Behringer CS100

It's a basic pedal so can't be that hard. Tone control extra feature that most compressors don't include, but can be useful. On the other hand...see sound quality.

Basically unusable sound quality. Others have mentioned the bass rolloff, which is bad enough, but I can't stand the breathing/pumping. I wasn't able to get a setting of attack and sustain that I ever felt improved the sound. Change the sound? Yes. But no control setting made my instrument sound better. Mainly wanted to try this for acoustic guitar - forget it - totally mutilated the sound. With appropriate levels of compression, can hear the level bounce all over as the compression releases. Same was true for electric although if you want to use it as a sustainer, don't care about loss of bass, and can tolerate the jumpy release you might find something useful. Glad it was really cheap, but not worth even that small amount.

Wouldn't use it on a gig so reliability won't matter. In fact I won't use it at all so it should last forever :-) I'll give it a 9 despite the plastic housing.

Never had to deal with their customer support. For this cheap stuff, nobody expects to get it repaired anyway...I certainly wouldn't.

Overall - It's an ugly green paperweight. I can't stand the way it sounds. I guess this where people generally tell you how qualified they are to write a review so here it goes: Been playing for 31 years, started building amps and effects 27 yrs ago, career as electrical engineer designing audio products (CD players, speakers, amplifiers, equalizers, mixers, surround sound systems, etc), currently designing/building custom effects. I also make about 20% of my annual income as a performing musician - solo acoustic and blues/rock band. Play Martin D-16, DCX-1E (no giggles please), Carvin SH-575, Carvin CT-6, Carvin DC-135, Tele Nashville Deluxe, Strat 50th Anniversary Deluxe.

First, it's not a boss cs3 clone, I have one and the behringer sounds way different.
To begin with, the cs100 has some bass-cut when engaged and this is why this pedal is not for bassists. Take the ble100 for this use.
Power supply is important, but behringer usually are more tolerant than most other brands in this department. To be sure, use an ibanez ac109.

Compressors are not easy to use, but if you want to use one as a special effect well it's simpler.
The cs100 has a great tone section, but remember it has some bass-cut always on.

I am going nuts, trying all those compressors... What I am after is a special effect, chicken pick, clearly different from my normal clean sound.
This cs100 is great in this view, since your sound is clearer and lighter (bass-cut...) at once, and the tone at 3 o'clock does a nice edge job without adding noise.
The sustain knob gives me what I need at noon, after it is too squishy/saturated and before I don't have the chicken effect.
That is with my fat tele, take another axe and you're up to redo the whole thing. Nuts, I said...
It sounds way good, clean and lively in my application.
With my light crunch channel the same compressor settings help a lot, giving articulation and freshness. But I only use it clean, basically.

Beware of this line of Behringer stuff, I've had quite a number of them and some trouble. But my cs100 always worked flawlessly.

On my clean special tone quest, I a/b-ed with:
Ibanez cp5 (no bass-cut, no shimmer, lacks treble), Ibanez bp5 (same but nice treble and saturation-free), Boss cs3 (no tone at all, and stupid power supply), Dod MilkBox (very full, not that clear, hisses), DamageControl Womanizer (only comp-eq, not a special effect-type of sound hence no match), Behringer minicom (many options but not the clear thing the cs100 produces), Boss lmb3 (curiously that one does a nice special chicken/Knopfler effect, but hisses like a rattlesnake) and Behringer ble100 (good for bass but no guitar effect).
The only thing that bugs me with the cs100 is that it saturates a bit past 11 o'clock on the sustain, and being plasticANDbehringer I can't trust it for good.

My next step will be for a whole other type of compression, the bbe orange squash. I think the ross-type compressors are not what I am after.
The cs100 is my favourite compressor so far, very useful in a clean tone application (for soloing and some bite), very different from the normal tone. A special effect rather than an inaudible one, like the scandinavian ones (compnova, multicomp, tc).
In any case, a fantastic value indeed!

Having bought a Behringer graphic equalizer and being very pleased with it I thought I would try the CS100.

Picking strings and fiddling with the knobs did not seem to do much, but when I began to play seriously the difference was incredible and very satisfying.

The 'Manual' is a single sheet of paper but it becomes obvious what the knobs do when you start using it.

I use the CS100 mainly with a Fostex digital recorder and headphones. With the tone control towards the treble end there is a faint hiss in the headphones but nothing serious.

There is also a very short noise as notes are picked, again this is more noticable with headphones and does not distract too much from the music.

