Behringer GMX212 V-Tone

I bought this amp (GMX212) back in June of 04. I really love it. I sold my trusty old Fender Tweed Champ to get the money and have not regretted it yet. It has so many features that I may forget a few, so I beg your forgiveness. 99 effects, some of which are really great reverbs. Power is more than enough to bring the house down. One word to the wise, dont lose the owner manual. I did. But it can be downloaded at the Behringer site. It has two identical channels, clean and overdrive. You can tweak them to give you 27 different amp/speaker combinations. Really versatile.

I use several different guitars with this amp and they all sound really great. Fat Strat, regular strat, Ibanez AR2618 Artist, Ibanez korina wood explorer with hot pickups. This amp can purr or kick your butt. I would like to see what a better musician could do with it. I myself, (ole hippy) have been playing around at guitar playing for 42 long yrs, have owned a boat load of amps, Marshall 100watt half stack, Traynor 100 watt half stack, Kustom 150c, Gibson Falcon, Fender Vibro Champ, and a Fender tweed champ, Crate gx15 too. This amp is better sounding than any of the above, really. There is a lot of different effects and gizmo's so you have to fool with it until you find the sound you are looking for. It can handle it, you will love this amp!

Built like a brick outhouse, never had any problems.

never needed any.

I can say without a doubt, that this is the best amp I have ever played thru. If lost, stolen I would rush right out and get another one. I do have one thing about it that I don't like, here it is. If you plug the amp into a cab (4x12) it cuts off the internal 2x12 jensen speakers. WHY????? duh. Bad idea. I am sure they have a reason for it, but I wish they had made it where the output speaker plug would not cut off the internals. I compared this amp to a number of others on Musicians Freind, ZZounds and others. This one came from Studio34.com I am glad I got this one and have had such good luck with it. For the money, $229 plus shipping, this thing is an absolute steal! For the money, buy two of these puppies and forget crate and line 6!

All amps should have so many features this one has. I always could want more:) I think features are well covered below...and if not, download the manual and read.

The sound. I play death and black metal. With my guitars, I can not get the sound I would like. Don't get me wrong. I could use it's sound in a gig if I had nothing else...but I am missing a bit of hig-end. Maybe I could find a better sound if I tried harder. From my point of view, it would be something like 5 or so distortion-wise. Just not my cup of tea.

BUT: The sound is great if you use only the poweramp and the speakers. They are exactly, what I like. I like them even more than the standard Marshall 1960AV with Celestions. If you have a preamp, then this is the cheapest and in it's category best means of playing loud. It has enough power. If you need more, feed the PA.

I am using it to amplify the signal from my all tube head through a DI box. The tubes in the head are very hot driven:) I can have my sound at any volume level then!

And other thing. I wish I had such a high quality amp with good (but not great) distortions for this price when i used to be a beginner...

Be careful - it is as noisy as is your household's wiring - get a line filter.

So all in all it's eight.

It holds, I have had it for almost a year and I play it almost daily. It could have been built better, but be careful with it and it will last.

Have not dealed with them. I have a standard 2 years warranty here.

If you need a stereo power amp with speaker - 10. The distortion will not suit everybody's taste (it does not suit mine:) For it's versatility and sound quality in the slave mode, i will give it a 9. There are many ways of using it. And as anybody have stated below, it should have two handles on the sides. It's heavy.

