Behringer MiniFBQ FBQ800 Ultra-Compact 9-Band Graphic Equalizer with FBQ

Very good device. I use it to change the sound of my electric piano towards the monitors (add more brightness and low end, and reduce some sharpness). It works really well for this! It's a virtually noiseless device, save for when you dial up the volume. At 12 o'clock input volume it sends out the signal 100% of volume as it receives it. Past 12 o'clock, it boosts up the signal. So if your output of your device is pretty low, this device will actually boost the overall volume by around 12dB. Additionally, the 9-band EQ can also boost/cut the volumes upto +/- 12dB. The buttons are pretty self-explanatory. It has a 75Hz cutoff, that will protect your speakers in case of some low frequency popping (like cable disconnect, or so). The second one, is one of those buttons that don't make a lot of sense. In/out is actually to turn on or off direct sound. When pushed in, the light is on, and all buttons and eq of this device work. When off, the sound input is directly routed to the output. In my opinion it makes no sense, because if I wanted to have a direct line, I wouldn't have put this device in between the signal cables. In other words, I think by default this led light and button needs to be OFF, and they need to change it to 'DIRECT', instead of 'In/out'. Meaning, the majority of the time, I will be using this device. The LED doesn't need to be on all the time. But anyway... the 'Input output' button allows you to select to see either input or output volume levels on the eq. It allows you to see if the input level is too hot, or the output level is too hot. The 9band eq works well, however, with the volume dialed past 12 o'clock, the device creates some hiss heard in the last two frequencies (especially when they are boosted) (8/16kHz). FBQ, no idea what this does, however all eq slider leds go off when selecting it, and when playing a tone, the frequency matching closest on the EQ slider will light up. This might be helpful for beginners, when trying to get rid of annoying feedback, or too much frequencies in the room. One can use FBQ to see which frequency offends (the led will turn on), and reduce the volume on that slider. Personally, I don't use it. Anyone with 1 year of more of sound engineering, or who is careful about the sound quality and has worked with mixers before, won't need this feat. Another issue with this is that I've found that some of these leds, actually stop working within a year time. So if you ask me, it's a useless feat, that could have been removed so that the overall price of the device would be reduced. In fact, I wonder why Behringer hasn't yet created a bluetooth operated device that can be controlled by a bluetooth phone and app. No control sliders, no buttons save for power, and perhaps 1 to 4 different modes (banks) that can be saved via the phone. This would easily half the price of the device. Anyway, further on the real device review: 6/12dB allows you to select the range of EQ amplification/cut. The EQ sliders from center up to the max will boost the signal by either 6 or 12dB depending on the slider. 6dB is for fine adjusting. 12dB allows you to adjust some signals that are seriously offending to the ear, and reduces them to a more tolerable sound, better fitting the other frequencies in the spectrum. power button back side allows for 2x mono jack, and 2x kinch inputs, as well as the same outputs. Probably the cheapest and best EQ you can buy for the money, Does what an EQ is supposed to do. Great for adjusting sound of music instruments (piano to monitor, guitar to combo, bass to bass rig, acoustic-electric guitar to stage monitor, flute microphone to mixing board,... the possibilities are endless...), home theaters, even changing the overall sound of a PA system right before the signal enters the power amps.