I have only had this unit for a short while so reliablility is not an issue, the other Behringer pedal I have has had no problems.

Have not dealt with Behringer directly.

I play mainly 60's type music (Shadows, Spotnicks etc), this unit goes a long way to sounding more like the music I am trying to play.

Having played for nearly 50 years I have tried all sorts of guitar effects, this has to rate as one of the best. There is no distortion, even when playing chords, as happens with a lot of other devices.

I like the fact that the effect is very subtle but still manages to make a tremendous improvement to the overall sound. I would recomment it to a friend and would replace it without hesitation if I lost it.

For the price of the unit it has to be worth every penny.

Easy enough to use if you are familiar with compression, if not it should not take long to figure out what does what.

I like that it has a wide range of control - not just knobs "suggesting" it has a wide range of control

behringer? its my first.

Ive been playing a little over 20 years, had my fair share of gear. I wanted to point that out early.

I almost didnt even try it because of behringers rep, but i heard alot of good things about the cs100 and had to give it a shot. Im glad i did. I have not used compression in years, but Im getting more into country/twangy chicken picken type stuff and decided to go for it.

this is one sweet pedal. I dont have another compressor to compare it to right now, but it works as cleanly as i remember my old boss, and the high end still comes through!

this is my 3rd compressor ever. ive had a crapload of other FX but like i mentioned, never really needed comp. my first was a boss but i hated comp. at the time and ditched it. 5 years later or so i picked up a cheap compressor and it squashed the signal so much and colord it in such a nasty way i was turned off of compression for years.


anyway to make it short i tried it and i have nothing but good things to say. you can actually set it so you cant tell its on, but still get some nice compresiion going. i love the fact that it does not color the tone. you can keep your tone and have compression too!

it really has a wide range of uses, from barely there to squashed, from added attack tp long sustain. and the when using long sustain settings the swell is so smooth and transparent that it overshadows what i do remember about the boss i had years ago. thats saying alot considering its $30 new

it is plastic, so we'll see. i treat gear pretty nicely. the plastic danos hold up fine so ...........

OK. ill try and keep it short.

i mentioned how long ive been playing because i know how alot of reviews get written by someone who just started playing and are new to FX. ive had at least 100 pedals over the years - not all at once of course but still.

this compressor is a fine pedal. again, i almost didnt try it and i feel like a fool for not at least waiting to give it a chance.

what surprised me most is how clean and transparent it is. yes, with higher settings you can tell a compressor is on, but as far as sound quality and operation, and wide range of uses this thing is great. i was pretty young when i had the boss but i remember it killing the highs and coloring the tone enough that i ditched it. this is not like that at all.

i keep it about half (all knobs) and its a nice amount for twangy comp. i play so loud i get slight natural compression from playing my amp at loud volumes - but this pushes it right wehre i was hoping it would.

tone is important to me, and i am impressed. i dont use alot of FX (tubescreamer, EQ, and occasional echo in the loop) but if i need something else one day i may give behringer another chance.

too bad they dont make a noise gate in pedal form this fine.


sorry about the long review, i just wanted to point out how thrilled i am with this, and again.....i was not expecting this

It is almost if not exactly the same as the B*** CS unit.

I am using this with a Crate GX 80 amp. This box is the same strength compressor as the B*** for way less money. I mean look at it... it's the exact same setup.

It is not noisy to me. It is very clean.

So far..

Didn't dewal with the company.

It is great. It sustains my guitar single notes about 8 more seconds. If you have it turned up louder on the amp / overdrive pedal it can be for longer than that. And it makes everything about the same volume level so you can strum as hard as you want or as soft as you want and you don't get any major changes which is good for live work in my opinion. If you want changes in volume use a volume pedal.

Easy to use, but ALL COMPRESSORS require a lot of fiddling and tweaking. I've owned several different brands, some acknowledged as being among the very best (not including the Barber Tone Press). Incredibly, this little guy is right up there with them, and sounds actually better than most! The compression is very clean and civil, and it has none of that annoying "swell" that some have in the control settings I use. I like it a bunch!

Nice and transparent. Very surprising for such an inexpensive pedal. I don't know what HC means by "Pristine", so I'll have to give a score of 9.

I've had several Behringer products for many years and never had any reason to complain.

Never needed them.

My only complaint about the Behringer compact stompies is the difficulty getting the battery out. I use wall warts anyway, so this is not a issue.