Model: Mine was made in July 2004(they all have date codes on the back)
Versatility: As I play everything from jazz to black metal, it is amazing that the GMX 212 easily goes from crystal clear acoustic sound, even better than the classic Fender sound, then goes through crunchy vintage clean tone and ends with pure and brutal distortion, yet again- crystal clear. The presence control perfectly controls your "position" in a band- you can go in the background and just fill the atmosphere of the music, or you can drive it up to 10 and sweep directly into the audience's ears!
Hardware: Every good guitarist has 2 presets- clean/crunchy and distortion that tears your soul apart. This amp offers exactly this- 2 channels that you can configure absolutely independantly and after all- to reach your own, unique tone. The provided channel footswitch is absolutely enough for this(I have made a switch on my guitar through a 5 channel cable and use it instead of foot switching). It's very professional that they've put all the required inputs/outputs that every professional piece of equipment should have. Also it has the best interface ever- simple and easy-to-control. I hate amps that look more than mixing consoles with so many displays, colourfull lights and so on- an amp should be an amp, not a computer!
Wishes: Maybe they should have enabled the control over all parameters of the FX unit, but it isn't such a problem if you have a MIDI interface cable and some piece of software. I don't care much about it, because I use the internal procesor without FXT(the preset doesn't change when changing channels) just for chorus/reverb. For my other effects I use a hybrid loop(read below).
Use: Sometimes, when I go to rehearsal by car, I get it with me, but mostly it stays at home. It has more than enough power(For everyone that hasn't understood: the AMP power rating is 2X50Watts, the SPEAKERS power rating is 2X70Watts! The 60W value doesn't exist for this amp line). I've not used it on gigs yet, but I'm more than sure it will be more than fine.
Tech: I've opened it to see if it's really analogue and was impressed by the schematics inside- there are no AD/DA convertors and digital circuits, except the FX processor, and, when bypassed, the signal does NOT go through the AD/DA circuit. This amp is REALLY good and is better than most "classic" brands like fender/marshall, and I think soon, Behringer will beat Marshalls off the stage. By the way, I'm amazed that such stupid people call themselves guitarists, comparing a solidstate amp and a valvestate amp! Read a little theory, guys!

My Gear: I use an Yamaha ERG 121, because it has a really cool neck and nice look. Though, it has nothing to do with the stock model, because I've modified the heck out of it- it has customised(partially re-wound) pickups, that I modified myself, changed electronics and so on and so on. I hate using humbuckers in their stock mode, because they damage the sound purity. I use humbuckers' single coils either independantly, or connected in parallel. The guitar goes directly in to the amp, eventually through a compressor and/or a wah.
Match: I can say that my guitar ideally matches with the amp, but, as I said, it has an unique sound, so I can't tell you what are the best settings of the amp, because they won't work for you.
Performance: Apart from the guitar mods, I also use a hybrid effects loop: A dynamic microphone stands in the back of the amp and catches the sound at inverted phase. The mic feeds a Zoom707II, that I use for getting a delay tail. The output of the Zoom goes in the Aux In of the amp. Then I use the Tape Out- a high resistancy(350Kohm) cable connects the Tape Out to the guitar input of a Fender Frontman 15G amp. Eventually, with a seccond microphone that passes through a chorus, I usually make a de-phased chorused return to the GMX. It's a bit confusing I suppose, but I ensure you that the sound I get is the best sound you've ever heard, because the smaller amp acts like a second presence cotrol that is phased off!
Clarity: I've tried to take it to the max at clean volume- it really IS clean. Though, I never use crystal clear preset(for Clean, I use a Tweed/HiGain/UK, drive=8, low/mid/high=4/7/7, which is crystal clean on my guitar low volume circuit, and gets nicely crunchy at max. guitar output).
Distortion: For me, it is more than good. I like the British/Hot/UK setting at max. drive, because it is crystal clear for soloing. If you have a decent compression stompbox and a decent guitar, you'll have a great and BRUTAL distortion. Though, if you have a low-level pickups(most stock pickups), or a cheap guitar, or a guitar with single coils, don't expect to drive the distortion to the max. In fact, distortion is NOT an effect- it is a physical phenomena. To get the best distortion, most brutal and heavy, you have to drive the amp to the max. You can't hear good distortion on headphones.

First, I don't have the financial ability to have a wall of backups :) So, I don't have a choice. Though, if I could, I WOULD have a backup. After all, it's an electrical device- think about it- since planes' devices fail and people die, since nuclear plants fail and cause disasters, everything that uses energy can fail. It's just bad luck if it happens on a gig. A tube amp is much less reliable in this sense, but are you going to throw all your valvestates away, because "they can fail on stage"?
For now, the GMX has never let me down. Remember that apart from the fabric defects ONLY YOU AND YOUR STUPIDITY CAN BREAK YOUR EQUIPMENT. My smaller amp(Fender Frontman 15G) still looks like a new one, because I take care and clean and mainain my equipment. If you also do so, believe me, it pays back!