I am really amazed that this is about the only "in line" EQ that is in existence, without investing in a very high dollar component EQ. And it works amazingly well. I love it so much that I am purchasing a second one as a backup in case the first ever fails and the device might be discontinued. My background...former dance club owner/operator who had a chain of 6 very large dance clubs which had a capacity of 1,000 to 3,000 patrons each, in major markets (Omaha, KC, Atlanta, etc). We were very successful because we delivered the ultimate sensory experiences, with extremely high quality sound systems, spending over 70K in each club on sound gear, using MacIntosh Amps, Urei Equalizers, Crown Crossovers, linked to JBL and Cerwin Vega Professional Speakers and independent array super tweeters. Thus, my personal demands at home, have me using Equalizers on all 3 sound systems in my home (home theater with 144" HD projection screen with amp/EQ/floor standing speakers, and slightly less exotic setups for the flat screens and amps/EQ/speakers in my living room and bed room). I feel that any sound system without external dedicated EQ hardware, dramatically limits its capabilities and quality of listening experience, so I have high end equalizers in all three of my AV setups. I use these in conjunction with dedicated amps and stand alone speakers. Recently I bought a fabulous portable speaker made by ION...the Block Rocker (at Sams). This is now my "go to" mobile sound for back yard entertaining, transport to friends pool parties, take to the lake camping or anywhere else I want mobile sound (in various rooms in my home). The ION puts out fantastic sound, but I can take it to a much higher level using this Behringer. And the Behringer is actually a perfect fit to rest in a recessed tray that is part of the ION's top. Here is my main frustration with today's devices. I have an iPad Air2 with dozens of playlists, to suit different moods, genres, and preferences, with all songs downloaded from hundreds of CD's which I collected over the course of 12 years in the music business. I ripped them in iTunes to get them onto my computer and other devices. My music library has about 3,000 songs in it, on the iPad. Apple may do a lot of things well, but they are absolutely clueless when it comes to EQ. My iPad has ridiculous EQ presets which are totally useless in tweaking the sound to even a marginally decent level. Apple must have used deaf/mute software engineers to create their on preset EQ settings. The perfect EQ curve on a ten to twelve band equalizer is very similar to the slider settings shown on the Behringer product images with their 9 band settings...a "bell curve" that dips in the mid ranges and rises at the low end and the high end. I was extremely surprised, and very happy with the ION speaker but there were certain artists and certain songs that were far to shallow or shrill to be enjoyed, when mixed in with those which sounded fine. The ION does not have any controls on board, other than master volume, so you can't adjust bass, treble, mid range, etc. So I searched far and wide to try to find a compact equalizer which would be as mobile as the iPad and the ION working together to make them really come alive. This little baby did the trick magnificently. And it has the perfect interface cords and adapters to link to whatever you have. This unit has 2 different input and output options, for you. The female input ports include right and left channel guitar plug inputs or right and left channel RCA in. Same for the output. The guitar plugs which come with this unit, feature right and left channel plugs which "Y" terminate into a stereo mini male plug, which allows you to connect directly to any headphone jack (such as smart phone or my iPad). On the output side, I use the Behringer guitar plugs to mini stereo adapter, going to the ION Aux input. This Behringer is so absolutely simple to hook up and use. You do have to plug the Behringer into a power outlet, using the provided 12V brick adapter. And I purchased 10' and 20' cord extensions with stereo mini females at both ends to extend the cord range from the Behringer to the ION speaker, so that I can be sitting in a lawn chair with iPad and EQ at my finger tips, and with the speaker set towards the edge of the deck. Sometimes I do the opposite and set the Behringer on top of the ION and set it to my preferred EQ curve and then run the long cord to wherever I am sitting Lots of flexibility if you have an extension cord to go with what Behringer provides. Once I got it hooked in line between my iPad and the ION, I was amazed at how much better I could dial in the sound to make that ION sound like a speaker 5x's the price I paid for it at Sams. All I can say is WOW. It is obvious that true sound engineers created this device, because they have all the right amenities built in (many of which you might not even find on rack mount EQ hardware). There is a low cut filter which prevents over driving the bass when certain artists songs are pushed too hot (as in pavement pounding bass that some artists boost to uncomfortable levels). This limits the potential for speaker damage when spikes occur that are unnatural and unpleasant. I also like the visuals of the line level controls for both input and for output. You can tell visually when music is starting to "clip" with the green to yellow to red LED lights dancing up and down. We relied on line level clipping indicators all the time in the club business to control sound to comfortable levels within the club (and to protect and preserve the tens of thousands of dollars invested in speakers, which also had redundant custom control limiters built into them). And these same limit indicator lights were essential to recording music mixes that maintained equality of volume and quality of sound, from song to song. So. Unexpected and great addition to this fantastic little piece of equipment. So, my preferred settings are the U-shaped bell curve on the 9 band sliders, with the line level indicator lights fully to the top of the "greens" and dancing very slightly up and down into the yellow zone. First I fire up the iPad and set its volume control to somewhere between 80-100% and then turn the Behringer "Input" line level dial to the point that the lights are all green with momentary flashes into the yellow. Then, as I listen to music, I turn the volume control on the ION speaker to about 50%, which gives me plenty of head room for going louder outdoors, if desired. While listening, I then switch the Behringer level control to "output" and use the level control dial to monitor any clipping that might occur, going to the speaker from the iPad, while again keeping all lights at the top of the green and dancing slightly into the yellow. All in all this unit has all the bases covered, to allow you to get peak performance out of mobile listening experiences, using equipment which might not be part of your more robust home sound systems. HOWEVER, this does not mean that you can't get very satisfactory results by hooking this inline from any amps to any speakers that you might own (especially if you have not invested in high end EQ gear, or you do not want to spend several hundred dollars for a home system Equalizer). I am not sure what it would take to use this in a surround sound multi channel setup, but if you can figure out a way to integrate it, you will be very happy with the results. I personally prefer a 2 channel setup with very high end right and left channel speakers in front, supplemented by 2 channel branches coming from the rear. Even though this is extremely light weight and when you first take it out of the box, your first impression might be "what the heck? Is this some kind of cheap toy?" Believe when I say it is not. No need for a lot of weight and bulk, considering that everything today is driven by little super computers on micro chips in smart phones. Don't let the package fool you. This is one robust piece of equipment that "kicks ass".

