Customer Reviews

Behringer V-Amp 2 Guitar Amp Modeling Pod

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Alright, I have to admit that I'm a big Behringer fan. I appreciate that Behringer makes quality products at prices that the average working musician can actually afford (much like Peavey in the days of yore). I have several pieces of Behringer equipment in my studio ranging from mixers to rack units to cable testers and I have never been disappointed with any of their products...until now. I mention this so that anyone who chooses to read this review will understand that I'm not writing this from the view point of an equipment snob or an elitist, but as someone who has a good deal of experience with musical equipment in general and particularly Behringer. Until now my -ONLY- gripe with Behringer has simply been their instruction manuals which have always been on par with the old manuals that came with 486 PC motherboards...in other words, completely useless. Their products however have always been well above par for the price range and in my book have often given me the best "bang for the buck". Compared with this, the Behringer V-Amp2 is sadly disappointing.

My main gripe about the V-Amp2 is simply the sound of the presets. Ok, ok...I KNOW that "tone" is a very subjective thing and that in the world of music and especially guitars you can never please "all of the people, all of the time". That said, the majority of the presets on this unit "out of the box" sounded as though they had been programmed by some teenage metal monger with no sense of tone what so ever. If I were your typical "Yngwie-ite", I might find this very pleasing but as a guitarist who's primary interest is classic rock and blues, I found the presets disappointing at best and often downright annoying. Even the presets that were supposed to emulate "SRV" and "David Gilmore" were quite poor to say the least and not really usable at all.

Beyond the quality of the presets, I should also issue a bit of a warning here...no one at Behringer bothered to adjust the volume on the presets either. Some are rather quite and soft and with the click of a button you can darn near blow out your speakers! More than a tad bit frustrating for a person who's just messing around with this unit for the first time. Would it really be all that difficult for these folks to include a normalize function?

Now in all fairness with some "tinkering" this unit -can- produce some very good sounds...it does have the potential. This however leads me to my second gripe; this is NOT a very "user friendly" device. "As is" there is very little room to edit your tones beyond simple changes to amp/cabinet simulation and very basic effects. Any -serious- editing MUST be done via the MIDI editor (which isn't even included with the unit and has to be obtained via Behringer's website). For folks who aren't all that midi savvy, this leaves you with very limited choices in how to tweak out that perfect tone. In addition this also limits this devices use for live applications...unless you have the unit plugged into a computer next to your amp, should you need to make any changes to your tone settings you have to stop, unplug the unit from your rig, run to your computer, make and save your changes, run back to your amp and HOPE the changes you made will actually sound good thru the amp otherwise it's "lather, rinse and repeate". Imagine doing this on stage during a live gig?? I don't think so... Very simply this is one of those "toys" where you will spend more time playing with the unit itself trying to get the right sound(s) and not a lot of time actually playing your instrument. Personally I'd rather have my hands on the guitar instead of the little blue guitar shaped box.

It should be mentioned that this unit does compare well to higher priced units such as the Line 6 "POD" and these short comings are just as much a problem with more expensive comparable units. These devices in general really were not designed for ease of use in live situations (despite any advertising to the contrary) and "on the fly" changes are often difficult at best with any such device until you are intimately familiar with how to dial in specific tones. If anything, in this regard the V-Amp is a bit superior to the POD if for no other reason than it simply costs less for comparable results (and comparable levels of frustration).

On that note and again in all fairness...maybe it's just me and that I'm getting "old and lazy". Over the years I've often laughed at older folks like my father for being so completely inept at working his computer. Often I've thought "you could get so much more out of that -if- you'd only take the time to really learn how to use it". Computer's are after all rather complicated devices. A person who has never used a computer before doesn't typically sit down at the keyboard and start "surfing the net" right away. Perhaps I'm being the same way with this "new music technology"...maybe I just don't have the patience to sit down and learn it properly. On the other hand to me this shouldn't be "rocket science" either. I've already payed my dues by learning how to play the guitar and I don't feel as though I should have to spend weeks let alone months learning a "new device" just so I can do what I already know how to do and have been doing for over 25 years. In my mind, I play -guitar-...I should be able to plug that instrument into a device, tweak a couple of knobs/dials to get the sound I want and then rock until my soul is content. To me units such as this V-Amp or the comparable POD simply feel like home dentistry and just as painful.

