Behringer DM100

* How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? WELL ITS A PEDAL AND THATS PRETTY MUCH EXPLAINS IT SELF
* How is the manual for it (if there is one)? I GOT IT SECOND HAND SO I DIDN'T GET A MANUAL
* Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded? NO AND NO

# What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with? I HAVE IT ON A BOARD WITH DM100, TS9, DIGITECH ICEBOX, MORLEY VOLUME, CROSSFIRE DELAY INTO EITHER A CRATE PALOMINO V16 OR A 15 YEAR OLD FENDER SOLID STATE PRINCETON 112
# Is it noisy? On what settings? OH YEAH, WHEN ITS OFF ITS STILL ON A BIT, IF YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING A WHILE YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
# Are the effects weak or do they always sound great? WELL THE DS1 IS GREAT ITS THE ONLY ONE I USE, THE PROCO RAT IS WELL LESS THAN RATTISH, AND THE D+ JUST DOESN'T GIVE YOU ANYTHING UNLESS THE GAIN IS ALL THE WAY UP
# What amp are you using it with? MOSTLY A PALOMINO
# Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Who are they? WELL I BASICALLY BOUGHT THIS BECAUSE IT WAS $5 AND MY DANO BLACK LIQOURISH BUSTED. I MAINLY PLAY ROCKABILLY AND THIS WAS BOUGHT FOR A CHANGE OF PACE, BUT NO WAY IS IT CLOSE TO BUDDY, BRIAN, CARL, OR DUANE ( ROCKABILLY GUYS KNOW THESE NAMES)
# Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad I AM NOT GOING TO SAY IT SUCK OR IS A PIECE OF SHIIT. ITS FINE FOR WHAT I PAYED FOR IT

DEPEND ON IT OF COURSE AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DROP KICK IT OUT OF A THREE STORY BUILDING YOU'LL BE FINE

WELL I HAVE MY TS 9 AND A BEHRINGER VT999 SO I DON'T REALLY USE THIS AT GIGS, BUT I HAVE AND NO ONE COULD TELL THE DIFFERENCE EXCEPT WHEN I HAD TO UNPLUG IT TO PLAY CLEAN, NEEDS A TRUE BYPASS AND I WOULD PUT IT BACK ON MY BOARD

HERES A GOOD THING. I LOVE BEHRINGER BECAUSE THEY HAVE GOOD EFFECTS FOR PRICES THAT THE NOT SO DEEP POCKETED MUSICIANS CAN PLAY AND THEY TAKE CARE OF THERE STUFF. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM THEY CAN AND WILL HELP EVEN IF YOU LIVE IN ALASKA

* What style of music do you play? Is this a good match? ROCKABILLY AND ITS NOT REALLY A GOOD MATCH
* How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? ABOUT 16 YEARS; LOTS OF STUFF BUT NOBODY CARES
* If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? IF I FOUND IT AT THE SAME PRICE I'D BUY AN EXTRA. I DO NOT LIKE TO PASS UP DEALS I'M A THRIFT STORE JUNKIE
* what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? LOVE THE DS1, HATE THE NOISE WHEN ITS OFF
* Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one? NOT REALLY I DIDN'T EXPECT AS MUCH AS I GOT OUT OF IT
* Anything you wish it had? TRUE BYPASS
* Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way? IT HELPS ME PLAY AROUND WITH MY NORWEGIAN EAGLE STRAT AND WITH THE DIESEL PICKUPS IT MAKES ANY PEDAL SOUND GOOD
* Anything else you'd like to share? IT DOESN'T SUCK NO PIECE OF EQUIPMENT SUCK. I STILL HAVE MY ROCKTEK PEDALS I GOT WHEN I FIRST STARTED PLAYING AND LOVE THEM JUST AS MUCH AS I DID WHEN I GOT THEM. BE A LITTLE LESS OF A **** HEAD WHEN YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING WHAT DOES IT ACCOMPLISH TO TOTALLY RAG ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YOUR JUST WASTING YOUR TIME AND BREATH. GOOD DAY

I have been playing seriously for about 3 years now so I am a not-bad home player, but I am also a noisenik. The reviewers on this site who give explanations hints and tips have been really helpful to me so thanks to all the semi-pros for this. Payback time now. Given the low price of Behringers stomp boxes I imagine many of the readers here are on low budgets, so here is a tip for you. Buy the Behringer EQ (GE700) pedal (16 English Pounds) when you buy this distortion pedal. Go to the Boss website and have a look at their downloadable book on stomp boxes. Go to the suggested settings for their EQ pedal and set your EQ pedal to the 'metal sound' layout. Plug your guitar into the DM100 and then the EQ pedal and then your amp. Put the amp to the loudest clean setting that you can manage. On the amp set bass - 0 Mid - 5 and treble - 0 so that you are just hearing what the pedals can do. Then stomp the DM100 and whichever model you have picked you will get usable sounds with a bit of tweaking. Now kick in the EQ and stand back...Oh brother... sound comes alive and is HUGE. I am using Yamaha SG1000 (1980 vintage)- DM100 - GE700 - Orange Tiny Terror 15 watt tube amp into Orange PPC112 (1 12" speaker) cab. I play as loud as possible (otherwise why play electric guitar? lol) and the two pedals convert a small combo into a wall of Marshall stacks - but without killing every living soul in a 5 mile radius! So you get a huge rich useable sound for...peanuts.

