Behringer TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive

Very easy. Very versatile as relevant degrees of overdrive is found on all settings of "drive".

MIM 50's classic tele modded to S-1 switching -> to800 -> Kustom Tube 12A. Not noisy at all. Very versatile in all drive settings. Very playable and responsive overdrive

ABS plastic cover seems reliable. Battery compartment accessibility is bad, but works. I'm afraid to breaj the lid some day.

N/A

I play Rock. I preferred this unit to a distortion unit (Behringer DM100), since the TO800 is more responsive to my playing style. The DM100, by the way, seems to be a nice unit. The distortion effect of the DM100, however, is very uniform to any input (does not respond to changes/lowerings of playing style - which I guess is common for all distortion units), and I like the responsive feel.

Simple, classic (BOSS type) design, which makes it easy to use right out of the box. My pedal did not come with a manual, but it is available free at behringer.com. With controls this simple who needs a manual anyway, eh?

Truthfully for $20 I did not expect much, even after reading some of the glowing reviews here at harmony central and reviews posted on several of the internet retailers. Wow! Was I pleasently suprised. I am a Stevie Ray tone junkie and this baby does it pretty damn good. It comes as close as to vintage TS-9/TS-808 as I have heard, and for a LOT LESS. Drive at 9 o'clock, Level at 12 0'clock, and tone at 2 o'clock is SRV bliss on my Powerhouse Strat using the neck pick-up and running into pretty much any decent tube or even tube/hybrid amp that I've tried it on (Vox, Z-Vex, even sounds good with my Behringer AC 112 Vintager, an underrated amp IMHO). I'm also a huge fan of the Brent Mason, Brad Paisley "twang" sound, and with my 50's re-issue Tele (and a compressor) I can dial up that "edge of distortion" clean sound with great sustain and punch. Crank up the drive and it's vintage "Marshall mayhem", thick, cascading overdrive/distortion that you can EQ (using amp and pedals' Tone control) to just about any rock guitar sound you might need. Of course like any OD pedal this will get noisey if you max out all controls or a combination of them, but I have found that compared to other much more expensive pedals the TO-800 is as quiet or quieter.

Case made of fairly heavy looking and feeling plastic. I would and will gig with it without a backup. Dependability will prove or disprove itself over next year. So far, so good.

I have never dealt with Behringer support, nor has this pedal been repaired or upgraded.

I play everything from bluegrass gospel to hard rock/metal (old school metal like early Metallica, Iron Maiden, not this techno sounding crap they call metal these days, i.e. NIN, Marilyn Manson). I began playing about 24 years ago (started playing at 14, quit and sold all my guitars and equipment at 19, then began playing again about 4 years ago in a church group)and this is one the best values I've ever come across. The TO-800 has become my main overdrive pedal and I would be a fool not to replace it if it were stolen or lost. I also own a DOD YJM 308 Preamp/Overdrive, but to my ears the Behringer sounds warmer, bigger, richer, just plain better.

this one is very easy to use, just three knobs and there you go.

i don't use a lot of overdive with my pedal, i just have it crank up my amp (line6 flextone, really nice amp btw.) i use an amp-setting which is almost overdriven, with the to 800 it will be overdriven.

easy to adjust, no need to look at the (ridiculous) manual.

sound quality is simply amazing! i gives my amp a very nice, smooth, leadtone. sustain is great (even with my ibanez blazer, a strat copy), stilll your tone doesn't loose any definition.

of course this is a one trick pony, only thing it does is beefing up a lead-tone. expect nothing more. but what is does, it does in a great way.

only problem is when you switch off the unit, it seems you miss some high tones then. maybe i will get a true-bypass some nice day.

if it were the lead tone only i would rate this one an 8 or even 9. but as it isn't true bypass i give it a 7

no, you can't really depend on it, plastic as it is.

just get an extra one for 23 euro's.

with a spare to 800 you will never get into any problems. so with an extra investment, i rate it 10!

no idea, i don't care either for 23 euro's

just get a spare one (i haven't got one so far, but i will), try and bypass it and this is the best buy you will ever get in guitar land.

i have played for quite some time (10+ years), our band plays classic rock and this unit is great for rock.
i will surely invest in more behringers, the b0 100, even though my flextone has got so many tones already.

