Since the beginning of time Boss were known for their Guitar and Bass effect pedals. Every wannabe guitarist had used some form of their pedals and in most cases Overdrive or Distortion pedals. A lot has changed since their reign though and Behringer with their new range of RSM Stomp Boxes are set to "stomp" all over Boss in both price and sound. The Behringer effect pedals are cheap, dirt cheap in fact for what they are and quite astonishing probably to the people that used to be comfortable letting go of 60-100 quid for a Boss pedal. Each behringer pedal is about 12-30 quid which is nothing for what you get in terms of sound quality.
The Build Quality of the Behringer RSM pedals is not as sturdy, solid and robust as the Boss pedals. Where as the Boss pedals are made from solid metal and can literally be dropped off a skyscraper and still work, the Behringer pedals have a plastic casing and the first time I tried to put a battery in I kind of worried I would break the thing. Staying with this for the moment, the battery compartment is not as easy to get into either and a screwdriver is needed making quick changing of batteries on stage not so easy. Plus, what happens if you forgot your screwdriver? Who knows. So, to a point you get what you pay for, however in this instance it isn't as simple as that because if you look after your stuff the severely budget price tag is likely to make a budding guitarist just go out and buy a Behringer Pedal board and then subsequently fill it with Behringer RSM Stomp Boxes. I mean you can do all that for less than 200 quid, which by my calculations would get you 3 Boss pedals (sorry Boss).
WTF is RSM?
RSM is a new digital pedal format designed by Behringer. Each of the pedals are 24-bit. RSM stands for Real Sound Modeling and all the pedals utilize advanced DSP algorithms developed by Behringer's team of acoustic, hardware and software engineers.
The RSM 24-bit hardware, firmware and software system allows Behringer to model many acoustic spaces, instruments and electronic modifications. Under the hood of the Behringer RSM processors you will find a lot of substantial FX for DJ's, keyboardists and guitar amp effects loops alike.
Overview
Unlike most critics, I welcome a bargain and being very familiar with Behringer I knew what to expect from their pedals - quality at a cheap price. Luckily for me I was sent the whole RSM rnage of pedals for review and I slowly and surely cabled them altogether in my Behringer Pedal board and went through the pedals one by one. There were some of the usual suspects (delay, reverb, phaser, flange etc) and some more fun ones to play with too (pitch shifter, dynamic wah and bass synthesizer [which is FUN!]). What I did quickly notice and I don't know if this is due to market share but there were no overdrives or distortion pedals at all and I wonder whether this is just because Behringer understand that when it comes to that sub genre of guitar pedals that they do it just right. Not sure, but it was a slight shame none-the-less. It is worth noting however that Behringer do offer some distortion pedals in their non-RSM range.
In Use
When you plug the pedals in and start using them in sessions with all sorts of instrumentalists you start to appreciate the quality of the sound that they output. Each of the pedals have lots of controls that allow you to easily firm and fix the sound as you wish allowing you to find the perfect sound for your session. The pedals all sound equally as good as pedals that cost a lot more leaving me personally worried for these other manufacturers. My personal favourite of them all was the Bass Synthesizer. This pedal, coupled with the right bass player allowed for all sorts of fun and wet synth bass sounds using a real bass guitar. Other highlights for me included the Echo Machine, Space Chorus, Ultra Acoustic Modeller and the Rotary Machine which all performed amazingly under the studio pressures.
My major general criticism was that in some of the pedals there was so much functionality and tweakability crammed into the pedals that if you had big hands you would probably be finding it hard to set. Although the knobs are sturdy than other pedal manufacturers, I found that this made them slightly harder to setup and fine tune as you required although at the same time it wasn't a major issue. Also because these pedals are housed in plastic casing I do see that this might make some problems with lastability for the true touring musician however if you buy yourself a nice pedal board and look after your gear you should be fine. What's cool too and to calm the nerves of people dubious about Behringer's cheap prices is that they offer to replace any faulty pedals with no qualms giving you 100% piece of mind when investing in their product.
In a turbulent economic climate, the Behringer RSM pedals offer a cheap, flexible and versatile pedal set that sonically sound as great as the more expensive counterparts for a fraction of the outlay. Sounds good to me! Leaves me with a little more money to get some beers to enjoy while I play with my name pedals.
Where to Buy
Behringer +49 2154 9206 6441.
http://www.altsounds.com/
