Behringer opens pre-orders on Blue Marvin and Gray Meanie 2600 limited editions

11 Feb 2021 by Robin Vincent | 5,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Behringer 2600 Blue Marvin and Gray Meanie  ·  Source: Behringer

Behringer 2600 Blue Marvin  ·  Source: Behringer

Behringer 2600 Gray Meanie  ·  Source: Behringer

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Not content with their 2600 clone Behringer rolls out the more nuanced 2600 Blue Marvin and Gray Meanie versions of the classic ARP synthesizer. 

Update: these are now available for pre-order (see below).

Limited Editions

Behringer says that it’s rumoured that only 25 Blue Marvins and 35 Grey Meanies were ever built by ARP in the early 1970s. So these are the rarest versions of the iconic 2600 semi-modular synthesizer.

The Blue Marvin was the first version and was also called the Blue Meanie for no suitably explored reason. It had unreliable chips and a fragile wood and metal case design that doesn’t come anywhere near the class of what we think of as a 2600.

The Grey or Gray Meanie was the version 2 also called the 2600C and was the first to me made in a factory. It kept the case that actually folded up like a suitcase and had a slightly improved keyboard.

It wasn’t long before the 2600P came along with a much more robust case and became the standard look for all the versions thereafter.

Behringer 2600 Blue Marvin

So weren’t all the features of the earlier models sort of baked into the 2600 clone? I thought so but apparently these two versions have some differences to the orange Christmas tree version Behringer has already released. The most welcome change is the switch to a single coloured LED on all the faders giving it a much more sedate and serious look. They’ve added a mechanical spring reverb which is very nice and they’ve made some component changes to improve performance. The other improvements they talk about like the dual filter, another LFO, VCO sync, USB MIDI and more seems to refer to all their 2600 models as these we already implemented on the original.

Behringer 2600 Gray Meanie

These look brilliant but I can’t help wonder whether Behringer is going into competition against themselves. They are only a bit more expensive than the 2600 and who’s going want the one without the analogue reverb and better performance components?

The price is €619 and should ship in February and the original 2600 is out of stock until March. How limited are these going to be exactly? Will later runs of the 2600 incorporate the extras? Who knows. Behringer likes to tease us with products but doesn’t like to give us any kind of idea what the plan or schedule is for getting the products to the shops. Pre-orders have just opened at Thomann so things are starting to move.

The new fresh face of Behringer synth videos Dan is doing a really nice job.

More information

• Behringer Facebook page.
• More from Behringer.

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