Benson Amps Preamp Overdrive/Distortion | Reverb Tone Report 

I would also add that Andy plays really well, chooses cool tunes, and never makes a gross sex face while rocking out. Wish I could take those for granted!

Robert Keeley lol - is that really you?

Robert Keeley how does this compare to the JHS Clover? Perhaps you can help us understand the similarities/difference

@@russianvideovlogguy Yes that's him.

This pedal is a masterpiece.

AND THE TOMATO TONE WAS BORN

likewise. lance keltner is another compelling example.

@@liv2praz Jeff Beck as well.

Mark Knopfler.

@@khiemvu8667 john fahey

Neil Young

Same

Don't say that.He'll start working a poker face...

If you see a slight smile he loves the pedal

It's likely that he figured you guys out years ago and he just does that to sell pedals lol

He said he likes fuzz pedals best

2 years later, well??? Do you still own it

Yup!

@@richosburn well, that's saying something lol. Lots of people go through pedals like crazy

My buddy works for them and this ting rocks

Caleb Mitchell It’s a comfortable shirt ;)

Yea same😂

It most definitely was! :)

Chris Catalano @

Wow. I just discovered a great old song from your comment. Thanks!

“This dude”?? Bro. That’s Andy. He’s a living legend and a national treasure. Put some respek on his name!

Or I meant Ahinam. The riff is from Axe- Ahinam Take II, which they got from the band Love.

Have you already found this song?

Mark Johnston has a video where he uses it as a preamp. It actually... sounds even better. I got this pedal recently and am just absolutely in love. Completely revoices my AC30 at lower gain settings, incredibly smooth OD on higher settings. More than worth every cent

Technically this is a transistor based overdrive pedal based on the Chimera amp. Basically think of this pedal as an amp in a box where the amp has tubes, the pedal has fet transistors to create the saturation. I think the mother of this type of pedal is the Boss BD-2. Why is it called a preamp? Because thats what it's emulating. It's not really doing overdrive if the drive/gain pot is dialed back. In contrast with say a soft clipper overdrive like a tube screamer, even if you dial the drive knob back, you are still getting some grit, because it (tube screamer) was designed to emulate the sound of an overdriven amp not go clean to dirty like an actual amp (although with utilities it is achievable to do so...not getting into that) Not on this pedal. This pedal is designed to sound like an amp (not just an overdriven one). When turning the drive/gain (going from clean to dirty to fuzz territory) is like walking up to the Chimera amp and turning the level up. Thats one of the differences when you are thinking to yourself "it's called a preamp but it looks like an overdrive pedal." Many overdrive pedals reveal themselves as pedals at some point along the fret board. A quality amp in a box like this one is very tough to reveal itself as a pedal. Transistor based overdrives, amp-in-a-box and pre amp ...it does get a little confusing. Here is a good example: I own the Carl Martin Plexi Tone. Imo probable the best Marshall Plexi in a box, however you cannot get a clean tone out of it. Why would I want to?...I don't. But if it's a pedal emulating the pre amp of a Marshall Plexi, I should be able to get the clean tone of a Marshall Plexi (I'd rather have the clean tone of a Hiwatt), but the Plexi Tone is not technically a pre amp, it is a dual dirty channel amp in box emulating the crunch and high gain of the Plexi. Again, if a pedal is properly emulating the pre amp of a certain amplifier, you should be able to produce clean tones. "We'll I use the Tube Screamer as a clean boost." That tone may be louder than prior to it being engaged but it certainly isn't clean and isn't overdriven or distorted but it is very very colored with midrange treats. Check out the Flamma Preamp. It's purple and emulates the clean and dirty channels of 7 different amplifiers. Now compare this pedal to the Xotic BB Preamp and just see how they differ even though they are both called Preamp. It becomes clearer as you examine each of these two pedals specifically. The BB is just an overdrive (a friggin legendary one). Most gear heads are victims of overthinking the term preamp. It's just a boost from instrument to line level. What happens during that transition from instrument to line is unique to each amp and besides your fingers the part that is most to determine your tone or at least facilitates it the most in your rig. A buffer helps preserve what your preamp does if you really have GAS.

