Yes, it’s 20% VAT, 2% customs duty, and the courier is going to charge you a handling fee of around £11.
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Much thankly!
Just to clarify about Sweetwater. They price match, but not every retailer, which in our case includes Thomann. when I talked to them they explained that the price difference is largely down to Thomann being much closer to Behreingers distribution than most other super partners. Also, the combination of shipping the parcels, and tariffs a a role in SW’s final price. Also told me that Thomann does offer the same level of customer service as SW, and that minus the manufactor warranty, your up a creek. Not 100% sure about that, but I think they’re alluding to the pain in the ass one would experience having to deal with customer service needs with a retailer located in an entirely different country.
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Which makes a lot of sense, except: Why can they meet the price (and beat considering shipping) with the B2600-Regular, but not have the same relationship with the Blue and Gray versions ?
This is probably not a question that Sweetwater has an answer for, Thomann and Behringer might know.
What i was told by my SW sales engineer, a while back, was that they would see what they can do, as things go forward. That the price was as quoted now, but could change. He also gave me an pre-order for both, with a note to contact me before they shipped me either, so we’ll see if the price changes. Behringer’s history has been to lower price on a lot of the stuff they sell. (As for instance, think of the DeepMind.)
I also talked to the sales engineer regarding the relationship between Sweetwater and Behringer. (Yeah we got chatty.) I would hope they might bring this price issue up with Behringer.
I don’t want any retailer that i buy from losing money selling stuff to me.
ADDED: My earlier post.
Marvin is in the house! 2 days early but I can live with that. No time for twiddling today but I intend to get stuck in ASAP!
Straight outta the box…
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Cmon Sweetwater…I need my Meanie.
Here’s a demo of the Gray Meanie showing some Patches for Ambient, Techno, and House. Maybe you find it useful.
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That video is so good let’s break out from it some specific sections.
0:00 Electronica Lead
0:33 Percussive Lead (Ring Mod & Spring Reverb)
1:48 Melodic Techno Bass
2:10 House Bass
2:49 Synth Pop Bass
3:08 Rave Bass
3:28 Not funky
3:36 Spooky whistle
3:55 EBM Lead
5:26 Boarder Lead
5:41 Duophonic Lead
6:56 Dub Bass
7:55 Kick Bass
8:28 Techno sequence
This was taken from the videos comments.
(Unfortunately this thing is thick with ads !)
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I really am baffled, all these apparently great machines that can’t get really great sounds out of them.
I keep wondering why they are so revered ??
(Not criticizing, me too I have some of them… just don t get it 
)
So “hear” is a side by side comparison Standard and Gray Meanie. Unfortunately this does not include the comparison of the two reverbs. But you can hear side by side the test of the oscillator and filters at various settings.
Let me explain something first that the demonstrator does not understand. ‘Hand picked components” means that certain components are tested to select ones that have a tighter tolerance to the specified value. So apparently they are not using different components, they are selecting out from the same components ones with tighter tolerances. It’s important to understand that the measured values fall on a bell curve, with most components having tight tolerance anyway. Hand selecting components has an affect very much like using components with a tighter tolerance. So most of the time the two will be the same, but occasionally there will be variation that gets rejected by the hand selecting. This method has been used for a very long time, including as i have read on the original 2600. So you may get a Regular unit that has components that would have been hand selected anyways. There will be the chance for slightly more variation among the Regular units.
ADDED: It is not “hand selecting parts”. It is totally different parts, see my post three down from this one.
He uses a spectrum analyzer in these tests. I’ll leave it to you as to whether you hear a significant difference, and which you prefer.
This video runs 14 and a half minutes. Do not expect to hear anything like an exciting demonstration.
Here’s a video that compares the reverbs.
This is a little over 12 minutes.
Comments please.
I think there are other comparison videos too.
ADDED: These two videos have helped me decide which I want.
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Definitely prefer the real spring reverb.
Teardown Time !
And it turns out that it’s not “hand selecting parts” it really is different parts. It’s only a handful of parts for the filter. Notice how the board design is the same. They were prepared for these two versions from the start. That’s careful engineering. Also notice, and this is not discussed in the video but there is a jumper plug built into the board for the spring reverb. Also now we know specifically where the spring reverb is placed.
I will need to study this video a little to see if i can see about the digital reverb, is it a separate digital circuit, or is it just using part of the UI digital controller to do the reverb calculation and the A to D and D to A. In either case is there a way to wake it up again on the Blue and Gray.
Also ready for modification is replacing the surface mount components on the Standard edition with the through hole parts. That should be pretty easy and safe if you’ve got some experience. But the question is does it make that much of a difference.
I can also see people using other springs, or making mods in the spring part — start thinking up some ideas.
ADDED: Is it one firmware for both or two slightly different firmwares. Does anyone know ?
ALSO: The engineering and manufacture on both systems looks nice.
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I always assumed the Digi reverb on the standard would be a version of the KT fx unit on the Bodyssey. Whether that lives as code in the main processor or they use separate chips I don’t know. Would be interesting to find out tho for sure.
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I can’t watch this yet, but from what I understand there are film caps in the filter. This is good news, as film caps behave much nicer with resonance.
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OK, i’m moving on. A couple days back, i watched this video done by Daniel Fisher, whom i like watching, he’s good at pulling out both the detail and the essence of what a product is about. I remember his demonstration of the Hydrasynth, done early on, and he ‘got’ it. Similarly he’s done one here. This video is a little older, February 8th, but he shows what the B2600 is about — how you should approach it, and how it can be used. The whole Gestalt of the 2600.
I fortunately was able to have the original ARP 2600 as my first synth, and this video was nice in that it helped me remember a little of learning how to understand what the 2600 could do. Behringer, and the people they had to engineer this product did a good job of capturing what made the original special. (My opinion.)
This video runs a little over 28 minutes, but for the most part it moves along. Don’t expect a lot of musical content. What there is here is more on the side of “experimental”.
As i posted earlier the Arturia KeyStep Pro makes a good companion for the 2600, with its separate CV channels and separate arpeggiators, and Fisher shows the combination well. I already have a Novation SLM3 which would work, but i am thinking in this application the KSP might make more sense, perhaps even being solely devoted to that purpose.
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Long video from Tim Shoebridge:
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Sweetwater got a shipment of the Orange and Black (idk about the Gray and Blue), and so at least some pre-orders will get shipped. Mine ships tomorrow.
ADDED: This thing (and 2600’s in general) is a blast ! Really fun to experiment with.
This has got to be one of the densest control layouts on any synth. It’s not too small, as has been talked about up thread, but feels just right to me.
I now get the all the colors on the LEDs too, with all the controls the colors help you more quickly sort out what’s what. (An advantage for the Orange and Black, over the Gray and Blue.) I could actually use a couple more colors, added to the five already.
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I’ve been “Behringer 2600” curious for a few months but last week the gas really hit. I don’t like to jump too early on things anymore so gonna sit on the sidelines and see what (if any) issues come up. But, the plan is to get the 2600 and a neutron at the same time and use the Neutron as a modulation addendum.
It will be my first Euro-esque modular setup so super exited!.. and the wait will probably torment me
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Getting mine now here in stock
Behringer 2600 Blue Marvin Analog Synth
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