Behringer BXL 3000

My 3000 was made in 2008, and I bought it new about 3 months ago. I was recruited to play in an oldies band (60s-80s music), after almost 10 years of not performing at all. I needed an amp that could give me a variety of tones, and this amp fit the bill. It has two channels... one normal channel, and one with added shape control, 7-band EQ, and distortion. The amp has a loop for an outboard effects unit or pedalboard, plus a compressor and "always on" limiter. The limiter was added, in my opinion, to help protect the 200-watt capacity speaker, since the power unit pushes a maximum of 300 watts (a strange combination to be used on purpose.) There is also an Ultrabass control that adds a synthetic-sounding lower octave to your sound. I must agree with the previous review that says it is a useless feature, but fun to play with.

I really like the sound quality I get from this amp. I have a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass, but I mainly use an Ibanez RD500 in my current band. The Ibanez is wonderfully capable of generating great tones for many different styles of music, and the Behringer projects it very well. I do not use the amp to change the sound very often, because the bass is so versatile. The amp has a lot of punch for funk, and can generate a smooth, flowing tone for more subdued playing. I haven't used the distorted sound more than just a few minutes of toying with it... ditto for the Ultrabass. Maybe it is the style of music that I play, but I cannot complain about the quality of sound that I get from this amp. I have owned three other Behringer guitar amps, and I have always found them to generate a great variety of tones, with a bit of adjustment from me.

The only problem I thought I had with this amp turned out to be a dead battery in my bass' active electronics. For some reason, the bass was listed as having passive pickups, but I found a battery when I was cleaning the protective film from the bass electronics covers. Other than that one false alarm, I have had no times when I have wondered why I bought this amp. It has served the purpose well. I can understand others having problems with it when constantly playing at high volumes, but it fills the bill for an oldies band in a mid-sized room.

I have owned three Behringer guitar amps, and I've never had a problem with any of them. I have contacted customer support for answers to a couple of questions I have had, and they have always been very quick and helpful.

I came from a very music-oriented family with many musicians of various styles and tastes. I have been playing guitar since I was 5 years old, and bass since I was 16... I am now 51. I have had many guitars and amps over the years. As far as basses, I have owned the Telecaster since about 1972, plus I have had a Michael Kelly A-E bass, a cheap Chinese A-E bass, a fretless, and now the Ibanez RD500. Bass amps... I've owned a Peavey 400, Acoustic, Fender Bassman (one of the late 60s ones with a 50-watt tube head and a twin-15 cabinet) and the Behringer.

I really love the variety of tones I get from this amp. I have had none of the problems that the previous reviewers have had... muddy sound, rattling speaker screen, etc. The only problem that I thought I had was found to be in the bass, not the amp, and that was easily repaired.

If it were stolen or lost, I would probably shop around and see what was available in my price range, but I would definitely consider buying another 3000. It fits my situation perfectly.

My 3000 was made in 2008, and I bought it new about 3 months ago. I was recruited to play in an oldies band (60s-80s music), after almost 10 years of not performing at all. I needed an amp that could give me a variety of tones, and this amp fit the bill. It has two channels... one normal channel, and one with added shape control, 7-band EQ, and distortion. The amp has a loop for an outboard effects unit or pedalboard, plus a compressor and "always on" limiter. The limiter was added, in my opinion, to help protect the 200-watt capacity speaker, since the power unit pushes a maximum of 300 watts (a strange combination to be used on purpose.) There is also an Ultrabass control that adds a synthetic-sounding lower octave to your sound. I must agree with the previous review that says it is a useless feature, but fun to play with.

I really like the sound quality I get from this amp. I have a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass, but I mainly use an Ibanez RD500 in my current band. The Ibanez is wonderfully capable of generating great tones for many different styles of music, and the Behringer projects it very well. I do not use the amp to change the sound very often, because the bass is so versatile. The amp has a lot of punch for funk, and can generate a smooth, flowing tone for more subdued playing. I haven't used the distorted sound more than just a few minutes of toying with it... ditto for the Ultrabass. Maybe it is the style of music that I play, but I cannot complain about the quality of sound that I get from this amp. I have owned three other Behringer guitar amps, and I have always found them to generate a great variety of tones, with a bit of adjustment from me.