Very simple, straightforward pedal. It has Drive (adjusts gain or amount of overdrive), Tone, and Level (adjusts volume). The manual does not go into much more detail than I just told you, no suggested settings or anything like that. It is very easy to get great tones out of this pedal.

This baby gets a 10 for sound quality easy. If the ratings went to 20 I would give it a 20. But you've got to know how to use it. It is an overdrive pedal, not a distortion pedal. I really believe the best use for this pedal is a boost for solos. It does get a nice bluesy overdrive that could be used for rhythm guitar, but in my opinion it is best to have an overdrive or distortion pedal you love for rhythm, and then use the TO800 to boost for a fanstastic solo with super-smooth, creamy, violin-type tone with fantastic sustain. This pedal really sounds that good. I use a 80's ProCo Rat for my overdrive with the gain set about 1/3. I do not like hyper-distortions that sound like tearing paper. I like some bite and crunch in my rhythm guitar tone. My guitars are a Gibson LP Studio and Fender American Strat into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. This pedal also sounds great boosting a clean tone. It will push your amp into those great tube saturation tones. Great dynamics and sustain, and even feedback if you are into that. I love it.

I believe this is a pedal that has to be played at volume to really bring out the great tone. At bedroom volume it sounds very good. But get the volume up and it comes alive and sounds fantastic. I play in a Classic Rock band. First gig I used this pedal our other guitarist came over and asked me what I was using different. He got right down and studied my pedalboard. I almost laughed and told him it was this cheap little green pedal. This pedal got his attention and he has good gear and great tone himself.

I tried the classic Tubescreamer settings with Drive to Min, Tone all the way counter-clockwise (bass), and Level on Max. It sounded good, but did not cut through enough for me. I turned Drive and Tone to about 12 o'clock position and this thing took off and blew me away. It sounds so good you can hardly play poorly if you tried.

But you gotta know how to use it. I have a friend who plays in a band with a TS808 and it just sounds horrible, muffled and muddy. He leaves it on all the time with poor settings and just ruins his tone in my opinion. You gotta know what you are doing.

Well, here's where the pedal suffers. It really does feel pretty cheap and flimsy. If you dropped it on a hard surface it would probably shatter into 10 pieces. The knobs turn very easy and have no resitance to them at all. But to their credit, all controls are very responsive. Still, I don't think I'll have any problems with it. I leave it on my pedalboard at all times, so I am not connecting or disconnecting cords, and I have a One Spot powering all my pedals, so I don't have to bother with the poorly designed battery compartment. I don't stomp on my stompboxes, so I almost never have problem with any of my gear. If you treat this pedal with respect it should last. I will probably buy another as a backup though just in case. I want a couple more anyway, stock up while you can.

Never dealt with Behringer, but I own a lot of Behringer PA gear and have never had a single problem with anything. There are lots of folks who put Behringer down, most likely competitors who are feeling the crunch. I would recommend Behringer gear to anybody, it's been very good to me. So if they want to sell good reliable gear at a great cost-savings, I consider that excellent support.

This pedal gets a 10 easy. It really sounds amazing and the price is incredible too. Yeah, it's built kinda cheap, but who cares? I have been playing 30+ years and played in many bands, Classic Rock at present. This is by far the best sounding pedal for a solo boost I have ever heard.

Simple use. A gain knob, tone knob, and output. If you can't figure out, you're probably not ready to be playing guitar.

Absolutely delicious! You can get everything from a slight crunch to thicken up some bar chords to a huge meaty drive sound. Very warm. Interesting thing that has been mentioned in other reviews: when you have the gain all the way, you can hear a little bit of clean signal mixed in with it. I didn't like it at first, but it grows on you. It keeps the sound intelligible.

I have a lot of Behringer gear, and have never had any problems. I could reasonably see the plastic casing breaking, though.