UPDATE: Even the Support Link posted on the Amazon support page for this product has a broken link. After spending over 30min searching online, it's almost impossible to get support even after registration. Finally some contracted support group did get my issues addressed, but they need to improve their support to get this to a higher rating. PRIOR After 3 days of playing around with this unique and feature-rich (for the cost), I'm pretty impressed so far. Pros: 1. I really like the FBQ feature that lets you see the in or out bound pattern of frequencies in the individual slider LEDs. some reviews thought this was an error/fault, but the manual clearly spells out this feature and it's cool! 2. Some have thought the unit was not working (even on video reviews), because they didn't read the manual where you have the in/out switch deployed to allow the modifications you've made come out of the unit to your amp/headphones etc. This is a feature so you can quickly A/B -compare the quality of the sound with one switch. 3. I think the switchgear and sliders feel like high-quality controls and hope they maintain that over the years. 4. Light and easy to transport with gear - yes it's plastic, but not sure metal casing would really make it function any better unless you're physically hard on your gear. This also never gets warm even with high settings. 5. Works fantastic to help out the typically unbalance audio from a Reference Turntable. There's that bass I was missing with some of my LPs. Cons: 1. Silver front-plate - like others I'd repurchase this if it came in black. 2. No dimmer function on the bright LEDs/buttons - gets a little garish when the house lights are turned down low Other considerations: Audio equipment manufacturers like Peachtree (Nova series Amps) are once again including a Loop function so you can easily incorporate an equalizer into your system with RCA cables (don't cheap out on cables). This makes the Nova 300 amp sound terrific with Sony Pro headphones and the Fluance Reference Turntable. Will update if any issues/findings :-)

I bought this Behringer FBQ800 to EQ my turntable which is connected to my Marantz PM7000 integrated receiver. I was very skeptical after reading how cheaply it was constructed. I figured I'd give it a shot since the price was right and there isn't much to choose from as far as equalizers go these days. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this little EQ works. It livened up my vinyl records and even my Marantz ND8006 CD player sounds better when I tweak it wit this EQ.. I do not use it when streaming music since I use a digital EQ for that. All that being said I would have gladly paid more money if they would have gave it a metal enclosure with more sturdy sliders and buttons. However the only other options for an EQ would be to buy a used vintage one, but they are big and bulky, or buy the Shiit Loki mini or Lokius for a lot more money. I probably would have bought one of those instead of this Behringer, but I like sliders rather than knobs when EQing my music and both the Loki Mini and Lokius have knobs, as does the Bellari Audio EQ570 Equalizer. I just feel I can be more precise with sliders than knobs. So yes I would recommend the Behringer FBQ800. Just a side note: for some reason the signal meters on the FBQ800 do not work (don't light up) when connected to my turntable, but they do work when connected to my CD player. I'm thinking maybe since it's connected before the pre-amp has something to do with it .Also, I get a slight hum when connected to my turntable. There is no metal on the FBQ800 so as far as i know there is no way to ground it to my turntable.

