Behringer Vintage Tube Overdrive Pedal TO800

Excellent pedal and good price

I’ve been a huge fan of Behringer pedals for years, and the TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive is no exception. I actually had this pedal before, but I ended up selling it—and I regret that decision. So, I’m back for round two!

The TO800 delivers that classic, warm tube overdrive tone that is perfect for everything from bluesy smoothness to a more punchy rock sound. The Drive control gives you a lot of versatility, and you can dial in everything from a light, crunchy overdrive to full-blown distortion without losing clarity.

I already own several other Behringer pedals like the DR600, EQ700, PB100, to name a few, and I’ve never been disappointed. The build quality is great for the price, and it integrates seamlessly with my other pedals.

If you’re thinking about this pedal, don’t hesitate. I sold my first one and regretted it, but now that I’ve got another, I’m never letting it go! Behringer continues to impress with its performance and value. Highly recommend it for anyone looking to add a solid vintage overdrive to their pedalboard.

I have another compressor pedal which I use a lot, but it lacks a good sustain. This pedal is a decent compressor, but the big thing about this pedal is the sustain, which is truly outstanding. I put it in the front part of a pedal chain, turn up the sustain, and the sound is fantastic. The price is very friendly. The only issue I have is that it’s made of plastic, so I don’t know how it would handle long-term heavy use. But for recording purposes, it’s a real gem.

I’m super pleased with this. I needed a little something to boost and tighten up the high gain tones on my amp (Micro Dark). Most metal guitarist put a tube screamer (or similar) between the guitar and pre-amp input – so I thought this was good cheap option to try that out. Totally does what I needed it to do. Pushed my amp from fuzzier overdrive tones into the perfect tight, thrashy, but heavy, tone I was after! So.. No need for a real Tube Screamer, when this guy does what I need.

Caveats – I gave the quality of material a 5, because it’s a behringer pedal, and I knew what to expect. However, it IS plastic. That’s going to be an issue for some people (especially gigging folks who want to carry it around and abuse it). But, all in all, for being plastic, I think its really sturdy, and as long as you take care of your stuff to a normal degree, i don’t see this breaking.

Also, I’ve only used with an over driven amp, because… that’s my thing, but if you’re playing into a clean channel, and using this to push some break up into your tubes…. I dunno. Or just as distortion tone on its own… also dunno. BUT, on a high gain tube amp… Beautifully transformative. I’ve also used this with my old Peavey 5150 with good results, as well!

I am not a giging muscian or even a serious player. I play for fun and relaxation. I have been playing for about 10 years but only in the past 2 years have I taken up the electric gutiar. I have a very simple amp setup with a Fender Starcaster 15 G as my practice/ backup amp and a Fender Mustang 1 20watt as my main amp. I love the Mustang, but have always found the Starcaster kinda weak (well duh it is a simple practice amp). I have 2 very basic Guitars (a Jay Turser M300 Series and an Epi LP Special II). I normally only use the Mustang but latly have found myself really appreciating the simple clean sound that the Starcaster can give, But it is a one hit wonder. I am constantly switch amps and is was getting tiresome. I order this pedal on a whim thinking that it might add a little depth the the starcaster and I might be more inclined to use this amp more. Boy did I hit a home run with that! The pedal arrived and I spent an hour playing with it on the starcaster. The depth and fullness it adds to this little amp is amazing. It truely gives it a tube crunch but yet retains the nice clean sound when the levels are backed off. Flip the overdrive button on the starcaster and this amp become a distortion MONSTER. Yea I know I can’t imagine what this pedal would do on a “real” amp! I also found that I’m getting better response with my guitar tone knob too. THat was always an issue with this small amp- the tone knob made very little difference. Not anymore. I can spin the knob and go from clean to dirty and back again. Yup this is a winner for all you practice amp only people. Just for S and G’s I plugged this into the Mustang (set on Brittish 60’s Red) and turned the levels way down. Amazingly it backed the crunch and distortion way off from this setting (so now I can go clean without having to touch the amp!) All the reviews have stated how nicely this pedal works on the upper settings but it was great to find out that it can be used effectively to clean up a dirty channel! I look forward to playing with this some more on both amps.
No for the nuts and bolts of the thing. Yup plastic. Well I’m very gentle on my gear (this sits on a table next to me and is activated with my hand) so I don’t expect issues, but if I was a thrash metal rocker I would probably look elsewhere for durability. Don’t drop it or jump on it and it should last a lifetime. The switch activation is very positive and easy to manipulate. No issues there. The dials are easy to read and turn smoothly. The LED is a nice level of brightness and does not flicker. I’m using the AC adaptor so no ideas on battery life or replacement. THe box is heavy enough to stay in place, but lite enough that I could easily toss it in a gig bag and not worry about it damaging a guitar. Cable plugs are rugged and seem like they will last a lifetime. I left the unit plugged in overnight and there was no desernable heat in either the adaptor or the pedal. after palying for an hour the pedal was still cool to the touch as was the adaptor.
My biggest complaint has to do with Amazon itself. I got this for twenty bucks shipped. Amazon gave an estimate of 10 days to arrive!!! 10 Days! Yea it was coming from Vegas to NY but 10 DAYS!! 15 Days later it finally arrived. 15 DAYS!!!! More than 2 weeks. Half a Month!! I’m pretty sure UPS SurePost had a guy walk it to NY. I don’t know what the big delay was all about but I was horribly bummed about shipping times. I ordered a few other items with this (AC adaptor and 5 ft insutment cable to use with this) and they arrived 4 days later.
All in all this is a great pedal. Outstanding for those of us with simple equipment and on a tighter budget. If you have a simple practice amp and want more out of it, then grab one of these pedals and be prepared for amazment that so much sound can come from a little package.