Behringer

Uli Behringer built his first synthesiser, the UB-1, at 16, then moved to Düsseldorf to study piano and sound engineering. He began by building studio equipment for himself and friends. The company’s early products were studio processors such as the Studio Exciter and the Composer compressor. Manufacturing moved to China from 1990, the company opened its own Behringer City plant in 2002, and in 2018 production moved to a new Music Tribe City factory complex in Zhongshan. The parent group, then called Music Group, added Midas and Klark Teknik in 2009 and TC Group in 2015, and renamed itself Music Tribe in 2017.

Behringer launched its first guitar amplifier, the Blue Devil GX112 with built-in multi-effects, in 2000. At the January 2005 NAMM show it introduced more than two dozen compact stompboxes at a list price of about US$25, covering drives, modulation, delay, reverb, tuning and bass effects. Roland sued over the pedals’ resemblance to its BOSS designs. The case was settled in April 2006 after Behringer changed the look of the line, and the other terms were kept confidential.

Later pedals include the ZENTARA OVERDRIVE, a transparent boost and overdrive with a dual-potentiometer gain control and germanium clipping diodes. For players, Behringer is mainly a source of widely used pedal types at low prices rather than boutique designs.