Okay... I couldn't complain about the features or sound, but I can complain about the reliability. I bought this amp from a dealer who offers a three-payment plan. The final payment was made on 12/29. When my band got together to practice on 12/30, the amp began to have problems. It began with a soft hissing noise. Then I noticed that every time I attacked a note with more force than normal, the amp shut down the output for a second. If I was thumb-slapping the bass, the sound just cut out regularly. I tried adjusting the compressor, but it really wasn't being used enough to make a difference anyway. I am not a tech, but it sounds like the built-in limiter is reaching a peak and shutting down momentarily. I have heard this as a sound engineer in churches over the past few years. My first thought was to shut off the limiter, but there is no way to do that (hence, my opinion that is was added to protect the wattage-deficient speaker.) As long as I don't use much attack on the strings, the amp sounds good, but drops out at the hint of a thumb pop.

I have owned three Behringer guitar amps, and I've never had a problem with any of them. I have contacted customer support for answers to a couple of questions I have had, and they have always been very quick and helpful. I am expecting no difference in their handling of this matter. I just dread having to pack up an almost-70 lb. amp and shipping it out. Maybe this problem is a fluke, but it doesn't make things any easier for me.

I came from a very music-oriented family with many musicians of various styles and tastes. I have been playing guitar since I was 5 years old, and bass since I was 16... I am now 51. I have had many guitars and amps over the years. As far as basses, I have owned the Telecaster since about 1972, plus I have had a Michael Kelly A-E bass, a cheap Chinese A-E bass, a fretless, and now the Ibanez RD500. Bass amps... I've owned a Peavey 400, Acoustic, Fender Bassman (one of the late 60s ones with a 50-watt tube head and a twin-15 cabinet) and the Behringer. I will probably buy another combo amp now, just in case this problem drags on, for some reason. When an amp breaks down this quickly, I don't feel good about having no backup. Personally, I love the sound of this amp, but I wouldn't buy another one if it was stolen. Having a problem within 90 days of purchase is a recommendation to try something else, in my opinion.

standard stuff, volume, EQ, etc... and a couple extra things - theres the compressor, which, well, "changes" the sound... not better or worse, just different tone. then theres the ultrabass which plays any note it can successfully recognize an octave lower in the background, resulting in a low-octave rumble. not real usable but a fun thing.

also has an OD channel which is pretty neat.

one needed feature is a bloody speaker cone that can handle the output of the amp! boooooooo

i play varying degrees of rock on it, some pop and electronica stuff too, using either my iceman bass, fender J, old decca bass or synth basses thru either a MicroKorg or Juno 6.

at lower volumes, its fine. but i didnt buy a 300w bass amp to play at lower volumes, if i wanted that i wouldve stuck with the 60w behringer i already had...

it doesnt handle performance volumes at all, gets very muddy, rattles a good deal and the tone is very brittle, doesnt cut through at all - no amount of fiddling with the EQ or compressor seems to help.

at this point im convinced it might just be the poor quality of the speaker, along with its mismatched RMS rating.

i might try replacing the driver before i ditch it, but i doubt it.

makes an OK keyboard amp.

well, on one hand i have doubts, on the other hand i dont.

the build quality seems good and solid, but, on the other hand, the components dont. i sense that the aluminum driver will not be able to handle the amp's output and eventually peter out.

the EQ sliders seem flimsy and feel strange, like dragging a phonograph needle over tinfoil. they worry me.

this isnt a customer support problem. they built this on the cheap, mismatched driver and all, and theyre completely unapologetic about it.

i was looking for something cheap. there were no used peaveys in the ads and the BXL3000A was the only new amp i could afford at the time. and this is what i ended up with. what this comes down to is the age old saying, kids...

...You get what you pay for.

Amp is great for my country/gospel style. Could use more power for five and six string basses. As far as adjustments go, there's really not much. Unless you plan to use this for country or Gospel, get something else. I like mine, but like I said, I like it for MY style.

Good clean sound. Has a rattle that the front cover makes and I have taken the cover off to be sure and it stopped. I cannot for the life of me figure out why it rattles, but it is only heard standing right next to it playing SOLO. Clean channel distotrs at high volume. Speaker is half the watts of the amp. Onece I get a new speaker this may well be the greatest amp for the buck, but this speaker cannot handle the amp. Behringer knows this now and knew it when they made the amp. That's why they get a 4 here!