I e-mailed directly(in their German office) them a few times before buying the GMX and they replied the same day or the next one. I had problems with their representatives in my country, but Behringer aren't the ones to blame. After I bought it, reading the manual didn't answer a few questions I had, and I e-mailed Behringer again. The next day they gave me a very detailed answer. They really DO care about their costumers.
As for the warranty- it is standart 12 months, like the warranties of all such devices.

I've been playing the guitar for 3 years now. I also notice that many people here over-exaggerate their experience with the guitar :) You can't fool me that you are playing for 30 or 40 years and you prefer digital distortion crap instead of real one. Whatever...
If I lose it... that CANNOT and WILL NOT happen! The day someone steals it... will be a cold one.
It's outlook is also nice- it looks inovative and stylish. The only thing it needs are 2 side-holders, because it is very heavy and the single carrying holder isn't very practical.
When I wanted to buy an amp, I tried the Fender FM212 and it sounded pathetic, compared to the Behringer. You may not believe, but I also tried a Fender VibroKing custom tube for over 2000$ and I think that again the Behringer rules!

BTW, if you have any interesting ideas about presetting/tweaking or want me to show you interesting ways to make hybrid FX loops write to my mail :)

Bought in Jan of 05. Behringer has recently re-speced this amp. According to the current specs, it's got 2 60 watt power amps as opposed to 2 50s as they had it speced at before. Doesn't really matter. No change in the amp, just in the specs. 10 watts doesn't make that much difference.

Seems to be, basically, a pair of Tech 21 GT-2s fed into a stereo effects processor and then into independant power amps. In design, it's somewhat similar to the Fender U Chorus amps.

It has two channels which are identical. No clean and dirty channels, just two that are identical.

99 built in effects programs. The reverbs are nice. I'm sure many of the others are as well, but they are a bit of a pain to work with. You can get the Behringer FCB1010 footcontroller to edit them a bit more deeply, but you can do the same thing with a PC and a midi cable. Get MIDI-OX and edit to your hearts content.

I am particularly impressed with the ins and outs on this thing. There is a stereo aux in as well as tape ins and out, but of particular interest to me, it has two slave ins. These are TRS inputs so they can be used as a stereo effects loop. More on this later.

For this kind of money, I can't understand some of the complaints in previous reviews, but as I'll mention shortly, I use this amp differently than most. You might not like the sound this amp produces, but I can't see how anyone could expect more features in an amp in this range.

In a previous review, someone mentioned how bad it was that the two channels were all you had and that none of the eq or drive controls could be altered via midi. This is a severe misinterpretation of what this amp is. It's analog, not digital. There is a huge difference. This amp is much more like the Tech 21 line of amps than it is the Line 6 line. I'm not judging either to be better. They're just different. When an amp is digital, it's a piece of cake to control everything electronically. When it's analog, things are different. This amp doesn't electronically model sounds. It has actually components that vary the sound. Storing presets is just not an anolog function. Get over it.

I don't really use this amp in the conventional sense. I've been looking for a simple, cheap means of amplifying my POD xt and not loosing the stereo effects. This seems to be a reasonable answer.

I connect the two outs from the POD to the slaves ins on the back of the amp and then basically have a 120 watt POD xt. Sort of.

It works really well. Of course all of the knobs on the amp are instantly inactive, but I can live with that. I had hoped that the Master Volume on the amp might control the gain of the power amps, but it apparently does not. All volume adjustments need to be done on the POD.

It sounds great. I have not yet tried it in a performance atmosphere, but I'm more of a home player anyway and it seems to be plenty loud. The power amps seem to be quite transparent. The sound of the POD through headphones is more or less exactly like what I now get amplified. So far, I've discovered two sounds in particular that I really like. The 65 Twin and the AC30 TB both sound incredible. Of course, those are 2 12's in real life so that probably has something to do with the fact that they sound good here.

As for the internal sounds. It's not bad. Nor is it great. It seems to always sound a bit dark to me. I'm not into really high gain distortion, so what's in this amp doesn't really suit me. I tried to get a mildly overdriven sound and found it to be difficult. I used to have a real GT-2 and I don't recall it being as difficult to control. The clean sounds are pretty good, but as everyone has mentioned, volume does suffer.

