boss vs Behringer

[Jobiebass]

been looking at pedals, I know jack all about, Boss and Behringer look and sound to my ears pretty much the same.
I have a Behringer Limiter/Enhancer, newly purchaced. And I like it a lot, not sure wether to carry on with Behringer pedals or go the boss route.

Obviously there are loads of others I can experiment with later but these seam to be the budget pedals to start with. I could be wrong.


Could do with a Flanger, Overdrive (general destortion not for metal/thrash) and Chorus if you know of any going cheep.

[Kev]

obviouly boss's build quality is greater, there is no arguement there

about half of behringers effects are pretty much as good as the boss equivilant, and the rest aint as good

all imo of course

[Silent Fly]

I am not sure I can answer with just one tick. (Sorry)

It depends what they compete for.

Build quality? Sound? Price? Value for money?

It also depends on the pedal.

I prefer the build quality of Boss but for some pedals I don't really mind if the Behringer equivalent doesn't sound as good as the Boss. Sometimes I look for the best sound quality I can get and I buy EBS or other brands.

Edited June 16, 2008 by Silent Fly

[squire5]

It was actually a multi choice poll.you can click more than 1 answer.

[Oscar South]

I don't rate most boss effects pedals, maybe the tuner, the EQ, the Noisegate, the Delays, basically utility pedals like that are ok but I can't stand any of their 'tone dependent' stuff. I've used a bunch of them including wahs, distortions, compressers, phasers etc., the modded CS3 I think is decent but better for guitar or vocal than for bass but all my boss stuff now has been sold and replaces with, MXR, Aphex, EHX and Korg pedals.

On the other hand most of their effects are excellent for electric guitars.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Soundwise all of the behringer pedals I have bought (and I have quite a few) are easily as good as much more expensive equivalents. The only one I've tried that I didn't like was the Bass Synth pedal, but I didn't think much of the boss equivalent either. The Behringer pedal tuner is good for guitar, but crap for bass.

I only use two pedals live - the limiter/enhancer which is my favorite compressor & the silver BDI21 preamp. I used to have the brown acoustic version of that & it really warmed up my Dean Pace electric upright bass & acoustic guitars, but like a fool I chucked it in when I sold my pace & I still miss it slightly. Obviously the construction of the behringers isn't tankproof like the boss equivalents, but if a £20 pedal bites the dust its not a big deal to just buy another. I look after mine and I haven't had any problems with them.

[foal30]

I like the Boss gear partially because you can gig it with confidence. Reliable and sturdy.

I think the PQ-3B is good as a solo boost and the BF-2B is cool because pumping 8's with a flang is one of Bass Pleasures.

[Dread Bass]

Em yeah like others have said simply Boss or of a higher build quality but i dont think by that much really mind u its nearly impossible to kill a boss pedal. Some of the behringer stuff soundwise is great some not so same applies to boss.

[cheddatom]

I would use the B2.1U for "Flanger, Overdrive (general destortion not for metal/thrash) and Chorus"

If you're going to play gigs, and you're playing heavy stuff, and you get a bit carried away (like me) then heavy duty pedals are a must. That being said, the little danelectro ones seem to stand up to my stomping.

[Toasted]

It's too hard to call. Some of the boss stuff is really great - and at least it's mostly "original designs" vs Behringer's blatant rip-offs.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Toasted

[nick]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='220221' date='Jun 16 2008, 09:23 PM']Soundwise all of the behringer pedals I have bought (and I have quite a few) are easily as good as much more expensive equivalents. The only one I've tried that I didn't like was the Bass Synth pedal, but I didn't think much of the boss equivalent either. The Behringer pedal tuner is good for guitar, but crap for bass.

I only use two pedals live - the limiter/enhancer which is my favorite compressor & the silver BDI21 preamp. I used to have the brown acoustic version of that & it really warmed up my Dean Pace electric upright bass & acoustic guitars, but like a fool I chucked it in when I sold my pace & I still miss it slightly. Obviously the construction of the behringers isn't tankproof like the boss equivalents, but if a £20 pedal bites the dust its not a big deal to just buy another. I look after mine and I haven't had any problems with them.[/quote]

I had a Behringer tuner, then got a Boss. Regrettably sold the Behringer, actually found it better on bass than the Boss, tracked better particularly on D-string. However, Behringer had a ridiculous battery consumption in comparison to Boss & build quality much inferior - especially battery compartment, which would have undoubtably broken given time & more useage.

I have a BDI21, though it wont see that much use now I've got a Trace valve head. However, will definitely keep it, as it's good for recording & when using other people's amps at gigs etc.
In comparison to the Sansamp which I had before, I would say it's actually quite good, especially considering price. Sansamp 8.5/10 - BDI21 7/10
With the exception of the plastic box (which seems tough enough for average use) I think build quality on BDI21 is OK.

Cheers

[Stan_da_man]

[quote name='Toasted' post='220378' date='Jun 17 2008, 09:33 AM']It's too hard to call. Some of the boss stuff is really great - and at least it's mostly "original designs" vs Behringer's blatant rip-offs.[/quote]
And if we still had "original designs" we'd all be playing Fenders still. The Behringer BDI21 easily matches the Sansamp BDDI in sound, just not on build quality. Still a fantastic pedal.

[thumbo]

Save your bucks and buy just a few really nice pedals, you won't regret it.

