Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII

Trends are funny. Before chasing various levels of fidelity around Chris (and most of our staff actually) grew up using 4 track cassette recorders to make demos and even in some cases final products. So when people started talking about the distortion characteristics of those extraordinarily spartan and slow opamp designs, we developed a few ideas out.

The 424 mkii channel strip has not been adapted for pedal use before as far as we know. It’s definitely our favorite of the circuits we tried…mostly owing to the dazzlingly low input impedance that can load down a guitar pickup like it owes it money. Of course, high frequencies and proper impedance bridging CAN be cool too, so we incorporated a switchable buffer circuit. And of course upped the general gain without really changing much.

The results: sounds like an old 4 tracker, but more portable! It’s like a moped: simple, rattley sounding, and REALLY fun. Seriously though, the end result might surprise you with how versatile it is…the EQ is very usable and there are lots of flavors…it starts in clean boost village, travels safely all the way through the forests of distortion, and climbs fuzz mountain without breaking a sweat. Not to mention it has 18 volts internal headroom in case you really need to punish an amp!

A couple things to keep in mind: the control tapers are strange because they’re strange on the original…the trim knob works in a uniquely stupid way but we kept it as is for authentici-ty. Also, when in lo-z mode (the side button not pressed in) use it first in your chain for best results. When the buffer is engaged (the side button is pressed in), feel free to use it any-where in your chain.