I hope that helps.

I won't write a full review as yet as too early. However I would just note that some reviewers have said that the Gain pot only starts to have an effect from 3 o'clock onwards. This is correct when playing at home volume levels. But once the amp is cranked up in a practice room the gain starts to appear at 3 o'clock. That having been said the real fun for me was 4-5 o'clock. The Tone pot also does a lot more through a cranked amp. Also no hiss/extraneous noise when playing through cranked gear. There was occasional clipping when using humbuckers and boosted signal, but then my guitar is very high output, and I was using 3xboosts (very silly) and I actually love to hear gear going in to melt-down (hence the multiple boosts).

Remember TURN IT UP and buy an EQ pedal - and bring your rig to life.

This thing sounds like shit. An Ok sound can be gotten out of it but I would NEVER, EVER use it as a stand-alone

Don't even bother using a Strat, it just makes a funny sound like thumping or something when you dig in. Now I use it with a Les Paul Standard, and i don't even gig it anymore, it just muddys up too much with my set-up. I have a Behringer GMX212 amp.

There is no way I would depend on this pedal. Although it is heavy and has a heavy bottom-plate, It is made of plastic, plastic I say. I wouldn't even think about gigging it.

Buy it if you have a seriously shit single channel guitar amp and only play at home but otherwise don't bother.

This is a follow up review. At the time of my first review I did not have all three distortion pedals that the DM100 emulates. I happen to have them all right now. I lined up the 4 pedals for comparison.

Just to dispell any myths the DM100 is a 100% analog pedal.

I played a gibson les paul special loaded with seymour duncan p-90's into a groove tubes soul-o-45 amp.

Starting with the ds-1:

I used a stock "made in Japan" DS-1 for the comparison.

I found the DM100 replicated the DS-1 pretty closely. The same knob settings on both pedals yield almost exactly the same sound with a slight nod going to the behringer. The top end of the behringer was slightly less brittle and a little more bass was preserved with the behringer.

The Behringer has easily twice as much output as the Boss so If you're trying to push a tube amp the DM100 will shred the DS-1.

On to the Distortion +:

I used a vintage late 70's Distortion +.

The sounds are VERY close. A Slight nod goes to the MXR for more usable sweep in the distortion knob. The first 2/3 of the distortion knob is unusable on the DM100. A setting of 6 on the DM100 is the same as Zero on the MXR. So you are left with a small part of the sweep to work with when dailing in your sound.

The Behringer again had WAY more output than the MXR.

The RAT:

I used a "Vintage Rat" reissue.

Predictably this is where the DM100 is outmatched. The only place the two pedals equate are at the highest gain settings. If you use your rat with max gain you would probably like the behringer just fine, and it even lets a little more bass through.

In my opinion the strength of the RAT is the variety of gain levels it can produce without sounding dull or muddy. I use my RAT pedal at a fairly low gain setting that is more overdrive. The Behringer can't do that sound at all and again the small amount of usable distortion range is all bunched up at the very end of the knobs sweep.

Output of the DM100 was about equal to the RAT.

This comparison may not be totally fair because I used some of the better vintage models of the other pedals, but the DM100 held up well to all but the RAT.

For tone the DM100 was equal or better than the ds-1 and distortion +, but fell short of the vintage rat. For output the the DM shreds the DS-1 and disotion+ but equals the RAT.

As I see it the math is 2 and 1/2 great distortion pedal sounds for less than 1/2 the price of a DS-1. If you are low on money buy this instead of a DS-1, but if you have the scratch try the vintage rat pedal.

Pedal modeling selection switch
Volume, tone, distortion

Touchy controls, it takes some finess to mesh it with your amps gain. Enough that it would frustrate many players but not enough to make them hate it.

Good but it can get brittle if you really push it which seems to be the case with most Behringers distortions. Still, it does a good job and sounds like the pedals it's been designed to model. The real mccoys are just a bit smoother and less fussy to dial in.

I've used it with a fair variety of amps and the DS1 and RAT have generally been much more prefered over the D+.

The DS1 model by far has been the prefered mode because it's the smoothest and doesn't push very hard until you pass the 3 o'clock position.

The D+ pushes A LOT and breaks up too much. It's harsh.