[ahpook]

[quote name='Oscar South' post='220220' date='Jun 16 2008, 09:22 PM']I don't rate most boss effects pedals, maybe the tuner, the EQ, the Noisegate, the Delays, basically utility pedals like that are ok but I can't stand any of their 'tone dependent' stuff. I've used a bunch of them including wahs, distortions, compressers, phasers etc., the modded CS3 I think is decent but better for guitar or vocal than for bass but all my boss stuff now has been sold and replaces with, MXR, Aphex, EHX and Korg pedals.

On the other hand most of their effects are excellent for electric guitars.[/quote]

plus the one.

boss may be bulletproof, but imho they are pretty poor when it comes to the sounds they make. they do good tuners tho.

i much prefer mxr or ehx tbh.

as for the behringer vs. boss...i'd say it al depends on what you wnt it for...

Edited June 17, 2008 by ahpook

[Kev]

+1 for mxr, aint tried an mxr pedal yet that i havnt been impressed by, cant say the same for boss, although i will say that generally i think mxr pedals are a little on the expensive side

[cheddatom]

I think boss have some good pedals - LMB-3, MT-2, ODB-3, DS-1, DD-3, DD-6, all of their phasers are fiendish IMHO and also the PW-10, i'd love one of those.

[Kev]

never tried a ds-1 or the phasers, but i agree the other pedals you said are indeed great

[lowhand_mike]

tried my behringer compressor sustainer side by side with my guitarists modded boss version, and to be honest the behringer sounded much cleaner. theres really not much in it imo apart from the price and at £20 for the behringer you cant really go wrong, yeah you can go and spend wads but for your first pedals they are a steal.

[ahpook]

[quote name='BassManKev' post='220456' date='Jun 17 2008, 11:08 AM']although i will say that generally i think mxr pedals are a little on the expensive side[/quote]

they are a tad pricey but i think the sounds are worth it.


and they're much cuter than boss pedals ^_^

[Kev]

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='220471' date='Jun 17 2008, 11:23 AM']tried my behringer compressor sustainer side by side with my guitarists modded boss version, and to be honest the behringer sounded much cleaner. theres really not much in it imo apart from the price and at £20 for the behringer you cant really go wrong, yeah you can go and spend wads but for your first pedals they are a steal.[/quote]
+10000

the behringer compressor is one behringer effect that IMO beats the Boss, but interesting that you think it beats the modded version too, iv never tried the modded, just stock

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='BassManKev' post='220479' date='Jun 17 2008, 11:30 AM']+10000

the behringer compressor is one behringer effect that IMO beats the Boss, but interesting that you think it beats the modded version too, iv never tried the modded, just stock[/quote]

the modded one was quite noisey, too much hiss, it just didnt sound right where as the behringer was virtually transparent.

[Paul Cooke]

not particularly fussed... I have one pedal board set up at church with BDI-21, BLE-100 and TU-100 on them: yeah, the tuner sucks for bass and has problems tuning the E string, so I work around it by tuning the A, D & G and then tune the E to the A. Otherwise, it's a solid setup for a good thick tone to put into the PA... the congregation aren't too keen of fancy effects...

Otherwise I'm torn between my Zoom B2.1U and my Boss ME-20B... the Zoom is far easier to change patches with in the heat of the moment... (The Boss is limited to the three in the current bank and takes some time changing banks...), however, the Boss has some great default patches. The slap one is awesome... with that patch, it's almost impossible to sound bad when slapping, even with flats on the bass... but the Boss doesn't have the ability to pitch shift which allows me to play in Eb with a standard tuned Bass by shifting everything down a semitone.

I'm looking at making a second pedal board with both the Zoom and Boss on it and a select switch to change which one is in circuit...

[Oscar South]

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='220484' date='Jun 17 2008, 11:43 AM']the modded one was quite noisey, too much hiss, it just didnt sound right where as the behringer was virtually transparent.[/quote]

Which mod are you talking about? My old modded CS-3 (Monte Allums) was practically noiseless, you got a TINY bit of hiss if you turned the sustain dial to max but thats it. Used it for recording vocals and guitars with absolutely no noise problems, sold it and got an Aphex Punch Factory because I couldn't find a use for it on bass Its the best pedal I've ever used for an acoustic guitar though, made it sound 1000x better.

[lateralus462]

I paid six quid for a new Behringer BLE100 Limiter/Enhancer from Thoman - Six quid and it's easily as good as the Boss equivelent. OK the build quality is crap but at that price if it breaks I'll just buy another. Whats the point in spending 60 quid for the Boss when there's no difference in sound quality?

[simon1964]

[quote name='Toasted' post='220378' date='Jun 17 2008, 09:33 AM']It's too hard to call. Some of the boss stuff is really great - and at least it's mostly "original designs" vs Behringer's blatant rip-offs.[/quote]

I've genuinely never understood this argument, which always seems to be thrown at Behringer. I'm not a huge fan of their stuff, but why is a copy of a Boss pedal more reprehensible than, say, a cheap copy of a Fender Bass, which loads of us will have happily owned at some time.

And where does that leave the expensive ''super-jazz'' basses by the likes of Lakland, Sadowsky, Sandberg, and others? Is it OK to do copies, but only if you charge more than the original?!


I agree that the build quality isn't up to Boss standards, and I can see that there are issues with producing copies, but I'm always puzzled as to why it always crops up in discussions on Behringer equipment but not other manufactures who produce derivative designs.