Again, I have lots of Behringer gear, and have never once needed support. The best support is a good product.

Great price, great sound, great addition to a pedal board.

Very easy to use - If you want to have a reasonably quiet pedal - don't max the drive, level, and tone. I get a great boosted sound for my Traynor custom valve amp by putting the level at 12:30, the drive at 11:30, and the tone at 11:30.

What a bargain - for 22 bucks, this pedal is the bomb. I use a Samick Greg Bennet Interceptor through a Traynor Custom Valve 50 Blue amp (sweet amp). This pedal (setup as mentioned above) sounds phenomenal as a boost to the amp's lead channel. It sounds MUCH better than the amp's own "Boost" footswitch for that channel, do I use the pedal for those creamy, rich solo lines.

Hmmm...we'll see - knobs are the biggest worry. The case is plastic (hard enough), but the knobs are pretty flimsy. What do you want for 22 bucks?

Don't know.

Great pedal for almost no money whatsoever. I love it...can't believe it costs less than 25 dollars.

Very easy to get a great sound out of it. Knobs very easly understood and well laid out

Ooohh momma! I can get some ripping sounds out of this baby with my 20-year old Profile Vintage through a Marshall 8080 Valvestate amp running flat with a little bit of mid boost and the effect's knobs all set to about one o'clock. Surprisingly quiet too compared to my previous DigiTech multi-effects unit.

I'd probably buy a backup because the build quality is definitely not all that it could be. I will probably manufacture an aluminium case for it. A little nervous about the knobs that seem to be all attached to a PCB in the case. I will probably replace the knobs with heavier duty ones once the warranty expires.

Never actaully had to deal with CS so I really couldn't say

Top shelf. I tried a TC Electronic unit similar to this one which was going to cost about fifteen times as much. Was it a better unit sound-wise and build-wise? Honestly, yes. Was it fifteen times better? No way. Even the DigiTech "Bad Monkey" was not as good in terms of sound though it was built really well. At the end of the day, the Behringer is on the top of the heap in terms of value for money. You'd be mad not to at least give one a go. If it got stolen? You bet I'd buy another. I guess I'd really like an aluminium case and heavier duty knobs. For that I'd pay the extra however many bucks.

The unit is very easy to use. Just three knobs:
Gain
Tone
Level
Each of them does excactly, what you expect.

The Manual is very basic. No suggested settings, just short exlanation of the knobs, the jacks an how to change the battery.

The sound is amazing. It's much better than the Boss Stomps in my GX-700. Very, very old school Tube Screamer like.
I use it on my Triple XXX.
Clean Channel - I use it to get a decent "Marshall Clean" or light crunch sounds. Very well!!!
Crunch Channel - I use the TO800 to boost the sound. Thins out the Bass and adds more highs. It's very good for single note licks or solo lines. More bite, sustain and presence.
Ultra Channel - Like Crunch Channel with even more bite.
Best deal I've ever made for 39 bucks.

The look and feel of the TO800 is ok. The reliability of the knobs is the only thing I'm not sure of .

I dealt a lot of time with the Behringer support.
The guys at Behringer are always kind and cooperative.

Sound's amazing, the price is fantastic. What more can you ask for.... oh, one thing: a remote jack like the Nobbels Stomps. That's a very useful thing for remote switching.

Very easy to get a useable sound from it. Just drive, tone and level.
Battery compartment is in a bit of a strange place but I use a 9v power supply anyway.

I use a beat up old strat and a guitar I built myself, alder body, maple top, maple/rose neck. I use the T0800 in the house with a Fender Champ 12 valve amp.

Some great sounds can be dialled in with this pedal. I tend to use it on the Fender clean channel to just break up the sound a little.
Drive on min, Tone on low and Level at 12 O'clock gives me a nice little bite when playing songs like Lenny / Mary Had a Little Lamb (SRV) or Little Wing etc...

Turn the vol up on the Champ and adjust the drive and tone of the TO800 and it's creeeammmy leads! :)

I've never used a TS808 but this is what I hoped it would sound like!