Compressors are difficult to rate because of the different expectations people have for a compressor. The more seasoned among you know that. Some like them set all maxxed out and they actually like the "snap" attack. At the other end of the scale, some people want the compressor to create sustain with NO indication that a compressor is in the line. Some people just use it as a limiter to smooth out the stream of picked notes in a run. I just don't see how one compressor can possibly satisfy everybody.

I use a compressor to improve sustain as much as possible without any obvious swelling or sagging of the signal.

My opinion is this: I've had compressors made by BOSS, Digitech, Ibanez, and one "legendary" Dyncomp, and this Behringer is as good as any of those.
I hope that helps explain what I mean.

Controls are standart. Same knobs every compressor pedal has. So it is easy if you know how compressors operate.

Tight and sweet. Pretty musical indeed. However noise becomes an issue if you push sustain a lot. But it still delivers enough compression and sustain before the unit starts making noise, so noise cannot be told to be a really big issue there. But it still could be better. May be the plastic is one reason for the noise. Chassis can be tricky with a plastic case.

I would give it 8 normally but at this price it deserves a 9.

Well it is plastic. And the battery replacement is so lame. There is a spring in the middle and you push the slots on both sides with something angular and the top cover gets separated from the unit. Then you replace the battery. And while doing it you always get the feeling that the cover will never fit in there again because it will tear into pieces.

Anyway use an adapter. :)

Never called them.

Well it does the job in a decent way. Has its own character which is pretty musical but still transparent to a degree. Delivers out a pleasing tone which you would not expect at that price. It is a good unit in terms of sound quality.

But with the plastic case, I would not feel comfortable stepping on it on the stage. Well compare... Metal and plastic. ;)

It's a simple pedal Level, Tone Attack and Sustain, very easy to use and intuitive

It's so bad, I'm using a Yamaha RBX372 and it's cuts all of the bass tone, the sound it's so flat and without that great low tones. The only thing that it does right is the sustain, but this sustain is a bit artificial so I don't like it much

For 29 euros what do you want?? A s*** of pedal and a horror for your sound

It's as easy as twisting a few knobs. Set the sustain knob to the compression level you want and the levels knob to the desired volume and you've got a good compression set. Though you have to watch the quality of the power supply (see below). The manual is simple, though it's all you need really.

With a clean tone, I can get lots of pop from the picking (a la Country Chickin' Pickin') or just a nice, smooth rock compression for a strong presence in a lead by backing off the sustain knob just a little. Keeping the attack knob dimed seems to make this quite a transparent pedal beyond the compression. If it's backed off, however, it will be very noticeable as the boosts will come in discrete steps.

However, as I said before, you have to watch the quality of your power input. If I use a cheaper DC power supply and turn the sustain past 12:00 or turn up the level knob past 9:00, I get lots of hiss. But if I use a battery, no hiss at all. Though you will still get some hiss if you turn up the level knob since that will just boost whatever hiss is present in the existing signal as you'd expect. I don't have Behringer's own power supply, so I can't say whether that would be good enough for this pedal.

It's made of plastic, feels like plastic, but looks like a Boss without the shine. I'm just a casual player, so I don't know how worthy it would be for professional use. But hey, it's cheap and easy to replace.

Haven't dealt with them. Hopefully won't have to. But their warranty seems reasonable enough.

It's a compression pedal that's not noisy (provided you do your part) and doesn't compromise your tone. I haven't used other compressors so can't really compare. If this were lost, stolen or broken, I'd probably not cry over it and just buy another. It's not a magic pedal that makes me play better, but this pedal does have one feature that I find quite valuable - it has me playing more often.

I like it better than Boss CS-3. I A/B'd and found the Boss to be dull - definitely lost some highs, for which the tone knob did a poor job of compensating. The behringer keeps the original guitar signal a lot better, and I like the range of the tone knob better. The CS100 does a good job on both subtle and unsubtle compression types for guitar. The ranges of the knobs are relatively narrow - I was originally a little put off by the fact that they limited the ranges of the knobs, but I understand why: to prevent against reviews and customer service calls from people with no sense. The ranges do span the whole useful range of the pedal, tho - you can get all the good sounds out of it.

This is just one compressor, and there are many. If you only had a little cash and you were choosing between this and saving for months to get a $250 boutique Ross clone that uses $15 worth of parts, I would either (1)get the behringer cs100, or (2)learn to operate a soldering iron and read a schematic and make your own Ross clone. If you are a session player or producer, buy this one to throw on the pile, because it has its own character; it has IMO the bizarre distinction of being better than the pedal it imitates.