piece of data and pass it to the output, which passes it to the input of the next effect, whilst the first effect is processing something else.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
I have become a big fan of Behringer products, I love my GMX-212, and my UB1202 mixer. I will check out the new FX pedals :D Thanks for the review Arjen!! --the dog
Where can I find these online for order? O'm interested in the octave and hte EQ...
http://www.music123.com/Guitar-Effects-d733.music
Unfortunately I don't see the equalizer.
Seems here the Behringer are US$5 more than the Danelectro- go figure :roll:
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
hey, i've been looking at those danelectro FAB pedals, I don't really know which one I need yet, but what can you say about the FAB distortiob. I know it's not going to be perfect as its a $20, but I thought Id get it, just to see what it can do.
The Behringer pedals have just been released in Europe. Might take some weeks before they get to the States, they have tens and tens of different pedals.
Well, I don't have anything to really compare it to at the moment, that said...
I'm running it into the Blues Jr. 15watt tube.
It does seem a bit noisy. It okay with my tele, prefers humbuckers of course.
I've no doubt I'll ungrade eventually, probably add a tubescreamer and a hot cake to the arsenal, over the next few years with any luck :D
But for $20 I think the FAB is a perfectly decent bedroom pedal. Maybe next week I can get around to putting some sound samples up. Just so long as everyone promises to ignore my awful playing.
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