Not had any problems with it, yes it's plastic but I only use it in-doors anyway.

Fantastic little box.
For the price I have never come across any other pedal that can touch it.
Behringer really came up with a winner here and I recommend it to anyone looking to enhance their valve amp and open up some new tones.

As mentioned in many of the other reviews the poor design aspects are as follows:

* Horrible battery compartment. Getting into it is one thing, trying to put the lid back on is a pain. Once it's on, you don't feel the urge to open it again to disconnect the battery. Don't be alarmed when the top falls off when you release the springs (and the inside springs) none of which are glued down to prevent either from doing so.

* Power Jack is on the side of the box which I believe causes issues for people using power over batteries. I use batteries so it doesn't phase me a whole lot at this stage.

* The manual does what it's supposed to do. It shows you the features of the pedal without going into any detail. This is like 2 pages of information that is pretty much what you expect - very simple for a very simple item.

The good points:

* Great overdrive tone! This comes from a blues guitarist who has been using a Ibanez Tubescreamer TS7 for the last few years. I thought I'd try the $39.95 (AUD) Behringer TO800 as a cheap replacement for my TS7 since the on/off foot switch on the TS7 no longer works consistantly enough to use it live.

* This pedal is more like a cleaner true overdrive guitar tone even more so than my old Ibanez TS7. With this in mind you do have to favour the Ibanez in terms of build and construction but tonally the TO800 is very nice and very simple to use (once u work out how to get the battery in). Even with lots of drive which I don't normally play with the notes still kept a clean sound - each note was easily heard. I play with minimal overdrive (love that clapton and john mayer fender tone) and it seems to do the job very nice indeed.

Great blues tone, I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in an OVERDRIVE pedal (not distortion). I keep the tone pot turned all the way to the LEFT for nicer tone otherwise it gets too sharp. This would vary between amplifiers. I am using a 50th Stratocaster with S1 switching and a Fender Hot Rod De-Ville 212 and I love the tone of this thing. Like I mentioned the Ibanez overdrive pedal was nice but this seems to have a clarity to it - great value for $39.95 (AUD)

* There's no background noise when the pedal is plugged in and not in use, nor when you switch to it. I wish I could say the same for Behringers Ultra Octavier pedal - I am returning that tomorrow. This Tube Overdrive pedal rocks, if you like blues or stuff that required a clear yet subtle overdrive check it out, seriously! :)

***Tone/Sound Rating 9/10

The cheap plastic case is one thing - I mean, yeah it's sturdy but it's still plastic. I'd rather pay $10-$15 more and get a metal case pedal. That aside, the main point of issues are with the battery and power supply insert.

I just go it, so I can't say how reliable this is long term. If it lasts 1-2 years it's more than worth it. for $39.95 Australian Dollars, you can't beat it. If it breaks, I'll buy another one even though it comes with a 12 month warrenty.

If it broke at a gig, I would just use my amps overdrive - there's not a whole lot of difference. I can't imagine there being any problems with it at gigs - it's not like I throw it around or jump on it.

***Build/Construction 5/10

Behringer have good support from past experience with another item. I have had no trouble with them and they are great guys in Melbourne, Australia.

Value - 10/10
Phenomial value for money - I paid lots more for my TS7 and this does a better job at 1/4 of the price. Pity Behringer don't re-release it with a metal case and a click to open battery compartment. Other than that - sounds good for blues nice sound that doesn't take away and qualities of your guitar.

It's hard to get a bad sound. just don't go to far with the tone.

as advertised the ic chip is a 4558, but it isn't a jrc or rc. it is a subminiature surface mount chip, not the sort of thing that makes for easy modding. Luckily it sounds great like it is.

It has a nice smooth lead overdrive tone with the tubescreamer sonic signature. Mid hump is go. I think it combines a bit more of your clean sound than an ibanez tubescreamer. It's a little more transparent. I don't think this is a tubescreamer clone. I think it is more tubescreamer inspired. Honestly i think it sounds better than a tubescreamer.