Now in regards to the models and effects specifically, as with virtually any "simulator" or "modeling amp" there is more than a fair degree of subjectivity as to how authentic any of the models actually sound. If for example you really want the sound of a classic Fender Twin Reverb the BEST way to get that sound is...well...to play thru a classic Fender Twin Reverb. You simply can't get that exact same sound from a little blue (or red) plastic box sitting on the counter be it a $99 Behringer or a $250 POD. Even under the best of conditions in the most exacting environment there are simply too many variables to accurately reproduce such a sound with a generalization...tube quality and condition, bias, speaker age, mic choice, mic placement, etc., etc.. All these things play an important part in regards to how a given amp sounds and especially among vintage amps, even under ideal conditions no two amps sound exactly the same. In other words, despite any labeling that may suggest a given model is supposed to sound like "such and such", it really doesn't. On the other hand, this can also be said of PODs and similar units as well. A "model" is just that...it's usually not an accurate reproduction of the genuine article. This isn't to say that any of the models sound "bad" but you do have to put some effort into getting a good, let alone a really great tone with one of these devices. Again here, to me it just seems easier (not to mention more productive) to plug your guitar into a really great old amp (tube or solid state), crank up the volume and -play- rather than sit there for hours on end fiddling with knobs and MIDI functions trying to get something that is "almost close".

The same can be said of the effects on the V-Amp2 as well. When one is trying to define an instrument effect such as "delay" for example, one must ask what type of delay are we talking about? In the broadest sense, delay means the delay and repeat of a given signal but when you look at this specifically, delays have their own characteristics. An "Echoplex" for example does NOT sound the same as a classic analog delay pedal such as a DOD which sounds completely different from a digital delay even from the same company. Different delays from different companies sound completely different...try a classic digital delay from Arion for example against a comparable DOD and a BOSS...while they all may work in similar fashions, they all sound very different to the discerning ear. So that said, the effects on the V-Amp aren't "bad" but again they are simply broad generalizations of the given effect. Again with a degree of tweaking you can produce some very usable sounds but it's not nearly as simple as plugging in your favorite classic pedal and dialing in the right tone.

-If- a person's intent is to use this device strictly in a DAW based studio environment, with some work it has the potential to be a very useful tool -if- you are willing to take the time (and have the time) to play with it a bit (or A LOT depending on what you are looking to do). From that perspective, this would be a worthwhile investment. The sounds and quality are on par with units such as the Line 6 POD costing a great deal more and if you are seriously considering a POD you really should try one of these V-Amp's first. On the other hand, if you are looking to use this unit live or if you have a major recording session coming up where you are going to be paying for studio time and can't really afford the time to mess with it trying to find the right sound, a more traditional approach may be in order.

Bottom Line...
After purchasing this unit and messing with it for nearly 6 months, I traded it in for a Digitech RP series multi-effects pedal which is much easier to use. I'm primarily a live performer and the V-Amp2 (like the Line 6 POD) was simply more trouble than it was worth. Yes you can get decent sounds out of it but why rip out your own teeth doing so...

First of all, this thing is kinda tricky for live performances:

1.- It's fragile, so if your public is primarily composed of morons that like to jump on the stage, kick and stomp things, dance a little and then dive off the stage, you're done. C'mon, it's just a thin card with little chips and connectors stamped on it, enveloped in a not so sturdy plastic case!

2.- You need to know how to program it. It takes time and it's usually better done through the MIDI interface, in your computer. You can download the software from the Behringer website to access a lot that seems invisible in the actual physical unit. But once you know how to program it and how to save your presets, you'll just need a footswitch and that's it, you can do it live.

Things change and get way much better when you're a DAW musician, the one that loves to program soft-synths and sequencers, that only deals with virtual drummers (not the real ones), that makes all his audio multi-tracks through software, and usually shows his results only through the net, then this little unit it's fair enough for you.

And besides, if you're the type of starving musician whose wallet has more air than bills, the V-Amp is the chosen one. You'll get a lot for very few.

I agree that this dude has too much distortion in its presets and some of them are really useless but, generally speaking, ALL presets suck. The only ones that really rule are always the ones YOU create and save.

Personally, I think that this little machine shouldn't have any preset, just enough memory to save yours.

Ah... before I forget: I've heard a lot of people complaining about their lost presets or weird sounding effects after a while. Grab a screwdriver and check the battery inside, because as all batteries tend to do - believe me - they all die. Well, in this case, after 2 years (not a short life).

I've had heard too that you can change a chip inside, to upgrade the presets and effects, but I haven't done it, not because I don't know how (I assemble my own PCs so I'm not afraid of chips and stuff like that), but because I'm satisfied with the things I've done with the actual unit... Maybe later.

PS: The V-Amp 2 it's almost vintage stuff because it has been succeeded by the V-Amp 3 that has a lot more presets... But I can't have an opinion about that one because I haven't try it yet. My V-Amp 2 still works well and it doesn't need to be replaced.