A O K!

??

They get a five for being stupid. If you're going to make a product with features and with high wattage, make sure EVERYTHING matches and works before you ship it out the door.
Again, don't misunderstand me, if you're looking for the perfect amp for church, this is a real steal.

It has two channels, the first being clean, and the second with overdrive, which took some playing around with to get it to sound decent, but works well enough. For drive, I prefer to go through a Russian Big Muff Pi anyway, so no complaints there. There's a 7-band EQ which I found quite useful. The "ultrabass" function is a little useless, but I suppose usable if you're trying to get a sort of dark and muddled sound. The compressor is probably less than ideal, but still occasionally useful, although I don't often use it for the music I play anyway. It comes with a footswitch that switches between channels, as well as toggling the rather useless octave generator.

It's got one 1/4 inch input, a 1/4 inch headphone jack, a DI out (which I don't use), 1/4 inch line out, FX in/out, and a stereo in (so you can play along to you mp3 player or plug it into you computer with the correct cable.

As far as features I wish it had, really just a better compressor and some reverb would have been nice. Also, it would have been nice if the footswitch could be used to toggle the EQ and compressor as well.

I use the amp at home, as well as lugging it around to jam (beware, it weights almost 70 lbs.) and can be slightly awkward to carry around.

I had to play around with the settings for a while before I got the sound I wanted, but I suppose it just comes down to taste. I play it through an Iceman bass (ICB 200), and works for pretty much all the music I play (some jazz, a lot of Muse, and my own compositions). The clean does seem to lose a small amount of clarity when cranked all the way up, but I really have no experience playing it at that volume with other people, so I can't say whether it would even be noticeable or not.

Supposedly it's 300 watts, but it doesn't seem like it to me, although maybe that's because I'm thinking of the ear piercing sound produced by a 300 watt overdriven guitar amp.

Haven't had any problems with it so far, and if I dropped it, I would worry a lot more about the floor than the amp. It's got sturdy construction, that's for sure. I haven't really had it long enough to give it an accurate rating, but I'm pretty sure it would be safe to gig with without needing a backup, although of course a backup never hurts (except perhaps the wallet).

Never needed to.

Although I just started playing bass, I've played guitar for the past 10 years, so I have a lot more musical experience not specific to bass. If it was stolen, I would probably hunt it down and then drop it on whoever stole it. If I lost it, I would probably look around at other bass amps in the price range, but there's a good chance I would buy it again. In my search for an amp, it was certainly the most full featured amps in the price range, and one of the only ones with a 15 inch speaker. Definitely was well worth what I paid for it.

I bought this amp new in Germany through Thomann Musikhaus, a large mail order firm. It has only one channel, "300" watts into 4 ohms through a built in 15" speaker. There is a headphone out jack, and bizarrely, no extra speaker output! Since the onboard speaker is 4 ohms, you couldn't attach another cabinet anyway without pushing the ohmage too low. So I think this is really a 150 watt amp.
There is a compressor which sounds marginal at best, and a octave generator which sounds aweful and is unusable. It's also heavy and a backbreaker to move for such a small amp.

I play several Fender type basses, and play classic rock, progressive and country.
This amp sounds terrible! I have a small Behringer mixer I use with PC recording software which I love, so I thought this would be as good (it's 6 years old and maybe quality has slipped - not sure).
The sound is grainy and undefined. It sounds nowhere near a 300 watt amp and sounds honestly more like a 65 watt amp! The only way to get any volume other than a quiet couph is to use the compressor, and then you're stuck with compressed tone which I don't much like anyway.
The knobs on the front panel seem to be "monolithic" which is not real pots but just sliding pieces of metalized plastic over a PC board. They have no resistance and no real feeling of reactivity as you use them.
The "ultrabass" feature is just a crappy sounding octave generator which craps out on the high strings (?!?) So if you try to use it to solo (which I wouldn't recommend anyway) it stops working above the 12th fret!

Haven't used it enough to break it.

This amp is unfortunately far less than a glorified practice amp, and I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. As soon as possible I'm selling it and going back to Carvin or Peavey, which both sound a thousand times better. I'm still surprised because the much smaller Behringer 300 practice amp sounded far better in the store where I tried it. I think it's an issue of more features - crappier amp.