REVIEW: Behringer AM100/UT100/GDI21 pedals...

[MartyMart]

http://www.pbase.com/image/49145632
http://www.pbase.com/image/49145634
http://www.pbase.com/image/49145635
http://www.pbase.com/image/49145640
http://www.pbase.com/image/49145643

I wanted to spend a few hours with these before posting any "harmany-central" type opinions !
I'll leave the AM100 almost alone, as "Spud" did a fantastic job of summing that one up
Of the three here, it does seem to have a VERY bright LED, which may not
be as obvious from the photo's - the other two seem fine to me.

Prices (UK) :
AM100 £15
UT100 £15
GDI21 £24.99

Packaging:
They all arrived in the "kids toy" style see through package, which puts me
off a little bit, proper "boxes" would have been nice, but it's not that
important I guess ?.

First glimpse/ "the look" :
Most of the images that I'd seen were computer generated models and I
was hoping that the "real deal" would look better .... IMO they dont !
Its quite a cheap plastic finish which will "chip/fade" very quickly.
I've chipped two already .... after a couple of hours   :?
The AM100 is quite a nice "chocolate brown" but the UT100 tremolo looks
like it has diarrhoea all over it ! ... YUK !
The GDI21 is quite a smart "metallic blue" colour and is the best looking
of the three.

UT100 - Ultra Tremolo :
Simple controls, rate/wave/depth.
No "tone sucking" when engaged and a nice unity level, you dont feel
like there's been a gain loss/gain increase at all.
Quite a nice "vintage amp" style trem which has plenty of depth available
and rate which goes from around 1 pulse/sec to "nutz speed"  !!
Wave's are triangle/square wuth an area inbetween that's a bit of both.

Interesting that with "depth" at zero, there is no trem at all, so this could
be modded to offer a little gain "boost" ala Keeley !!
Perhaps using a small switch ......

Battery changing is a P.I.T.A - just as Spud said, you need three hands!!
I think 9v PSU only for me ..
The switch will fail fairly quickly I would guess, so I'm keeping an eye on my 1 year warranty !

GDI21 - amp modeler/driver/di :
I compared this to a real sansamp and it holds up very well indeed !
There are differences and there's an odd volume loss when switching from
"clean" model to "hot" or "Hi gain" ... !! so you need to adjust the volume
accordingly.
These larger and slightly more expensive pedals do have a proper
battery compartment, with a "lid" much like an old Ibanez pedal.
Behringer's "amp models" have always been very good, if that's your
"thing" - for some its not, however they seem more convincing to me than
the "Pod" version, hard to describe but just a bit more "real"   ?
Overall a good sound and nice "drive" tones available without much
noise that I could detect.

Summing up:
For the price, these cannot be beaten, OK they're plastic and wont last
like a Boss/Ibanez, if using them live I would take backups for sure.
For the price of a few drinks/Burger you can have one of the pedals and
make some great noises.
Behringer dont often "innovate" but not many do other than Zvex, what
they do well is "copy" and mass produce cheaply.
If you have issues with this, then simply DONT buy any, if not then start
your collection now  !!

Marty.

[MartyMart]

Running these for a while now, all from 9v PSU's :

First, I have not noticed any "noise" problems from the AM100 like spud
found, in fact all three seem totally "Hum/Hiss" free, other than the very
high gain settings on the GDI21 ( normal )

On the UT100 tremolo, the "triangle" wave seems a little too close to
"square" for me, its quite "choppy" all the time and so may not suit some
people.
There is a "sweet spot" with the depth set correctly, but its small !
Of course its not "sine" wave..... that would have been nice though !

Marty.[/u]

[spudulike]

Cheers Marty, I was considering the amp modeller as well as the delay. My Am100 definitely hisses at high level settings, the pedal seems to hgive a real boost as well so may be linked. It didnt like the striplights in my garage but behaved better in Rory's bedroom.

[edit: spelling - its not an amp medeller is it  :oops: ]

[MartyMart]

Cheers Marty, I was considering the amp modeller as well as the delay. My Am100 definitely hisses at high level settings, the pedal seems to hgive a real boost as well so may be linked. It didnt like the striplights in my garage but behaved better in Rory's bedroom.

Thats interesting, to get "unity" gain on my AM100 the "level" control is at
about 75%  !!
So I'm not getting that much level, I mean it will "boost" a wee bit but not
much !!
With all control's flat out, I've got zero hiss ?
I'm in the studio and everything comes off a "Pete cornich" filtered PSU
the size of a large Video recorder !! ( aquired on a tour somewhere  :shock: ) ... so that helps my "noise" problems some.
I like the GDI21 a lot, not too fussed with the tremolo, but as soon as the
chorus/delay/flangers are in, I'm on the list !!

Cheers,
Marty. ( medeler ! )