The RAT is pretty tame up until around the 3 o'clock position and then it just hammers your amp, true to the real mccoy. It's about equal to the DS1 but hits a bit harder and gets harsh sooner.

It does a great job with the V-Tone series Behringer amps. I can get a nice high gain suitable for lead, solo and even metal while not having any noise issues.

Plastic pot shafts, otherwise it's rock solid. It would live too long on the road and being gigged regularly but should last a fair number of years around the band room and bedroom

It's a nice cheap investment to help you decide if you want to buy the pricier pedals it models and you may get it and decide it does good enough job not to bother.
if it's between this and a tube screamer of any design, I'd honestly say get this instead even though it's plastic.

I'm not a fan of distortion and overdrive pedals but I'd buy it again. It's been useful and from time to time saves the day when my primary pedal has decided to take a crap on me.
Changing the clipping diode would probably perfect it and it's a mod anyone can perform once they know which part the diode is.

Great pedal for beginners, decent pedal for pros. Good pedal for anyone if they're just using it in the bedroom or the band room practice sessions.

A switch to control the three different distortions, three knobs to control volume tone (only on RAT and DS1) and distortion level. Im only giving this score as it takes quite a lot of tweaking to get an optimum sound as the pots don't really kick in til around the 12 o'clock positions. With time tho you can get some classy sounds

I have to say fopr ?15 this effect is amazing value. I'd have paid it for the DS1 alonebut the added joys of the RAT and D+ make this a bargain. With my Ibanez AX (majorly under rated guitar) the DS1 produces some very cool metal sounds near the metallica sound. Yet when distortion is lowered you get into the grunge tone so any skint kurt cobains out there save yourself some money and get this instead of the ds1.
I've come to love the D+ model. Its best to think of it more as a fuzz than a distortion. With the other distortion settings I use a clean amp channel, but with this I put a little bit of warmth in it and it really starts to fuzz and bit nicely
Rat model is also nice. Don't use it as much but if u like subtle distortion this is for you. I want to get a tele to try Blur's Song 2 with it (Graham Coxon used a RAT). Imagine it would be good
Only gripe would be that its not true bypass. If you're playing loudly u can't notice it but at bedroom level u can hear whatever distortion u have set in the background. I have been told this is true of the originals too but its still annoying

Now for the reason this is so cheap. Yes its plastic. Yes the knobs and pots could be better. But what do you expect for ?15. Besides, implaying in my bedroom or with mates, not opening for metallica. I am a student so I can't afford the better pedals (which Im not sure are much better!)Plus I look after my gear. Owned it at leas 4 months and nothing has messed up with it. Don't give it a direct hit with a massive Doc Martin boot and it should be fine. Follow the 11th commandment "Love thy gear"!

Everyone says its good. However trying to find out product release dates is impossible (i really wanted the behringer delay). I guess thats not the same department so I'll resign an opinion

Can't be beaten for value. This three (overpriced) distortion pedals in one (plastic) box. No you won't find it in every studio across the land, but there are some good tones in this baby and Im sure it will stay with me a long time. No if only companies did valve amps this cheap!

volume, distortion, tone. The tone knob is a filter. I think high pass in the ds-1, low pass on the rat and off on the distortion+.

First off it's not really a modeller and it doesn't really have 3 different souinds in it.

It has ONE analog IC chip distortion sound that is voiced with three different tone types. Really makes one think about the roll of the tone circuit on a dirt box. Since it does sound alot like the three boxes it claims to model even though it is not really the same as any of them.

I am judging this against a stock ds-1. I don't have the other two pedals to compare. The DS-1 mode is the worst but it still sounds way better than the boss. Not just a little better. I did a double blind test with some friends and even a non-musician could hear the improvement in clarity and depth without giving it any thought at all.

The distortion+ plus gives the raw sound of the pedal with no EQ. This is a setting to apply an EQ after. I like this sound.

The RAT sound is the best owing to the low pass filter. Thick riffing sounds are easy to find and it just rocks in this mode.

You just cannot beat the value of this behringer line. I wish these had been around when i was starting because you can buy 5 of them for what i used to pay for a boss pedal.

its quite easy, 3 types of disortion on a little switch and the standard 3 knobs. however the knobs are quite small. still straight forward.

hmmmm... well firsty there are three types of distortion this box is moddeled on, the boss ds1, the mxr dist+ and the pro co rat.

i do not use this in my setup anymore as i have replaced it by the danelectro fab dist which is a great pedal

boss ds1
sounds shocking. tinny, very noisy very limited tone without sacrificing quality, STAY AWAY!
id give it a 1 just because it is the only one which you can change the tone on

mxr dist +
basically fuzz, not bad however no tone control because the original didnt. however you can get some nice hendrix tones of this and adds a bit of intrest to your sound, the only mode i used. only buy it if you want this sound. id give it an 8

proco rat, grungy dist. you only get a good sound of this when the gain is turned to 90+.again no tone tone control so not much versitility. 5

made of plastic. survived one of my gigs. however dont use batteries because the container is so dodgy. same design as the digitechs to get to the batteries but i own a digitech bad monkey and it makes the battery access on this look poor.