The behringer TO100 sounds pretty close to this but has a more flat and neutral signature. I like to use them together.

I don't have a vintage ts-808, but it does sound better than my ts10 and most of the the tube screamer style pedals i have compared it to. It is not quite as smooth or creamy as the Cusack screamer, but it is close. Some settings i could not tell them apart, others i prefered the behringer unit.

The build is solid. I would gig it without backup.

I highly reccomend this pedal. It is great value for the money. You could spend a lot more and the pedal might not sound as good as this one.

3 knobs : drive, level and tone...this is guitar-distortionbox-basics one o one people. Anybody should be to figure this one out!

This is where i was really surprised. I was looking to buy a overdrive pedal for a while now because i think the boss ds-1 i used loses too much definition in sound when cranked. I wanted to get a tubescreamer but they are way too expensive for my budget...so on a recommendation from this site i tried the TO800, and i'm really glad i did! It's true this isn't a very gain heavy box, but it isn't supposed to be! This pedal is meant to push a tube amp on the verge of going into overdrive over the edge. It keeps the sound you already have but gives it a really nice boost, very touch sensitive and cleans up nicely when you back off the volume.
It's also funny to realise that this effect is one of the more expensive ones from the Behringer pedal range, and with good reason they realise they've made a kick-ass pedal. And using this with my Flying V and a Vox practice amp (15 watt) i think it's a pathfinder, one of the old ones that arn't made anymore, but with a little tube inside...no when pushing that little tube i can get a absolute killer sustain, way better then with my old Boss DS-1 pedal.

I won't bash the pedal too much in this catagory because of it's cheapness. But i do think that this is the only catagory where this pedal fall short because of the cheap plasic contruction. Allthough i think if you don't go skydiving with this thing and use it normally it should last a while...

never dealt with them...

For the price (eventhough it is pricier than the other behringer stompboxes) this pedal is the sjit. A very nice smooth and warm overdrive boost, notes can now be heard separately without it turning into a big distortion mush, this is a really good thing that helped me gain a bit more control over my sound and was exactly what i was looking for. Remember people true good distortion tone conmes from overdriving your amp and letting the tubes do the hard work...if broken or stolen i would buy 2 replacements...this pedal is indeed a hidden gem...but remember it's not a gain monster, get a metalzone like pedal for that...but for smooth overdrive with nice sustain get this one!!!

Its easy to use
Simple three knob arrangement, the best in my opinion.

Man....
I have a/b this pedal with a TS-9 Tubescreamer and liked the Behringer better.
I found it just felt better and was slightly smoother than the Ibanez.
I dont like the build quality though but what do you expect you cheap bastards.
The Behringer had slightly more gain than the original too.
Sits well in a band situation, cuts through like wildfire,

I would not depend on it....
Just buy two!

Unsure

I play classic rock, Marshall plexi 50w, strats with low output pickups, I depend on my amp to give me output that does not mush up, hence my pickup selection.
The T0800 is a good sounding pedal in the right applications, lets your guitar and amp shine through.
The downside is bad build quality and cheap looks but who you trying to fool... but who cares anyway because it sounds so good.

Easy to use, once I figured out how to install the battery!

Simple controls, no trouble getting a nice tone, I am a bit of a Luddite, if I can get a good tone from this gadget anyone can

BTW, what's firmware?

Godin Solidac or Profile strat copy with GFS alnico vintage pups, into Traynor ycv 40 and/ or Roland JC 77, via Blue Tube preamp, Behringer tremolo, Boss RV2.

Its not noisy, and the sound I am after - valve amp overdrive - is very easy to dial in. It seems to be pretty touch sensitive for tranny gear (as is the much maligned distortion on the Jazz Chorus I might add)

A/B'd this with my valve amp o/d channel, for very similar sound, so I guess it does exactly what its suppposed to.

First one I bought was u/s, no sound, nil, nyet, nein.