Considering how I use this amp, I think it sounds great. Considering the standard sounds of this amp, I think it sounds pretty good. I'd be happy using the built in stuff, but when connected to the POD, it's way better.

I've owned quite a bit of Behringer equipment and not had any problems. I realize that this amp probably wasn't built to the specs of a more expensive amp, but that's why it's not a more expensive amp. I'm not concerned.

I've never had to deal with them, so I have no idea.

This amp does exactly what I wanted it to. This doesn't mean it will do what you want it to. I'm a bit surprised at the differences in the reviews here. Some are clearly too hard on this amp. I can't think of another amp in this price range that even comes close to this thing. Others are far too easy on it. It's never going to sound like a good vintage tube amp. At least not entirely. As with most things in life, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

I was looking for a used Fender Ultra Chorus when I came upon this. Basically I just wanted something that I could use as a fairly powerful stereo slave. I couldn't find a decent used Ulra Chorus for what this cost new. I've played a dozens of Ultra Chorus and they don't sound better than this amp.

The bottom line is that tone is completely subjective. You need to try this (or any) amp before you drop your hard earned cash on it. Don't expect a $250 amp to sound like a $1000 amp. However, this is a far better amp than one could buy for twice this money in the 80's. Go try it!

Bought new--2005. See other reviews for features. Lots of features, some usable-some not-- The BEST distortion I have heard from ANY amp, some costing 4-6 times more.

I play Heavy Metal,some Classic Rock and this amp fits the bill perfectly. I use Strats, Les Pauls, Destroyers, BC Rich Mocks, Deans, etc. all top quality guitars and IMHO humbuckers sound best for distortion. Amp is not noisy at all. Clean channel resembles Fender tube tones-- but I didn't buy it for clean sounds, I bought it for distortion modeling, and this thing kicks serious tail. I use Cal, Hot, U.S. settings and cab sim program 98, scoop out the mids, lows 9 or 10, treble at 9,presence jacked, and this beast friiggin thumps, Similar to Mesa/Marshall hybrid but minus the annoying Marshall Graininess. And contrary to most Marshall users, (and I used to be one of them) NO extra distortion box required-- This thing has All the Gain and Balls you'll ever need. Lots of definition and great palm muting CRUNCH. PLAY with the Damn Knobs and leave the master down, and if you can't find a kick ass heavy sound my friend, you are totally lost. Channel 2 as others have said is noticibly lower in output-- simple to fix, simply increase the level control in channel 2 or decrease in channel 1-- no big deal.

I've only had this 2 weeks. Here both good and bad, so no rating, will just have to wait and see.

Never dealt with them before.

I've been playing 25+years and I've had numerous Big Name amps, and this thing blows all of them to Hell for a fraction of the cost. For those of you ,like me, that have bought or tried every distortion device known to man, paid a "g" or more for an amp and then used a distortion box through its clean channel to TRY to obtain a half way Decent driven sound and your sick and tired of throwing your $ down the shitter-- then get one of these. To get a LOUD amp With KILLER distortion-- and FINALLY-- no more fuzzy squealing boxes (for under 300.00) you can't go wrong. Sure, you can't tweak the effects, except for level unless you buy a MIDI foot controller, piss on that,prescious time/little patience. Buy a couple of effect pedals or better yet- buy a rackmount effect device and run it into the send/return jacks on the amp.Another reviewer hit it right on the head when he said this amp is a bargain for just the distortion sounds it will give you. Ya. if something happened to this amp I'd replace it immediately, as a matter of fact, I just ordered a V Amp Pro and I'm going to run it through a stereo amp into 3 way full-range PA speakers--I have a feeling my neighbors will soon be moving.

2004 model: 2 switchable channels (solid-state 2x50W), effects loop, headphone jack, Midi control jack, tape/PA outputs, tape input, switchable gain & analog amplifier/speaker modeling, 99 preset DSP effects, etc. More than adequate power for small venues. Won't replace a stack for large venues.

