Behringer Amps

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:12 pm

Anyone been forced to record Behringer Amps before? I'm recording some high school kids next week and they have Behringer amps. The guitarist has a V-Tone GMX212, which surprisingly gets good reviews on Harmony Central, and the bass player has an Ultrabass 1200. I might try to get them to use one of my amps or go DI if theirs don't work out, but am wondering if anyone has been able to get good recorded sounds out of the above mentioned amps and if so, do you have any tips, other than capturing a DI signal and reamping on the down-low.

I should add, that they want the production to sound like Nirvana. I did not clarify whether that meant Endino-era Nirvana, Vig-era Nirvana or Albini-era. I am assuming it just means big and heavy sounding.

-Bret

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:16 pm

Why don't you just turn down the job and say you don't want the gig?

rhythm ranch · Post by **rhythm ranch** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:28 pm

Have you heard the amps yet? I'll admit that there's a possibility they'll sound like ass, but I'd want to hear them before I made a call.

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:02 am

KennyLusk wrote:Why don't you just turn down the job and say you don't want the gig?

Actually, I do want the gig. Just wanting to do some homework so I can be prepared. I just thought I'd see if anyone has some anecdotal experience with these amps. They can't afford much time so the more I know going in, the smoother it will hopefully go.

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:04 am

rhythm ranch wrote:Have you heard the amps yet? I'll admit that there's a possibility they'll sound like ass, but I'd want to hear them before I made a call.

Yeah, I'm not ruling out the possibility that they will work, and ulitmately if the band likes the recorded sound of them then my job is done.

Thanks.

Chris_Avakian · Post by **Chris_Avakian** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:48 am

i had a band come through with one of their 8x10 cabs.. cant recall what head, but the cab sounded lousy. they had it for a few months, and had already managed to blow i think 2, or 3 of the speakers. thats all my experiance.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:05 am

I always thought of Nirvana's production (all era's) as at least having the commonality of Cobain's guitar's being very straight-forward and rather simple. So getting a DI track on everything like you mentioned before might be your saving grace. Then you can re-amp to your heart's content and the band will love you for it. Guitarists love tone and just because they play through behri amps doesn't necessarily mean they enjoy it. They may be hoping you'll offer to let them run through one of your house rigs and will jump on that opportunity.

wiggins · Post by **wiggins** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:44 am

I don't have any experience with the guitar head you mentioned, but I recorded a band with the Ultrabass head a month or two ago.

It takes some serious EQ tweaking, but you can get it to sound decent. If you have access to a different 1x15 or 2x15 cab, I'd use it. Behringer Cabs are complete shit.

Tips:
1. Do not use "Ultrabass" knob. At all.
2. Be careful with the "contour" knob. I kept it, oh jeez i can't remember.... if there's an in/out switch for the contour section, turn it off, if not, try to get as much mids as you can out of it.
3. For eq, I'd recommend turning the high-high's all the way down, and using high-mids for clarity. In general, try to get a good amount of mids out of it. The speaker responds better to the shitty amp when its getting mids pushed like crazy through it.
4. Sit and play around with it. Take serious time to do this. Don't settle, or you'll regret it.

The head can sound pretty decent, she just needs to be shown who wears the pants in the relationship...

The bass the kid's playing through will make a big difference too.

jv · Post by jv » Sat Jul 22, 2006 8:01 am

Is there any chance you can hear them (practice?) before you do the gig? The other thing is, you could just ask them if they want to try your amps if they get there and you can tell their amps suck. They might jump at the chance- I doubt that they bought the Behringer stuff because of it's perfect tone.

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 8:54 am

KennyLusk wrote:I always thought of Nirvana's production (all era's) as at least having the commonality of Cobain's guitar's being very straight-forward and rather simple. So getting a DI track on everything like you mentioned before might be your saving grace. Then you can re-amp to your heart's content and the band will love you for it. Guitarists love tone and just because they play through behri amps doesn't necessarily mean they enjoy it. They may be hoping you'll offer to let them run through one of your house rigs and will jump on that opportunity.