Thank God for Harmony Central - I had read reviews stating that there can be problems with this cheap stuff, and one review indicated that, once you actually get one that works, they then seem to keep going. So with that in mind I bought from my local dealer, and was glad - i simply returned it and he swapped it for another. His price was the same as national e - discounter, so i was happy.

The replacement pedal works a treat, but I do think it is inevitable that I will at some stage leave the patch cord plugged in after playing, and will as a result suffer flat battery as this leaves the unit switched on - so I need to carry spare batteries, at least until I get a power supply organised.

Longevity may be an issue, as the pots and fittings seem flimsy - but its fine for the price

I was going give it a 5, pretty harsh by my standards, but this reflects 50/ 50 success rate, and also the cheap feeling build, loose feel to pots etc. However, I feel I must balance this with the price, so I will give it a 7

I play blues, some jazz standards, some funky stuff. This pedal is great for when I want some nice gritty drive.

Been playing on and off for about 20 years - a lot of off time though. I have had an old Butler Blues Tube which I used to swear by, it is good in that it serves as a nice useful valve preamp, with 3 band EQ, but for simple drive, or gain boost, I think this 50 buck cheapy is better.

I used the reviews here on Harmony Central to help me decide on this pedal, and they were very helpful. Same process helped me to choose the Traynor amp (a beauty) the GFS pups, and the Godin Solidac. All good stuff, and all given mostly great reviews on Harmony Central.

Back to this pedal - I cant fault it really, the sounds are great, its even a bit touch sensitive which I think is amazing, and the cheap build is IMHO fair enough for the price.

How much easier can you get? Drive, Tone, and Level. If someone finds that the slightest bit difficult to use control wise, they should stick to acoustic. I'm giving this a 9 though because well, you guessed it...the battery compartment.

I'm using this with a Super Reverb with a Weber MASS attenuator and a Les Paul Standard as well as an American Standard Strat. I use it as a volume boost for solos with the Les Paul and to give my Strat some grit. Works very well for both purposes. I also own a Blues Driver and have played a Bad Monkey through a Super and the overdrive on those sound extremely harsh to me compared to the TO800. It's a more musical OD than those two pedals. Nobody can totally nail SRV's tone because well, he was SRV, but with a Strat, Super Reverb, and this pedal I can come pretty darn close.

I feel like this is a dependable product (despite the plastic) if you don't abuse it but that goes for anything really. Only thing I worry about is a battery going out during a gig and it taking 10 minutes to change it. haha

I play mainly blues and jazz but just use the TO800 for the blues/rock type stuff. If this thing were stolen or lost, I'd buy two of them next time just in case. There's nothing sound wise to not like about this pedal. If there is anything I wish this thing had that it doesn't it would be a Boss style battery compartment. Considering the price of it though, I think it's worth the hassle. Still gets a 10 from me.

It's green!!! It's a Tubescreamer copy!
Everyone knows the best way to get a sound from a TS - gain down low, level almost full up, tone somewhere between 9 and 12 o'clock to taste.

Once you've worked out how to get the battery in (that compartment lid IS as tricky as everyone has said!) it's hard to get a bad sound out of it.

Prepare to be amazed!!!
I have an original TS9, a UE400 rack unit with an original TS808 circuit in it and a reissue that's been modded to TS 808 specs. Of the three I generally use the latter and this was the pedal with which I A/B this funny little #15 plastic box.
Guess what? They're virtually undistinguishable - ie BOTH sound GREAT!!!

The $64,000 question, of course...
Cons: It's made out of plastic.
The jacks and pots don't seem to be fixed to anything except the pcb inside.
The battery cover is a bastard to get off and looks as if the little hinge pins might break with repeated removals.
Pros: It's pretty tough plastic - and it sits on a steel base that gives the pedal a lot more or a weighty, solid feel thant the (much more expensive) Danelectro mini-pedals.
It's very responsive to volume and pick attack, so you might well be happy to sit it on top of your amp and leave it switched on all the time, in which case, durability is less of an issue. (I often use my overdrive pedal like that)
It's #15 for God's sake! If you have to buy a new one every year, you're still quids in!
And at that price, you could afford to buy two and have a backup!