First, a disclaimer: I am not a sound engineer. That being said, I am very particular about how I want my music to sound. The goal is to be as precise technically as possible, which is why I bought this thing & probably why you’re looking at it. Next, a lot of people use equalizers to create the sound they want. If this is your purpose, you might want to quit shopping for equalizers & start shopping for a new amplifier & maybe a preamp. As I understand the purpose of equalizers, & again, I am not a sound engineer, is to make up for deficiencies in your listening environment that affect the quality of the sound frequencies. In that regard, this does work. The 10 bands are not a crazy amount & since it has only one set & does not have separate settings for both channels, you shouldn’t need a spectrum analyzer, but could probably set the frequency responses by ear. It also has a lot of bells and whistles. You can tweak your sound in a variety of ways, measure frequency signal strength (difficult, but possible), bypass it, cut low frequency signals (good to eliminate rumble in your sub), change the decibel range, adjust the output power signal, & read the input or output signal strength. All very cool, & helpful for people like myself who want to control their sound without spiraling into the mouth of madness that setting or adjusting an equalizer can cause. I also recommend one for the tube amp people out there. You know who you are. However, for all its many strengths, I cannot in good conscience recommend this product. It is, to put it kindly, a piece of garbage. I bought two and they have the exact same problem: if the input signal strength is too low, the left channel cuts out. It took me a maddeningly & embarrassingly long time to figure this out. I changed RCA cables, drenched it in Deoxit, & just began pushing on the top of the cheap plastic top of this unit to get it to work. I resorted to putting a two-pound paperweight on top of it to address this glaring, unavoidable defect, but if the input level is too low, the problem will haunt you, too. The paperweights also work to keep cables from pulling this unit off of a shelf (yes, IT IS THAT LIGHT, trust me). For anyone who cares about how their music sounds, this is simply unacceptable. When I buy something, I have this weird expectation that it will work. I shouldn’t have to do something out of the ordinary for it to function, that’s simply ridiculous. I brought this up to a therapist & they assured me that such a concept is not crazy. So, in conclusion, great features, terrible quality affecting performance. I would not buy this again & do not recommend it for others.

I'm using this before a stereo power amp in a guitar rig to clean up and adjust some frequencies to make the stage sound a little better. While it's about the ugliest thing I've ever seen, it does the job really well. This would get 5 stars from me if: 1. The LEDs didn't look like they came from 2002. They really look cheap compared to all my shiny digital rack equipment. 2. Also, along the lines of aesthetics, most rack-mount equipment is black. Why is this silver? It stands out like a sore thumb. 3. Missing universal mount holes. Really, Behringer? This is the biggest reason for the reduction of the star. It's a half-sized rack unit, and you can't mount it to a universal rack shelf. Do you expect people to just have these sitting on their desk, taking up space? I have this velcro'd to my power amp, and I hate that I had to even do that in the first place. 4. The enclosure itself is extremely lightweight and cheap. It's all plastic, and it certainly feels like it. Don't drop it. If it's going in a rack, consider sandwiching it in two 1U spaces and jamming as much rubber, velcro, and/or foam in there to prevent movement. I'm sure other people have different needs and situations, but I wouldn't even let this sit on my desk for fear of it dropping off the edge. Sound-wise, this is clear and sounds good. I don't notice any tonal degradation with it in line, it's not noisy, and it handles the pre-amp output level perfectly. I'd like to upgrade to a nicer unit eventually, but, a half-width 1U stereo EQ is near impossible to find, and, if found, it's expensive. This gives a great value for your money.

Very satisfied with this unit. Easy to install into my desktop set-up. Controls seemed a bit complicated prior to use, but very intuitive once you begin adjusting sound. Each band of the equalizer adjusts precisely, and has a pronounced effect. There's no guessing here. Level adjustment control has positive clicks so it stays in place, (+4 db works for me). All buttons are lighted as well as each band slide control. IN/OUT meters are functional... not just there for looks. Don't let it's light weight or small size fool you. This is a smartly engineered piece of audio equipment for the money. Three-year update: Still going strong! I think most of the negative reviews here on Amazon concerning this unit are a bit overdone. It all depends on your expectations... realistic vs. unrealistic. First off you have to take into consideration the small amount of money you are venturing out with here. Does the unit have it's quirks... most certainly. I have had intermittent issues with the LED's also, but they are still working for the most part, (I will upload a recent photo ASAP). And when they do decide to get twitchy, it in no way interferes with function. Is the unit light-weight... absolutely. But this does not translate into "cheap" in my vocabulary. I have a Topping E30 and a Fosi BT20A-S stacked side-by-side on top of this unit so it's not a problem. Over the past three years I have paired different DAC's and amps with this unit, and I can honestly say that regardless of make or model each combination has been vastly improved with the addition of this little Behringer.

I almost never write product reviews but for this one I must share my excitement with the world. Because of space and financial considerations, I bought an all-in-one Jensen turntable last year. My only major problem with it is that I cannot adjust the levels, so every record I play on it sounds tinny or muffled. I figured there had to be a stand-alone equalizer I could get without having to buy a full-on receiver. I searched for months and could only find equalizers for car stereos or ones that did not have the right inputs or outputs. And then a few days ago I did another search and found this Behringer 9-band compact graphic equalizer. This little gadget is absolutely what I was looking for!! I can finally listen to records and get a rich, full sound with very good but not too deep bass. I now have a low-cost, space-saving, reliable turntable setup. These Behringer equalizers should be a standard accessory for all the new cheap turntables that are out there.