Epiphone Casino (P-90s) hollow-body & Agile AD-2800 double-cutaway solidbody LP clone(Humbuckers). Amplifier did everything I wanted and more for classic rock, blues, etc.! Never had the volume high enough to have the clean channel distort. Could go from completely clean to torn-speaker distortion.

Worked perfectly in my apartment (no gigging) for almost 4 months before failure! Now, only operates on modeling channel. Channel switch and effects on-off functions failed completely. Guitar Center said 1-2 months for repairs and reminded me that I should have bought their extended coverage.

Per Behringer direction, amp is to be returned to dealer where purchased to be sent to service center for warranty repair. This effectively inserts a dealer that doesn't care between me and the manufacturer's service center.

Been playing 40 years. Have 3 Taylor acoustic guitars. Luckily, also have Roland MicroCube guitar amp as standby.
My buy again/buy something else will be determined by the speed and effectiveness of the repair.
Unit has good set of features for price. But, my experience is comparable with others, this unit is not worth the trouble.

This is a 2 x 50 Watt amp ...not 2 x 100 as seen on another review here !. Also Behringer cant make there mind up what power rating it is as they still have it down as a 2 x 60 and a 2 x 50 ?????

It has one major let down, it only has two channels. With all the MIDI implementation that comes with this and the FCB1010 you cannot change the AMP settings on the channels, so you are effectively stuck with two channels and a foot stomper that can select a range of effects and switch between two preset ( by front ponel switchs ) channels............any amp in the same price range can do that, so it aint anything special or particularly cheap.

Modelling amps are the saviour of the working musician and there purpose is to allow a range of sounds to be obtained to cover all genres. So why they are stuck on two channel selection is anyones guess?????. Line 6 have the Spider range which sound just as good ( in fact they have the real hot distortions that Behringer don't have ), the Spiders also have four channels all controllable from either MIDI or a basic 4 switch floor pedal.

In terms of practical use for a gigging guitarist, the Behringer does not have anywhere near the versatility of the Line 6 Spider Range ( the Spider 2x 12 150 watt only costs #50 more but you get a lot more for your money ).

For me Behringer through the concept out the window by only giving two channel control in a well spec MIDI controlled amp ????

The sounds from the amp are very good. Has I said earlier it lacks a real hot distortion like the Spiders Insane setting, but other then that if you only use two sounds the Behringer delivers an excellent range of UK and USA type models.

The Clean channel setting is weedy, low in volume and to be honest unusable in a giggin situation, I would tear the clean switch out and put in an LED telling you the amp is on, it will be more useful. So if you need clean sounds the Behringer in not for you.

Reliability ?????? Hmmmm!

This is the first piece of Behringer kit I have bought since they switch production to the far east, they lost a lot of reputation when they first did this with there studio gear due to a lot of problems.


Behringer equipment was also on par with a Merc or BMW, solid well made and fantastic German engineering, but after the process was shipped to Asia the build quality suffered. Lets hope they have it sorted these days.

They take a while to answer emails ( if they do reply )

I have been playing for around 35 years and have used all the usual products over the years from Marshall, Fender etc.

In the last 10 years I have used all the new digital modelling stuff from Digitech through to Zoom hooked onto power amps in real live situations, so going over to a specific amp is a new change for me. Having been used to multiple combinations of sounds at the press of a footswitch I was impressed by the Line 6 range that carried that ethos through. but all packaged in one amp.

Because of the price I bought both a Line 6 and a Behringer to try them out.

The Behringer is up for sale, the Line 6 is now my working amp. If Behringer allowed you to change amp settings by MIDI and give you more then two channel options and made a hotter distortion then I would be selling the Line 6.