I've e-mailed Behringer in Germany a few times with support queries about mixers and digital FX and always found them mega helpful.

I play blues, so obviously this pedal is idea from my Strat-into-Fender-amp SRV type sounds.
I've been playing for about 25 years and have owned all kinds of gear - currently 14 guitars (mostly USA and Mexican Fenders) 12 tube amps (mostly Fenders) and loads of effects.
I also have quite a lot of Behringer PA gear and have yet to buy a bit of their kit that hasn't impressed and amazed me.

Given the stupidly low price of this unit, it's hard to find fault with it, really. The power jack is in a slight awkward place - especially if you want to use an angle jack on the input - and that battery compartment is a pain in the arse.


However, that aside, this is an amazing bit of gear. For a beginner, who can't afford an Ibanez this will be a Godsend - for a tired old hack like me, it's a revelation!

It's fine apart from the battery compartment, which is way too fiddly to get off and back on in a hurry. Simple controls, enough said. The location of the mains socket will be a problem but I understand it was moved from the rear to avoid the wrath of Roland and their legal team given they realised that their sales would be badly hit!

Does a good approximation of the Tube Screamer, maybe not enough gain though (the Boss equivalents have a much higher gain range) but that is also true of the original TS808/TS9 etc. Superb value for money though given the sound. I did notice that it can produce odd noises (oscillations?) if the battery is running down - cured with mains power and it was fine again with a new battery. I've listened to a lot of their new fx units and they don't sound as "clear" as the same units made by Boss - a lot of people are lured in by the price but I would probably still go for the Boss or another "premium" unit that's built to last (my CE2 and SD1 are well over 20 years old and still 100% reliable).

I think the small pots won't last plus the battery lid on the case is flimsy. I've got a plan to re-house this along with a few other Behringer fx into a single case, replacing all the pots and jacks with "external mount" components to make a reliable pedalboard of single fx units.

Contacted them before, pretty helpful and they have one of the best websites out there with all the manuals and even price lists available.

They are all good VFM but I would probably still go for the Boss or another "premium" unit that's built to last (some of mine are more than 20 years old and still in perfect working order, with just one battery snap changed in all that time). I only bought this as a bit of an experiment - you get what you pay for indeed!

3 knobs "Drive","Level" and "Tone". Drive affects gain, Level affects volume, Tone affects the level of treble in the tone. But you knew that already, and any discerning guitar player knows that. If you're clever enough to plug a cable into a guitar, you're clever enough to use this.

It does the tubescreamer thing very well, in terms of it adds gain yet keeps the original tone there to. I was able to get SRV tone in minutes, using a strat, my Laney LC15R, and this baby, with the gain set at about 12 o'clock and the tone just slightly rolled off 4 o'clock. Pride and Joy finally sounded right. However, this thing is very limited, in terms of it can only really do one sound. However, so can a real tubescreamer, and they're far more expensive, I got this for #20 with delivery. Also, if you put the tone to full then it does sound harsh, but I don't think anyone would do that anyway. Having a tube amp, I can tell you the TO-800 actually does a pretty good impression of a tube slightly overdriving, except slighty (very slightly) more fuzzy. I started playing the Kink's You Really Got Me, and was able to get that slightly overdriven tone by setting the drive to 9 o'clock, the tone to 4 o'clock, and using my bridge single coil on the strat. Of course, it sounds better by slightly overdriving the amp instead, but that's not what I bought the pedal for anyway, and it's just nice to know I can do that if I want to.

Let me get one thing straight, I hate the battery compartment. It's annoying to get it open and closed, and made me a bit annoyed. That's due to my lack of Behringer stomp box opening skills, though, and doesn't really affect the tone of the pedal or reliability, but still.

It's made of plastic. Thick plastic, but plastic all the same. I think if you dropped it out of a first floor window it might actually break, whereas a Boss or Digitech one would get a scratch and that's it.

But then, it is very cheap, and that's one of the reasons why.

