Behringer Powerplay P1

I have eight of these units in use as part of a wired IEM with a nine-piece rhythm and blues band. I'm using a passive signal distribution to split across as many as four units.

In short, these have been great. Having tried a few of their different products, I'm a strong believer in trying out a Behringer piece of kit if it seems to be what you're looking for. With such a breadth of coverage, it's inevitable that some Behringer things will be stinkers and some will be fab. It does also often depend on which model they've chosen to use as their inspiration for their design. For example, I find their rack mount EQs are very nice - becuuase they had a good look at the market leader and thought about how they'd reflect that.

In the case of the Behringer P1, it seems they've had a good look at the PreSonus HP2, but incorporated the twin XLRF inputs straight onto the body of the unit rather than on a fly lead. The result is a good sounding, loud and sturdy unit which has so far exceeded my expectations - and has raised positive comments from other, more sniffy engineers.

Having read the reviews, I was ready for the poor battery cover. Two tangs snapped off on my first use of the units! This is easy remedied, though - just remove the cover and put some gaffer tape over the hole. Sorted! These aren't show pieces, after all.

A further consideration is the weight and relative cumbersomeness of the units. To be plain, these are not easy to put in a pocket as you have cables coming out of both ends. Also, the belt clip (whilst definitely strong enough) is not very deep, causing the unit to up-end occasionally. Not helpful! We've found that if you can use the mic stand mount, it's a whole load easier. This will however need you to have either a long IEM lead or a headphone extension cable - though this is no great hardship.

In conclusion, I'm very happy with these, accepting them for what they are and their minor limitations.




I still don't understand why they fitted such a cheap battery compartment, though.

I have several units and it always does my job. The back cover of the battery is indeed not very well made, but it can be easily managed. It has more than enough power to drive your earphones to level that you need. I have used it for many live concerts, relatively quiet and very very loud and never had any problems. The knobs feel okay. It's better to use it with it's adaptor. I always use a new battery in every live performance if I don't use an adaptor. Any wired amp will not be very comfortable. In this respect p1 is as good as it gets.
Finally, always, absolutely every single time, try to protect your ears. First turn on the unit, then put the earphones on the unit with the volume knob at zero, and then put the earphones to your ears. Then start to raise the knob. In my case I raise it very carefully and very rarely over 30%. If you wear the earphones and turn on the unit you will hear a clip. There's no reason for this to happen.

Bought this unit to use with my 1964 QI in ear monitors that I use to play bass in a heavy rock band.

Out of the box the unit looks sturdy and well made with the body of the unit being made of metal with quality knobs and xlr inputs.

The one thing that does let this unit down slightly though is the battery compartment, it's very small, so small in fact that once you put a standard 9v battery in the unit, it's very difficult to take it back out again tho change it. I have to wrap some insulation tape around the batteries I use with an end hanging loose so I'm able to pull the battery out when it needs changing.

I wanted to use rechargeable 9v batteries with this unit but they are slightly larger in size than standard 9v batteries, so I wasn't able to fit them inside the battery bay and close the door. Why they didn't make the bay bigger is a bit of an oversight I think.

This unit will run off any 9v adapter and also has a light that tells you when the battery needs changing.

The unit does feel quite large when clipped to your belt, the clip on the unit feels strong and robust though.

The sound that comes out of this unit is great with no distortion or crackle at all and my bass guitar sounds great through it.

Over all a very good buy at a great price. Would recommend you buy this if you don't jump around on stage too much.

I have this mounted on my floor tom for every gig using a drum mic clip. It's quite bulky so it's not comfortable to wear but the built in clip can clip into many things, I have band mates who have clipped it to a mic stand. it has a threaded hole for mounting on its own stand. the 2 channels are great if you want 2 mixes or different things in different ears. I like to have my own click so I have a separate channel for that which I can control from the drumkit.

It has a stereo/mono switch so you can switch between a full mix in both ears or separate mixes. with a L/R knob to control the balance.

One thing to note if you only have 1 mix make sure to turn the L/R knob all the way to the channel you have as an input.

doesn't come with a 9V power supply, I used my own but a 9V battery will last over 3 hours (thats as long as I've played a gig with battery power so I don't know the limit)

I have used this for over 2 years now and it's been flawless every gig.

I'm using in-ear monitoring when performing with my band. When we first started it, we all went looking for a not-too-expensive amplifier that does the job OK. We ended up with this unit from Behringer.

It's not the best one can find, but certainly suits the purpose for a hobbyist.

Pros:
- XLR input
- Mono button (used it yesterday when something in the monitoring went wrong and the bass only came in the left ear)
- More than loud enough, I only need to go halfway
- Works best in combination with a power supply unit (sold separately)

Cons:
- The clip doesn't seem to be very useable. So far I always put the unit on the ground and use an extension cord on my in-ears
- Power supply not included (buy separately!)