Yeah, I did some looking at guitar geek, and he was pretty much going through a boss ds2 (iirc) going through a Mesa .22 rack preamp, into a crown power amp to the speaker cabs. I did suggest to them that they can use one of my amps if they want, which was met with polite skepticism. So as long as they are comfortable with their recorded sound, I will work with what they have but still have a DI signal as a safety net.

I also worked up a rough tracksheet last night and it looks like I have enough channels to capture a DI and amp mic from both guitar and bass in the initial tracking.

wiggins wrote:I don't have any experience with the guitar head you mentioned, but I recorded a band with the Ultrabass head a month or two ago.

It takes some serious EQ tweaking, but you can get it to sound decent. If you have access to a different 1x15 or 2x15 cab, I'd use it. Behringer Cabs are complete shit.

...snip...

Thanks wiggins! Just the kind of info I was seeking. Nice to know the bass amp can be cajoled into making usable sounds. He is playing a Fender P-Bass, btw. So there is that at least. I'm also going to grab a DI signal from his bass so I can reamp if needed.

jv wrote:Is there any chance you can hear them (practice?) before you do the gig? The other thing is, you could just ask them if they want to try your amps if they get there and you can tell their amps suck. They might jump at the chance- I doubt that they bought the Behringer stuff because of it's perfect tone.

Yeah, coincidentally, I asked them about that last night. They may be practicing on Monday so I'll probably try to get over to see them if my schedule allows.

Thanks for all of the advice and information everyone. I do realize that ultimately, I just need to record them and get the best sounds possible. However, admittedly this is my first session where it's not a band or project I'm directly involved in, so I'm trying to be extra prepared with ideas and information going in.

-Bret

jaguarsg · Post by **jaguarsg** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:01 pm

i see more behringer amps in the repair shop i work at than probably any other amp; 95% of them are less than three years old.

markmeat · Post by **markmeat** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:21 am

wiggins wrote:...snip... Behringer Cabs are complete shit.

The ones with the Jensen speakers actually record real well, but the stock speakers are pretty much shit, like you said..

I've recorded a metal band with one of those Behringer combos before and it didn't suck completely, but the guy was totally going for a solid-state, sick scooped mid metal sound... after a little EQ-ing it was tolerable...

DI and re-amp...

(Those amps actually do give you a real nice clean sound with little fuss, but the distortion they offer is gross as hell)

MEAT

workshed · Post by **workshed** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:26 am

markmeat wrote:
wiggins wrote:...snip... Behringer Cabs are complete shit.
The ones with the Jensen speakers actually record real well, but the stock speakers are pretty much shit, like you said..

I've recorded a metal band with one of those Behringer combos before and it didn't suck completely, but the guy was totally going for a solid-state, sick scooped mid metal sound... after a little EQ-ing it was tolerable...

DI and re-amp...

(Those amps actually do give you a real nice clean sound with little fuss, but the distortion they offer is gross as hell)

MEAT

Yeah, the guitar amp he has is the one with the Jensens. I'm hoping it will work well enough to get a decent overdriven sound. I have a few distortion pedals here and I think the kid has one or two he uses. DI will still be my backup plan.

Thanks for the tips.

-Bret

Snarky · Post by **Snarky** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:02 am

Do the band a big favor, and take those pieces of junk to the nearest pond, lake, or river, and toss them in.

I guess you have to start somewhere, but geez.

I had a session with a band who was pretty clueless on tone. I let them use some of my stuff, and took a direct signal along with it. Saved my ass and thiers. I am not putting my name on anything that has a poop tone to it. Never give in, ever.

But, what do I know, one of my favorite amps is a peavey session 500. And sometimes crap is good.

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:40 am

A friend of mine has the model with the Jensens. In his hands, it sounds fine...in fairness, in his hands everything sounds fine.
I have also run sound for several bands who have Behringer amplifiers. They all sounded as good as the musician using them.
Some of the worst sounds I have encountered have come from guys with Mesa Boogie Tripple Rectifier halfstacks who don't know how to dial in a good sound or can't identify a bad sound when they hear it....Believe me, it has a lot more to do with the man than the machine.

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