Haven't used it before, so I can't comment.

I love it. It's not the best tubescreamer in the world, but I love the fact I can finally nail SRV's tone, and that's all I bought it for.

If I lost it I'd probably buy another one, or if I had any spare money I'd go for a Keeley tubescreamer, but this will do me for the while. Oh, and I think this is better than both the Bad Monkey and the Blues Driver for getting SRV's tone. I've never tried an SD-1.

Identical controls to the TS-9 and 808 pedals. DRIVE LEVEL TONE - Really can't get much simpler than that. Was kind-of miffed at first when I couldn't find the power jack, thought maybe that it didn't have one. Then lo and behold it is located on the side above the input jack, , how dumb is that. But for $25 bucks new shipped to my door I can't complain.

The sound quality. In a word, amazing. I A/B this thing side by side with a late 70's TS-808 and a new TS-9. Knobs set identically on the 808 and the Behringer and I couldn't tell the difference. Compared with the TS-9 our drummer said he liked the Behringer better. I Found the TONE knob on the Behringer is a little more responsive than on the original 808. The setup is a American Strat into Mesa Boogie Lonestar and also an '89 Squier II into a homemade practice setup using the TO800 to overdrive a RealTube 901 into a solid state practice amp head. The tube sound is still there and sounds great. This pedal is not a distortion box and I wouldn't use it as an overdrive for a solid state amp. This thing is meant to sit in front of a tube preamp and that is where it shines. For those players out there that are die hard Vintage TS808 user, but tired of getting paranoid with that $500 dollar pedal on stage getting beer spilled on it, get this thing. They can be had for about $25 and they are worth each and every one of the 2500 pennies.

Been able to depend on it so far. The case is plastic with a metal base . I was a little hesitant on the plastic at first, but it is nothing like the cheap plastic in the mini Danelctro pedals. This stuff is very solid and the finish actually looks like painted metal. Well done.

Overall rating for this would have to be a solid 10. This thing allows me to nail the SRV tone, just like the TS808, but without having to spend $500 bucks. Been playing for about 20 years and I actually got this pedal for my practice rig. I'm getting the tone that I get with the TS808 and the Mesa with my practice rig so I can't complain about that at all. I love the fact that it is very comparable to a vintage TS808 in a price that anyone can afford, if it were lost, stolen or broken I would probably get 2 more. The one thing that I hate is the power connector on the side. Other than that this thing is great.

Easy. It's an OD stomp box. You use it the same as any other. The battery compartment, by the way, is identical to the one used by Digitech; it is not weird or unusual. The retainer buttons (to release the battery compartment) are designed to be pressed with the end of a 1/4 inch phone plug.

This pedal has one HUGE DEFECT that is shared by ALL the Behringer stomp boxes. It has the external power connector on the SIDE, just above the INPUT jack. Everyone else puts the power connector on the BACK. This causes real problems when you try to arrange several pedals side by side. Behringer must fix this ASAP; it is STUPID and very, very, very annoying.

SOund is good. Not noisy. I had to turn the gain down to near zero in order to keep the over-all sound level unchanged when engaging the unit. Quiet is good.

Tube sound is distincly tube-y, as opposed to distorted. It's an overdrive sound. I run it into my Peavey Classic 50 212, which has a very fine tube sound itself. The combination is good -- so that's saying a lot, when a box can augment the sound of a very good tube amp. (EL84's, in the Peavey, rock.)

Seems solid. Plastic, but GOOD plastic. It is not built for warfare the way Digitech and Boss are. It costs a lot less than either, especially Boss.

I had to return my first one, because it was MISSING the spring under the footswitch. So there must not be much quality control. Nevertheless, my second unit works fine, sounds good and seems sturdy.

THE GOOD
* Sound is excellent
* sturdy
* quiet, doesn't suck tone, when it's off it's OFF
* Very inexpensive, which is a good thing. Thank you, Behringer.

THE BAD
* power jack on the side, designed to make you hate your life.
* hinge spring pins for footswitch ought to be metal.