im still waiting for the day when something goes wrong

i bought it because it was peanuts #15 quid. the fuzz is worth it for this . i play most rock syles and it fits alright. also the adaptor socket is on the side of the unit which messes up your effects line.
if your looking for a good distortion pedal look elsewhere.
sorry behringer

I have this 3months now, and I have to warn people using humbuckers that this pedal clips.
So I can only use it as a clean/almost clean booster because of the plops noises it makes when clipping. This clipping does not occur with lesser output pickups such as single coils.
Note that other Behringer pedals (GDI21, ADI21, PB100) also presents clipping problems with humbuckers.
I'm disappointed by this, and also by the lack of critical reviewers on the Behringer page here on HC.
Oh, and the drive control does everything in its last quarter, so good luck finding/keeping an appropriate adjustment (this point is also noted though).

Ds1 mode is trebley and thin, good as a booster but not as stand-alone distortion.
Rat mode is fuller&warmer, enjoyable as a booster but not my cup of tea distortion-like.
D+ is like the Rat mode, but crisper and a bit cooler, middle of the two above.
I don't own or have played the originals so I can't compare.

Overall, it is not a noisy pedal which is good.

The rating is for its use as a booster.

I own other pedals by the same manufacturer, and I have several problems with them, none related to the plastic housing.
One can't work on battery, another shuts off occasionally all by itself, another have controls issues (goes full blast if a fly land on any of them)...
So no, definitely not reliable.

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Don't like it much, but my 5-year old does!
I think this pedal line gives you some taste of the real thing it's modeled after, and if you like the taste then you can buy the real thing (if only to have a reliable, working product).
Your toddler/s will love to play with those colourful little vans, satisfaction guaranteed!

AS easy to use as a Boss pedal - that's pretty easy. Three controls: DIST TONE and LEVEL. And a three-way switch that selects which 'modeling' mode you are using. The only possible awkward design feature is the battery compartment - it involves putting pressure on little spring-loaded tabs on each side of the pedal. Behringer recommend a ball point pen for this. That's fine in the house/studio, but can you imagine doing a battery swap on stage, amidst the chaos of a live gig - drop your ballpoint pen and you're F&*KED. They copied everything else, so why didn't they copy the thumbscrew from Boss as well?! But maybe plastic doesn't work as well as metal for that. Ah well.

Now, this is where you get your money's worth, and then some. This pedal claims to model three classic stomp boxes - the Boss DS1, the MXR Distortion +, and the ProCo RAT. All in all, three pedals any rock player could benefit from having at their disposal. Let me start by saying that I've owned both a DS-1 and a RAT, so I'm doing a direct comparison. The Distortion + however, is something I've never used, so I don't have a direct experience of the original vs. the DM100.

Okay:

DS-1 mode - very close to the original, a very marshall-on-overload type distortion, quite a cliched tone, but usable. Kurt Cobain managed to obtain his version of the 'grunge' tone from a DS-1 (later a DS-2) among other pedals, so it all depends on the amp you use, the guitar etc etc. Pretty close, and as others have said, it is quite buzzy and perhaps a tad more harsh than the real thing, but I was able to tame that by setting the tone at about 11 o clock. As I would on a DS-1 anyway. So, the DS-1 mode delivers the goods, and to my ear it might well have a bit more gain than a real stock DS-1.

Distortion + - I love this. It sounds like a really great fuzz/hendrix type tone (I play strats which may contribute), with a smooth and long sustain, and great 'messed up' quality to your chords, and it just has that beautifully out-of-control quality that fuzz should have. WORTH IT JUST FOR THIS MODE ALONE!

RAT - It sounds very very very close to a RAT. Fuzzy, grindy, nasty rock tone, loads of sustain, power and grunge. Maybe slightly more brash than the real thing, but for #16.00 can you really complain? My second favourite tone is from this mode. Very usable.

It's plastic. It's Behringer. It's also probably very simple, so it may well last. These things have only been available for about 6 months at the time of writing, so who knows.

I've emailed behringer about a small glitch with the pedal (ome low level fuzz slipping in to the bypassed sound). No reply yet. So just to be vindictive I'm going to score them a 2.

3 very very close emulations of 3 classic pedals, in one box, for hardly any money. This new range of stomp boxes from behringer has something for most players, and you really have very little to lose in buying at least one. You, could however, have lots to gain. I'm very glad I bought this little monster. If you're after classic distortion or fuzz tones, go for this.