Controls
- Volume
- Drive
- Treble
- Bass
Specifications
- Designed for a 125B enclosure with top-mounted jacks
Documentation
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Rafael Azevedo (verified owner) –
Absolutely blown away by this pedal. It sounds just like the benson preamp once you figure out how to bias it correctly. I ended up installing the extra capacitor and the pedal runs a little bit hotter.
Steve Floyd (verified owner) –
Great sounding drive with lots of output.
bjborchert93 (verified owner) –
This is a fantastic, really natural/”amp-like” sounding preamp. No diode clipping so it breaks up like an overdriven tube amp would. This one’s going to be a staple for the main pedalboard, I can already tell.
mjohnmills (verified owner) –
Built this for a Benson-appreciating friend with a switch for the hot-mod and he loved it. Dialing in the JFETs with a multimeter was critical to getting it to sound right, but really easy.
Jwyles90 (verified owner) –
This thing is awesome! With those JFETs it really does sound incredible, and the biasing wasn’t too difficult thanks to the help of the forum. The build itself is pretty easy too, so give it a shot.
simon (verified owner) –
This is a great pedal. I don’t have experience with the benson preamp, but this pedal sounds excellent. It has a variety of usable sounds. If you like amplike overdrive than this is a great choice
szukalski (verified owner) –
Can only echo the other reviews. It’s a lovely pedal and easy to bias. SMD friendly.
Stephen Hales (verified owner) –
Far too hot at recommended trimpot levels and no bass control whatsoever using a dual ganged B2M or a single gang B1M with the correct pad treatment. Not even subtle. I’ve built 3 to spec so far, not really digging this circuit at all.
GS4558 (verified owner) –
Did everything I expected it to do and beyond. I’ve never encountered a pedal that does the entire drive range this well.
airbud (verified owner) –
It does the J201 drive thing. I biased by ear and it sounds good.
Wouldn’t call it a must-build nor my favorite preamp, but if it’s your flavor it’s quite good. Check out the Projectile (Walrus 385) as well, I believe it’s four J201s but don’t quote me.