BehringerADI-21 Acoustic Amp Modeler/ DI

I had initially been looking into purchasing either a dedicated acoustic amp or an amp with an acoustic channel.I then stumbled across the Behringer range of foot pedals, and which included the V-Tone.Because of the ridiculously cheap price combined with a plastic construction, I was somewhat sceptical that it could be a worthwhile purchase.After all, this £20 device (purchase price/date £21.48/02:03:2021) is in direct competition with those costing three figure sums, and made of metal to boot, not withstanding the even more costly, dedicated amps.However, the relatively small financial outlay (and standard "returnability") made its purchase a virtual "no brainer".Experience gained from the very recent purchase of other Behringer pedals meant that I already knew the plastic construction would not be detrimental, as it is of a robust, high density, heavyweight variety.The performance didn't disappoint either.The documentation comes with some helpful settings preferences for a number of user scenarios such as "Folk", "Country" and "Finger Picking", and which can be used as time saving starting points that can then be fine tuned/customised.I found the audio results to be nothing short of stunning, but you will need the right type of amp and a piezo equipped guitar to get the best "acoustic" results.Your amp needs to be either clean or have a clean channel as this (or any other similar) pedal will, in true "silk purse" fashion, struggle, strain and ultimately fail to wrangle an acceptably authentic acoustic sound out of any "unclean" amplification.Nevertheless, there are many impressive non-acoustic sounds that can be produced by enjoyable experimentation, and you can easily get your acoustic guitar to really rock!This pedal is now happily daisychained with three other pedals (all Behringer as it happens), and are all, thankfully, audibly totally unaffected by its inclusion.One word of note. I have not tried any other alternative pedals, but if one produces results any better than the V-Tone, not only would I be truly amazed, but paying two, three, four, five times the price might just be worth its metal!Addendum:Since writing the above review (which was within hours of receiving the V-Tone) I have discovered a couple of noteworthy points, the first of which might already be common knowledge to more experienced users.1. If powering by battery, when not in use, never leave a jack plug in the "In" socket because whether or not the pedal is in the "on" depressed position, your battery will be drained "flat"! There is reference to this in the accompanying documentation, but didn't notice.Consequently, having set up and put aside a new four-pedal chain, replete with fresh batteries, I later discovered, on its next outing, that all but the first pedal was "dead" (first pedal had guitar jack plug removed).2. When removing V-Tone from the velcro covered pedalboard (so as to access the underside battery compartment), the pedal's rubber base started to become detached, and so will have to be reglued.Closer inspection indicated that it had not been particularly well secured, but is a problem that cannot affect my other three pedals as their design doesn't incorporate an additional "base" material!Should really deduct a star, but am so pleased with the sound and general functionality that it seems a bit churlish.Any additional problems, though, and there might be star carnage!

First, this is far better than it has any right to be, bearing in mind the exceptionally low price. Second, it does not perform as well as a Fishman Aura Spectrum pedal, but then, at this price that is hardly surprising. What it does do, and does well, is provide a basic DI for both active and passive piezo transducers, and adds in some useful EQ options, and a kind of 'imaging blend' effect. This certainly helps to tame 'piezo quack' and is quite usable in moderation. It does have a couple of drawbacks. The EQ is somewhat 'rough and ready' compared to the EQ on more upmarket boxes, the residual self noise is higher than you would find in a top class DI of this kind, and the 'blend' control is only natural up to a point.... use too much, and it becomes quite muddy. Those drawbacks aside, used carefully it can sound perfectly OK. The overall construction quality feels solid enough, and the jacks and XLR appear to be of decent quality. I purchased this for a friend and was able to do a straight A-B comparison with my own Aura Spectrum pedal. Considering that this is almost 10X cheaper, it really fared pretty well and honestly, nothing really to complain about at all. If you listen critically, yes, there is a difference, but on stage, the Behringer sounds totally acceptable. My final comment: incredible value and more than good enough for most stage applications.

I play mandolin and banjo in a bluegrass band and I recently bought piezo pickups for both instruments. Plugging them straight into the amp produced a sound akin to a tin can on both instruments, so I asked advise and was told that I really should get a preamp to match the output signal from the piezos and the amp requirements.I didn't want to spend a huge amount so did some investigation and the reviews for this product were pretty good and I decided to give it a go. Ordered it from Amazon. Arrived next day and I plugged it straight into my practice amp to try it out on both instruments.First of all, I was impressed with the build quality. This is a heavy box, well made and won't break easily. The controls are easy to use and give a large spectrum of adjustment, so you can really get whatever tone you want. There is also an on/off stomp button. Useful for tuning, switiching instruments, etc.OK, no banjo is going to sound great on a piezo, but this box doe go some way to giving you a decent tone. On the mandolin, it sounds spot on.The other great feature is that there is a balanced XLR output so you can go into the XLR channel on your amp, which will also help with signal integrity. If you don't have XLR, there is te usual jack output so no worries either way.I used it during our latest gig and it really made a huge difference.There are man other preamp/DI boxes out thee that cost a lot more, but frankly, I don't think they'll do that much of a better job than this one for the extra cash involved.Only time will tell re longevity, but it does look and feel like it'll outlast a lot of more expensive boxes I've used in the past.Highly recommended.