Let me first start off by saying that this is one of the best deals i have ever seen. To get a 2 by 12 for 280 is almost impossible but to get one of this quality is incredible. The fact that its made in germany takes a few bucks off the price tag, but the real difference in my opinion in price "imo" compared to other brands is that these guys are relatively new and cant charge outrageous prices due to artists support such as gibson and marshall. Marshall could easily put some nice shiney gold on it, add a big white marshall name, and charge upwards of 500 dollars and people would pay it. Why, because its marshall and itll make them cool in front of all their friends. "You got a marshall, no way dude, thats awesome." If your after a good sound, alot of power and an overall great amp, than this is perfect. Dont worry thats its not a brand youve ever heard about, such as crate, line 6, marshall, mesa, vox. This is just as good, minus a couple hundred bucks.
Ok features: Its got two channels, and they have the basic eq knobs but the cool thing is the switches that allow you to basically make them sound anyway you want. Its got effects you can assign to each channel and lots of other fun stuff. The clean channels is pretty weak volume wise, but i can fix that with my boss ge7 equalizer, just push the boost. Lots of cool features.

Ok

I use this alot with my main guitar, a fender american strat with a hot rails in the bridge and a cool rails in the neck. Its a very versatile amp, you can get alot of sounds. My style is metal, all types, and the distortion works really well for that. The amps distortion sounds better than my metalzone, fab tone, or my grunge. So I dont evan use any of them. Very versatile over all, once you get passed the clean volume problems.

I cant really say, ive had it two weeks, but it looks well built, ver heavy duty.

I have no idea.

Ive been playing sense i was 12, and im 17 now. I own alot of things, every time i get a paycheck i spend it on some new pedal or save up for a new guitar. I love the sound of this amp, and i cant think of anything i really hate about it. Like i said before, its a great deal. Get it and find out for yourself.

Born in 12/03, this 2 channel amp has all the jacks, loops, ins and outs that anyone short of Satch would need. The power rating seems almost under rated, as it is VERY LOUD !!!! Also has 24 bit effects that are a nice added feature, though for ultimate control of parameters, you need the fcb1010 midi board.

I use several guitars, but favor an Ibanez RG220 loaded with Seymour Duncan Invaders. Logically, the hotter the pickup, the dirtier the distortion...wait, you I can't call it distortion, because distortion is merely a mask of true hi gain sound. Distortion = circuit board, clipping transitors and a fake, grainy sound. Hi Gain crunch is the sound of ALL components of an amp driven to the point of saturation which leads to real sustain, PUNCH and warmth that varies with the attack and input of the guitarist. So if you want to sound like a real amp on 10 while your set at 2 playing in you room, buy a Dist pedeal (and a 9 volt batt.) If you want the dynamics of a pro amp buy this amp !!! TRhe clean is fine also, very Fender like if set right.

No problems yet, abused regularly...

Excellent...had some problems programming the midi board, they e mailed me info within 24 hrs.

I've owned Marshalls, Ampegs, Fenders and this amp is a great combo of all of these together. Anyone who calls this amp junk or whines about the tones does not know how to get tone, probably from any amp...it crunches if you push it, the sustain is endless and the response is warm and punchy...dont say it sucks compared to a 1500.00 mesa or marshall, be real... Lost or stolen, I would buy another ASAP !! The price is also TOO LOW !!!

This amp has a lotta great features for a recording and gigging
guitar player. More features than most amps do. And really for the price, I don't think there is another amp with as many features on the market. Plus with a built in tuner that works off of the footswitch. I love it!

This amp to me sounds like records. The Distortions are polished and the reverbs are really nice too. Every knob you turn affects the sound substantially. The clean setting is a bit weak but there are ways to get around that. Like setting the amp to the hi gain setting and rolling down on the gain. Also I roll off on the volume on my pickups and I am able to get nice clean sounds. I use a Gibson Les Paul with the Alnico Burst bucker Pro Pickups. This amp loves humbuckers. The amp will hang with drums and bass but you have to have it cranked pretty good. I play in a situation where the amp is usually mic'd anyways so this isn't much of an issue for me. This amp is very versitle. Every thing from mild gain to Ozzy Tones.

I've only had this amp a short while but all seems well.

Haven't had to use yet..hope dont ever have to.

Over all...for the Price you wont find another amp with the features and sound quality of this amp. All in all I love mine. I have 3 other amps.A DR.Z Prescription, a Mesa Maverick, and a Roland JC50. For out right balls,It's hard to beat the Z but for fun,versatility,recording,and everything else you could want in an amp, this amp is a steal and sounds really good! Anybody with any questions feel free to e-mail me. www.ericg.us