No, - I'd say that the BD 2 lives in that similar area like few other drives do.At higher gain levels, you start to hear the essential difference between vintage Marshall and vintage Fender break up; the Benson is smoother, and thus, more Marshall like.I think the BD2 straddles a interesting line , getting some of that Fender grind and bite at higher gain, while still retaining Marshall warmth.It's a great pedal, and between it and the SD 1, most other Drives are unnecessary.

More redtail guitar pics here: www.redtailguitars.com

betterinsodapop They grow on trees here in Portland.

Clearance rack at American Eagle and anywhere else pretty much

That tee is pretty sweet too

ha ha i see what you did there.

I’d be shocked if they weren't Pendleton’s considering he’s from Portland.

hudson for sure luv it.

No this won’t help with amp noise. The noise could be coming from the guitar with single coil pickups like a strat. Or the noise could be a bad cable. Or the amp just could be noisy, if it’s a tube amp you could easily have it looked at to see if it can be fixed.

Buzz could be from cables, pickups,on your guitar, the amp itself, the wiring in your house, nearby radio towers. You could try a few things to rule out some of these to figure out where the buzz is coming from. Try more than 1 guitar to see if it is guitar issue. Especially try a guitar with humbucker pickups. try the amp in another location, like in someone else’s house. If buzz goes away, could be your house’s wiring or a nearby radio tower or other similar interruption. If the buzz from your amp goes away when you turn the guitar volume down, that could indicate it is your guitar causing the issue. Single coil pickups are especially prone to this and not actually considered “broken: if they do. It is just their nature. If the buzz is still there with your guitar volume off, it is probably not the pickups. Another culprit could be other radio noise. For example Imused to practice close to an AM radio station tower me it would cause a lot of noise from my amp.

Have you found a solution? I'm looking at going down this road as well

Likewise

@@AlexPriceMusician I have a Hotone Binary AMP running into a NU>X Solid Studio. Wet fx post-AMP, before the Solid Studio. That Hotone is surprisingly good and can be used without IR (but I prefer to do so). It also has an FX loop. BUT it doesn't have that organic quality we're hearing in this demo. It sounds like...well, like it's modeling preamps. But it's decent for the $ The Solid Studio is phenomenal. NU>X are often sneered at as being "Chinese crap". This is just BS, it's gonna be my go-to DI solution for the foreseeable future. I'd love this Benson, tho. I know Andy had one on his board when he went on TPS (using the same Fuzz as me, the MI Effects Neo :) ) and Dan also has one on his board atm, he said he runs it after his Sunface.

A surprising pedal that's great for going DI is the Joyo American Sound pedal I plugged my LP into it straight to the PA and it sounded killer Not sure about the IR and whatnot but am sure you could find out Great price point as well

Paul & Ligia Opris - Sirca was wondering the same thing. I would assume that you would place at the end of your drive section. Tough call.

Bypass the front end of your amp and plug it into the fx return for a preamp (revoicing your amp to a benson chimera) or run it as a drive in front. (I know it's late but I answered for any future inquiry lol)

@@MrDonc78 No, it's not voiced to replace a real preamp. This is a glorified and frankly mislabeled "amp in a box" type overdrive pedal.

It's not quite a real Pre like the Broadcast, but at the end of the Drive chain works best.Personally, I've never found much use for the loop . I'd still treat it like a Pre, and see how close you can get it to the end of the entire signal chain.

Giuliano JZ you will too 😁

Shoot, maybe you should rock even more! Seriously though, great review and sound. You're always a pleasure to watch. Wait, that came out weird.

wut

@@trahnettilhcs sorry i ´m too rude, it is because i saw a guy demoing this on a telecaster who played like an animal. in music all is difficult, this pre-amp shines on fender ´s Country style